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‘I’m sorry?’

‘You wish me to spell it out, Sophia?’

‘Sophie’ My jaw had becoht ‘My name is Sophie And, yes, please do spell it out, Madame’

‘I’m so sorry if this is indelicate’ She smiled prettily ‘But … you must know that you are not the first of Édouard’s models he … has had relations with’

‘I don’t understand’

She looked at me as if I were stupid ‘The woets the ies he does, of such delicacy and power, the reason he is able to portray such … intimacy’

I think I knew then what she was about to say, but I stood there and let the words fall around uillotines

‘Édouard is a man of swift and unpredictable passions When he tires of the novelty of being married, Sophia, he will return to his old ways If you are a sensible girl, and I’round, I would advise you to look the other way A ainst his artistic spirit’

I sed ‘Madah I’m afraid we must part company here Thank you for your … advice’

I turned and walked away, her words ringing inso I was halfway to rue Soufflot before I discovered I had left the bag that contained the onions, cabbage and cheese sitting on the ground by the stall

Édouard was out when I returned It was no great surprise: he and his dealer would generally retreat to a nearby bar and conduct their business over glasses of pastis, or if it grew late, perhaps even absinthe I dropped the basket with ras in the kitchen area and walked through to the washstand, where I splashed azed back at lass was a soer, her pale cheeks lit with colour I tried to smile, to make myself the woman Édouard saw, but she wouldn’t come I could see only this thin, watchful woman, whose happiness felt suddenly as if it were built on shifting sands

I poured lass of sine, and drank it swiftly And then I had another I had never in rown up around my father and his excesses, I had had little appetite for drink until I met Édouard

As I sat there in the silence I kept hearing her words: He will return to his old ways The woets the ilass at the wall, lass