Jane laughed, but willingly leaned on him as he helped her back to bed. ‘If by that you mean that you will visit me but once and insult me while you are here, I think I might suggest a better course.’

‘You saved my life once, Muse.’ He tucked the counterpane around her and sat on the bed by her side. ‘Let me advise you to rest until you are recovered.’

‘Considering the alternative, I hardly think I have a choice.’ She lay her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes against the too-bright light. ‘Perhaps, given that the sphere worked while still glowing from the forge, it needs folds of light and heat.’

‘Hush.’ Vincent’s hand stroked her brow, soothing the headache that plagued her. ‘We can think on it tomorrow, or the day after that. For now, I want you to rest.’

Though Jane thought that her curiosity would outweigh her fatigue, she soon proved herself wrong and fell asleep.

The next day was not much better. As soon as Jane sat up, she felt as though she were on a heaving ship, though their crossing on the Dolphin had given her no such intimations of seasickness.

Vincent brought a cold compress to her. ‘This will help.’

‘I am perfectly well.’

‘And yet, I do not believe you.’ Vincent pressed a hand to her forehead, frowning. ‘I should have insisted that we leave the factory when I saw you were tired.’

‘It was a trifling amount of glamour.’ That very fact made her irritable, that she should so misjudge her strength. It was true that cold weaves were significantly more taxing than visual glamours, but it had been a single thin fold. ‘Truly, love, it was only the heat that undid me.’

Despite her insistence that she was well, when she asked the following day to return to the glass factory, Vincent found himself occupied, and again on the day following. Somehow, he managed to fill a week with errands which he must perforce do on his own, leaving Jane to her rooms with nothing more to do than practice French with Anne-Marie. Jane suspected that these errands were all inventions to delay their return to the glass factory. She resented the coddling, but had to admit that the effects of the glamour still made themselves felt. What she most feared was that Vincent would take this episode too much to heart and hesitate to engage her assistance on future projects.

Nearly a week passed in this manner before Jane felt well enough to insist that she had recovered. ‘I should like to return to the glass factory today.’

Vincent winced, which Jane felt as a reprobation. ‘Forgive me, Muse. I promised Bruno that I would take a turn in the laboratory with his students. He and Mme Chastain have an excursion planned with the children.’

‘Shall I assist you?’