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which is precisely why I’m so worried about what Georgina might be getting up to in London. Asa, you must make the most of every opportunity here in Paris. Perhaps Mr Shackleford will attend this salon and introduce you to his friends.’
    ‘I’ve never wanted any company other than that of you and Georgina, and Caroline,’ Asa protested, kneeling by her sister’s bed and burying her face in the quilt. ‘I feel so sad for you now; you are never able to go out even though all of Paris is waiting to be explored. How do you bear it?’
    ‘Asa, why these tears? I’m confined here for the best of reasons. Can’t you see how the prospect of becoming a mother means more to me than a few trips to a Parisian salon? Dry your eyes or you’ll have me weeping too, and what would Mr Morton say to that? It’s your job to have a marvellous time on behalf of both of us, and to tell me about it afterwards.’
    Professor Paulin, who wore an old-fashioned black frock coat and whose eyes were a more faded blue than his children’s, smiled kindly at Asa. ‘My daughter has spoken highly of you,’ he said, ‘and I, of course, am delighted to meet any friend of Charles Lambert. Tell me how you came to meet him.’
    In the presence of Didier’s father, Asa could scarcely utter a coherent sentence. ‘The Lambert family used to live in London but Mrs Lambert, as I expect you know, died of typhus and since Caroline, the only child, had also been dangerously ill, Mr Lambert brought her to Littlehampton, a seaside town within a few miles of my village. It’s typical of him that his first concern was to enquire about finding a suitable friend for her. He and Caroline simply called at our house – I was seven at the time and I remember these pale, sad strangers being received by my sister Philippa with great kindness. I had no idea then that they would come to mean so much to me.’
    ‘You were fortunate indeed if Lambert became your teacher. I spent time with him in Geneva and England as well as France and believe him to be a first-rate scholar.’
    ‘And yet so patient, even though we were only girls. He taught us Latin and Greek, as well as French.’
    ‘And, I don’t doubt, you learnt a fair degree of strong-mindedness, which is a common trait among young women these days, I find. If Beatrice is with her school fellows, the likes of Charlotte and Estelle, I hardly dare go near them for fear of being dubbed reactionary.’
    When they arrived at the salon on the rue de Belle Chasse they were drawn at once into the clever, seditious talk.
    ‘We are in the absurd situation,’ said Madame de Genlis, ‘of being up in arms against the king because he wishes to reform our legal system – which is, of course, corrupt. We all know the parlements , our highest courts, are full of the richest and most privileged men instead of the most able. The parlements must be reformed. Unfortunately the king cannot see that, because he hates them, we find ourselves forced, through our antagonism to him, to love them.’
    ‘Madame speaks well.’ A voice by Asa’s ear, so close that her cheek was warmed by his breath. Didier. She had steeled herself for a long wait but here he was already. He drew her aside; his eyes were bright with joy. ‘You are here, Mademoiselle Ardleigh. That is all I ask. But there are wheels within wheels here. Madame de Genlis is on the side of her lover, the Duc d’Orléans, and he, gambler and womaniser that he is, makes a strange champion of the poor.’
    ‘Why strange?’ Asa was amazed that she could conduct a lucid conversation when it was as if a soft, thick cloak had been thrown over her.
    ‘The Duc d’Orléans is a philanderer. He loves the good life and possesses a fortune of seven and a half million livres . Yet he claims to be on the side of the people and has even been living in exile for the last year because of his radical views. Can one trust such a man not to be acting for the sake of expedience? It’s