The Devil on Horseback (22 page)

I pulled myself up sharply. What was I thinking? I was being drawn more and more into the affairs of this household. With a man such as the Comte who had married a

f woman such as the Comtesse that could be an alarming ini volvement.

I knew this and yet I was allowing myself to be ,i more and more caught up in their lives. | I saw the doctors arrive that day. Nou-Nou was waiting for j them and took them immediately to her mistress. The Comte | was not in the castle but they waited to see him. ‘

Margot and I spent the evening together. She was less exuberant now that the excitement of the dress was over. ;

“I wonder what Robert will be like,” she kept saying. “It seems strange that you have never seen him.”

“I think I may have done when we were children. His family’s estates are north of Paris. I believe he visited us when we were in Paris once. He was a horrible boy who ate all the gateau and then took the piece of cream I was saving until the last.”

“Not a very auspicious beginning to a lifetime’s union,” I said, but added: “People change as they grow up. The most awful children become the most charming.”

“He’ll be fat with spots, I know.”

“It’s not a bad idea to build up an unpleasant picture. Then you’ll be agreeably surprised.”

She was laughing again.

“You are good for me. You are … what is it astringent? That is what Papa likes in you. He does like you a great deal, you know.”

“As I shall be leaving here when you marry it doesn’t matter very much what he thinks of me, does it?”

“You will come with me, won’t you?”

“Until I have made my plans. But I can’t spend all my life in this sort of situation. You must realize that.”

“I have plans. When I’m married I’m going to get Chariot with me.”

“How?”

That’s for you to work out. “

I should have no idea how to begin. “

“Now you sound like Annette-Pas-Possible. Everything is possible … if you set about it in the right way. And one thing I’m going to do is have Chariot with me. I think of him all the time … well, almost all the time. How do I know what sort of people have him? Think of it… he will be growing up … talking …”

“Hardly yet.”

“He will be calling someone else Maman.* I could see she was working herself up into another fit of hysteria and this was exactly what I wanted to avoid. So I soothed her by making ridiculous plans as to how we should find Chariot. We would go to the inn where he had been taken from us; we would question people and find the trail which led to him.

This was the sort of game she so much enjoyed and we played it for a long time and went into such detail that she really thought it was possible and derived a great deal of comfort from our planning.

Yes, I could see that she needed me.

He looked magnificent standing there at the top of the staircase receiving his guests. Margot was beside him flushed and very attractive in her puce velvet. When he saw me his eyes kindled. His glance took in my gown. I had been right in thinking it would be very simple in comparison with others. What I had failed to realize was that its very simplicity made it conspicuous.

In my bedroom, I had looked, as I thought, quite beautiful. I had brushed my hair until it shone and it certainly was, as my mother would have said, my crowning glory. It made a frame about my face and I had dressed it high, padding it a little to make it stand up in accordance with the fashion, with one curl coming forward to hang over my shoulder. I knew I looked my best and Margot had insisted that I wear a tiny black patch-which she provided-at the side of my temple.

“It makes your eyes look bigger and bluer,” she said.

“Besides, it’s the fashion.”

I could scarcely recognize my reflection as myself. What a grand assembly it was! The great hall must have seen many such, but I believed it could never have seen a grander one. Flowers had been brought in from the castle hothouses. There were great pots of them on the high table and urns stood on pedestals, fragrant and colourful. I felt a little bewildered by so much elegance. Never had I seen such magnificent apparel as that worn by the women and men. There must have been a fortune in jewels in the castle that night. Musicians were grouped round the high table and the dancing was most elegant and slightly different from that which we did at home.

In my altered gown, adorned only by the cameo brooch which my mother had treasured and worn about twice in her lifetime, I must have looked like a little moth who had somehow become trapped among gorgeous dragonflies.

If you had accepted the Comte’s gift you could have competed with them, I admonished myself. But of course that would have been out of the question. If I did look like a drab little moth, at least I was a proud one.

Leon discovered me and asked what I thought of the ball.

“I think that I should never have come. I don’t fit in.”

Why not? “

I looked down at my dress.

“It’s charming,” he assured me.

“So many of the people look alike. Blindly they follow the fashion. You can scarcely tell one from the other. You are different. You have a style of your own. I find that pleasant.”

“You are determined to be kind to me.”

“Why should I be otherwise? Shall we join the dancers?”

“I taught dancing at school and my mother taught me. But this is somewhat different.”

“Then we’ll go in and dance our own dance, shall we?”

We did and he fitted his steps to mine. I had always enjoyed dancing and I began to forget the inadequacy of my costume.

“Have you met the prospective bridegroom?” I asked.

“Robert de Grasseville. Yes. He is a pleasant boy.”

“Is he very young?”

“Eighteen or so.”

“I do hope Margot will like him.”

“It’s a good marriage from both families’ point of view. What I mean is she’ll take a good dowry and hell give her a good settlement. It’s supposed to be very desirable when these rich families unite. It makes them bigger and stronger than ever. It will be the marriage of the year. Marguerite is of course the important member of the family.

We’re waiting now to see who will be produced for Etienne. “

“He’ll get a grand marriage too, I suppose.”

“Quite grand … but perhaps there’ll be reservations. There is the bar sinister, remember. I think his marriage is a cause of some contention between his mother and the Comte. It may be that her brother Lucien is here now to discuss just that. What they’re after is to get him legitimized, which the Comte would certainly arrange if he thought he was not going to get a legitimate son.”

“Well, how can he?”

“He’s waiting for the Comtesse to die.”

I shivered.

“Yes,” he went on, ‘it does sound callous, but as I have mentioned to you before, we’re realists. We face the facts . and you can be sure the Comte does. What he would like is to be rid of the Comtesse and marry a healthy young girl and get sons. “

“It’s distasteful to talk like that of the Comtesse while she lies here in the castle.”

“Creaking doors go on creaking for a long time. The very fact that they creak means that they get the best attention and so they go on longer than the strong who aren’t so well looked after.”

I could not bear to talk of the Comtesse, so I changed the subject and said: “So soon there will be a bride for Etienne.”

“Oh yes … but no de Grassevilles for him. Unless he is legitimized, of course. If he were acknowledged as the Comte’s heir it would be a very different matter. You see why his marriage hangs fire.

We used to think that the Comte would have married Gabrielle if he had been free and that would have made things a lot easier. So meanwhile Etienne waits. He would not want a bride with no great prospects and after the marriage find himself heir to a great name and all that goes with it and realize that he had married beneath him. “

“You are cynical. What of yourself?”

“I, Mademoiselle, am a free man. I could choose whom I wished providing she would have me-and none would care very much … unless I chose a lady of a great house and she accepted me. Then there would be trouble from her family. I am sure the Comte would be highly amused. But everyone knows my origins. The lucky peasant. No one will want to marry me but for love.”

I laughed.

“The same would apply to me. Do you know, I

think we are indeed the lucky ones. “

There was a touch on my shoulder. I looked round. The Comte was standing beside us.

“Thank you for looking after my cousin, Leon,” he said.
I will take a turn with her myself now. “

It was dismissal. Leon bowed and left me.

The Comte took my hand, surveying my dress while a smile touched his lips.

“I see you, dearest Cousin, attired in your pride,” he said.

“I am sorry if you do not like my dress,” I replied, ‘and if you consider my presence here unsuitable and therefore unwelcome . “

“It is not like you to ask for compliments. You know there is not a guest more suitable in my eyes-or more welcome. The only thing that disappoints me is that we must waste time when there is so little left to us.”

“You speak in enigmas.”

“Which you interpret correctly, and with the utmost ease. Think. We might be together and yet we must’ indulge in this … courtship, would you call it?”

“I certainly would not.”

“What then?”

“Pointless pursuit of which I have no doubt you will soon tire.”

“I assure you I am the tireless hunter. I never give up until I have my prey.”

“There must come a time in the life of every hunter when he suffers his first defeat. This is that occasion for you.”

“Shall we wager on it?”

“I never wager.”

I should love to see you in a glittering gown which I shall have made for you. That is one of Marguerite’s. I recognize it. So you can take from her what you cannot take from me? “

“I bought the dress from her.”

He laughed aloud and I was aware that several people were watching us.

I could imagine the comments.

“Cousin? Who is this cousin?” They would speculate about me in the way I had heard Leon and Etienne doing.

“It was good of you to come to the ball,” he said.

“I’ll warrant Marguerite persuaded you.”

I told her I should shortly be leaving. “

“And she made you change your mind. Good girl.”

“I shall choose the first opportunity to go.”

“I believe you plan to go with her when she marries.”

“She has asked me to but I think I should return to England.”

“Is that gracious after the way we have done everything to try to make you like us?”

“It is you who have made it impossible for me to stay here.”

Oh cruel Cousin! ” he murmured. Then he said: ” You must meet Robert.

Come. “

I was eager to do so and when I was presented to a freshfaced young man with a pleasant smile I was agreeably surprised. Marguerite’s description of the greedy little boy had led me to expect a plump self-indulgent young man. Nothing of the sort. Robert de Grasseville was tall and elegant and what pleased me most was the kindly expression on his youthful face.

It occurred to me that he was as apprehensive as Margot and I warmed to him. He talked to me for a while, about horses mainly and the countryside; and Margot was brought to us by her partner in the dance.

She said: “So you have met our cousin. Monsieur de Grasseville?”

It seemed a formal mode of address when they were to be married shortly but it appeared to be correct. He replied that meeting me had been a great pleasure.

The Comte whispered: “I regret I must leave you now. I shall see you later.”

“Let us go in to supper,” suggested Margot. She turned to me. The announcement will be made during it. Minelle, you must come with us.

You and Robert must be friends. “

I was relieved because I could see that she was accepting Robert and prepared to get to know him. I could not, of course, say that they had fallen in love with each other at first sight. That would have been too much to expect; but at least they had not made up their minds to dislike each other.

People were moving towards the new hall where the buffet was laid out, and the elegance of the display again surprised me.

I.

had never seen food so artistically arranged. There was an abundance of everything and the butlers and footmen in the coloured livery of the Fontaine Delibes household looked as if they were part of the scene, There was wine which I knew came from the Comte’s own vineyards; and I remembered the hungry peasants who were not far away and was relieved that they could not see that table. I looked round for Leon, for I wondered whether the same thought had occurred to him, but I could not see him. I did see Gabrielle, though, with her brother. Gabrielle looked very handsome in a sparkling gown, too flamboyant for my liking, but becoming to her bold good looks. I think Etienne, who was with her, was proud of her.

We sat down at one of the tables near a window. There was Robert, Margot and another young man, a friend of Robert’s.

Conversation was light and easy and I noticed with another rush of relief that Marguerite was not unhappy. Once she had grown accustomed to the idea that a husband would be chosen for her-which she had been brought up to know she must accept-she could not have envisaged a young man more charming than Robert de Grasseville.

During supper the Comte made the announcement. It was recieved with applause and Margot and Robert went to stand beside him and receive congratulations. I remained at the table talking to my companion, and it was only a few minutes later that a noise behind me made me turn. I was very close to the window and I saw a face there . looking in.

I thought it was Leon’s.

The face disappeared and I was still looking out of the window when a heavy stone struck the glass, shattering it, and came hurtling into the room.

There was a brief silence, then cries of dismay and the sound of breaking glass and crockery.

I stood back horrified. The Comte had rushed to the window and was looking out. Then he shouted to the footman.