“It is you perhaps, Mr. Lovall, who is not ready. And please, I mean no criticism. You do not wish to see her place herself in any danger. But your Miss Frend sees it quite differently. The door you are afraid to watch her enter is the very same she longs to pass through. Of course, if she wishes for more time, then we delay. If she wishes to give up the whole affair, we give it up. If not, then tomorrow you wait in the choir of the cathedral and I will send someone to collect you. To collect Miss Frend.”

“At noon?”

“Noon precisely.”

As soon as he was outside with her, he led her into the hospital garden and told her Rizzo’s plan.

“And what did you say?” she asked.

“I said it was too soon. Of course.”

She nodded. She was silent. The city circled around them. From somewhere came the inexplicable sound of clanking chains.

“What time tomorrow?”

“Noon. In the cathedral.”

“The cathedral! Why there?”

“He did not say. I suppose he thinks it a more . . . peaceful place to wait.”

“He thinks I might want to pray,” she said.

“To what?”

“To pray. And you too.” She smiled. “This is vastly better,” she said.

“Is it? How?”

“He might have kept us waiting a week, a fortnight, a month. Think of it, John. Each morning rising to spend yet another day contemplating what is to come. I don’t think either of us could have stood it for very long. Or he might have thought me unsuitable. Or I might have thought him unsuitable. A thousand things.”

“You trust him?”

“Don’t you?”

“Yes, I suppose . . . But tomorrow!”

“It is you, I think, who is not ready,” she said.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“That I am not ready?”

She nodded.

“That at least,” he said, passing a hand across his eyes, “seems agreed upon.”

They spent the afternoon taking in the sights, the alternative being to sit in a room at the inn endlessly picking over the interview with Rizzo. Lacroix instructed himself to accept. He was there as a companion of sorts, a friend. He was not a brother or husband. His role was to ensure she did not fall into someone’s cellar, that she was not accosted. Beyond that? Nothing, perhaps. Nothing but to be obliging. Kind.