So when he suggested that they meet Pepe and Anna on Sunday, because Pepe had discovered an Irish bar where you could eat cheaply—he was always inventive like that—she’d agreed, thinking that maybe at the end of the day, when she and Thomas were walking back together, she might tell him her secret.

They met at the Irish bar in the middle of the day. It was on the edge of the Saint-Germain quarter near the old Irish College. The two young men were especially pleased with themselves because their crew had been among the last twenty men working at the top of the tower. This was a special badge of honor.

Pepe insisted they all drink the dark Irish Guinness with their meal, which they were not used to. Then they drank some red wine. Thomas amused them all by confessing how he’d sworn to Monsieur Eiffel that he had an excellent head for heights, and then frozen with panic before the building even got to the first platform. Anna told them stories about her huge family in Italy. By the time they were finally ready to leave, they were all very happy, but a little tipsy.

They strolled back together, along the left bank of the Seine. The tower, virtually completed, rose into the blue sky ahead of them. They reached the great site, where numerous halls were already being prepared for the huge exhibition. Some way off, there were people on the bridge staring up, but the fenced-off site was empty.

And they were just about to go their separate ways when Pepe said: “And now, Thomas and I will give you a demonstration of the fearless flyers of the Eiffel Tower.”

He led them to a small gap in the fence and in another minute they were in the quiet space under the huge southern archway of the tower.

“Want to come up?” he asked the girls.

“No,” said Édith. “Anyway it’s all locked.”

But Pepe only laughed.

“Come on, Thomas,” he cried. “Let’s go.”

Édith stared in horror. It suddenly occurred to her: If anything were to happen to Thomas, now of all times …

“Stay here. Thomas,” she begged him. “Don’t go up. You’ve been drinking.”

“We’re not drunk,” Pepe cried. “They give us wine up the tower every day.”

“Please, Thomas,” she implored.

But the two men were already swarming up the huge framework. After a while they got into the stairs. She and Anna could see them running happily up them, laughing as they went. Then, for a short while, they couldn’t be seen.

“Where do you think they are?” she asked Anna.

“Perhaps they’re going to the top,” Anna suggested.

“Oh my God, don’t let them do that,” Édith prayed. She looked up the huge iron network reaching into the sky. The safety barriers were all gone now. There was nothing to protect anyone out there on the girders. She still couldn’t see them. She and Anna moved in closer, almost under the arch.