“I was at the Célestins again,” I said. “I’m sorry. I should have asked first.”

“I don’t mind that you go there. Just text me, perhaps? Let me know next time?” Nicole said. “Otherwise your dinner will be overcooked!”

“She’s English, Maman,” Françoise rolled her eyes. “They like their food overcooked.”

I took the insult with a smile. But when Nicole asked me how I liked my steak I lied and said I would have it rare just to prove Françoise wrong. It was all bloody inside. I thought about Rose, how she refused to eat meat.

“Is there something wrong with your meal?” Nicole asked me.

“I … I’m a vegetarian,” I said suddenly. The words surprised even me.

“Oh.” Nicole seemed quite taken aback. “I should have asked. Now I feel dreadful.”

“It’s fine,” I said.

Nicole didn’t seem cross, just confused. She picked up the plate with the rare steak. “Let me find you something else. Do you eat cheese? You’re not vegan?”

I didn’t even know what vegan meant. “I eat cheese,” I said.

Nicole returned with some crusty baguette and cheeses and a green salad. It was really good.

“How long have you been a vegetarian, Maisie?” She asked.

“Since today,” I had to admit. The look she gave me made it clear that now she thought I was being difficult and, possibly, a little bit nuts.

“It’s because of Rose,” I said. “She loved animals so she didn’t eat them, and it’s inspired me, I guess.”

“Was she a vegetarian?” Nicole said. “How do you know? What makes you think so?”

I realised then that I still hadn’t told them about the diary. “I … umm … I think I read it somewhere.”

“Did you?” Nicole said. “That is so interesting. I would love it if you could recall where you read about her. You know there is so very little historical information about Rose Bonifait. Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, all these male artists had biographies written about them and their work. But Rose was a woman artist in a male-dominated world, and at the time they did not regard her as significant, not the way we know her to be today. So we know virtually nothing about her life. I did not know, for instance, that she was a vegetarian.”

“Did you know that she was crippled?”

The words came tumbling out of my mouth before my brain could put the brakes on and stop them. Nicole looked at me, totally stunned.

“There have long been rumours of an accident, a terrible horse fall. But nothing concrete. Is this what you are you talking about?”