‘I’m sure it’s salvageable,’ he said. ‘There will be a slight hairline crack on the joint, but it should be good enough.’

Margarida then disappeared to wash her hands and Laurent began to clear up the atelier for the night. ‘It is a pity the professor needs my help urgently. I still have a lot to do on your sculpture, but at least I have your fingers now,’ he added wryly.

‘We must leave,’ said Margarida as she reappeared. ‘My driver has been waiting for hours and Mademoiselle Bel’s guardian will wonder where she’s got to.’

‘Tell her that I’ve kidnapped their ward and I don’t wish to return her until my sculpture is finished,’ Laurent joked as the girls collected their hats and made towards the door. ‘Izabela, are you not forgetting something?’ Laurent called to her just as she’d stepped outside. He dangled her engagement ring on the end of his little finger. ‘Perhaps we should replace this where it belongs, lest others suspect you removed it on purpose,’ he said as she walked back into the atelier towards him. ‘Here, I shall put it on for you.’ Laurent took her hand in his and slid the ring back into place, staring intently into her eyes. ‘There, you are reunited. À bientôt, mademoiselle. And do not worry, I will find a way for us to continue with your sculpture.’

The girls left the atelier, climbed into the car and set off on their journey back to central Paris. Bel gazed out of the window, feeling miserable.

‘Izabela?’

She turned and saw that Margarida was watching her thoughtfully.

‘May I ask you a personal question?’

‘I think so,’ she said cautiously.

‘Well, it’s in two parts really. You remember I overheard you talking with Laurent when he was sketching you, and you voiced your fears about returning to Rio and marrying your fiancé?’

‘Yes. But please, Margarida, that is for no other ears but Laurent’s and yours,’ she added hastily, terrified that word might get back via the Brazilian grapevine.

‘I understand what you meant. But of course, I couldn’t help wondering whether your reluctance to marry your fiancé has increased over the past few weeks?’

Bel stretched out her finger and absent-mindedly surveyed the engagement ring upon it as she thought about Margarida’s question. ‘When I left Rio, I felt grateful to Gustavo for allowing me come to Europe with the da Silva Costas before I married him. I never expected that he’d let me go and I felt he’d given me a gift. But now that the gift is nearly spent, and I must return home in less than three weeks, the truth is . . . that I find myself feeling differently about him. Yes, Paris has changed my perspective on many things,’ she sighed.

‘I understand that you love the freedom that Paris offers you,’ replied Margarida. ‘As do I.’

‘Yes,’ Bel said fervently, a catch in her voice. ‘And the worst thing is, now that I’ve tasted a different way of life, it’s made thoughts of the future even more difficult. Part of me wishes I’d never come here and experienced what I could have had and now never can.’