“Not all the time.” Oscar shook his head. “He is on duty. And there is no one else in the yard that Claude trusts. I’ve seen how much he likes you. Right from the start when you first came to draw him and sit in his stall, I could see that he had a bond with you. He needs that now. He needs a friend. Maisie, I know it is a lot to ask …”

“No,” I said. “I mean, no, it’s not a lot to ask. I want to help Claude. Of course I’ll go and be with him.”

I didn’t tell Oscar about Augustin and the threats he’d made to me about not being able to take part in the looming art auction if I didn’t deliver anything worthy. If Oscar had known I only had a couple of weeks left to produce an artwork that would finally please my teacher, well, he was so kind he would have told me to go home instead and focus on my art. But I didn’t even care about the Paris School at that moment, and the truth was that even if Oscar hadn’t asked me to be with him, nothing would have kept me from Claude’s side.

“They will be waiting for you at the Célestins,” Oscar said. “I have told Alexandre you are coming tonight. He will meet you at the gate.”

Nicole’s driver took me there. It was raining by then, and night had fallen as we drove through the same Paris streets that had been bathed in pink light only that morning. Now the city felt entirely different to me. The rain made it look as if Paris was weeping, the streets turned blue and grey, except for the pools of white street lights and the raindrops dazzling like diamonds as they fell.

Alexandre stood at the gates waiting for me in the rain, the peak of his Garde républicaine hat all that was visible of his face beneath the black cloak of his raincoat. I leapt out of the car and ran across the wet cobblestones to him.

“How is he doing?” I asked.

“You are in time. He is still alive,” Alexandre said.

The reply shocked me to my core. I hadn’t realised until he said these words that it was possible Claude might have died before I could even reach his side. I was shocked too when Alexandre gripped my arm tight and held me back, stopping me in my tracks.

“I need to prepare you, Maisie, for what you are about to see. His injuries, they are very serious indeed. I haven’t really told Oscar how bad his wounds are as I didn’t want him to get upset.”

I could feel myself shaking now as I asked the question.

“Is he going to die?”