Clara pretexted everything that went through her mind so she wouldn't be alone with her mother. But when, after lunch, Isabel insisted on walking instead of sleeping, she could no longer refuse to accompany her. The walk was short. After crossing the meadows, the mother sat under a fence. Clara sat down, staring steadily over the fields that went down a gentle slope to the unused canal, flowing like a narrow river through the still-green forests. On the far bank of the river, there was an old brick country house.
