The Devil on Horseback

I

Paris! What a city of enchantment. If I could have been there in other circumstances, how I should have loved it. My mother and I used to talk of the various places in the world we should like to visit and high on our list had been Paris.

It was a queen of cities, full of beauty and ugliness, living side by side. When I studied the maps I thought that the island in the Seine on which the city stood was like a cradle in shape and when I pointed this out to Margot she was only mildly interested.

“A cradle,” I said.

“It’s significant. In this cradle beauty was reared. Francois Premier with his love of fine buildings, with his devotion to literature, music and artists laid the foundations of the most intellectual court of Europe.”

Trust you to make it sound like a history lesson t’ retorted Margot.

“Well now, revolution is being reared in your cradle.”

I was startled. It was unlike her to talk seriously.

“Those stones which were thrown at the chateau,” she went on, “I keep thinking of them. Ten years ago they wouldn’t have dared … and now we dare do nothing about it. Change is coming, Minelle. You can feel it all around you.”

I could feel it. In those streets where the crowds jostled, where the vendors shouted their wares. I had the feeling of a waiting city.

The Comte’s residence was in the Faubourg Saint-HonorS among those of other members of the nobility. They stood, these houses, where they had for two to three hundred years, aloof and elegant. Not far away, I was to discover, was that labyrinth of little streets into which one dared not venture unless accompanied by several strong men-evil-smelling, i narrow, cobbled, where lurked those who regarded any stranger as a victim. We went into them on one occasion accompanied by Bessell and another manservant. Margot had insisted. There was the S street of the women who sat at the doors, their faces ludicrously painted, their low-cut dresses deliberately revealing. I remembered the names of the streets. Rue aux Feves, Rue de j la Jouverie, Rue de la Colandre, Rue. des Marmousets. They were the streets of the women and the dyers and outside many of the houses stood great tubs in which the dyes were mixed red, blue and green dye flowed down the gutters like miniature rivers.

My room in the Comte’s hotel was even more elegant than that which I had occupied in the chateau. It overlooked beautiful gardens which were tended by a host of gardeners. There were greenhouses in which exotic blooms flourished and these were used to decorate the rooms.

Margot’s room was next to mine. I arranged it,” she told me.

“And Mimi is in the ante-room. Bessell is with the grooms.”

I had forgotten till then our plan which involved these two. In fact I had never really taken it seriously and she did not mention it until we had been in Paris two or three days.

The Comte and Comtesse de Grasseville called on our first day. Margot, as the hostess, did the honours very graciously, I thought. She walked in the gardens with them and they were all very solemn. As the Comte had reminded us, we were in mourning.

I wondered then whether this meant a postponement of the wedding and came to the conclusion that this must be so.

I was presented to the Comte and Comtesse. Their manner was a little aloof and I wondered if they had heard rumours about my position in the Comte’s household.

I spoke to Margot about this later.

She said she had noticed nothing and they had spoken very kindly of me.

“We talked about the wedding,” she said, ‘and by rights we should wait a year. I don’t know whether we shall. But I shall go on as though there will be no postponement. “

There was shopping to be done. Mimi always accompanied us with Bessell and if we went in the carriage there would be a footman as well.

Sometimes we went on foot and that I enjoyed most. We all dressed very quietly for these expeditions, though none of us mentioned this.

I shall never forget the smell of Paris. There seemed to be more mud there than in any other city. It was black mud and there were metal fragments in it. If one of these touched one’s garments it would make a hole. I remembered that the old Roman name for Paris was Lutetia which meant Mud Town, and I was surprised it had been so called. In the streets boys stood around with brooms to sweep a crossing for those pedestrians who were ready to pay a sou for the service.

I liked to see the way in which the city came alive as it did each morning at seven o’clock when the clerks, neatly dressed, would be going to work, and one or two gardeners could be seen wheeling their barrows into the markets. Gradually the town would put on its bustling and exciting vitality. I told Margot it reminded me of the dawn chorus of the birds. A little stirring, then a little more and so on, adding up to the full song.

She was a little impatient of my enthusiasm. After all, she had known Paris for so long and as with many things that are familiar one ceases to be aware of them.

But how thrilling it was to see the various trades waking up to the day. The barbers, covered in flour with which they powdered the wigs, the lemonade shops opening their doors while the waiters came out with their trays of hot coffee and rolls to be served to those in the surrounding houses who had ordered them the night before. Later members of the legal profession appeared like black crows in their flapping robes on their way to the Chatelet and the other courts.

Dinner was at three o’clock in fashionable circles and it amused me to see the dandies and the ladies-some in carriages but some on foot-picking their careful way through the mud on their way to their hosts. Then the streets were! full of noise and clamour which died down during the dinner! interval to awaken again about five o’clock when the leisured i crowd was making its way to the playhouses or the pleasure gardens.

I wanted to see everything, which Margot thought very I childish. She did not know that the need to overlay my I anxiety about what might be happening back at the chateau i was at the heart of my determination to learn all I could :

about this stimulating, wonderful city.

Looking back, how glad I was that I saw it then. It was never to be quite the same again.

We shopped. What an array of good things there were in,-‘ those shops!

Their windows were dazzling. Gowns, ready;

made, materials for sale, mantles, pelisses, muffs, ribbons,

laces. They were a joy to behold. The hats were perhaps the ;

most striking of all. Following the fashions set by the Queen, they were both extravagant and outrageous. Rose Bertin, i her dressmaker, made for a few favoured people. She graciously consented to make something for the daughter of the Comte Fontaine Delibes.

“I should go to someone who is more eager to serve you,” I said.

“You don’t understand, Minelle. It means something to be dressed by Rose Bertin.”

So we went to her for Margot’s fitting. She kept us waiting for an hour and then sent a message to the effect that we must return next day.

As we came out I noticed a little group of people standing on the corner. They muttered and watched us sullenly as we got into the carriage.

Yes, Paris was certainly an uneasy city. But I was too bemused by its beauty and too stunned by what had happened at the chateau to notice as I otherwise would-and Margot’s thoughts were elsewhere.

I was gratified to see that England appeared to be held in great respect. It was as Gabrielle LeGrand had said. The shops were full of clothes proclaiming to be made of English cloth. Signs announced that English was spoken within, in the windows of the shops was written Le Punch Anglais, and in all the cafes it was possible to take lethe.

Even the tall vehicles were called whiskies and an imitation of those used in England.

I was amused and I must say somewhat flattered. And in the shops I made no attempt to disguise the fact that, like so many of their products, I came from across the Channel.

We were buying some beautiful satin one day which was to be made into a dress for Margot’s trousseau when the man who was serving us leaned across the counter and looking at me earnestly said: “Mademoiselle is from England?”

I agreed that this was so.

“Mademoiselle should go home,” he said.

“Lose no time.”

I looked at him in surprise and he went on: “Any day the storm will break. Today, tomorrow, next week, next year. And when it comes none will be spared. You should go while there is time.”

Cold fear touched me then. There had been so many pointers, I could see that everyone around me was trying not to see them but there had to be uncomfortable moments when they could not be avoided.

This was indeed a waiting city.

We walked out into the sunshine and our steps led us to the Cour du Mai. I could not forget the shop man warning; and as I walked it seemed to me that a terrible foreboding of the future came to me.

I was to remember it there in the Cour du Mai later on.

Margot came to my room. There was a sparkle in her eyes and she was very flushed.

“It’s all arranged,” she said.

“We are going to see Yvette.”

“Who is Yvette?”

“Don’t be deliberately obstructive, Minelle. I have told you about Yvette. She used to work with Nou-Nou in the nursery. She lives in the country-not so very far from where I lost Chariot.”

“My dear Margot, you are not still thinking of looking for him.”

“Of course I am. Do you think I would let him go and never know what has happened to him? I must content myself that he is well and happy . and not missing me.”

“As he was only a few weeks old when you parted from him, he could hardly be expected to know you.”

“Of course he’ll know me. I’m his mother.”

“Oh Margot, you must not be so foolish. You must put i unfortunate episode behind you. You have been lucky. Yo have a fiance whom you like very well. He will be kind a good to you.”

“Oh, don’t set yourself up as an oracle. You’re not t schoolmistress now, you know. You promised we would to find him. Are you a breaker of promises?”

I was silent. It was true I had promised when I though! she was on the verge of hysteria, but I had never really taken the plan seriously. “I have it all worked out,” she explained.

“I shall go to vis iA my old nurse Yvette. I want to tell her that I am betrothed to Robert. Mimi and Bessell will accompany us, and we shall take the carriage. We shall stay at inns and travel aj little each day and as we are going back to that neighbourhood I shall become Madame Ie Brun. It will be a sort of’l masquerade. I have told Mimi that it is better not to travel as my father’s daughter because of the recent scandal about) my mother’s death and the mood of the people. She is pleased;;

She thinks that will be safe. Why don’t you say something? ? You just sit there looking disapproving. I think it’s a wonderful plan. “

“I only hope you don’t do anything foolish.”

“Why do you always think I am going to do something foolish?” she demanded.

“Because you often do,” I retaliated.

But I could see that she was really set on the plan and there was no withholding her.

Perhaps, I thought, it is not such a bad idea, for if she-saw for herself that her child was well cared for she might cease to fret about him. But how could we hope to find him?

She had decided that we should make our way to Petit Montlys but we should not of course call on Madame Gremond. Even she realized what folly that would be.

“What we must do,” she said, ‘is to find the inn where we stayed when Chariot was taken from us and make enquiries in that area. “

I said: “It’s a wild goose chase.”

“Wild geese are sometimes caught,” she retorted.

“And I’m going to find Chariot.”

We set out on our journey and in three days we covered a good few miles and spent the nights at inns, which Bessell had a gift for finding.

Madame Ie Brun, her cousin and her man and maidservant dearly had enough money to pay for what they wanted and for that reason they were very welcome.

It was unfortunate that one of our horses should cast a shoe and we must go to the nearest blacksmith and that this should happen to be not much more than a mile away from the town of Petit Montlys.

We left the carriage at the blacksmith’s and went into the village which I remembered from my stay in Petit Montlys. While we waited we decided to take some refreshment at an inn we discovered and this we did.

The landlord was rather garrulous. News travels fast in such places and he had already heard that we had come in a carriage and the reason for our delay.

“It gives me a chance to serve you some of my wife’s bread straight from the oven with good cheese and our own butter -and would you like some hot coffee with it? I can serve Ie Punch here. Mercier … as good English a drink as sold in Paris.”

Margot, Mimi and I took the coffee and hot rolls. Bessell tried the mercier and found it good.

“How is life in Paris?” asked the landlord.

“Very gay, very lively,” Bessell told him.

“Ah, it is long since I have been. Mademoiselle, I fancy I have seen you before.” He was looking straight at me.

“You are English, are you not?”

“Yes.”

“Staying with Madame Gremond with your cousin who had suffered a great bereavement, were you?”

I looked at Margot who burst out: “Yes, that’s so. I had suffered a bereavement. I lost my poor husband.”

“Madame, I trust you are happier now.”

“One grows away from sorrow,” said Margot.

I could see that Bessell and Mimi were a little bewildered and I said:

“We should not stay too long. We have to get on and the blacksmith should have done his job by now.”

We came out into the sunshine. Margot was laughing as though what had happened was something of a joke. I felt less happy.

As we walked towards the blacksmith’s shop, a young woman came running towards us.

“It is!” she cried.

“Why, it is. It’s Madame Ie Brun and Mademoiselle Maddox.”

There was no denying who we were for the woman who faced us was Jeanne.

“It is good to see you Madame, Mademoiselle,” she said.

“We often talk of you. How is the little one?”

He is well,” said Margot quietly.

“Such a bonny baby! Madame Legere said she had never seen a bonnier.”

How stupid we were to have come! I might have known that we should run into danger. But what would have been the use of pointing that out to Margot

“With his nurse, I’ll warrant,” went on Jeanne.

“I heard there was a fine carriage at the blacksmith’s. Ladies from Paris, they thought. I never dreamed who it would be.”

I laid a hand on Margot’s arm.

“We must be on our way,” I said.

“You are coming to see Madame Gremond?”

No, I’m afraid not,” I replied quickly.

“Do give her our best wishes and tell her that this time we are in too much of a hurry. We lost our way and that is why we have arrived here. Then unfortunately the horse cast a shoe.”

“Where are you making for?” asked Jeanne.

“For Parrefours,” I said, inventing a name.

Ive never heard of that. What is the nearest big town? “

“That is what we have to find out,” I replied.

“We really must get to the carriage. Good day.”

“It was a pleasure seeing you,” said Jeanne, her little monkey’s eyes taking in everything, the livery of Bessell, the near lady’s maid cloak of Mimi. I was glad that the times made it necessary for us to dress simply so that Margot’s garments did not proclaim her rank too clearly.

We were subdued as we got into the carriage which was ready for us. I noticed the speculation in Mimi’s eyes, but like the good lady’s maid that she was, she made no mentionj of what had passed. I expected that she and Bessell would! discuss it later.

Margot refused to be depressed by the encounter. She would concoct some tale for Mimi later, though whether Mimi believed it would be another matter. What had happened appeared to have been very revealing. It lingered very unpleasantly in my mind.

We found our way to the inn where we had been with Chariot. The landlord remembered us. We must have been conspicuous partly I supposed because of the foreigner, myself; and of course the fact that Margot had arrived with a baby and left without him did mate the conclusion a little obvious.

Margot said she would ask a few discreet questions, but Margot and discretion did not really go together. It was soon clear that she was trying to trace the couple who had taken the baby, which clearly she had had to bear in secrecy and the reason for that would leave little doubt. But she did glean the information that the couple had taken the road south, towards the little town of Bordereaux.

There were three inns at Bordereaux and we tried them all without success. We studied the signposts and found there were three routes which the couple could have taken.

“We must try them all,” said Margot firmly.

How weary we were! What a hopeless chase it was i How could we hope to find the baby? But Margot was determined to.

“We cannot stay away much longer,” I pointed out.

“Already we have behaved in a very strange way. What do you think Mimi and Bessell think?”

They are servants,” retorted Margot haughtily. They are not paid to think.”

“Only when it is in your interests for them to do so, I suppose! They have some inkling of what all this is about. Do you think it wise, Margot?”

“I don’t care if it is wise or not. I’m going to find my baby.”

So we went on with our enquiries which brought us nowhere.

At length I said to Margot: “You said that this was to be a visit to your old nurse Yvette. Don’t you think it would be wise to call on her since that is supposed to be the object of the journey?”

She said she did not want to waste time but finally I persuaded her that it would be wise to go. Again I seem to hear the Comte’s voice warning me that if one is going t weave a web of deceit it is better to work in a few strand of truth. I Yvette lived in a pretty little house with a walled garde surrounding it. The gates were wide enough for the carriage to pass through and Yvette herself came to the door.

She was a gentle-faced woman whom I liked immediate but I was very much aware of her evident dismay when sh saw who her visitors were.

Margot ran to her and threw herself into her arms.

My little one,” said Yvette fondly.

“But this is a surprise ( ” We were in the neighbourhood and could not fail to come and see you,” said Margot. oh… who were you visiting?” asked Yvette. ‘ “Oh … well, we really came to see you. It seemed such a long time since I had. This is Mademoiselle Maddox my friend… and cousin.”

“Cousin?” said Yvette.

“I did not know you had this cousin Welcome, Mademoiselle. Please do come in. Oh, do I see Mimi? Welcome, Mimi.”

But her uneasiness seemed to have increased.

“Jose will take care of Mimi and your coachman,” she said, Jose was her maid a woman as old as herself. Mimi and Bessell went off with her and Margot and I followed Yvette into the house. It was neat, clean and very comfortably furnished.

“You are happy here, Yvette?” asked Margot.

“Monsieur Ie Comte has always been good to those who worked well for him,” she said.

“When you no longer needed me and I left the chateau he provided this house for me and an income so that I could afford Jose to look after me. We live very happily here.”

She took us into a pleasant room.

“And Mademoiselle Maddox is from England?”

I wondered how she knew for I had not mentioned it and my accent should not have betrayed me as so far I had said very little. My name?

Pronounced as Margot pronounced it, it did not sound really English.

“Sit down, my dear child, and you. Mademoiselle. You will have some refreshment, and you must stay to dine with me. We have a good chicken and Josee is a wonderful cook.”

She picked up a piece of needlework which was lying on a chair.

“Do you still do the same wonderful embroidery, Yvette?” Margot turned to me.

“She used to put it on most of my dresses, didn’t you, Yvette?”

“I was always fond of my needle. And I hear you are betrothed?”

“Oh, did you hear that, then? Who told you?”

Yvette hesitated. Then she said: “The Comte always wants to know how I am faring and he has called on me now and then.”

This was an aspect of his character I had not hitherto suspected. I was delighted to learn of it and the knowledge filled me with elation.

Margot said: We shall be happy to share in the chicken, shall we not, Minelle? “

Still thinking of the Comte’s concern for those whom he considered to be in his care, I nodded happily.

“I must show you Yvette’s wonderful work,” went on Margot. She was out of her armchair and had taken the piece of needlework on which Yvette had been working and brought it over to me.

“See! This light feathery stitch. What is this, Yvette?” She held it up. It was a baby’s coat.

Yvette blushed and said: “I am working it for a friend,” Margot’s face puckered as it always did when she was reminded of babies. I thought then: She will never get over this until she has another child.

She folded the little coat and laid it on a chair.

“It’s very pretty,” she said.

“How is everything at the chateau?" asked Yvette.

“Much as ever. Oh no … We have had stones through the windows, haven’t we, Minelle?”

Yvette shook her head sadly.

“Sometimes I think the people are going mad. We hear little of it here but there are tales from Paris.” Then she talked of the old days and told little anecdotes about Margot’s adventures as a child. It was clear that she had a great fondness for her.

“I heard of your mother’s death,” she said. That was a great sadness.

Poor lady! Nou-Nou must be quite demented.

For her there was none but the Comtesse. She had had her a baby. I can understand that. We do not have babies of our own and our charges take that place in our hearts which v could give to our own. The bond is a strong one. Ah, I a a foolish old woman but I have always loved little babies Strange tricks of fate often give them to those who do noft want them and withhold them from those who do. Poor, poor. Nou-Nou.

I can imagine her grief. ” ?

“She is taking it very badly,” said Margot.

“What was that?”

We listened. T thought I heard a child, crying. “

“No, no,” said Yvette.

“If you will excuse me I will go to the kitchen to see how Jose is faring with the chicken. Jose and I do the cooking between us.”

As she opened the door we heard the unmistakable cry of a child.

Margot was beside her.

You have a baby here,” she said.

Yvette flushed scarlet and stammered.

“Well… for a while. I am looking after …”

Margot was up the stairs. In a few seconds she was standing at the top of them holding a baby in her arms. There was a smile of triumph on her face. I thought: God works in a mysterious way, for I knew before Yvette admitted it that we had found Chariot.

She brought him into the room, her face radiant. She sat down and held him in her lap. He was clucking and kicking and seemed clearly pleased with life in spite of the fact that a few moments before he had been crying.

“Oh, he is beautiful … beautiful,” breathed Margot; and indeed he was. Plump, well-fed, happy, he was all that a baby should be.

Yvette looked at Margot and shook her head slowly.

“You should not have come here, my dear,” she said.

“Not to see my beautiful Chariot!” cried Margot.

“Oh, I have missed my little pet. And to find him here! Yvette, you deceiver but you have cared for him well.”

“Of course I have cared for him well. Do you think I wouldn’t care well for any baby? And yours is especially dear to me. That is what the Comte said: ” I know you will give him that special care,” he said, ” because he is Marguerite’s. ” But oh, my dear, you should never have come here now that you are betrothed.

You see it was all for the best that he should come here. I don’t know what the Comte will say. “

“This is my affair,” said Margot.

“Margot,” I reminded her, ‘you must see that the best thing that could happen is for Chariot to remain here. “

She would not speak. She could not think of anything but that she had Chariot in her arms. She would not let him go and when he slept and Yvette said he must go into his cot, Margot took him upstairs. I guessed that she wanted to be alone with him and I remained with Yvette.

Yvette said to me: “Mademoiselle, I know that you have looked after Marguerite. The Comte has told me everything. He has spoken very warmly of you. I don’t know what he will say when he hears you have been here.”

“Margot’s feelings are very natural. He must understand that.”

She nodded.

“There is something else that worries me. Enquiries are being made … have been made.”

“Enquiries? What sort of enquiries?”

“About the child. Jose hears a good deal that doesn’t reach me. She goes into the town on market days. I chided her in the past for being such a gossip, but sometimes it can be useful. The fact that we have a child here cannot be kept a secret naturally and it is realized that I am looking after it for someone in a high place. The Comte’s orders were that the child should have the best of everything, and although I was not poor before, I have become more affluent since the baby has been with me. These things are noticed. Jose tells me that a gentleman, who tried to disguise himself as a travelling salesman and failed because he was clearly an aristocrat, has been asking questions. He is obviously interested in the child and is trying to find out who he is.”

T wonder,” I began and paused. Yvette was a woman whom I instinctively trusted. Moreover, she would have been in the Comte’s employ for so many years and had been selected by him to look after the child. I went on: ” Could it have been Robert de Grasseville . Margot’s fiance?”

“That was what occurred to me. It would not be difficult for someone who was ready to ferret to discover that I had been employed at the chateau. The Comte is a man of distinction. He has visited me twice since the child was brought here. He is anxious for little Charles’s welfare and he likes! to assure himself that the boy is well. He comes simply dressed! for him. Mademoiselle, but as you know, it is impossible fotlfl such men to hide hundreds of years of breeding. Sometimes this tremble when I think what the future holds.”

“I understand well. Thank you for telling me.”

There is something else. Mademoiselle. Jose hears these things. She came in one day and said that she had heard it said that the Comte was the father of the child. “

“Oh no! Surely …”

She looked at me searchingly.

“You were with Margot when the child was born. You have been at the chateau. You see …”

I was flushing, hot and indignant.

“You cannot mean that I…”

“These rumours get around. I don’t know how this one started … But you see how it could be possible.”

“Yes,” I said, ‘it could be possible, I suppose. Would the Comte have sent his daughter to be with a woman who was to bear his illegitimate child? “

Yvette lifted her shoulders.

“It is so much nonsense. But the baby is here. I was a nurse at the chateau and the Comte has called to ascertain all is well with the child. People add up these things and get the wrong answer.”

My head was whirling. There seemed no end to the maze of intrigue which was closing around me.

“I think you should be warned. Mademoiselle. Take care of Margot. She is so impulsive and has always acted without thought. I should so much like to see her happily settled and it seems that here is a chance.

The Grassevilles are a very good family . I mean their reputation is high. They treat their people well and are generous to them. The match would be the making of Margot. But there is this matter of the child.

How I wish little Charles had been Robert de Grasseville’s son and born in wedlock. “

“That would have been ideal and we should not be here now if it were so.”

“Mademoiselle, I see that you are a sensible young woman. The Comte has great faith in you. Take care of her. It may be that these enquiries did come from the Grassevilles and that if they know that the child is Margot’s they will not want to go on with the marriage. I think you should be prepared for that.”

“I believe it would be wise not to mention this to Margot now. “

“I have been glad of the opportunity to talk to you alone.”

I agreed that it had been beneficial.

“We can only wait and see what happens,” I said.

“If it were Robert who was making enquiries we shall soon know.”

She nodded.

“But you will be prepared. Mademoiselle, in case anything should go wrong.”

I said I would.

Margot returned to us looking ecstatic.

“He is fast asleep. Oh, he is angelic.”

I was apprehensive because I knew how miserable she was going to be when she was obliged to part with him.

We stayed the night at Yvette’s house for Margot said she must have a little time with her baby. She sent Mimi and Bessell to the inn where they stayed the night and I must say I was relieved that they were out of the house.

She and I lay awake for a long time talking-for we shared a room.

“What am I going to do?” she demanded.

“He could not be better looked after.”

“I know what you’re going to say. Leave Chariot here.”

“The wise thing, I hope,” I replied.

“If I had to engage a nurse I would take Yvette before anyone else.”

“He has Yvette now and she has obviously cared well for him. Chariot lacks nothing.”

“Except his mother.”

“In the circumstances he is best as he is.”

“You, you are heartless, Minelle. Sometimes I could slap you for your cool, precise and so logical manner. I hate it all the more because I know that most people would say you were right.”

“Of course I’m right. You have found him. You have the great satisfaction of knowing -that he is in the best possible hands. You can come and see him sometimes. What more could you ask?”

That I could have him with me all the time. “

Then you should have waited until he could be born in a respectable manner. ”

” You would not have made me marry James Wedder?”

“ I think it would have been an unsuitable marriage, but having behaved as you did you should be prepared to take I the consequences. Your father has done a good deal for you. ? Now you must do as he wishes. ” ] ” Is it fair to Robert? ” i!

“Tell him, then.”

“You are bold all of a sudden. He might discard me.” “If that is the case perhaps it would be better to be discarded.”

“How easy it is to solve other people’s problems.” I had to agree with her on that.

So we talked through the night and in the morning she realized that she must go away and she would go happier than she had come for now she knew that when the longing for Chariot was intolerable she could come and be with him for a while.

The quest had ended more satisfactorily than I had thought possible.

Margot had found Chariot and I had learned that there was another side to the Comte’s nature than that which he had flaunted for all the world to see. He had cared about Yvette, had settled her comfortably, and he was determined to protect the child however much he deplored his birth. He was human after all, capable of soft feelings. I was very happy that night.

II

When we returned to Paris there was an urgent message from the Comte.

We were to return to the chateau without delay. As the message had been waiting for us for two days we lost no time in making our preparations.

When we reached the chateau some two days later, the Comte was clearly not pleased.

“I had expected you before,” he said coldly.

“Did you not get my message?”

I explained that we had taken a trip into the country and had returned to Paris only two days ago, when we had received the command which had been immediately obeyed.

It was a foolish thing to do,” he snapped.

“Times being as they are, we do not take pleasure trips.”

I wondered what he would say if he knew we had visited Yvette.

Later that day he summoned me to him and all his ill-humour had disappeared.

“I missed you,” he said simply, and I felt that irrepressible excitement rising in me which he alone could give me. T was beset by my anxieties. You should know. Cousin, that we are heading fast towards some terrible climax. Only a miracle can save us now. “

“Miracles sometimes happen,” I said.

“A great deal of human ingenuity is needed to assist divine interference to produce a miracle, I have always thought, and alas, at this time when we need genius in our rulers we have only ineptitude.”

“It can’t be too late.”

That is our only chance. Don’t tell me that we have brought this on ourselves because I know it. None could know it better. As a class we have been both selfish and obtuse. In the last reign the King and his mistress said that after them would come the deluge. I can hear it thundering very close now. I fancy that-without the miracle-that deluge will soon envelop us. “

“But as this is known, surely it is a warning. Can’t it be averted?”

“The King is calling together the States-General. He is asking the two wealthiest orders in the land-that is, the clergy and the nobility to make sacrifices to save the country. It is an explosive situation.

I must go to Paris . I shall be leaving tomorrow. I don’t know how long I shall be there, or how long before I see you again. Minelle, I want you to stay here until I send for you. Take care of yourself.

Promise me. “

“I will,” I said.

“And Marguerite, too. Take care of her. Don’t do anything foolish like going off to look for Marguerite’s child.”

I caught my breath.

“You knew!”

“My dear Cousin, I have people watching for me. I must know what happens about me and that includes my own household. I know you well.

You believe with me that it would have been better for Marguerite not to know where the child was. On the other hand you respect her maternal feelings.

I know that you found Yvette. Very well. Marguerite knows. She will visit him from time to time, and one day she will be betrayed and then she will have to answer to her husband. When she is married that is their affair . her husband’s and hers. While she is unmarried and my daughter, it is mine. “

“It seems to me you are omniscient,” I said.

“It is well for you to see me as such.” He smiled and when that smile was tender it transformed his face and moved me deeply.

“I have to talk to you seriously now as it may be some time before we see each other again. I am going to Paris for the meeting of the States-General. We must look at this clearly. At any time … the people could rise. We might subdue them … I do not know. But we are living on a razor’s edge, Minelle. That is why I am speaking to you now. You must know the depth of my feelings for you.” , “No,” I replied, ‘that is exactly what I do not know. I i know that you have been attracted by me, which has surprised me. I know that you brought me here for that reason. I know that you have been similarly attracted to many women. It is precisely the depth of your feelings that I do not know. “

“And you attach great importance to that?”

“It is surely of the greatest importance.”

“I could not talk to you of this while my wife was alive.”

I felt sick with fear. Doubts and suspicions crowded into my mind. I tried to fight off this overwhelming fascination. I was sure that my mother was warning me.

“It is such a short time since she died,” I heard myself say.

“Perhaps you should wait…”

“Wait? Wait for what? Until I am dead? By God, Minelle, do you realize that I might never see you again? You are aware of the mood of the people. You have seen the stones thrown through our windows. Do you realize that if this had happened fifty years ago the culprit would have been discovered, flogged and sent to prison where he would have remained for years.”

“It is not surprising that the people want change.”

“Of course it is not surprising. There should have been justice … compassion … unselfishness … care for the poor. We know that now. But they are not clamouring for those things only. They want revenge. If they succeed there will not be justice. It will simply be a turning of the tables. They will murder us and demand retribution. But you know all this. The country’s affairs weary us.

They are dreary, depressing, hopeless and tragic. Minelle, I want to talk of ourselves . you and me. Whatever happens, know this. My feelings go deep. At first I thought it was a lighthearted desire . such as I have felt throughout my life for many. While you were in Paris, I feared for you. I knew that if I lost you I should never know a moment’s real happiness again. I am going to ask you to marry me.”

“You must realize that is not possible.”

“Why not? Are we not both free now?”

“You have been free such a short time. And the circumstances of your wife’s death…”

“Do you believe what they are saying of me? Dearest Minelle, any black deed they can pin on us, they do, and make a great noise about it.

They accuse me of murdering my wife. “

I looked at him pleadingly.

“You too?” he went on.

“You believe I killed her! You think I slipped up to her bedroom, that I took NouNou’s concoctions and filled her glass. Is that what you believe?”

I could not speak. It was almost as though my mother was beside me.

There, she was saying, as I who had known her so well knew how she would reason, if you believe he could be a murderer, how can you be in love with him?

But she would never have understood this wild emotion. One did not have to have an ideal to love. One could love no matter what the loved one had done, and whatever he did in the future one would go on loving. Perhaps my kind of love was different from that which my mother had known with my father. He had been an honest upright man, a brave sea captain who cared only for his family and that he should conduct his life honourably. All men were not like that.

The Comte was watching me quizzically.

“So you do believe it,” he said. T know that I want to marry you, and I want it before it is too late. I am no longer very young. The world which I have always known is crumbling about me. I feel a need, an urgency . “

“You are telling me that you killed your wife,” I said.

“No, I am not. But I will be honest and say that I wanted her out of the way. I despised her. At times I hated her, but never so much as when she stood between you and me. Vaguely before I had hoped for remarriage that I might get a son. Now that you are here I want it for other reasons too. I have dreamed often of a peaceful existence here in the chateau … our children growing up around us … the pleasant life going on and on. I knew that with you it would have to be marriage. Oddly enough it was what I wanted. Then she died. She took an overdose of that sleeping draught because she knew she was suffering from the disease which killed her mother. It was lingering and painful. Do you believe me now?”

I could not meet his eyes because I knew he would read my doubts there and that I might see the lies in his. I thought of his riding through the village and a small lively boy playing in his path . and the Comte, passing on, leaving nothing but a mangled body. That boy died to suit the Comte’s whim. It was true he had taken the boy’s brother and tried to recompense his family . but what recompense was there for death?

I said slowly: “I understand you well. Your way of life has been that those who are not of your class are of a lesser breed. When I consider that, I feel that change is due.”

“You are right. But do not believe all that you hear of me. Rumour attaches to those who arouse the envy of others. You yourself are not immune.”

“Who should envy me?”

“Many people. There are some who know of my feelings for you. Strange is it not, they envy you for that. There are whispers about me and they include you.”

“I am more convinced than ever that I should return to England.”

“What! Runaway! Leave the sinking ship?”

“It is not really my ship.”

“Let me tell you what they are saying. It is known in some places that there has been a child. I have heard the rumour that it is mine and that you are its mother.”

I flushed scarlet and he went on almost mockingly: “There, you see! It is not wise to believe all the rumours you hear.”

“But such a wicked story …”

Most rumour is wicked. Rumourmongers take an element of truth and build round it and because they have that Foundation of fact, the rumour remains firm. But wise people lever believe all they hear. I waste my time. What does it matter what they say? I have to go to Paris. I have to leave you here. Minelle, take care of yourself. Do not act rashly. Be ready to do whatever I say you must. You know it will be Eor your good. “

“Thank you,” I said.

Then he drew me to him and kissed me as I had never seen kissed before and I wanted to stay in his arms for sver.

“Oh Minelle,” he said, ‘why do you deny your heart? ” Then lie released me.

“Perhaps I would not have it otherwise,” he went on.

“For then it would not be you. Moreover, it is a challenge, you know. One day you will cast aside all wisdom and come to me because nothing simply nothing-will be strong enough to withstand it. That’s what I want.

Whatever I am, whatever my sins of the past, you will not care. You will love me . me . not for my virtues, which are nonexistent-but for myself alone. I must leave you. I have much to do for I must go tomorrow. I shall be gone at dawn before you rise . but one day, Minelle . one day . “

Then he kissed me again, holding me as though he would never let me go. I knew he was right. I was fast reaching that stage when whatever he had done, whatever he was guilty of would seem insignificant beside my great need of him.

I turned and left him hastily, afraid of those emotions which such a short time ago I should have believed I could never experience.

I spent a sleepless night and at dawn I heard the sounds of his departure and was at my window to see him as he rode away. He turned and saw me there. He lifted his hand in acknowledgement.

I was up early and fully dressed when the maid arrived with my petit dejeuner. She brought a letter with her.

“Monsieur Ie Comte said it was to be given to you,” she told me. There was a certain avid curiosity in her eyes.

It was written on his crested notepaper the same as that which had been attached to the stone which had been thrown through the window.

My dearest [he had written], I had to write a few lines after I left you. I want you to take especial care from now on. Be patient. One day we shall be together. I have plans for us. I promise you, all will be well.

Charles Auguste.

I read and re-read that letter. Charles Auguste. Oddly enough the name seemed strange to me. I thought of him always as The Comte . the Devil Comte . the Devil on Horseback, the name I had given him long ago when I had first seen him. These fitted him. But not Charles Auguste. I had of course learned a great deal about him since the days when I had thought of him as the Devil on Horseback. He was arrogant, of course. He had been brought up to believe that he and his kind were supreme. It had been so for centuries. They took what they wanted and if anyone stood in the way that person was brushed aside. That was firmly embedded in his nature. Would anything ever change that? Yet there was kindliness in him. Had he not taken Leon and looked after him? He had at least made some reparation for the harm he had done that family. He had cared about little Chariot and had made sure that he was well looked after and had even visited Yvette to assure himself of the child’s welfare. And for me? Was that real tenderness I had seen? How deep did it really go? Did he really love me differently from the way in which he had loved others? What if I married him and failed to produce a son? Should I one day be given a double dose of some fatal poison? Would they come one morning and find me dead?

So I did believe he had killed Ursule, It had been so opportune, hadn’t it? She had died at the right moment. Why should she, who had been a peevish invalid all her life, suddenly decide that she was going to take it?

So I thought him capable of murder and still I wanted him. I wanted to make love with him. I might as well face the truth. It was what my mother had always said one should do. I had always thought of love between men and women as that which my mother had had for my father. A woman should always look up to her husband, admire his good qualities. But if the man who excited one more than any other could possibly do, if the man in whose company one found the utmost pleasure was possibly a murderer, what then?

I should have loved to talk to her of these matters-but had she been alive I should never have been in this situation. She would never have approved of my coming to France in the first place and I knew that if she were here now she would say: “We must leave for England without delay.”

While I was brooding thus Margot came in with her petit dejeuner.

I hastily thrust the Comte’s letter in a drawer and she was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she did not notice my doing so.

“I have to talk to you, Minelle,” she said.

“It’s been worrying me all night. I’ve scarcely slept.”

I wondered then if she was aware of her father’s departure and if she had seen him turn and wave to me. But it was hardly likely. When Margot was wrapped up in her own affairs she never noticed what other people were doing.

I was so shocked,” she said.

“I would never have believed it of them,” “Of whom are you talking?”

“Of Mimi and Bessell. Of course the servants have changed such a lot.

You must have noticed. They can be so insolent now. But Bessell .

and Mimi most of all. Of course it is Bessell’s doing. She would never have done it without him. “

“What has happened?” I asked, my heart sinking for I had thought from the first that it had been unwise to share the secret with them.

“Mimi came to me last night and said that Bessell wanted to speak to me. It didn’t occur to me then what it meant. I thought it was something about the horses. When he came, he was different somehow .. not a bit like the old Bessell. He stood there with a rather unpleasant look on his face and didn’t offer any excuse for coming in like that. He said there was a cottage vacant on the estate and he wanted to have it so that he and Mimi could get married right away.”

“Well, I suppose that’s a natural request.”

“I said I thought he should see the head groom and he said that the head groom was not sympathetic towards him so he thought he would go over his head to me. He said that he’d heard through a friend of his who worked on the Grasseville estate that they were all looking forward to the wedding and they only hoped nothing happened to stop it.”

I caught my breath.

“Yes,” I said, ‘what then? “

“He implied that he was very friendly with this man at Grasseville and others there too. They were sorry that the wedding was delayed through my mother’s death and they were just hoping that nothing else would happen …”

“Oh Margot,” I said, “I don’t like it.”

“Nor did I. It was the way he said it. He thought that after our trip he’d got to thinking that I might be kind enough to speak for him about the cottage because a word from me could settle the matter.”

“It’s blackmail,” I cried.

“He’s hinting that if you don’t get the cottage for him, he’ll tell his friend at Grasseville about the trip . and this friend of his will see that the gossip reaches the family.”

Margot nodded slowly.

There is only one thing to do,” I told her.

“You should never submit to blackmail. You must see Robert before he has any chance of hearing of this from anyone else. You must tell him the truth.”

“If he knew that I had already had a child he wouldn’t want to marry me.”

“He would if he loved you.”

She shook her head.

“He wouldn’t. I know he wouldn’t.”

“Well then, there would be no marriage.”

“But I want to marry him!”

“You wanted to marry James Wedder once. You ran away to do just that.”

“I was young and foolish. I did not know what I was doing then. It’s different now. I’m grown up. I have a child. I have plans for the future … and they include Robert. I’ve fallen in love with Robert.”

“All the more reason why you won’t want to deceive him.”

“You are very hard sometimes, Minelle.”

“I’m trying to think what is best for you.”

“I can’t tell Robert. In any case I have already told Bessell he shall have the cottage. Oh, it’s no use your looking shocked. I’ve said it is for Mimi who has worked well for me.

I shall marry Robert; they will stay here, and I shall never see them again. “

“Blackmailers don’t usually work that way, Margot. The first demand is rarely the last.”

“When I am married to Robert I shall tell him, but not before. Oh, I do wish there was not this delay over the marriage.”

I looked at her sadly. I felt that events were closing in around us too quickly and too menacingly.

We never rode out unless we were accompanied by a groom. That was the Comte’s orders. But I was beginning to notice that curious looks came my way. At one time I had been aloof from the hatred of the crowds. I was a foreigner and although I was at the chateau they had at first thought I was there in some menial capacity. Now they had changed. I wondered whether the rumour that I had had a child by the Comte had spread to them.

As we spent a great deal of time in the chateau precincts I saw more of Leon and Etienne than previously. They both had their duties about the estate and even they did not ride out singly.

It was interesting to talk to them and gather their attitudes towards the situation. Etienne was of the opinion that the old regime could not be shaken. He had the utmost contempt for what he called ‘the rabble’. The army would be called out, he said, if they attempted to rise, and the army was firmly behind the King. Leon was of the opposite opinion.

They would sit over the table long after a meal was finished, arguing together.

“At the moment the army is with the King,” said Leon, ‘but it could turn and once it did that would be the end. “

“Nonsense,” said Etienne.

“In the first place the army would never be disloyal and even if it were, power and money is with the nobility.”

“You haven’t moved with the times,” retorted Leon.

“I tell you that at the Palais Royalethe Due d’Orleans has been j spreading sedition. He has been giving every encouragement to agitators.

Everywhere you go they are screaming for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. They are murmuring against the Queen and even against the King. Etienne, you shut your ears. “

“And you are always mingling with the peasants, and attach too much importance to them.”

“I believe I give them the importance they deserve.”

So they argued and I listened and thus began to get a certain grasp of the situation. That each day it was becoming more dangerous I had no doubt and I wondered constantly what was happening to the Comte in Paris.

Etienne said to me one day: “My mother very much wishes that you would call on her one day. She has asked me to invite you. She has acquired a piece of porcelain … a rather fine vase which is said to be English. She would very much like to have your opinion of it.”

“I am not an expert on porcelain, I’m afraid.”

“Nevertheless, she would like you to see it. May I take you over there tomorrow?”

“Yes, that would be pleasant.”

The next day I was ready at the appointed time. It was about three-thirty when we set out.

Etienne said: “It is better to take the path I showed you. I believe I told you that the Comte had it made years ago. He could visit the house easily then. It has become a little overgrown. It’s rarely used now.”

He was right. It was overgrown. The branches met in several places over the path and the undergrowth was thick now that the summer was with us.

Gabrielle was waiting.

It is so good of you to come,” she said.

“I am so anxious to show you my acquisition. But first we will take Ie the. I know how you English love it.”

She took me into the elegant room where I had sat with her on another occasion. While we drank tea she asked me if I had enjoyed my trip to I told her that I had found it most interesting.

“And did you notice how we are imitating the English?”

“I noticed a great deal that was English in the shops and how so many proclaimed that they spoke the language.”

“Ah yes, everyone is taking Ie the now. It must be gratifying to you.

Mademoiselle, to know that you are such a success in our country. “

“I think it is just a fashion.”

“We are a fickle people, you think?”

“Fashions come and go with us all, do they not?”

“It is like a man with his mistress. They come and go. The wise ones realize that there is generally nothing permanent. The favourite of today can be the discarded of tomorrow. Is the tea to your taste?”

I assured her that it was.

“Do try one of these little cakes. Etienne loves them. He eats far too many. I am very lucky to have my son visit me so often. My brother comes too. We are a closely knit family. I am a lucky woman. Although I could not marry the Comte, at least I did not lose my son. When the relationship is not so close men are inclined to bring their illegitimate children up in secrecy. I think that must be rather distressing for the poor mother, don’t you?”

I felt my colour rising. She had heard the rumour obviously and was she suggesting that I was the unmarried mother of the Comte’s son?

“One can imagine without experiencing it that it must be upsetting for the mother,” I said coolly.

“But then I suppose it would be said that it is a contingency which, had she been wise, she would have considered before she put herself into that unfortunate position.”

“All women are not as far-seeing, are they?”

“Evidently not. I am looking forward to seeing your vase.”

“Yes, and I to showing you.”

She seemed to linger over tea and I noticed that on several occasions she glanced at the clock in the shape of the chateau which, on our previous meeting, she had told me was a present from the Comte. I believed she did so now to remind me of his fondness for her.

She chattered a great deal about Paris, a city which she clearly loved, and as I had been enchanted by it and felt my visit there had been far too brief, I listened with interest.

She told me that I should have visited Les Halles to see the real Paris and she certainly had vivid powers of description. She made me see the great circular space with the six streets leading to it-and all the stalls piled with produce. Then she told me how second-hand clothes were sold from stalls on Mondays on the Place de Greve. It was called the Fair of the Holy Ghost, for what reason she had no idea.

“Oh it is amusing to see the women turning over the garmeats and snatching them from one another,” she said.

“Skirts, bodices, petticoats, hats … they are all there in piles. The women try on the clothes in public which causes a great deal of noise and amusement.”

So she went on chattering of Paris and in due course she sent for the vase. It was beautiful a deep shade of blue etched with white figures. I told her I believed it was Wedgewood. She was very proud of it. She said it was a gift from someone who knew how she enjoyed things that were English and I wondered whether she was hinting that the donor was the Comte.

When I said I must go she delayed me with more chatter and I came to the conclusion that she was not only a jealous woman but a garrulous one.

She became momentarily serious.

“Ah,” she said, ‘when one is young . inexperienced, one believes all one is told. One has to learn not to attach too much importance to the protestations of a lover. He has one object in mind generally. But I have my son. Mademoiselle, and he is a great comfort to me. “

“I am sure he must be,” I said.

She was smiling at me.

“I know you. Mademoiselle, will understand.”

Her look was almost conspiratorial. I had a very uneasy feeling that she knew of Chariot’s existence and was she really under the impression that he was my son?

“I feel I can really talk to you,” she went on, “I know how perceptive you would be. There has always been an understanding between the Comte and myself. You do believe me?”

“Of course, since you tell me so and naturally, in the circumstances there would be.”

She added: “When our son was born, he was so proud. He has always been so fond of Etienne. The resemblance is strong, don’t you agree? He wishes that he had defied opposition in the first place and married me. He always wanted a male heir. What a tragedy if the title and estates went to a distant cousin. He would never allow that. It was understood between us that if the opportunity arose we would marry.”

“You mean,” I said coldly, ‘if the Comtesse died. “

She lowered her eyes and nodded.

“If she did not, then Etienne would be legitimized. Of course it would be easier if we married. And now she is dead and … it is only a matter of time.”

“Is that so?”

“Indeed it is. Mademoiselle, we are women of the world. I know the Comte well. I know his partiality for attractive young women and in your way-a rather unusual way-you are attractive.”

“Thank you,” I said icily.

“It would not be wise to attach too much importance to his attentions.

Perhaps you think I am being presumptuous, but in view of my relationship with the Comte . my knowledge of him which goes back over many years, I feel I should warn you. You are a foreigner and may not realize how life is lived here. I believe you could put yourself in a very unpleasant situation. The death of the Comtesse . your presence at the chateau . Sometimes I wonder if the Comte arranged it. “

“Arranged … what!”

She lifted her shoulders.

“You will go back to England. It could then be said that you had had your hopes …”

I stood up.

“Madame,” I said, ‘if you are hinting something will you please be more explicit. “

“Yes. Let us speak plainly. In a year’s time-in a respectable period the Comte and I are to marry. Our son will be made legitimate. An unpleasant rumour about the Comtesse’s death will persist.”

“It has been settled that she took her life.”

“Oh but. Mademoiselle, we have to contend with rumour. You will leave here. That is what the Comte intends. I can assure you that soon he will send for you. You will go with Marguerite … or perhaps back to England. People will say an Englishwoman came here for a while. She hoped to marry the Comte and the Comtesse died suddenly … while the English Mademoiselle was in the house.”

“Are you suggesting that I … It … it’s utterly false.”

“Of course. But after all, you did come here. You were friendly with the Comte. It was obvious that you had hopes. You see there is the foundation.”

“Madame,” I said, “I find this conversation nonsensical and offensive. You must excuse me as I wish to bring it to an immediate end.”

“I am sorry. I thought you should know the truth.”

“Good day, Madame.”

“I understand your indignation. You have been treated unfairly. I’m afraid the Comte is ruthless. He uses people for his own ends.”

I shook my head and turned away.

She said: “You must wait for Etienne. He will take you back.”

“I am going now. Goodbye.”

Shaken and trembling I went out to the stables. I wanted to put as far as possible between that woman and myself. Her insinuations were not only offensive; they were frightening.

How dared she suggest that the Comte had brought me here as a scapegoat, that he had killed his wife in order that he might marry Gabrielle and had done it in such a way that the blame could be attached to me.

It was inconceivable. It was the raving of a jealous woman. How could I doubt his sincerity after those scenes between us. That he was a sinner he had never denied. He had much to answer for, but he could never have deceived me so utterly, treated me so callously, as he would have if what she was suggesting were true.

And yet . How suspicious I was! I had been thrust into a world which, brought up as I had been by a god fearing mother with definite ideas of right and wrong, I could not understand.

How long had her affair with him continued? Was it still going on? Did she still attract him? Ethics, morals were considered so differently in the society from which I had come. Perhaps in high places in England there was a similarity. The King’s eldest son. Prince George, was notorious for his amours and so were his brothers. There were scandals among the aristocracy. I was sure that those who lived and thought as my mother had, enjoyed happier lives. Then I began to wonder why simple people were thought to be less clever than the sophisticated ones, when the simple people were often happier, and as everyone sought happiness, the wise must be those who knew how to find it and keep it.

Tortured by my thoughts I had come some way down the path and had reached the spot where the undergrowth grew thickest.

I did not know what it was that broke into my thoughts but I was suddenly uneasily aware of being watched. It might have been the cracking of a twig; it might have been a certain premonition. I could not say, but in that moment all my senses were alerted. I had the feeling that I was being watched and trailed . and for an evil purpose.

“You must never go out alone.” Those were the Comte’s injunctions. I had disobeyed them. Well, not exactly. Etienne had accompanied me to his mother’s and I had expected him to come and take me back, which no doubt he would have done had not I, incensed by his mother’s insinuations, left when I did.

Fifine, my mare, had been ambling quietly along for it was difficult to gallop or canter along this path. It would be dangerous, for she needed to pick her way carefully lest she trip over a gnarled root or a tangle of bracken.

“What is it, Fifine?” I whispered.

She moved forward cautiously.

I looked about me. It seemed dark because of the trees. There was silence and then suddenly a sound . a stone being dislodged . a presence, close . very close.

I was fortunate on that day. I leaned forward to speak to Fifine, to urge her forward and just as I did so a bullet whistled past that spot where a few seconds before my head had been.

I did not hesitate. I dug in my heels. I said: “Go, Fifine!” She did not need to be told. She was as aware of danger as I was.

Neither of us cared for the unevenness of the path. We had to get away from whoever was trying to kill me.

There could be no doubt that that was the intention for another shot rang out. This was wider of the mark but clearly I was the target.

It was with tremendous relief that I came into the stables.

One of the grooms came forward and took Fifine from me. I said nothing to him. I thought it wiser not to. My legs were trembling so much that I could scarcely walk.

I went to my room and threw myself on my bed.

I lay there staring up at the canopy. Someone had tried to kill me. Why? Someone had lain in wait in the undergrowth waiting for me to pass along. Who had known that I had visited Gabrielle?

Etienne. Leon, I remembered, had been there when Etienne had suggested the visit. I had mentioned it to Margot. Any of the servants might have known.

Had someone lain in wait for me? But for that sudden bending forward to speak to Fifine the chances were that I should now be lying dead in the lane.

Margot put her head round the door.

“Minelle, where are you? I heard you come in.” Then she saw me.

“What’s wrong? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

I said, my teeth still chattering: “Someone has just tried to kill me.”

She sat on the bed and stared at me.

“What? When? Where?”

“In the path from Gabrielle LeGrand house to the chateau. Half-way down the path I felt I was being stalked. It was lucky that I did. I leaned forward to urge Fifine on just as a bullet came whistling past my head.”

“It must have been someone shooting birds.”

“I think it was someone who wanted to kill me. There was a second shot and it was aimed at me.”

She had turned pale.

“So,” she said, ‘they are tired of throwing stones through our windows. Now they have decided to kill us. “

“I believe it was someone who wanted me out of the way.”

That’s nonsense. Who would? “

That,” I said unsteadily, ‘is what I have to find out.”

To face an attempt on one’s life is an unnerving experience and the shock is greater than one at first realizes.

Margot had spread the news. She was flatteringly concerned and horrified. We discussed it at table.

Etienne said, as Margot had: They have substituted guns for stones.”

Leon was unconvinced. They have no weapons. If they rose theirs would be scythes and pitchforks . not guns. Where would they get guns?

They haven’t enough money to buy bread . let alone guns. “

“But why Mademoiselle?”

She is reckoned to be one of us now,” answered Etienne.

They went on speculating and I could only believe that Etienne was right. One of them had procured a gun. Why should not one of the servants have stolen it from the gun room? After the behaviour of Bessell and Mimi I knew that even those whom we had misguidedly trusted were no friends of ours.

A subtle change had crept over the household. They knew of the attempt on my life and sometimes it seemed as though they regarded it as very significant. It was as though it were a sign of the changing mood. The time when they threw stones was passing; they were ready to take stronger action. There was a brooding tension inside the house which I had not noticed before. That such existed outside, I had been well aware, but now it seemed to be creeping closer.

When I saw Mimi she would cast down her eyes as though she were ashamed, as well she might be. It was different with Bessell. His manner had become almost truculent. There was the implication: You have to think twice about giving me orders now. I know too much.

I think that perhaps the most distressing of all was NouNou. For most of the time she was shut away in the rooms she had occupied with the Comtesse. She would not allow anything to be touched in those apartments and the Comte had said that she was to be humoured. The servants said they could hear her talking to the Comtesse as though she were still there; and on those occasions when I saw her she would look at me with wide staring eyes seeming to see nothing. The Comtesse’s death had unbalanced her, it was said.

Leon and Etienne were greatly concerned about what had happened to me.

Etienne blamed himself. T should have been there to bring you back to the chateau,” he said.

“I intended to come and half an hour later would have been there. I thought you would stay longer.”

I did not wish to explain to him that I had found his mother’s insinuations so offensive that I had no alternative but to leave.

I merely said: “The shot might have been fired from the bushes if you had been there.”

“I suppose so,” he admitted.

“Of course it wasn’t meant for you personally … just anyone who was not a peasant. But if I’d been there I should have been through those bushes and caught the villain. You must be careful. Never go out unattended again.”

Leon was equally concerned. He waylaid me once when I was in the garden alone and said quietly: “I want to speak to you. Mademoiselle Minelle.”

As we walked away from the chateau together he went on:

“I think you may be in danger.”

“You are thinking of the shot?”

He nodded.

“Etienne thinks it was not meant for me personally. I suppose we are all in danger.”

“It’s the gun that puzzles me,” he said.

“Had it been a stone … or even a knife thrown at you, I could have understood it more. I don’t think it was merely a sign of the times.”

“What do you think?”

“I think that you should lose no time in getting back to England. I wish I could take you.” He looked at me quizzically.

“Dear Minelle, you should not be involved in all this.” He waved his arms.

“It is too unsavoury.”

“But who would want to kill me? No one here really knows me personally.”

He shrugged his shoulders. There has been a death at the chateau and there are unpleasant rumours. “

“Don’t you believe that the Comtesse took her own life?”

Again that lifting of the shoulders. Her death was opportune. The Comte is now free. It is what he has wanted for a long time. We do not know what happened. Perhaps we shall never know, but people talk. I can tell you that they will be talking of the death of the Comtesse in the years to come and there will always be speculation. That is how legend grows up. Do not let it concern you. Go away. Put it all behind you. You do not belong in this decaying society. “

“I have promised to stay with Margot.”

“She will have her own life. You will have yours. You are being caught up in matters which you do not really understand. You judge people by yourself, but let me tell you-all people are not so honest.” He smiled at me frankly.

“I would be your friend … your very good friend. I have a great admiration for you. I would come to England with you but I am chained here and here I must remain. But please go. You are in danger here.

That is a warning which should not be ignored. Good luck was with you once. It may not be again. “

“Tell me what you know. Who would want to kill me?”

“All I know is that you must suspect everyone … everyone until you have proved them to be innocent.”

“You know something.”

“I know this: You are a good and charming young lady whom I admire and wish to see in safety. While you are here you are in danger. Please go back to England. There is still time. Who knows, very soon it may be too late.”

I turned to him and looked into his face. There was real concern in those vivid blue eyes and his smile was not jaunty as it usually was.

I liked him very much. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry I had once thought I saw his face at the window when the stone had been thrown into the ballroom.

Then a terrible feeling of insecurity came to me. He had said: Trust no one. No one. Not Leon, Etienne, not even the Comte.

He looked at me rather wistfully and said softly: “Perhaps … when this is over … I will come to see you in England. Then we may talk of … many things.”

Margot was greatly concerned.

“Just suppose that bullet had killed you. What should have done?”p>

I couldn’t help smiling. That was a typical Margot remark.

But she was anxious on my account as well as her own. I would often find her watching me intently.

“It’s frightening you, Minelle,” she said.

“You look different.”

“I’ll get over it.”

“I’ll swear you didn’t sleep well last night.”

T kept dozing, half awake, half dreaming I was back in the lane. Once I thought I saw a face in the bushes. “

“Whose face?” she asked eagerly.

“Just a face…”

That was not quite true. It was a face I had seen before.

The face which I saw on the night of the ball. Leon’s face . and yet not Leon. It was as though a mischievous artist had sketched a few lines on Leon’s face-distorting it with rage, envy and a desire to harm. It was so unlike the Leon I had known that somehow I could not connect the two. Leon had always been kindly and during our conversation had been deeply concerned. I knew that he was tolerant more so than Etienne. He saw the people had a case but while he believed great concessions should be given to them, he did not believe in the destruction of a society. It seemed to me that Leon more than any of them understood what was needed and this was natural enough since he had an opportunity of seeing both sides of the case.

Margot talked a great deal about Chariot and her satisfaction that she had discovered him. She was in a rare euphoric mood. It was well, she said, that she had found out Bessell’s true nature. She did not believe Mimi was to blame. She had been influenced by Bessell, but she would be glad to be rid of them both.

“How long is the period of mourning?” she asked.

“It’s a year in England, I believe,” I replied.

“It’s probably the same in France.”

“A year … what a long time!”

“It seems unnecessary to set a time for mourning,” I commented sadly.

“When one has lost someone who is dear, the mourning goes on through one’s life. It is not so intense as it was at first, of course, but I don’t believe one ever forgets.”

“You’re thinking of your mother again. You were lucky to have such a mother, Minelle.”

“But if she had not been as she was, if she had been less good and kind and understanding, I shouldn’t be missing her so sorely now.

Sometimes I think she is still advising me. “

“Perhaps she is. Perhaps she told you to duck your head when you did so and saved your life.”

“Who knows?”

Margot said: “Minelle, you look exhausted. That’s not like you. You always have ten times more energy than the rest of us. You should go to bed and sleep and try not to see faces in the bushes.”

I did feel tired though I doubted whether I should sleep.

But I wanted to be alone so we said goodnight and she went to her room.

I lay in bed very tired yet sleepless. I could not stop myself going over every moment of that afternoon from the moment when I had said goodbye to Gabrielle to the time when I came riding into the chateau stables. I felt again the first uneasy tremor when I had fancied I was being watched and the mounting terror when I realized that someone was trying to kill me.

I started up in alarm when I heard a sound at my door. It was a sign of my state that my heart began to hammer against my side as I stared in fearful anticipation at the door. Margot came in. She was carrying a glass in her hand. Tor you, Mineue,” she said, setting it down by the bed.

“Nou-Nou’s special concoction, guaranteed to make you sleep.

I got it from her. “

I lowered my eyes. I thought of the Comte’s going into Ursule’s room, taking the bottle from Nou-Nou’s store. Was that what he had done? Had he given it to her before I saw him leaving by the terrace doors? But surely if he had she would not have been asleep so quickly, for she was almost asleep when I entered. And Nou-Nou could not have been far off. What had they said to each other during that last interview? Had she taken her own life and should I ever know? Was it possible that he . I would not let myself think it. But what did I really know of him? That potent spell which he cast over me lulled my common sense to sleep and I could only make excuses for him.

Margot was looking at me enquiringly. You’re dreaming. Still seeing faces? Drink this up and you’ll be all right by morning. “

“I’ll take it later I said.

“Stay and talk awhile.”

“You need sleep,” she said firmly and set the glass on the table by my bed. Then she sat down on the chair near my dressing-table on which stood three candles-only two of which were alight.

“Only two,” she said.

“It’s gloomy in here.”

“One was blown out when you opened the door.”

“As long as the three don’t go out. That’s a sign of death. One of ‘the servants said that on the night my mother died three candles in their room went out… one after the other.”

“You don’t believe such superstition, Margot!”

“None of us believe them until we prove them to be true, do we?”

“Some people are very superstitious.”

“It is usually those who have something to fear … people like sailors and miners. People who run certain hazards.”

“We all run hazards.”

“But not such obvious ones. Look, another candle has gone out.”

“You blew it.”

“I did not.”

“Light it again.”

“Oh no, that would be unlucky. We have to wait and see if the third goes out.”

There’s a draught coming from somewhere. “

“You always have to have a logical explanation for everything, don’t you!”

“It’s not a bad idea.”

“And you don’t believe in the candle legend?”

“Of course I don’t.”

There was silence for a few moments, then she said: “I have a feeling that something is going to happen soon. Do you think we can go and visit Chariot?”

“Of course we can’t. You have seen what disaster our first visit brought.”

“Disaster! When I found my baby! Oh, you’re thinking of that horrid Bessell. Well, I’ve settled him. Mimi is quite ashamed of him. She can’t do enough for me.”

“I don’t like it, Margot.”

“If only there wasn’t this waiting. It’s so silly. I don’t mourn my mother any more because my marriage has been postponed. These are not normal times, are they? That’s why we have to live dangerously … because we never really know how much longer we’ve got to live. You poor Minelle. You look so tired. I’m going to say goodnight now. Take your potion and sleep well.”

As she went out, shutting the door with a bang, the third candle went out. I had laughed at the superstition but I could not repress a shudder. For a moment I was in complete darkness but as my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, familiar objects began to take shape. I looked at the glass beside my bed. I picked it up but I did not put it to my lips.

The Comtesse had died from a draught. Someone had tried to kill me.

But it was Margot who had brought this and I knew she would never harm me.

I got out of bed and taking the glass with me went to the window. I threw out the contents. I would not want Margot to think I had been suspicious of a draught she had brought.

Now I was really wide awake. It was true I was very tired. My body needed rest but my mind was in no mood to grant it.

I lay down while thoughts chased themselves round and round in my head. I heard the tower clock striked twelve and one. Still I could not sleep.

Perhaps I should have taken the draught but it was too late for that now.

I dozed but I did not really sleep. My senses were too alert to allow me to. Then suddenly I was wide awake. I heard footsteps in the corridor footsteps which paused outside my door. Then my door was slowly opening.

At first I thought it was a ghost-so strange was the figure which came into my room. It was grey in the gloom hair streaming about the shoulders. A woman.

She came and stood by the bed looking down at me. She took the glass and smelt it. Then she leaned forward and saw that I was watching her.

“Nou-Nou,” I cried.

“What are you doing?”

She blinked and looked puzzled. She said: “What are you doing here?”

I rose from the bed and taking my robe wrapped it round me.

“Nou-Nou,” I said gently.

“What’s wrong? What do you want with me?”

My fingers were trembling as I lighted the three candles.

“She’s gone,” said Nou-Nou.

“She’ll never come back. Sometimes I think I hear her. I follow her voice. It leads me to odd places … but she’s never there.”

Poor Nou-Nou. The death of her beloved charge had indeed unbalanced her.

“You should go back to your bed,” I said.

“You should take one of your sleeping draughts.”

“She died after taking one,” she said.

“Because she took too much. You must not brood. She was ill, wasn’t she? You know how ill.”

“She didn’t,” cried Nou-Nou shrilly.

“She didn’t know how ill she would become.”

“Perhaps she did … and that was why …”

“He killed her. Right from the time the little girl was born he started to kill her. He wanted her out of the way and she knew it. She hated him … and he hated her. I hated him too. There was a lot of hatred in this household … and in time it killed her.”

“Nou-Nou, you can do no good by brooding on this. Perhaps it was best for her …”

“Best for her!” Her laughter was a shrill cackle.

“Best for him.” Then she turned her piercing gaze on me.

“And best for you … so you think. But don’t be too sure. He’s the devil, he is. No good can come to you through him.”

“You are talking without understanding, Nou-Nou,” I said.

“Please go back to your room.”

“You were awake when I came in here,” she said suddenly, the wildness dropping from her and being replaced by a certain cunning shrewdness which was more terrifying than her hysteria.

I nodded.

“You ought to have been asleep.”

Then I shouldn’t have been able to talk to you. “

“I didn’t come here to talk to you.”

“Why did you come here, then?”

She didn’t answer. Then she said: “I’m looking for her. Where is she?

They buried her in the vault, but I don’t think she’s there. “

“She is at peace now, NouNou.”

She was silent and I saw the tears slowly flowing down her , cheeks.

“My little mignon ne my little bird.”

“Don’t fret any more. Try to be reconciled. She was ill. She would have suffered a great deal of pain in time.”

“Who told you that?” she demanded, shrewd again.

“It was what I heard.”

“His tales … his excuses.”

“Nou-Nou, please go to your bed.”

“Three candles,” she said, and turning blew them out, one after another. She turned to look at me before she blew out the last and I quailed before the venom in her face.

With that she went to the door, holding her hand before her as a sleep-walker does.

The door shut. I was out of bed and saw to my relief that I could lock the door. I did this and immediately felt safe.

Then I lay in bed wondering why she had come to me. If I had taken her draught I should have been asleep. What would have happened then?

Sleep! How I longed for it! How I wanted to escape from my tortuous thoughts that went round and round in my head reaching no conclusion.

My only inference was: There is danger close-and particularly close to me. From whom does it come? And why? “

I lay waiting for the dawn and only with the comfort of daylight could I rest.

III

Three days later the Comte sent for us. Margot and I were to leave for Paris without delay.

I was not sorry to go. The mounting tension in the chateau was becoming unbearable. I felt I was watched and would find myself looking furtively over my shoulder whenever I was alone. I noticed that the servants regarded me oddly. I felt very unsafe.

Therefore it was a great relief to receive the summons.

It was a hot June day when we set out. There was a stillness in the air which in itself seemed ominous. The weather was sultry and there was thunder about.

The city had lost none of its enchantment, though the heat was almost intolerable after the freshness of the country.

I immediately noticed that there were numerous soldiers in the streets-members of the Swiss and French Guards who formed the King’s bodyguard. People stood about at street corners but not in large numbers. They talked earnestly together. The cafes, from which came the delicious smell of roasting coffee, were crowded. People overflowed into the streets where tables under flowered sunshades were placed for their convenience. They chattered endlessly and excitedly.

In the Faubourg Saint-Honore the Comte was waiting for us with some impatience.

He took my hands and held them firmly.

“I heard what happened,” he said.

“It was horrifying. I sent for you immediately. You must not return to the chateau until I do.” He seemed then to be aware of Margot.p>

“I have news for you,” he said.

“You are to be married next week.”

We were both too astounded to speak.

“In view of the state of-‘ the Comte waved his hands expressively everything, the Grassevilles and I have come to the conclusion that the marriage should not be delayed. It will necessarily be a quiet wedding. A priest will officiate here. Then you will go to Grasseville and Minelle will go with you … temporarily … until something can be arranged.”

Margot was delightedly astonished and when we went to our rooms to wash off the stains of the journey she came to me at once.

“At last!” she cried. There was no point in waiting, was there? It was all so silly. Now we shall leave here. My father will no longer be able to command me. “

“Perhaps your husband will do that.”

She laughed slyly.

“Robert! Never. I think I shall get on very well with Robert. I have plans.”

I was a little uneasy; Margot’s plans were usually wild and dangerous.

The Comte asked me to go to him and I found him in the library.

He said: “When I heard what had happened I was overcome with anxiety.

I had to find some way of bringing you here. “

“So you arranged your daughter’s marriage?”

“It seemed as good an answer as any.”

“You use drastic measures to get your way.”

“Oh come. It is time Margot was married. She is the sort who needs a husband. The Grassevilles are a family who have always been popular with the people … though how long’ that popularity will last, who can say. Henri de Grasseville S was a father to his fiefs and for that reason it seems difficult” , to imagine their turning against him.

They might, though,”;

in their present mood. Fidelity is not a noticeable quality among people now. They bear grudges more readily than gratitude. But I should feel happier if you were there. “

“It is good of you to be so concerned.”

“As usual, I think of my own good,” he said soberly.

“Tell me exactly what happened in the lane.”

I told him and he said: “It was a peasant taking a pot shot at someone from the castle and it happened to be you. It’s a step in a new direction for them. And where did they get hold of the gun? That’s a mystery. We are making sure that no firearms get into the hands of the rabble. That would be fatal.”

Is the situation deteriorating? ” I asked.

“It is always deteriorating. Each day we step a little nearer to disaster.” He looked at me earnestly.

“I think of you all the time,” he said.

“I dream of the day when we shall be together. Nothing … nothing must stand in the way of that.”

“There is so much standing in the way,” I said.

Tell me what. “

“I don’t really know you,” I answered.

“Sometimes you seem like a stranger to me. Sometimes you amaze me and yet at others I know exactly how you will act.”

“That will make life exciting for you. A voyage of discovery. Now listen to my plans. Marguerite will marry and you will go with her. I shall visit you at Grasseville and in due course you shall be my wife.”

I did not answer. I kept thinking of Nou-Nou at my bedside, of, Gabrielle LeGrand insinuations. He had murdered Ursule, she had hinted, because he was tired of waiting to marry her, Gabrielle. He wanted a legitimate son. Gabrielle had already given him that son; all that was needed was his legitimization which would be easy if they married. His idea according to her, was to lead me along so that I might slip into the re1e of scapegoat. She would probably suggest now that he had arranged that I should be removed from the scene. What if he had taken that shot at me . or arranged that it should be fired?

How could I believe that? It was absurd. Yet some instinct within me was warning me.

He put his arms about me and said my name with the utmost tenderness. I did not resist. I wanted to stay there in his arms and turn my face away from reason.

It was as though Margot hugged some secret to herself which was too precious to tell even to me.

I was amazed how easily she could throw off her troubles and behave as though they had never existed. I was glad she had had the good sense not to bring Mimi with her. Mimi might well have refused to come as she was now soon to be married and with Bessell to command her she could well have been truculent. The new maid Louise was middle-aged and glad to step into Mimi’s shoes. At the same time Margot had dismissed the conduct of Bessell and Mimi as though it were of no consequence. I wished that I could think so.

We had a busy week, mostly shopping, and once more I was caught up in the excitement of the city. I would watch from my window at two o’clock each day when the wealthy set out in their carriages to keep their dinner appointments. It was indeed a sight, for the ladies’ headdresses were becoming so outrageous as to be almost comical. Some would mince along balancing these confections on their heads which would represent anything from a bird of paradise to a ship in full sail. These were the people who aped the nobility-which was a dangerous thing to do these days. In the Comte’s household and others of its kind dinner was at six which gave time to go to the playhouse or the opera by nine o’clock which was the time when the city took on a different character.

We visited a private playhouse on one occasion to see a very special performance of Beaumarchais’ Le Manage de Figaro, a play which the Comte said should never have been shown at this time as it was full of sly references to the decadent society which were a delight to those who wished to destroy it.

He was thoughtful and moody as we returned to the hotel.

He had a great deal on his mind and was often away on court matters.

It touched me that, in view of all that was happening, he found time to plan for my safety, although, of course, I did not believe his daughter’s marriage had been arranged for that reason.

Robert de Grasseville with his parents and a few of their servants arrived in Paris.

In her excitement Margot looked so beautiful that I could almost believe she really was in love. Even though her emotions might be superficial, they were all-important to her while she felt them.

The marriage took place in the chapel which was situated at the top of the house. One left behind the luxury of the apartments, ascended a spiral staircase and stepped into an entirely different atmosphere.

It was cold there. The floor was of flagged stone and there were six pews placed before an altar on which was a beautifully-embroidered cloth and above it a statue of the Madonna studded with glittering stones.

The ceremony was soon over and Margot and Robert came out of the chapel together looking radiant.

Immediately afterwards we sat at table. The Comte at the head, his new son-in-law on his right hand and Margot on his left. I sat next to Robert’s father, Henri de Grasseville.

It was clear that the two families were delighted with the match.

Henri de Grasseville whispered to me that the young pair were undoubtedly in love and how gratifying it was to him that this should be so.

“Frequently in families like ours marriages have to be arranged,” he said. It so often happens that the partners are unsuitable. Of course they often grow together. They are so young when they marry they have much to learn and they learn from each other.

This is happy from the start. “

I agreed with him that the young couple were happy, but I could not help wondering what he would have felt if he had known of Margot’s experience, and I fervently hoped that all would go well, but I did feel uneasy remembering the demands of those two servants whom she had trusted.

It will be well to leave Paris soon,” went on Henri de Grasseville.

“We are peaceful at Grasseville. There has been no sign of trouble.”

I warmed to him. There could not have been a man less like the Comte.

There was something innocent about him. He looked as though he believed the best of everyone. I glanced along the table at the Comte’s rather saturnine face. He looked like a man who had gone through life trying all manner of adventures and had come through with his idealism tarnished if not broken. I felt a smile curve my lips and at that moment he looked at me, caught me watching him and there was a look of quizzical enquiry in his eyes.

When the meal was over, we all gathered in the salon and the Comte said he thought it would be wise to lose no time in leaving for Grasseville.

“One can never be sure from one moment to another when the trouble will begin,” he said.

“It only needs some small pretext to set it off.”

Oh, Charles Auguste,” laughed Henri de Grasseville, ‘surely you exaggerate.”

The Comte lifted his shoulders. He was determined to have his way.

He came to me and whispered: “I must see you alone before you leave.

Go to the library. I will join you there. “

Henri de Grasseville was consulting the clock which hung on the wall.

“If we are to go today,” he said, ‘we should leave in an hour. Will that suit everyone? “

“It will,” said the Comte, speaking for us all.

I went at once to the library. In a short time he was with me.

“My dearest Minelle,” he said, ‘you wonder why I send you away so soon.”

“I understand that we must go.”

“Poor Henri! He has little notion of the situation. He remains in the country and thinks that because the lambs still bleat and the cows moo as they ever did, nothing is changed. I hope to God he can go on thinking it.”

“His is a comfortable philosophy.”

“I see you are in the mood for discussion and you are going to say he is a happy man. He goes on believing that everything is good. God watches over us, and the people are kindly innocents. One day he will have a rough awakening. But, you will say, at least he was happy before it came. I should like to take you up on that but there is little time left to us. Minelle, you have never said you loved me.”

“I do not speak lightly of such emotions as you do, having made love to so many women. I dare say you have told people many times that you loved them when all you felt was a passing fancy.”

“So when you do tell me I may be completely and utterly sure?”

I nodded.

He drew me to him and said: “Oh my God, Minelle, how I long for that day. When … Minelle?”

“There is so much I must understand.”

“So you don’t really love me as I am.”

“I have to know what you are before I can love you.”

“Tell me this. You like my company. I know that. You do not find me repulsive. You like me near you. You sparkle when you look at me, Minelle. You always did. That was why I knew.”

“I have lived such a different life from yours. I have to adjust myself to new standards and I don’t know whether I can.”

“Minelle, can you hear the warning bells? The tocsins are sounding.

All through my life I have heard what happened to this city on the eve of St. Bartholomew’s Day. That was two hundred years ago . two hundred and seventeen to be exact. There were some who felt that coming. It was in the air for weeks before it broke into fearful slaughter. That is how it is now . but before what is to ‘come, the Bartholomew will be considered insignificant. Those bells are saying: Live fully now . for tomorrow you may not be able to live at all. Why do you deny me . when any night might be my last? “

I was afraid. I found myself clinging to him. Then I thought: This is a trick to make me yield. And that showed me clearly the nature of my feelings for him.

I did love him, I supposed, if loving meant wanting to be with someone, to talk to him, to feel his arms about me, to learn how to love and be everything to him. Yes, that was true. But I could not trust him. My mind, in its moments of clarity, told me that Ursule had died too fortuitously. I knew that he was adept at making love and I was a novice. I had everything to learn and surely he, in his vast experience, had learned everything . including how to deceive.

I must not be foolish. So far I could congratulate myself on having kept him at arms length in spite of those occasions when my senses had cried out to me to release them. My stem upbringing, the memory of my beloved mother had always stood between me and folly.

“So,” he was saying tenderly, ‘you do care for me? “

I drew myself from him. I did not look at him for fear of losing my grip on my good sense.

“I have grown fond of your family,” I said.

“I have been with you for some time and Margot was always my friend. I do see, though, that we have lived different lives and have responded to different ethics. I have a great deal to consider.”

He looked at me through half-closed eyes.

“Yes, it is true that you have been brought up in a different society, but you are an adventurer, Minelle. You do not wish to shut yourself in your little world and never explore others. Your nature was clear when you came peeping into the rooms at Derringham Manor. Now that was not what a well-brought-up little girl should do.”

“I have grown up a good deal since then.”

“Ah yes. You have changed. You see the world through different eyes.

You have learned that men and women are not neatly divided into the good and the bad. Is that true, Minelle? “

“Of course it’s true. No one is all good, no one all bad.”

“Even I?”

“Even you.” I was thinking of how he had looked after Yvette and made sure that Chariot was well cared for.

“Well then?”

“I am unsure,” I said.

“Still unsure?”

“I need time.”

“Time is just what we lack. Anything in the world I will give you but that.”

“That is all I want. There is so much I have to understand.”

“You are thinking of Ursule.”

“If one considers marrying a man who has already had a wife it is difficult not to think of her.” “You need have no jealousy regarding her.” ;

“It was not jealousy I was thinking of.”

“Her unfortunate end? Good God, I believe you think I killed her. Do you think me capable of that?”

I looked at him steadily and answered: “Yes.”

He stared at me for a moment or two and then burst into laughter.

“And even so … you would consider marrying me?”

I hesitated and he went on: “But of course you are considering. Why else would you ask for time? Oh Minelle, so clever and so obtuse. But you have to persuade the prim side of your nature that it would somehow be comme il faut to marry a murderer! Oh Minelle, my love, my darling, what fun we are going to have with that prim side of yours.”

Then he held me against him and I was laughing with him I could not help it. I returned his kisses in an inexperienced way which I knew delighted him.

The clock on the bureau pinged impatiently as though to warn us of the all-important passage of time.

He was aware of it. He took my hands.

“At least,” he said, “I know. It gives me hope. I have to be in Paris for a while. You understand this.

There are dangerous men rising against the King, urging the people to destroy the Monarchy and all it stands for. The most dangerous of them all is the Due d’Orleans who preaches sedition night after night in the Palais Royale. I must stay here and knowing what I know I can have no peace until you are safe in the country . or comparatively safe.

Go with Margot. Look after her. She is a wayward child . yes, little more than a child. She does not seem to grow up. She has her secret . ” He shrugged his shoulders.

“That may bring drama into her life. Who knows? She will need you to care for her, Minelle. She will need your good sound analytical sense. Take care of her and yourself. Protect her from her own folly … and one day I will protect you from yours. I will see that you learn the wisdom of accepting life … taking what it offers … living and never turning away from the best.”

Then he kissed me Imgeringly, tenderly; and I left him.