Simon could not recall the last time he had ever done anything to hurt a dear friend. Never before was he left in this circumstance, sitting on the edge of a bed with a room key in one hand and a strange gentleman's wristwatch in the other. Vic et MP. MP. It was undoubtedly Mignonette's. But who was Vic? Simon turned the watch over in his hand and finally shoved it back into his pocket. What difference did it make? Why should it have anything to do with his attacker? If it was for a gentleman friend of Nettie's, it was logical that it would be in her room.

Amends would be made, that was certain. After a bath and shave, Simon dressed in the bespoke suit that Nettie had bought him. At Simon's request, Robert reluctantly accepted the task of taking the entetainer's evening dress to be cleaned, leaving Simon alone to map out the course of his apology.

He flipped a mah-jongg tile in the air, repeatedly, as he thought aloud. "To the Rue de la Paix for a new pair of shoes or whatever else may strike her fancy, then a visit to a vacant piano stool at some café in Montparnasse, and finally supper and Pernod at La Rotonde." Simon gave a sigh of despair and collapsed into an armchair. "I'd have a better chance seducing Gertrude Stein."

The bedroom telephone with the pearl earpiece rang. Simon answered and accepted the call from the operator. "Allo?"

"Guten tag, herr Niall." Simon recognised the voice on the other end immediately. Oskar von Isenwolf. Even after ten years, the junker's teutonic trill still sent chills through Simon's flesh. Unable to speak, Simon let Isenwolf continue. "I expected to find you here, hiding like a coward in Mme Pacal's residence."

Too stricken with fear to offer a witty reply, Simon invited the German mercenary to get straight to the point. "What do you want?"

"What else? The Shaitan's Eye. Bring it with you to the Moulin Rouge this evening, at seven. Failing to do so will cause irreparable harm to Mme Pacal. For that reason, you will want to be prompt, Herr Niall."

The line was immediately disconnected, complicating matters immensely. Simon obviously did not have the priceless, Persian stone known as Shaitain's Eye. Surely the stone was still in Prince James's safekeeping. Regardless, Isenwolf apparently believed that Simon had it. But why? How would he have even known that Simon even knew where it was? One of his comrades must have let something slip. Was the stone still safe in London?

Enough. Mignonette was in trouble. Isenwolf may have had her already. The apology would have to wait. Simon's course was clear.

After a Métro ride and taxi to the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Simon dashed into the studio where he knew Mignonette should still be busy at work and was relieved to find her there, surrounded by balled up drawings but otherwise unharmed.

Accepting that she would never buy the truth about Isenwolf, Simon decided to continue with the apology, though with considerably more concern about being shot at.

"A fool will say all manner of things when knocked upon the head only to wake up in a strange room. I was a perfect brute, Nettie, I know I was, and I should understand if you never wish to speak to me ever again. But I am your friend, or at least I desperately wish to be worthy of the honour. So before you storm out of this studio and leave me the key (a sad day indeed for women's fashion), please accept my deepest and humblest apologies. You've gone to such trouble, my dear, and I've treated you beastly. Please let me make it up to you by being honest with you and explaining why I behaved the way I did."

Simon searched Mignonette's stone expression for some glimpse of hope and reconciliation.

There is a long pause, during which time Nettie continues to look away. "Do you like your new suit?"

"I like it very much. It reminds me of Cairo."

"Of happier days, non?" When Mignonette's eyes finally met Simon's, he took the opportunity to narrow the distance between them.

"The happy times don't disappear, Nettie. They only allow intervals of grief before returning once again. There will always be a marvellous party, Mignonette. Will you permit me to prove it to you?"