At first I thought he might be mocking me. But then I realised Augustin had never made a joke in the entire time I’d known him. He was deadly serious.

“All this time,” he said to me, “if I was hard on you Maisie, it is because I knew you had this inside you. You had such technique, such natural composition. Now you have found the grit and beauty that separates true art from mere decoration. I look at Claude and I feel the full impact of what it means to be alive, and to face down death and look it in the eye without fear. This work you have produced marks your potential as a future artist of greatness. I am humbled to have taught you.”

I really didn’t know what to say. Augustin, who had made my life so difficult since I had got here, was one of the good guys after all? As it turned out, I had no time to reply because the auction was now underway, and the auctioneer was announcing the first lot. As they carried the painting on to the stage I felt sick with fear that if I said another word or raised my hand I might end up buying something by mistake!

And so I kept my hands glued to my sides and my mouth zipped as Monsieur Falaise worked his way through the catalogue. He was so swift! The Lucie’s auction staff had only barely finished carrying a lot up on to the stage to place on the easel before he got underway. First he would explain the work, naming the artist and making a few comments of his own about the art, then he would begin his mellifluous and rhythmical chanting, the auction patter, and the paddles would start rising and the numbers would keep climbing. And Françoise was at my side, driving me mad, translating anything I didn’t understand, her own pattern echoing the auctioneer.

“What am I bid? Over there, sir! Well done, madame! Go higher, mademoiselle!”

Sometimes it was clear to me which works were worth the big money. The patrons in this room were here to buy statements that emphasised their own wealth – massive works that would look good in gilt frames hanging in their palatial drawing rooms. So the art that got the highest bids was big, bold and glamorous. Or at the very least it would look good matched up with your sofa.