Once she has me safely ensconced in Paris, I tell her that I am enjoying it which encourages her to suggest we go farther afield. She wants to go to Switzerland again, so that she may share it with me. She seems intent on reliving her travels and I ask her – will it not be dull for you to go again? – but she says I give her fresh eyes and she wants to see my reactions to the beautiful places she has seen. She last went to Switzerland seven years ago, and as she recounts her ascent of one of the highest mountains, for a moment I think she wants me to climb the thing as well. Luckily, she reads the concern on my face and assures me we will admire it from the valley below. She has an inkling to undertake another ascent but knows that it will be without me. I say I can manage on my own while she risks her life and she teases me and asks when my adventurous spirit died. I remind her in turn that we are now off to Switzerland on a boat, and before I met her I did not dare enter the woods by my house alone. I do not tell her I still fear this.

She must be patient with me; all of this is new, but it infects me. I am truly enjoying this adventure. I am away from all that ails me, the warmer climes do me good, her enthusiasm creeps into me and I feel that by her side I could go anywhere. I am also comforted to know that our beloved Shibden and my new family await us when we eventually return and that too gives me such comfort. I can enjoy my place here on foreign shores all the more knowing a home awaits me. The letters from her family come addressed to Miss Walker and Miss Lister and I love that I am included, they see us together, and care to ask after my health and happiness as well as Anne’s.

Switzerland is as stunning as she promised, like the Pennines of home but on a grander, snow-capped scale. The clouds cover some of the peaks as if they are part of Heaven. I understand her wish to climb above the clouds but know I do not have the strength for it. She reads to me the diary she wrote when she was here last, and we retrace her steps in the towns and lower hillsides. In this new landscape, away from all we know, I am able to push all the questions and all that society expects to one side, and I see that how I feel about her is simple. I love her.