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“Yes, of course If she isn’t too busy”

“She is busy, but she will be hurt if you avoid her because of that,” he said He looked as if he was going to say so her in silence to Aphrodite’s little office

Francesca was shocked

Aphrodite looked ill Her face had always been pale, but nohite, with touches of hectic red on her cheekbones, and her eyes looked so bright as to be feverish But she lit up with shter

“Petit chaton, but what a lovely surprise! No one told me you had come”

“I was ad Rosie’s puppy”

“She is a sweetheart,” the courtesan said “Did she tell you what she is calling him?”

“Jem, after Dobson”

“She says they are alike” Aphrodite laughed “He pretends to be insulted, but he is really quite touched He would have ood father”

Her words seemed to surprise her aswith the large diaers

“Mada very private, Francesca sat down in the straight-backed chair in front of the desk “As dear as Rosie is, I wish now I had not brought her to you”

Aphrodite’s fingers grew still, and Francesca noticed that as usual they were ink-stained The lines on her face seemed more pronounced “Why do you say this? She is happy, is she not? Has she said otherwise?”

She’d said the wrong thing again What was it about her aucheness in her? “No, I did not mean…it is not that I think she is unhappy”

“Oh? What is it then?”

“It has been explained to er I am very sorry”