As of this writing, France’s death toll is more than thirteen thousand. The trees were bare when this began; now the lindens are in full leaf, and the ashes will follow shortly. At some point the clocks changed, and at first it made us bashful to face each other each evening in full daylight. But without fail at 8 we appear at our windows, sometimes grimly, sometimes exuberantly, to fulfill what we all seem to agree is a duty to each other.

For a while, Ariel and Harriet laid low. Of course, everyone knew it was they who’d trashed Brooklyn Stable. Intense speculation was devoted to why. Finley’s idea that the damage to the bar was a secondary result of violence Harriet and Ariel had inflicted upon each other was plainly false; the nature of the damage made it clear that the violence was directed at the bar itself. Finley must have realized this as well, because he refined his theory in successive tellings such that Ariel alone was responsible for the damage, which she’d exacted in a fit of jealous rage as Harriet stood by helpless to intervene. But no one took this proposition seriously, either, because no one believed Finley could inspire jealous rage.