Antoine was shocked. ‘Good God! It is enormous! I’ve never seen such a big truffle,’ he said.
‘It was under a rock,’ said Stéphie. ‘Milou knew it was there and was digging and digging, then me and Lexi helped him and got the rock out.’
‘We were covered in earth afterwards,’ said Alexandra, ‘but we were so excited we didn’t care. Véronique? Would you like to wash your hands? And I think I may have given you the wrong bedroom.’ She was glad she didn’t know Véronique’s surname so she couldn’t be tempted to use it and thus lower herself in status.
‘Why the wrong room?’ asked Véronique.
‘We were expecting Antoine’s colleague to be a man.’ Alexandra gave a little laugh. ‘If you’d like to come and see we can make changes if necessary.’
As Alexandra led the way upstairs she realised she had no idea what changes she could make if Véronique did reject the little room with the patch of damp on the wall.
‘It’s small,’ said Alexandra as she opened the door, ‘but that lump in the bed is a stone hot-water bottle. You can see how large it is. The bed will be very cosy.’
Veronique froze in horror. ‘I can’t stay in here. It feels like a dressing room, not a proper bedroom.’
It occurred to Alexandra – belatedly – that it was indeed a dressing room, for Antoine’s bedroom.
‘Very well.’ She made a quick decision. ‘I will put you in my bedroom. If you’d like to use the bathroom’ – she indicated where it was – ‘I’ll change the sheets.’
Making such a sacrifice was easier because she knew she was on the high moral ground. She also knew that Véronique was completely confused about whom she was dealing with.
Véronique went downstairs without waiting for Alexandra and eventually Stéphie came up. ‘Dinner’s ready. What are you doing?’
‘I’m making sure my bedroom is spotless and tidy before Véronique sleeps in it,’ she said. ‘Does that look all right to you?’
‘It looks utterly perfect,’ said Stéphie. ‘She couldn’t possibly say that anything’s wrong.’ She paused. ‘She’s very pretty, but she’s quite like Félicité’s and Henri’s mother.’ She suddenly giggled. ‘Supposing I forgot it wasn’t you in here and got into her bed in the morning by mistake! Wouldn’t that be awful!’ For something that was awful it seemed to make Stéphie laugh a lot. ‘You could sleep in my room with me if you like, Lexi. I don’t mind.’
‘That’s so kind of you, Stéphie, but I’ve put a huge hot-water bottle in the bed I made for Véronique and I wouldn’t like to waste it, so I’ll sleep there. If we want to do reading, we can do it in your bed though.’
‘Oh good.’ She gave a sudden twirl and held out her skirt. ‘Do you like my new dress? Félicité got it for me.’
‘I love it! And isn’t it a good thing you’d put it on? We got so dirty on our truffle hunt.’
‘We did!’ Stéphie paused. ‘I think you should put on some perfume, Lexi. Véronique has a lot of perfume on.’
‘OK …’ said Alexandra. ‘I’ve put it in the little room where I’ll be sleeping.’
When a good splash of Bien-Être eau de cologne, bought in the local chemist, had been applied – although it was certainly not the sort of scent that Véronique would ever wear – she and Stéphie went to join the party.
They were standing round in the salon with glasses of wine. David was near the door, looking anxious. Alexandra moved within earshot.
‘I want to serve up,’ he said out of the corner of his mouth. ‘Can I just announce that dinner is ready, do you think? Véronique is very grand!’
Alexandra tossed her head a little. ‘Of course you can announce dinner. She’s not as grand as all that!’ Having had to give up her room for her, Alexandra wasn’t going to give Véronique any ground on the grandness stakes.
David clapped his hands. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served!’
Alexandra hung back and gathered discarded glasses which she left on a tray and so was last to the dining room. Véronique was sitting next to Antoine, at the head, and Stéphie sat on his other side. The truffle, she noted, was placed on a saucer, doing duty as a table decoration. And a fine one too, she decided. She sat next to Jack at the other end of the table.
‘How did your day go?’ she asked him. ‘What did you get up to?’ She was longing to find out if they’d been to visit Penelope, and if the visit had gone well, but didn’t feel she could ask.
‘We had a good day, thank you. We found a market, the spoils of which you see before you. And then we had lunch with Penelope.’
‘Was that – nice?’ said Alexandra lamely.
Jack laughed. ‘You want to know how Penelope and I got on, don’t you?’
Alexandra nodded, laughing at herself.
