The other important thing about the Baden house was that Delphine would be there.

‘I’ve saved up all my pay from the last six months,’ she told Anton, lying fully clothed on the bed in his Vienna rooms, smoking a cigarette. ‘Is there a piano in the house?’

‘I’ve arranged for one to be brought in.’

‘Good. I won’t play when you’re working.’

‘How did you save all your money?’

‘By not spending it! I bought no new clothes, I took all my meals in the apartment, as I’m allowed to, even if it meant putting up with Erich’s conversation. I suppose I bought some stamps to write to you, some soap and things like that. Nothing else.’

‘No cafés, no theatres?’

‘Well, my love, I must confess I did allow that friend of Erich’s father to take me to the Opera one day. And to a couple of concerts.’

‘Were they any good?’

‘The opera was Don Giovanni, so it was good. The concerts … less so.’

‘And did you allow him anything else, this music lover?’

‘I allowed him to buy me dinner once. And to pay for my cab home.’

‘Afterwards.’

‘Afterwards. Exactly.’

Anton sat down next to her. ‘I thought that some of your underwear … What you had on the night I got back … That was new, wasn’t it?’

‘In honour of your return I bought some new stockings, yes. All the old pairs had holes in them. I was so frugal. There are one or two other things I think you’ll like which I’ve already packed for Baden.’

‘And what will you do all day while I’m working?’

‘Read books. Write letters to my sisters, walk in the park. Ride the bicycle. There is a bicycle?’

‘There are two.’

‘… Prepare your dinner. Make myself ready for the evening. Every night a recital. Or a new adventure.’

‘Did you leave Erich’s parents on good terms?’

‘Yes. They’d extended my stay there so many times it was beginning to be absurd. I believe Katrin now speaks better French than I do.’

What they could never discuss was how long Delphine would remain in Austria. She could have found work in any household or office, being fluent in three languages; but she never looked at the job columns in the newspapers or asked for advice. Anton wondered if in addition to what she had saved she had some allowance sent by her father in France. He must have been a proud and doting parent because – however much she praised Jeanne’s kindness and Isabelle’s beauty – Delphine would surely be his favourite child. Beyond this Anton didn’t like to ask; it was as though there were a kind of spell – a suspension of the normal rules of time – that his questioning might break.

So Delphine took a train the day ahead of him to make everything ready. She collected keys from the letting agent and stopped to buy flowers at the market. Then she took a cab to the house to be ready for the grocer’s delivery that afternoon and spent a day in preparations, moving lamps and chairs, putting candles in their holders and, after the vintner had called, unloading wine into the small cellar.