“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. “