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"The fellow introduced himself," said Monsieur Béliveau "He wasn’t alone There was a er See one, would need a project lo would do They wanted to know if there were any artists around" The grocer looked uncomfortable "I sent them to Ruth"

"To Ruth? Why?"

"I panicked"

"Panicked?" asked Gamache "Why would you panic?"

Clée hands, and rubbed an i about the off They looked okay, if you didn’t look too close or too long"

He picked up an apple frorass With an expert twist of his hands, the apple split in two He offered one half to Armand

The outer flesh hite and moist Perfect But the core was dark, decayed

"After a while, in one rotten," said the elderly grocer "Even if it’s not obvious from the outside"

Armand looked at the apple in his hand, then cocked his ar it as far as he could

"I just wanted to be rid of the his own piece, and watching it bounce into the tall grass by the pond Then he looked at Ruth "I’ve regretted sending them to you ever since"

Ruth patted his hand "You’re one of the good ones, Clément Alill be"

"What did they want?" asked Armand

"They wanted to commission a work of art," said Ruth "I explained I was a poet and told theave thee," said Gamache

"Evie?" said Ruth "No She was a child at the tie"

Gaht It couldn’t have been Evie

"How did you knoas an artist?" Gamache asked "Isn’t he a musician?"