Embarrassed to be looking inside, she turned to go over to the cages. She was walking full in the sun, but as she got closer she started to see the animals huddled in the shade more clearly. As her eyes got used to the gloom, the eight massive shapes revealed themselves gradually until they were perfectly clear. Standing back, she took a good look at the magnificent, terrifying beasts, which stared back at her, indifferent and disdainful. They were all at the back of the cage, as if protecting themselves from the sun. She was amazed to find herself there, in a landscape she knew well, countryside that she had been coming to her whole life, but standing opposite eight totally out-of-place felines. She went a little closer. The old male, a thickset animal with an abundant mane, occasionally threw her a glance. He would appear to look at her, but immediately closed his eyes to conceal it. He would close his eyes for a second before opening them again on something else. Then his immense eyes, rimmed in black, would turn back towards her, staring over her shoulder, not even granting her the favour of looking her in the face. These lions and tigers were like enormous cats, gigantic soft toys that she wanted to stroke because, lying down, they looked languid, and the flashes of violence they displayed were softened. Joséphine went even closer, fatally attracted, thinking she detected in them a liking for her or, at least, a tolerance. Already they had stopped growling and roaring; they recognised that she was an ally. So she went still closer. She was almost within reach of the bars now. Standing barely a metre away, she was gripped by the desire to slip her hand through the bars, to finally touch these frightening toys. She had never seen them so close, and so calm. She thought she heard a sort of growl from one or other of them, more like a tender purring, so she went right up close and put her hand on the cage, but Théo, the big male, let out such a ferocious breath that she recoiled. She thought they were intrigued by her presence, whereas in fact they were brooding on the cold anger that had been gnawing at them for the past two weeks, the frustration of not being able to hunt real prey. Although separated from them by the bars, Joséphine was frightened again, aware that they could inflict death on her at any moment. But, feeling them so close, these eight unctuous wild cats, these eight big teddy bears, she had a sudden desire to fling herself amongst them. They were the wild cats of the man she had there within reach, and to get close to them, to almost be able to touch them, was as exciting as getting close to him.