She paused. She was embarrassed now. What if it upset him to be reminded of the incident? She regretted being so forward. She wanted to disappear, she wished she had never approached him. But the man had recognized her now. He nodded. Giulia went on:

‘I was afraid … they’d put you in prison.’

The man smiled, and his expression was frank and amused. Who was this strange girl who seemed so worried about him?

‘They kept me in for the afternoon, and then they let me go.’

Giulia studied his face. His skin was dark, but his eyes were astonishingly pale. She could see them clearly now. They were blue, bordering on green – or perhaps the opposite. An intriguing mixture. She felt emboldened.

‘I can help you. I know all these shelves. Are you looking for something in particular?’

The man said he wanted to read a book in Italian. Nothing too complicated, he told her. He spoke the language fluently, but he still had trouble with the written word. He wanted to improve. Giulia nodded. She took him to the Italian literature section. She hesitated – the contemporary authors were difficult, inaccessible, she thought. Finally, she recommended a novel by Salgari that she had read as a child: I figli dell’aria, her favourite. The man took it and thanked her. Any Sicilian man would try to keep her from leaving, engage her in conversation, take advantage of the moment to try and seduce her. Not him. He simply wished her a pleasant afternoon and walked away.

Giulia watched as he left the library, armed with the book he had just borrowed. She felt something tighten around her heart and regretted not having the courage to go after him. Such things weren’t done here. No one ran after a man they had just met. Regretfully, Giulia knew she was still that young girl who leans on her elbows to watch every passing event but does nothing to alter their course. She cursed herself there and then, for her shyness, her passive nature.

Of course there had been boyfriends, flirtations, romantic encounters. Stolen kisses and caresses. Giulia had gone along with them, responding to the show of interest. But she had never gone out of her way to attract men.

She returned to the workshop, thinking about the stranger with his turban, which made him look out of place, out of time. She thought about the hair it concealed. And his body, too, beneath the crumpled shirt. At that thought, she blushed.

She went back to the library the next day, secretly hoping to meet him again. She didn’t need any more books, she hadn’t finished the ones she was reading to Papà. She entered the reading room and froze. There he was. In the same spot as the day before. He lifted his eyes to her, as if he had been waiting. At that moment, Giulia felt her heart leap.