Lise watched from the window. Franck seemed completely different after an hour here, not just because of his torn polo shirt and messy hair, but also because he looked like a frail adventurer. He had clearly not lost hope of a miracle, that he might suddenly find a signal next to a rock or hill that would bring him back to life. A hundred and fifty years ago when building the house, some sort of water diviner had probably searched in the same way as Franck. Before erecting a house so far away from any river, you had to make sure there was an adequate water supply. Incidentally, where did the water come from today, and was there any in the taps? Lise thought back to the water tank the farmer had told them about. Suddenly she was seized by doubt. She went downstairs to the ground floor and hurried to the kitchen to turn on the tap. Nothing. Lise had forgotten this feeling of total distress, of not having a drop of water when you turned on the tap. Anxiously, she leant under the sink to see where the copper pipe was coming from. She followed it as it ran behind the furniture, then disappeared under the flooring, probably to emerge outside on the other side of the wall. But outside all she could see was a bulky trapdoor. She struggled to lift it as it was covered with a heavy stone, and there she discovered a clump of compressed straw, a dense and putrid mass. With great disgust, she pulled out the blockage of ancient compacted straw that concealed a secret hiding place. She feared she would come across a dead animal or a snake, but at the bottom there was a tap, lying forgotten in the shadows. She turned it with force and heard the magical sound of the water splashing on the stone sink. The other tap a few metres away was running fast; when she went back into the room it was spattering everywhere, but at least it was working. She approached the source of the gushing water and sprayed herself with it, like a nomad in the middle of the desert.

She turned the tap off again and silence reigned once more in the cool room. There are some places that make us uneasy as soon as we set foot in them, and there are others that welcome us, that take us in, as if they have been expecting us.