Early morning, 18 August 1784

Maison Diamante, Marseille

Lorsagne did not share the common belief that soaking in waterespecially hot waterwould permit disease to enter her body, and she was pleased to see that the finely finished and furnished room provided for her use in de Saboulin Bollenas house known as Maison Diamante contained a large copper bathtub, as well as an enormous tile stove capable of heating both the room and the requisite water she would need to wash away the grime of the journey from Sorrentina to Marseille.

The servant assigned to tend to her needs disapproved, of course, but the woman had followed Lorsagnes instruction to have the tub filled with hot water at dawn so Lorsagne could begin her day with a bath infused with lavender, mint, and dried iris flowers. Fresh linen garments were simply no substitute for a long soak to Lorsagnes mind and she used the time in her bath to review what she had learned the previous evening over a long and felicitous dinner with her godfather and their host, a representative of the powerful and ancient house of Saboulin Bollena, one of Marseilles premier ship-owners trading with ports of the Levant as well as the West Indies.

Splashing the now cooling water over her breasts she laughed recalling how Saboulin Bollena had come to her defense when she protested to her godfather that she needed a day of rest on land before once again boarding a ship where she would be subject to the discomfort that always accompanied her when she was forced to travel by sea. Saboulin Bollena had interjected that he, too, suffered from chronic seasickness that no amount of ginger could alleviate and convinced her godfather that a days delay would allow him to ensure the ship he was putting at their disposal was well-provisioned and that its captain and crew were both skilled and discrete.

Considering that the presence of Lorsagnes godfather in France defied the orders of both the French king and the pope, discretion was a compelling argument against which Camara had made no objection.

Rising from her bath and attended by the serving woman who wrapped her in warmed linen sheets, Lorsagne turned her thoughts to the small packet of correspondence her godfather had given her the evening before. She would spend the day writing and dispatching her replies, beginning with the Parisian jeweler to whom she had given the commission to create a suitable christening gift for her godchild Maria and ending with a response to Capitane Lucien de Robion-Castellanes worrisome report about her friend Fannys young solider, Lt. Henri Badeau.