He could hardly have a similar interest in me; and if he did his reputation was such that any sensible woman would avoid him. And had I not prided myself on being a sensible woman?
But there was nothing in my life in those days but blissful relief.
I walked down to the patisserie in the market square.
often went there during my afternoon walks and had a cup of coffee.
Madame Latiere, the proprietress, welcomed me, and plunged quickly into the topic of the day.
“A mercy, mademoiselle. I hear Monsieur Ie Comte is unharmed. His saint was watching over him that day.”
“Yes, he was fortunate.”
“A terrible thing, mademoiselle. Our woods aren’t safe, it seems. And they haven’t caught the one who did it.”
I shook my head.
“I’ve told Latiere not to ride through those woods. I shouldn’t like to see him on a stretcher. Though Latiere’s a good man, mademoiselle.
He hasn’t an enemy in the place. “
I stirred my coffee uneasily.
She flicked a serviette over the table absently.
“Ah, Monsieur Ie Comte. He is gal ant fort gal ant My grandfather often talked of the Comte of his day. No girl in the neighbourhood safe … but he always found a husband if there was trouble, and believe me, they didn’t suffer for it. We’ve a saying here that in Gaillard you often come across chateau features. Handed down through the generations. Oh, well, there’s human nature for you.”
“What a change in the vineyards in these last weeks,” I said.
“I’m told that if the weather stays warm and sunny this will be a good year.”
“A good harvest.” She laughed.
“That will make up to Monsieur Ie Comte for what has happened in the woods, eh?”
“I hope so.”
“Well, it’s a warning, would you not say so, mademoiselle? He’ll not ride in those woods for a while, I’ll swear.”
“Perhaps not,” I said uneasily, and finishing my coffee, rose to go.
“Au revoir, mademoiselle,” said Madame Latiere rather wistfully. I think she had hoped for more gossip.
I couldn’t resist going over to see Gabrielle the very next day. She had changed since I had last seen her; her manner was nervous, but when I complimented her on her new house, which was looking charming, she was pleased.
“It is more than I dared hope,” she said.
“And you are feeling well?”
“Yes, I have seen Mademoiselle Carre; she is the midwife, you know.
She is satisfied and now it is only a matter of waiting. Maman, Jacques’s mother, is always at hand and so good to me. “
“Do you want a girl or a boy?”
“A boy, I think. Everyone likes the first to be a boy.”
I pictured him playing in the garden a small sturdy little fellow.
Would he have chateau features?
“And Jacques?”
She blushed.
“Oh, he is happy, very happy.”
“How fortunate that… it all worked out so well.”
“Monsieur Ie Comte is very kind.”
“Everybody doesn’t think so. At least the one who took a shot at him didn’t.”
She clenched her hands together.
“You think it was deliberate. You don’t think …”
“He had a lucky escape. It must have been a shock to you when it happened … so near here.”
As soon as I had said that I was ashamed of myself, for I knew that if there could be any foundation for my suspicion about the Comte and Gabrielle I must be hurting her deeply; yet I had to know whether the Comte was the father of her child.
But she did not resent what I had said and that made me happy, for she did not seem to grasp the implication which, I was sure, had she been guilty she would immediately have done.
She said: “Yes, it was a great shock. Fortunately Jacques wasn’t far away and he got the man with the stretcher.”
Still, I had to pursue my investigation.
“Do you think the Comte has enemies about here?”
“Oh, it was an accident,” she said quickly.
“Well,” I added, ‘he wasn’t hurt much. “
“I’m so thankful.” There were tears in her eyes. I wondered whether they were tears of gratitude or something that went deeper.
A few days later I was walking in the garden when I came face to face with the Comte. I was in the middle terrace with its ornamental gardens and parterres separated from each other by boxwood hedges, and wandering into one of these I found him sitting on a stone bench overlooking a small lily pond in which the goldfish were visible.
The sun was hot in the enclosed garden and at first I thought he was asleep. I stood looking at the scene for a few seconds and then was about to go away when he called to me: “Mademoiselle Lawson.”
“I hope I am not disturbing you.”
“It’s the pleasantest of disturbances. Do come and sit down for a while.”
I went to the seat and sat beside him.
“I’ve never really thanked you for your prompt action in the woods.”
“I’m afraid I did nothing praiseworthy.”
“You acted with commendable promptitude.”
“I only did what anyone would in the circumstances. Are you feeling recovered now?”
“Absolutely. Apart from certain strained muscles. I am told that in a week or so all that will pass. In the meantime I hobble round with my stick.”
I looked at his hands with the jade signet ring on the little finger which curled about the ivory-topped walking stick. He wore no wedding ring as was the custom for men in France. I wondered whether he was just naturally flouting conventions or whether that was significant.
He glanced at me and said: “You look … so contented, Mademoiselle Lawson.”
I was startled. I wondered how much of my feelings I had divulged.
“This setting,” I said quickly.
“The warm sun… the flowers, the fountain… it’s all so beautiful. Who wouldn’t be contented in such a garden? What is the statue in the middle of the pond?”
“It’s Perseus rescuing Andromeda. Rather a pleasant piece of work. You must take a close look at it. It was done about two hundred years ago by a sculptor whom one of my ancestors brought to the chateau. It would appeal to you particularly.”
“Why particularly?”
“I think of you as a female Perseus rescuing art from the dragon of decay, age, vandalism and so on.”
“That’s a very poetic fancy. You surprise me.”
“I’m not such a Philistine as you imagine. When you have given me a few more lessons in the gallery I shall become quite knowledgeable.
You will see. “
“I am sure you will have no wish to acquire knowledge which would be no use to you.”
“I always understood that all knowledge was useful.”
“Some more than others, and as one can’t acquire it all it might be a waste of time to clutter the mind with that which is of no practical use … at the expense of so much that is.”
He lifted his shoulders and smiled. And I went on: “It could be useful to know who caused the accident in the woods.”
“You think so?”
“Of course. What if it were repeated?”
“Well, then there might be a more unfortunate outcome … or fortunate, of course. It depends on which way you look at it.”
“I find your attitude extraordinary. You don’t seem to care that someone who intended to murder you is not discovered. “
“How? My dear Mademoiselle Lawson, there have been numerous inquiries.
It is not so easy to identify a bullet as you imagine. There is a gun in almost every cottage. Hares abound in the neighbourhood. They are good in the pot and they do some damage. The shooting of them has never been discouraged. “
“Then if someone was shooting a hare why shouldn’t they come forward and say so?”