She really couldn’t stand it anymore! She was tired of Eva behaving like a queen bee! Did I know that now she’d started flirting with that man, that humorist with the big nose, just because a comedy of his had achieved a modicum of success? How could anyone be such a stupid snob? Livio was literally devastated, and did I know what she did? She embraced that other man right in front of him! And then she went around passing judgment on everyone else, her of all people! What was I doing now?

“Listen,” I said, pausing in the middle of undressing, “I’m going to bed.” I was at the end of my tether, truth be told. “You do what you like,” I said. “If you don’t know where to go, there’s the armchair, but stop all this nonsense, it makes me want to throw up. And don’t come here and tell me you were worried about me.”

“I really was worried about you.”

“All right,” I said, “all right. What do you want us to do? Do you want some brioches or do you want to go to the sea? Well, I’m going to bed. I’m tired of being your lightning rod.” When I said this, her eyes again filled with tears, but she didn’t say anything, and I went to bed, turning my face to the wall so as not to see her. I guess she couldn’t stand the sight of me either, because she switched off the light. The room was suddenly flooded with moonlight.

What a night! A cool breeze came in through the open window, along with the distant sound of crickets, but she didn’t move from the armchair and I didn’t call to her. We stayed like that for a good part of the night until I fell into a light half sleep filled with dreams. Toward morning, waking with a start, I looked over to the armchair. It was empty, and the room smelled vaguely of lilacs.