After leaving Jean's house, Sadie catches up to Burdmoore on the dark road outside Vantôme as midnight bells toll. Burdmoore confides that he senses something is being planned around the fair and the minister, but resents being kept in the dark by Pascal while doing the menial work and bearing the risks, like the torching of equipment in Tayssac that endangered the commune.

Sadie uses silence to draw him out further. Burdmoore admits how lonely he has been among the Moulinards, whom he finds culturally alien, and confesses he feels a sisterly kinship with Sadie, recognizing she is more like him than like them. He affirms he can keep a secret.

Sadie cautiously tests him, hinting that something is brewing outside Pascal's knowledge, and confirms Jean is not aware either. Burdmoore recalls sensing on her arrival that she was looking for trouble. As the moon rises over the hills, he tells her to give him the details and let him decide for himself whether to join in, signaling his willingness to be recruited into Sadie's parallel plan.