A French Affair (65 page)

She nodded and smiled as she sighed. ‘A very tragic end, but a real one,' she said, ‘because it is death.' Her eyes went to his. ‘Lucile and her German didn't have a happy end either, because she found she didn't love him after all.' Her expression showed some anxiety that the same fate might be awaiting them.

He appeared amused. ‘It was the plan for her to fall very deeply in love with a Frenchman,' he reminded her. ‘If Irène Némirovsky had lived, that is what she would have written. It is in her notes.'

She laughed at having been read so easily, and put right so wonderfully. ‘So are we very deeply in love?' she asked playfully. Then, more seriously, ‘That's how it feels to me.'

‘It is how it feels to me too,' he said, linking his fingers through hers.

She looked down at their hands, then raising her eyes back to his she smiled as she remembered the line he'd once written on a card for her, reminding her of what the quotation in
Suite Française
should really have been. ‘“
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever
,”' she said, speaking the words aloud.

Recognising them and realising how appropriate it was now, his eyes remained on hers as he continued the verse:

As the beauty of the poem and its promise stole over her, she went to put her arms around him and said, very softly, ‘Whatever the future might hold,
mon chéri
, I need to be with you now . . .'

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781409021179

Version 1.0

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Arrow Books 2007

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Copyright © Susan Lewis 2007

Susan Lewis has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

Lines from
Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky, translated by Sandra Smith, published by Chatto & Windus. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd

This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by

William Heinemann

Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,

London, SW1V 2SA

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780099492337