The French Wife

by Diney Costeloe

  When he had finally swept out of the house, Rosalie went back into her parlour and dropped into her chair by the fire. Where, she wondered, had the charming, suave gentleman whom she’d known as Simon Barnier gone? And who was this raging tyrant who’d appeared in his place? How could one man have two such different faces? How could she send her daughter back to such a man? She remembered that she had been going to speak to Agathe Sauze about Hélène and Annette’s disappearance, but now she decided not to. She knew how fond of Hélène Madame Sauze was, and if she did know anything of where they’d gone, Rosalie suddenly did not want to know. If she knew, she would be honour-bound to inform Simon.

  Chapter 42

  Hélène and Annette gradually settled into a comfortable routine in Agathe’s apartment. Hélène slowly overcame her dread of leaving the place and venturing into the street.

  ‘I don’t think you need to worry,’ Annette said when Hélène admitted her fear. ‘I’ve had a letter from Pierre and he says that Simon has told some story about you being called away to a sick aunt. No one believes it, of course, but he has to try to save face. Pierre says he made various efforts to trace us. He went to the station himself to see if anyone had seen us getting on the train but luckily no one had noticed us. The man in the ticket office told him that he hadn’t even seen two young women that morning, let alone sold them tickets to Paris or anywhere else. Of course,’ Annette went on, ‘he must be pretty sure that’s where we are, but he might as well look for a needle in a haystack. Pierre says Simon’s certainly been to the Avenue Ste Anne and he thinks to Versailles to see your brother Georges too, in case you were hiding there.’

  ‘Do you think he’ll think that Pierre might have bought the tickets?’ wondered Hélène.

  ‘I suppose he might, but even if he does, Pierre will deny it and Simon can still only guess that we came to Paris.’

  ‘But we can’t stay here for ever,’ Hélène pointed out. ‘It’s very good of Madame Sauze to lend us her apartment, but we can’t stay here for ever.’

  ‘No, I agree,’ said Annette, ‘but once Simon and your parents are all convinced that you will never go back to him, perhaps some arrangement can be made, so that you can come out of hiding. Perhaps I’ll know more tomorrow.’

  ‘Tomorrow? Why, what’s happening tomorrow?’

  Annette smiled, her eyes alight with pleasure, and said, ‘Pierre’s coming up to the Avenue Ste Anne with Madame St Clair today. We’re going to see each other tomorrow.’

  ‘Is that safe?’ Hélène was instantly afraid. ‘He’s not coming here, is he?’

  ‘No, he’s not. We’re meeting at Les Halles. It is so busy no one will notice us in the crowd.’

  ‘Supposing he’s followed?’ said Hélène.

  ‘Who by?’ Annette smiled. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll be careful.’

  Hélène saw Annette’s joy at the idea of the meeting and said, ‘You love him, don’t you? Does he love you? Will you get married?’

  ‘One day, I hope, but not until you don’t need me any more.’

  ‘But doesn’t it frighten you… you know, knowing what you have to do with a man when you’re married? Like Father Thomas?’

  ‘It won’t be anything like Father Thomas,’ Annette assured her. ‘What Father Thomas did was done with hate and violence. With Pierre I know it will be with love and tenderness.’

  Hélène was not convinced and shuddered at the thought of Simon’s hands on her throat, the urgency of his body pressing against hers. ‘I could never let a man touch me again, like that… like Simon.’

  ‘But if you fell in love with someone else it wouldn’t be like Simon. Not if you loved him; it would be quite different.’

  ‘Well, I can tell you now, I have absolutely no intention of getting married,’ Hélène asserted, ‘ever! So I shall never find out. I shall never love anyone enough for that.’

  Annette often wondered how things would have been if Hélène had married Rupert as planned. Would she have been seized with panic when he tried to kiss her, or would he have understood, and taken his lovemaking slowly? She had little doubt that Simon would dominate any woman he took to bed, and having suffered at the hands of Father Thomas she could quite understand Hélène’s revulsion. If she had married Simon Barnier, Annette thought, he would have forced himself on Hélène and it would have been tantamount to rape. If Hélène was right and she never married, she was still far better off than being married to a man like that.

  The next day Annette put on her hat and coat and, leaving Hélène sewing in the apartment, set out for Les Halles. At first she couldn’t see him and thought he hadn’t been able to come, but suddenly he was there, beside her, slipping an arm about her waist, his lips brushing her cheek, making her face flush with becoming colour.

  The market was bustling with life as ever, and Pierre took her hand and led her into a side street away from the crowds.

  ‘Hélène’s afraid you might have been followed,’ she told him once they were clear.

  ‘I did wonder, myself,’ Pierre said, ‘but I can’t really believe that Barnier would be able to have every member of the St Clair household followed. Anyway, tell her not to worry, I wasn’t, I made sure of that.’

  ‘I’ll reassure her,’ promised Annette, but even so she found herself glancing over her shoulder, just in case.

  Pierre took her hand again. ‘Come on,’ he said, pointing to a small glass door steamed up from within. ‘There’s a café over there and we’ve got lots to talk about.’ The café was busy, but it was warm after the chill of the day outside, and they managed to find a small table at the back. Pierre ordered two cups of coffee and some pastries. While they waited for them to arrive he smiled at her and asked, ‘How have you been? Have you missed me?’

  ‘We’re well enough,’ she replied, ignoring his second question with a twitch of her lips. ‘The apartment isn’t large, but we are comfortable. We have plenty to fill our days, and you know, I don’t think I’d like to be a lady of leisure.’

  ‘What about Hélène?’

  ‘She’s no longer a lady of leisure, either. She certainly does her share. We’ve had to be realistic, Pierre. Aunt Agathe gave us money to tide us over, but it won’t last for ever, so we’ve had to find some means of support.’

  ‘Madame Sauze said to tell you that she has made arrangements for you to draw money from Monsieur Colet if you need to.’

  Annette smiled. ‘How like her,’ she said. ‘Please thank her for us, but say we’ve enough to be going on with. I’ve actually managed to get us some sewing work from a dressmaker with a workshop nearby. I collect the work and bring it home, so they have no idea that it’s a lady who’s doing it. It’s just plain sewing, but it’s something Hélène does well and I’m getting better at. It doesn’t pay much, but we don’t need a lot.’

  ‘So she’s earning your livings!’

  ‘Yes, she’s teaching me to sew and I’m teaching her to cook,’ said Annette, which made Pierre laugh.

  ‘Are you indeed? And is she any good at it?’

  ‘She will be,’ Annette replied. ‘Anyone can learn to cook if you show them how.’

  Their coffee and pastries arrived, and once Pierre knew they would not be interrupted any further he said, ‘I’ve lots to tell, there have been developments.’

  ‘What sort of developments?’ demanded Annette.

  ‘Simon has dismissed his staff and moved back into Gavrineau with his parents. He’s back in the separate wing where he was before.’

  ‘Does that mean he’s given up looking for us?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe. I doubt it some. Her disappearance on the eve of her wedding was a great blow to his pride. He wasn’t left waiting at the Mairie with his family, but everyone is talking about what happened, so he might as well have been. I’ve a shrewd suspicion that he’s employing someone to find her.’

  ‘But why? Surely he doesn’t want to marry her any more.’

  ‘Who can tell wit
h a man like that? He considered that she belonged to him and he’s not the man to give up anything he owns.’

  ‘You can’t own a person,’ stated Annette.

  ‘I think you can try,’ replied Pierre, ‘if you’re a man like Simon Barnier. Perhaps he thinks she’ll eventually come back to Belair in disgrace. If she did, she would be completely ostracised. Maybe that’s what he’s hoping for: her public disgrace.’

  ‘I doubt if she’ll do that. What do her parents think?’

  ‘Her father is so angry and ashamed that he has disowned her. He has forbidden her name to be mentioned at Belair.’

  ‘And Madame?’

  ‘Madame, I think, has sympathy for her. She has seen the other side of Monsieur Barnier and I think she’s quite happy for her daughter to remain in hiding. I think she guesses that Madame Sauze probably knows where you are, but she hasn’t asked her. I think it’s the reason we’ve come back to Paris for a while. Madame was tired of apologising for Hélène’s disappearance. She’s brought Miss Louise with her and will be staying in the Avenue Ste Anne for a time. Monsieur will come occasionally, he has work to do in the city, but I think neither of them wants to be at Belair just now.’

  ‘But they don’t suspect you?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. And,’ he said, his face brightening, ‘it means, if we’re careful, that we can meet from time to time. I do miss you, you know!’ He was rewarded with a pleasing blush on Annette’s cheeks and he added a little anxiously, ‘You will still marry me when this is all over?’

  ‘Oh, Pierre, you know I will.’

  He reached for her hand and, smiling into her eyes, said with great satisfaction, ‘Good.’

  Both of them wished that they were not in such a public place, but it would not be seemly to embrace in a café, and so they had to make do with the squeeze of a hand and a smile.

  ‘Come on,’ said Pierre, tossing some coins onto the table and getting to his feet, ‘let’s make the most of our afternoon. Madame’s given me the day off.’

  They walked arm in arm towards the river, strolling like any other couple in the early spring sunshine.

  ‘How long will you stay with her?’ Pierre asked suddenly.

  ‘As long as she needs me,’ replied Annette. She stopped and turned to face him. ‘We can’t let her marry that monster.’ Her face darkened. ‘I know what it’s like, Pierre, the fear, the violence, the shame. It comes back to haunt you just when you think you’re safe.’

  ‘You’d be safe with me, Annette,’ Pierre said gently.

  She smiled up at him and it was like the sun breaking through. ‘I know,’ she said, ‘and one day I will be, I promise you.’

  *

  ‘You look happy,’ Hélène remarked when Annette came back into the apartment. ‘What news from Pierre?’

  ‘First of all he says don’t worry, he wasn’t followed. He doesn’t think that anyone suspects him of being involved in your escape, but he says he was very careful and will continue to be so.’

  ‘What else did he say? How are my parents?’

  ‘Your father is still angry with you, but your mother seems much more sympathetic. She has brought Louise up to Paris and will be staying in the Avenue Ste Anne for a while now.’

  ‘Is Madame Sauze with her?’

  ‘No, she’s been left at Belair. Pierre thinks your mother guesses that Aunt Agathe had something to do with your disappearance, but she hasn’t actually asked her.’

  ‘What news of Simon?’

  ‘Pierre says Simon has moved out of the Garden House and back into Gavrineau with his parents. Saves him the cost of his own establishment, I suppose.’ She went into the kitchen. ‘Let’s forget about him and think what we’ll have for supper.’

  ‘I’ve made it,’ Hélène said proudly. ‘Fish, with a sauce.’

  ‘Good for you. What did you put in the sauce?’ Annette asked, with a smile.

  ‘Anything I liked the look of in the market,’ Hélène replied cheerfully.

  ‘Ah,’ said Annette. ‘The very best sort of sauce.’

  As Annette and Hélène sat at the kitchen table eating their fish supper, Pierre found himself entertaining Jeannot in the stables.

  ‘Thought you might turn up sometime,’ Pierre said. ‘How did you know we were back?’

  Jeannot gave him a knowing look and said, ‘I keep an eye on the place. Don’t want no one taking advantage of an empty house, do we?’

  Pierre agreed they didn’t. Then an idea struck him.

  ‘Any sign that someone’s been watching the house recently?’ he asked, trying to sound casual.

  Jeannot shrugged. ‘Don’t keep a round-the-clock watch, do I?’

  ‘No, but one of your lads might have seen something, you know, just someone hanging about in the street.’

  ‘What’s this all about, Pierre?’ Jeannot asked. ‘Them’s not casual questions, are they?’

  Pierre, who had been wondering how much if anything to say about Hélène’s predicament, said, ‘No.’

  ‘So, what’s behind them, then? You expecting a break-in or something? Won’t happen while the family’s here, will it?’

  ‘No, nothing like that,’ replied Pierre, even as he remembered how a gang of deserters had broken in all those years ago and abducted Hélène. The house had been occupied then. ‘No,’ he said again. ‘It’s just that Miss Hélène has…’ He hesitated.

  ‘Has what?’ prompted Jeannot.

  When Pierre didn’t immediately answer, Jeannot said, ‘Come on, Pierre! What’s up?’

  Pierre took his decision. He knew that Jeannot had always been protective of Hélène. There could be no harm in letting him know what had been happening.

  ‘Miss Hélène was engaged to be married to that Englishman I told you about. The English milord.’

  ‘She didn’t marry him,’ Jeannot said, clearly with first-hand knowledge of this.

  ‘No, he didn’t come back from England.’ Pierre explained about Rupert’s marriage, Hélène’s misery and her surprising decision to marry Simon Barnier.

  ‘Very quick,’ remarked Jeannot.

  ‘He had been courting her for some time and she was encouraged by her mother to accept him.’

  ‘Why?’ demanded Jeannot. ‘Was he rich?’

  ‘His family owns a large estate near to Belair, the St Clairs’ home, but whether he has any money I can’t say. Maybe money problems. Miss Hélène will come in to quite an inheritance on her marriage.’

  ‘And her ma encouraged her to marry him?’ Jeannot sounded sceptical.

  ‘I think she thought that it would help put the Englishman out of Hélène’s mind, having her own establishment to run and that.’

  ‘So, what are you telling me?’

  ‘A couple of days before the wedding, Barnier took her to look at the house where they were going to live, the Garden House on his family estate. My girl, Annette, is her maid. They knew each other from when they were in the orphanage together. She was with them for decency’s sake, but she wasn’t allowed into the house with them. Barnier told her to wait outside, but it was cold and she actually waited inside the porch.’

  Jeannot listened attentively as Pierre described what had happened, both in the bedroom at the Garden House and the threats made by Simon Barnier to Annette if she spoke of what had frightened Hélène.

  ‘Annette and I suggested that she should tell her parents she’d changed her mind, but she was too afraid of what Barnier would do to her if she did.’

  ‘So what has happened to her?’ demanded Jeannot. ‘If he’s harmed a hair of her head…’ Jeannot glared at Pierre as if it were his fault. ‘You tell me where I can find this Barnier bloke and he’ll never frighten anyone ever again.’

  ‘She’s safe,’ Pierre assured him. ‘We finally persuaded her to run away. We got her to Paris and she’s at a safe address where he won’t find her.’

  ‘How d’you know he won’t? Sounds pretty ruthless to me. You asked if someone
had been watching this place? Well, perhaps they have, but she hasn’t been here, has she?’

  ‘No, she hasn’t, but he may still be having the house watched in case she turns up, thinking that he’s no longer looking for her.’

  Jeannot thought for a moment. ‘What does she think he’s going to do to her if he does find her? I mean, she ain’t married to him, so he’s got no claim on her. Law can’t make her marry him, can it?’

  ‘As I said, there’s money involved.’ Pierre explained about the inheritance. ‘Everyone knows that the St Clair girls all come into money from their grandmother on their marriage. He may still decide he wants to marry her to get his hands on that. And because of the scandal she has already caused, she’s afraid her father may say it’s her duty to keep her promise and try to force her. Monsieur St Clair wants to ensure that the whole episode is quickly forgotten and his family can be restored to its place in society.’

  ‘Well, as long as she’s safe now,’ Jeannot said thoughtfully, ‘we must do what we can to protect her.’

  Pierre told him the address of Agathe’s apartment. ‘No one knows of this place except Agathe herself, Annette and me. Hélène is quite safe there for the present. They’re making a little money doing piecework sewing for a dressmaker nearby. Not a lot, but it all helps and it’s something Hélène can do at home, out of sight.’

  ‘I see.’ Jeannot nodded. ‘Well, if your girl wants to make herself a franc or two she can work on one of my stalls in the market. Tell her to go to the outside market at St Eustache and look for Benny Bonnet, sells eggs and chickens. I’ll tell him to expect her, she can help with the plucking an’ that.’

  As Jeannot let himself out of the stable yard, he thought back to how he’d managed to rescue Hélène from the clutches of the army deserter named Gaston who had abducted her all those years ago. She was his to protect and he wasn’t going to let some toff called Barnier terrify her as Gaston had done. He went to find his two henchmen, Paul and the Monkey. Together they would make some arrangements. Jeannot had a wide network of people working for him these days, many of them young lads as he had been during the siege, bright and eager to do without question whatever he required of them, for which they were always well rewarded. He would call on some of these now, while he used his information network to discover all he could about a toff called Simon Barnier.