Monday, August 16, 2004:
Claire the voleuse. Spence sees Mr. Cotter talking to her. Nice things, as usual, he thought. Then our neighbour beckons him over. According to his later account, this is how the conversation went. “Take Claire home now. I don’t want her eating my tomatas. You have tomatas at your house. I don’t want her eating my tomatas.” Spence continues. “I took her home, and she did this, and this”—wrist in eye socket, mopey mouth—“for a whole hour.”