Chapter One ~ 1889-1
2022 Words
Chapter One ~ 1889Lady Sherington gazed out of the window onto the delightfully formal garden at the back of the Duc d’Aubergue’s house in the Champs-Élysées
She was thinking that Paris was far more exciting than she had expected it to be, especially in one particular.
As the sun shone on her fair hair, she looked very young, in fact far younger than she actually was and exceedingly beautiful.
It had been amazingly fortunate, she thought, that the Duchesse d’Aubergue had been a friend of hers for so many years.
They had met the first time when Lord Sherington had taken her to a formal party at the French Embassy and she had been afraid that neither her gown nor her jewels would compete with those of the other guests.
The Duchesse had, however, singled her out and they had been friends all through the succeeding years. Now when she had specially wanted to come to Paris, Lorraine d’Aubergue had invited her to stay for as long as she wished.
‘How lucky I am,’ Lady Sherington said to herself. ‘So very very lucky.’
The door of the salon opened and she turned quickly with an expectant look in her eyes to see the woman she had been thinking about.
Lorraine d’Aubergue certainly looked extremely chic as only a Frenchwoman could and the elegance of her gown with its satin bustle and the touches of lace under her chin made Lady Sherington know once again that she could not compete with her French friend.
“Ah, here you are, Susi,” the Duchesse exclaimed in English with the merest trace of an accent. “I just wanted to say ‘goodbye’. I suppose you would not wish to change your mind and come with me to the Prince’s luncheon? It will be a very impressive gathering.”
“I am sorry, Lorraine,” Lady Sherington replied, “but you know I promised – ”
“I know, dearest, I am only teasing, although I cannot say that I approve of what you are doing.”
Susi Sherington looked worried.
“Is it – wrong of – me?” she asked hesitatingly.
“Not exactly wrong,” her friend replied, “shall I say a trifle indiscreet?”
She laughed and threw up her hands in a typically French gesture.
“But, ma cherie, why should you not be indiscreet in Paris when the sun is shining, you are unattached and in love?”
Lady Sherington gave a little cry of protest.
“Lorraine, I – ”
Even as she spoke, the colour flooded up her pink-and-white cheeks.
“Of course you are,” the Duchesse insisted, “and Jean de Girone is very much in love with you. But be careful, Susi, that he does not break your heart!”
“Why should you – say that?”
Lady Sherington had turned away to stand once again looking out onto the garden, now with unseeing eyes.
“My dear, I have known Jean for many years, as I have known you. He is the most attractive man in France, but the most unpredictable and undependable.”
The Duchesse paused and then said in a different tone of voice, which was one of concern,
“You are not serious, Susi, in what you feel for him?”
Lady Sherington did not answer and after a moment the Duchesse continued,
“I blame myself. I should have made it clear when he first met you that he is a heartbreaker, a man who plucks the most beautiful flowers by the wayside and, when they fade, throws them away.”
Still Lady Sherington did not speak and the Duchesse went on,
“It’s not only that. Now that Jean is free of his tiresome wife, he has to marry money.”
“He behaves as if he is very rich!”
Lady Sherington spoke almost as if she was startled.
“He was,” the Duchesse replied. “As long as the Comtesse was alive. But her father made sure that, as there were no children of the marriage, Marie-Thérèse’s enormous dowry should return on her death to her family.”
The Duchesse made an expressive gesture with her hands as she added,
“Helas! For Jean this was a cruel twist of Fate. To have the handling of a huge fortune and then to lose it because his wife loved God and not him!”
“What do you mean?” Susi Sherington asked.
Because she was curious she turned her face towards her friend again.
The Duchesse sat down in a chair by the window.
“It is most remiss of me not to have told you this before,” she said, “but I had wanted you to have a wonderful time in Paris. So when Jean singled you out and danced with you all night the first time you met, I knew how amusing you would find him. He is the best dancer I have ever known.”
Lady Sherington moved towards a chair opposite her friend,
“Go on,” she urged.
“I thought,” Lorraine d’Aubergue continued, “that Jean would give you the fun you have missed for so long, could thrill you with compliments, which he can pay more skilfully than any other man I know, and make you look as beautiful as you were when we first met.”
She smiled a little wryly before she added,
“He has certainly done that. But, Susi, dearest Susi, I shall never forgive myself if, when it is all over, you are left unhappy and heartbroken as so many other women have been.”
“I have not said that I am – in love with – the Comte,” Susi Sherington said a little defiantly.
“You don’t have to tell me in words anything that is so obvious,” the Duchesse replied a little tartly. “I saw it by the look in your eyes as I came into the salon just now when you thought that it was Jean arriving.”
“Now you are – making me embarrassed.”
“I just want you to be sensible, my dear. Flirt with Jean, let him make you feel that you are the only woman in the world, as he will do. But remember that to Jean love is like a very good meal, it is delicious, but when it is finished, it is very easy to forget what you have eaten!”
It was now Susi Sherington who made a gesture and it was one of protest.
“You make him sound – horrible.”
“I have no wish to do that,” the Duchesse said quickly. “I want you to enjoy your little flirtation, but remember that is all it must be.”
She looked at the expression on her friend’s face and went on rapidly,
“Already Jean’s relatives, and there are a number of them, all very distinguished, are thumbing through the Almanach de Gotha to find him a suitable and rich bride. She will have to be very rich to be able to keep up the Château Girone, which is the most imposing in the whole of Provence and the most historical. Jean has naturally told you about it?”
“He has not said – much about it.”
“Good!” the Duchesse exclaimed. “That means that he is not as serious as I feared, because let me tell you that the one great love in Jean’s life is his home, his estates and the history of the Girones, which makes them one of the greatest noble families of France.”
“I remember reading about Provence,” Susi Sherington said. “The Troubadours, the battles and the sieges by invading hordes.”
“That is all in Jean’s blood,” Lorraine d’Aubergue replied, “and part of his mystique, which attracts all women like a magnet.”
“I can – see,” Susi said hesitatingly after a moment, “that I have been – very foolish even to – listen to him.”
“Non, non! You must not feel like that,” the Duchesse cried. “Of course you must listen to Jean, of course, you must enjoy being with him. There is no one in the whole of Paris who can be more enthralling and more entertaining. I am only telling you this, Susi, because of the position you are in.”
“I – understand,” Susi Sherington said in a low voice. “Thank you for telling me.”
The Duchesse sighed.
“How I hate to be a spoilsport! But when you told me of the conditions that your husband laid down in his will, I knew at once that it would be impossible for you to marry a Frenchman.”
She paused for a moment before she said,
“Not that I am suggesting for one moment that Jean’s intentions would be dishonourable, even if you could remain as rich as you are now. When he marries, it must be to a member of the Ancien Régime and, of course, somebody young who can bear him children.”
She sighed again before she continued,
“The children he should have had long ago if his wife had not been abnormal and a woman who should never have been married and who should have gone into a Convent as soon as she was old enough to take her vows.”
“Then – why did she marry him?” Lady Sherington cried.
“Because Jean’s father wanted a daughter-in-law rich enough to keep up the Château, and Marie-Thérèse’s family wanted the prestige of her becoming the Comtesse de Girone.”
“I-I suppose I had forgotten that the French always have arranged marriages.”
“But, of course,” the Duchesse answered. “It is a very sensible arrangement and works out in most cases extremely well. It is just that poor Jean was unlucky. Or perhaps the wicked Fairy at his Christening was determined that his life should not be entirely a bed of roses.”
“It certainly sounds as if she cursed him!”
“That is exactly what she did,” the Duchesse agreed. “Jean had good looks, charm, intelligence and a family history that goes back to the Princes of Provence and a wife who hated him from the moment she walked down the aisle on his arm!”
“Is that – really true?” Susi asked softly. “I feel so sorry for him.”
“So do I,” Lorraine d’Aubergue said. “But remember, Susi dearest, he will marry again very shortly and it will be to somebody rich and young who will adore him and, because she is the Comtesse de Girone, will turn a blind eye to the many other women who will succeed those who have been captivating his heart since he was old enough to realise that he had one.”
The clock on the mantelshelf then chimed the hour and the Duchesse gave an exclamation of horror.
“I shall be late!” she cried, “and the Duc will be furious. I promised to pick him up on my way to luncheon.”
She rose to her feet with a rustle of her silk gown and then she put her arms around Susi Sherington and kissed her.
“Forgive me, dearest, if I have cast a shadow on the sunshine of your day, but I have to look after you and, although I am younger than you, I feel immeasurably older and, if it does not sound too conceited, immeasurably wiser.”
“I know you mean to be kind,” Susi replied in her soft voice, “and I am very – very grateful for your – affection.”
The Duchesse kissed her again and then hurried from the room giving a despairing glance at the clock on the mantelpiece as if she thought that she had perhaps been mistaken when the hour had chimed.
As the door closed behind her, Susi Sherington rose once again to her feet to stand gazing into the garden.
The Duchesse had been right when she said that she had cast a shadow on the sunshine. Something now was missing, something that had been there before.
‘Lorraine is right – I must be sensible,’ she admonished herself.
At the same time she knew that never in her whole life had she felt as she had these last few days since she had met the Comte de Girone.
From the moment she had been introduced to him and had seen an expression in his dark eyes something strange had happened within her breast.
It was a feeling that had intensified during the evening when they had danced together and then sat talking in a manner which made words seem unnecessary as they could understand each other without them.
‘I suppose,’ she thought now, ‘it is only because I am so unsophisticated and so countrified, that I not only – believed everything he said but felt that he was different – very – very different from any man in the whole world.’
As if the very thought of the Comte conjured him up, the door of the salon opened and a footman announced,
“Monsieur le Comte de Girone, madame.”
In spite of her resolve to be sensible and despite everything that she had heard the Duchesse say, Susi Sherington felt her heart leap and an uncontrollable excitement sweep through her whole body as she turned found.
Just for a moment the Comte stood looking at her across the salon.
Then, as the servant closed the door behind him, he moved towards her with an unmistakable delight.
He was the most handsome and attractive man that Susi had ever seen and the expression in his eyes drew hers so that she could not look away from him, but could only watch him drawing nearer as if she was mesmerised.
- Writer
