The footman leapt up on to the seat by the coachman, and the horses, after pawing the ground and nodding as trained, trotted out into the street. The couple remained side by side in silence. He was about to start a conversation but her face was so stubbornly set that he did not dare. Finally he slid his hand stealthily towards the gloved hand of his wife and touched it as if by chance. The gesture she made to remove her arm was so brusque and conveyed such aversion that he beat a hasty and anxious retreat. This was most untypical of his usually highly authoritarian, not to say tyrannical character.

‘Gabrielle!’ he murmured.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, without turning her head.

‘I think you’re adorable.’

She said nothing in response but leaned back in her carriage like an irritated queen. They were driving now up the Champs Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile. The huge monument at the end of the long avenue spread its colossal arch across a sky of red. The sun appeared to be setting directly on top of it, casting a haze of fire on the horizon as it sank. The stream of glittering carriages with glints of copper and silver in the harnesses reflected in the dazzling crystal of the coach lanterns, flowed in two separate currents, one towards the Bois, the other towards the city.

The Comte de Mascaret continued: ‘Gabrielle, my dear …’

Unable to bear it a moment longer, she turned round to him in exasperation.

‘Oh leave me alone, will you? Can’t I even go off on my own in the carriage any more?’

He ignored her and continued: ‘You’ve never been prettier than you are today.’

Losing patience entirely, she could no longer contain her rage.

‘It’s a pity you should think so because I swear to you here and now – I shall never again be yours.’

What she said amazed him and for a moment he was dumbstruck. Very quickly, however, he changed from supplicant lover to brutal master of the situation. His violent nature began to reassert itself as he snapped: ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

She repeated her words quietly even though neither of the servants could have heard above the deafening rumble of the wheels.

‘That’s more like you: “What’s that supposed to mean?” Do you really want me to tell you?’

‘Yes.’

‘You want me to tell you everything?’

‘Yes.’

‘Everything I’ve always felt in my heart ever since I became the victim of your appalling selfishness?’

He flushed with a mixture of astonishment and annoyance. Through clenched teeth he snarled, ‘Go ahead.’