‘But they don’t suspect you?’

‘No, I don’t think so. And,’ he said, his face brightening, ‘it means, if we’re careful, that we can meet from time to time. I do miss you, you know!’ He was rewarded with a pleasing blush on Annette’s cheeks and he added a little anxiously, ‘You will still marry me when this is all over?’

‘Oh, Pierre, you know I will.’

He reached for her hand and, smiling into her eyes, said with great satisfaction, ‘Good.’

Both of them wished that they were not in such a public place, but it would not be seemly to embrace in a café, and so they had to make do with the squeeze of a hand and a smile.

‘Come on,’ said Pierre, tossing some coins onto the table and getting to his feet, ‘let’s make the most of our afternoon. Madame’s given me the day off.’

They walked arm in arm towards the river, strolling like any other couple in the early spring sunshine.

‘How long will you stay with her?’ Pierre asked suddenly.

‘As long as she needs me,’ replied Annette. She stopped and turned to face him. ‘We can’t let her marry that monster.’ Her face darkened. ‘I know what it’s like, Pierre, the fear, the violence, the shame. It comes back to haunt you just when you think you’re safe.’

‘You’d be safe with me, Annette,’ Pierre said gently.

She smiled up at him and it was like the sun breaking through. ‘I know,’ she said, ‘and one day I will be, I promise you.’

*

‘You look happy,’ Hélène remarked when Annette came back into the apartment. ‘What news from Pierre?’

‘First of all he says don’t worry, he wasn’t followed. He doesn’t think that anyone suspects him of being involved in your escape, but he says he was very careful and will continue to be so.’

‘What else did he say? How are my parents?’

‘Your father is still angry with you, but your mother seems much more sympathetic. She has brought Louise up to Paris and will be staying in the Avenue Ste Anne for a while now.’

‘Is Madame Sauze with her?’

‘No, she’s been left at Belair. Pierre thinks your mother guesses that Aunt Agathe had something to do with your disappearance, but she hasn’t actually asked her.’

‘What news of Simon?’

‘Pierre says Simon has moved out of the Garden House and back into Gavrineau with his parents. Saves him the cost of his own establishment, I suppose.’ She went into the kitchen. ‘Let’s forget about him and think what we’ll have for supper.’

‘I’ve made it,’ Hélène said proudly. ‘Fish, with a sauce.’

‘Good for you. What did you put in the sauce?’ Annette asked, with a smile.

‘Anything I liked the look of in the market,’ Hélène replied cheerfully.

‘Ah,’ said Annette. ‘The very best sort of sauce.’

As Annette and Hélène sat at the kitchen table eating their fish supper, Pierre found himself entertaining Jeannot in the stables.