‘What about him?’ said Vianne with a touch of defiance. ‘We’re doing what he wants, aren’t we? Moving into Rue de la Croix? Why shouldn’t you stay with us till then? And when we move out, you can look after the shop. Make sure everything’s all right. He practically suggested it anyway – he said I’d need a manager.’

I seemed to consider it awhile. Is Thierry getting impatient? I thought. Has he shown her his wilder side? I have to say I’d suspected as much – and now that Roux has turned up again she needs to keep them both at arm’s length, at least until she makes up her mind . . .

A chaperone. That’s what she needs. And what better choice than her friend Zozie?

‘But you’ve only just met me,’ I told her at last. ‘I could be anyone.’

She laughed. ‘No, you couldn’t.’

Shows what you know.

‘All right,’ I said. ‘We’ve got a deal.’

Once more, I was in.

5

Tuesday, 4th December

SO THERE IT is. She’s moving in. How cool is that? – as Jean-Loup would say. She brought her stuff round yesterday – what there was of it, anyway. I’ve never seen anyone travel so light, except maybe for me and Maman, in the days when we were on the road. Two suitcases – one of shoes, the other filled with everything else. Ten minutes to unpack, and already it feels like she’s been here for ever.

Her room is still full of Madame Poussin’s old furniture: old-lady furniture, with a skinny armoire that smells of mothballs and the chest-of-drawers full of big scratchy blankets. The curtains are brown and cream, with a pattern of roses, and there’s a saggy bed with a horsehair bolster, and a speckled mirror that makes everyone look like they have the plague. An old lady’s room; but trust Zozie to make it cool again in no time at all.

I helped her unpack her things last night, and gave her one of the sandalwood sachets from my wardrobe to help get rid of the old-lady smell.

‘That’s all right,’ she said, smiling as she hung up her clothes in the old armoire. ‘I’ve brought some things to cheer the place up.’

‘What things?’

‘You’ll see.’