He sighed in contentment, sinking into the pillows, his letter momentarily forgotten. The lines of fatigue eased and his breathing slowed. Jane continued to stroke his brow, commending his features to memory yet again. His face, when relaxed, always surprised her with its youth. When alert, his intelligent eyes flashed beneath a heavy, brooding brow. The guarded and constant thought which went into even the most casual of conversations made him seem older than his years. That very fact, that he did not utter phrases devoid of meaning just to fill the air with the sound of conversation, was one of the things Jane most loved about him.

He sighed again and opened his eyes, lifting the lid of his desk to rummage through it. Amid his other correspondence lay a letter written in French with another layer of tiny script crossed over it.

Holding it close to his eyes so he did not need to lift his head from Jane’s ministrations, Vincent scanned the page. Marking his place with his index finger, he said, ‘Here. Chastain says, and forgive my translation, “The effect of the double-weave is such that from one position in a room, the glamour appears to be, let us say, a tree, and from the other a woman. The transition from one to the other happens without a seam so that the tree seems to become the woman as the viewer walks about it. At the moment, these are but rough glamours. However, if I can perfect the technique, then one might have two glamours, complete in their own right, and merely by changing one’s relationship with the illusion, one can completely change its nature.” He goes on with some unsatisfying descriptions of the weaves he is using, without enough exactness to duplicate.’ He peeked up through his eyelashes at Jane. ‘Does that remind you of anything?’

Jane shook her head. ‘I am afraid you have the better of me.’

‘My Sphère Obscurcie. On the exterior it bends the light around so that viewers believe they have an unobstructed view of whatever lies opposite, while masking that which lies in its interior. But the view to a person within the bubble is unobstructed.’

Jane nodded, as she followed his train of thought. ‘The twist in the glamour creates, in essence, two layers of fabric like a damask, which keep the interior from being either a mirror or a dark sphere. And you think his jacquard would enhance the effect?’

‘I do not know, but I am curious to see what it is that Chastain has created, and with the war against Napoleon there has been no opportunity before this.’ He traced a finger across her wedding band. ‘Besides. I have never given you a proper honeymoon.’