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and mint-coloured in a tall glass. Her husband? Her lover? Madeleine felt as though she was moving in slow motion through a long-lost world.
    Robert strode along before her alongside the porter. She’d made it to France more easily than she could have imagined after all, but the elders had insisted she mustn’t travel alone, and had sent Robert with her on the outward journey. Not that she was complaining. It was wonderful to have Robert with her, and he too had a past and a present to discover in France.
    At the end of the platform, behind the barrier, she could already see Cousin Solange, standing out in an elegant cream suit in front of all the rest of the waiting crowd. Beside her, with a hand lightly holding her elbow, stood a rather round, pepper-haired man with a small moustache, whom Madeleine supposed must be Solange’s husband Bernard. She waved, and Solange surged forward until she was nearly touching the barrier.
    As Madeleine came through, Solange wafted her into an embrace. ‘Madeleine. I would hardly have known you. How wonderful to see you. And this must be … oh!’
    Solange’s eyes gaped, and as Madeleine looked from her to Robert she suddenly realised why. Solange had never met Robert, who was so much the image of the young Luis whom Solange and her family had known. They couldexpect this level of astonishment from everyone who had known their father. She hastened to explain, with an extraordinary flush of pleasure.
    ‘This is Robert, Solange. He is very like our father, I know. Is that what surprised you?’
    ‘Surprised me? It’s astonishing!’ said Solange. She reached out to Robert and smiled rather shakily. ‘Robert you are very welcome. My mother will be incredulous when she sees you. Your father was such a distinctive-looking man, so … so
broad
, and dark and handsome. Oh, I sound stupid, but you are Luis. You are simply Luis.’
    Robert smiled, and allowed himself to be enfolded in a perfumed embrace. Solange kissed him on both cheeks and then turned to her husband.
    ‘Bernard, these are my cousins Madeleine and Robert. You know their history, but you just
can’t
know what it means to see this young man, so much the image of that astonishing father of his.’
    Bernard came forward, gracefully manoeuvring past Robert, and first kissed Madeleine on both cheeks. ‘No doubt, Solange, but my first welcome must be for this beautiful young woman. How do you do, my dear Madeleine? I have heard so much about you ever since Solange visited London and met you. She has always talked about how much of your father she saw in you also, as well as the beauty of your mother. I only met your mother once, but I will never forget how lovely she was.’
    He turned to Robert, and shook his hand. ‘Robert, it is good to meet you at last. You are very welcome. You are both very welcome.’
    Madeleine drank in the moment, not wanting to move. These people welcomed them because of their parents, not in spite of them. There were memories here which they could explore, and goodwill which radiated and warmed them. She looked across at Robert again, looking for the mirror of her excitement, and caught a reflected smile.
    ‘Let’s go,’ said Solange. ‘My mother is waiting anxiously to see you.’
    A short taxi ride took them through some of the most famous streets of Paris. They swept down the rue Lafayette, and on into the Boulevard Haussmann. The evening was drawing in, and behind the avenue of trees the department stores were all lit up, revealing a quick glimpse of chic luxury as the taxi followed the slow-moving evening traffic. The Arc de Triomphe loomed ahead.
    ‘Look!’ Madeleine breathed at Robert, as they drove past the arch, and on into the Avenue Victor Hugo.
    ‘I know,’ he replied, with suppressed excitement.
    On down the Victor Hugo and into the sixteenth arrondissement, where
Tante
Louise had her apartment. Madeleine had known that the family lived in the heart of fashionable Paris, but