‘I think you still believe there is merit and more to investigate in what Monte Regio found: that the Moon’s distance from Earth does not change every month.’

He arched his eyebrows in astonishment and she held her breath. Then his expression dropped into a look of such appreciation that she felt its warmth against her heart like a hug. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders to lighten the intensity of his stare. ‘Don’t let the reaction of others thwart your focus.’

‘I believe we are equally intrigued by the motions of the planets,’ he said, sitting to remove the outer cover of his boots. ‘For what could be more beautiful than the heavens, which contain all beautiful things?’

Luna enjoyed his turn of phrase. ‘How does your private work progress?’

‘I have more crazy ideas than I care to reveal, all jostling for space within my head, but there’s been little time to consider my assumptions. The professor keeps me busy, though I plan on taking rooms for myself in town for a while so I can pursue my own investigations and study here at the villa under Domenico’s guidance.’

‘I hope you don’t shy away from your investigations.’

‘Sometimes I think it is a madness to question the great and wondrous Ptolemy, but in one area his technique violates the principles of perfect circular motions. It just does not hold true when scrutinised.’

‘Yet Ptolemy’s model is accepted.’

‘Of course! He is the most outstanding of astronomers and using his tables allows us to approximate the position of any planet at any time. So we choose to overlook the mishap, but how can any sphere rotate uniformly about an off-centre axis?’ He shook his head. ‘My peers ridicule me.’

‘You must ignore the critics.’

‘And risk the scorn to which I would expose myself on account of the novelty and incomprehensibility of my ideas?’ He jumped up and paced to the doors, running his hands through his hair in frustration, then returned and sat beside Luna again. ‘We have both seen the devastating consequences of putting forward ideas that might be considered heretical. I do not know that I am strong enough.’