The dragon winked at her.

While Dr Mitchell was occupied with the waiter, Olivia remembered a duty that she must perform without delay. Whenever she was unable to make computer contact with Norah she always called to warn her so that the old woman wouldn’t be left waiting in hope. Quickly she used her mobile phone and in a moment she heard Norah’s voice.

‘Just to let you know that I’m not at home tonight,’ she said.

‘Jolly good,’ Norah said at once, as Olivia had known she would say. ‘You should go out more often, not waste time talking to me.’

‘But you know I love talking to you.’

‘Yes, I do, but tonight you have more important things to think of. At least, I hope you have. Goodnight, darling.’

‘Goodnight, my love,’ Olivia said tenderly.

She hung up to find her companion regarding her with a little frown.

‘Have I created a problem?’ he asked delicately. ‘Is there someone who-’ he paused delicately ‘-would object to your being with me?’

‘Oh, no! I was talking to my elderly aunt in England. There’s nobody who can tell me who to be with.’

‘I’m glad,’ he said simply.

And she was glad too, for suddenly the shadows of the day had lifted.

‘Dr Mitchell-’

‘My name is Lang.’

‘And mine is Olivia.’

The waiter appeared with tea, filling Olivia’s cup, smiling with pleased surprise as she gave the traditional thank-you gesture of tapping three fingers on the table.

‘Most Westerners don’t know to do that,’ Lang explained.

‘It’s the kind of thing I love,’ she said. ‘I love the story too-about the emperor who went to a tea-house incognito with some friends and told them not to prostrate themselves before him because it would give away his identity. So they tapped their fingers instead. I don’t want to stand out. It’s more fun fitting in.’