I sit for a moment, absorbing that information.

“Filomena’s circle of friends may be impressive, but they’re all poor as church mice,” Ben continues. “It’s the rare artist who is appreciated in their own lifetime, Bea.” He smiles grimly. “Not everyone gets as lucky as Sir Hugh.”

“So the work goes on display?” I ask.

Ben nods. “In the house and in the gardens. Usually, Filomena plies everyone with drink and there are a few money types who turn up and buy things – collectors come to look for new talent. There are a handful of people coming to this one who I am hoping might offer me a commission. The summer’s almost gone, after all. I need to start making plans.”

He speaks lightly, but the words hit me with a force I hadn’t expected. “Plans?” I repeat.

“Well, yes.” Ben eyes me with something like amusement. “We haven’t all got stately homes to return to. I can’t expect your uncle to house me indefinitely.”

“I suppose not,” I say, my voice a little hollow.

“What’s wrong?” Ben asks.

“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Just thinking about the summer being over. Going home. I suppose it just feels like the end of something.” I sit up.

“The end of a glorious summer romance?”

“The end of a very interesting experiment.”

“You’re only interested in me for my scientific possibilities,” Ben grumbles.

“Perhaps.” I smile. There’s a pause. “Why did you ever agree to it?” It’s a question I’ve been wanting to ask for a while.

Ben looks thoughtfully into the distance for a moment. “I suppose the idea was a bit of a novelty,” he muses. “Whatever else you are, Bea, you’re never boring.”

“Oh,” I say, somehow deflated.

“Of course, there was one other reason,” Ben says slowly.

“What was that?”

“It was becoming very inconvenient, wanting to kiss you all the time.” His voice is very neutral, matter-of-fact.

“Did you?”

“Yes, I did,” he sighs. “Despite all my better judgement, against every measure of sanity I possess, I couldn’t stop thinking about it whenever you were around.”

“That’s just how I felt,” I say. “As if my brain and my body were completely disconnected and I kept having all these involuntary responses. I should note this down. Do you think it is something chemical?”

I look over at Ben now and catch my breath, because there’s something glittering in his eyes that makes the air between us crackle.

“Something like that,” he says.

Before the crackle can turn into anything more interesting, Filomena appears, wearing a strange expression.

“Is everything all right?” I ask, noticing that she is clutching a letter in her hand.

“Everything is very all right, Bea,” she says, a slow smile spreading across her face. She sits down. “Now, how would you feel about a trip to Florence?”

“To Florence?” I repeat, in a daze.