Sadie reports to her contacts that Pascal and the Moulinards plan to disrupt the area’s upcoming agricultural fair. From there, things escalate quickly. She soon learns that Deputy Minister Platon will make an unannounced visit to the fair with little security. It is her job to communicate this development to Pascal. Her contacts instruct her to ensure that one of the Moulinards attack the minister, and she mulls the problem over, wondering which of Pascal’s people could be manipulated into carrying out an act of violence.

Sadie learns that Michel Thomas, a famous French novelist, will be appearing at the fair with Platon. Thomas is controversial because of his habit of making incendiary statements to the press and his friendship with controversial political figures like Platon. Sadie is sure that Thomas’s appearance at the fair is meant to be some kind of publicity stunt.

Sadie joins the Moulinards for an evening of drinking and song at the local bar. She still contemplates how best to proceed with her contacts’ plan. Happening to see a couple whom Pascal prevented from joining the Moulinards on her first day in Guyenne, Sadie heads over to talk to them. She learns that their names are Francoise and Denise and that they have been active in other extremist circles for years.