by Joan Wolf
That would be nice, she thought. Leo was so big, so competent. She wouldn’t have to worry and struggle alone if she was married to him.
She wondered what his life was like when he lived in England. Did he live on the estate where he had grown up, or did that belong to his older brother? Did he have a piece of property of his own?
It would be nice to settle down on her own farm in the country, to have a stable where her horses could live all the time. Gabrielle had always loved the winter, when the circus was off and they had lived in various rented farms and trained their horses. They had lived as a family, then, her father and brothers and Emma and Gerard.
But the circus was fun, too, she thought loyally.
In truth, it had been more fun when her father was alive, and she had not had to assume the responsibility of running it. Then she had just done her own acts and taken care of her own horses and left all the worrying to him.
It would be good to marry a man who would help assume the responsibility of the circus, she thought.
Andre had not been such a man. Andre had been fun, but responsibility had not been a big part of his character.
Leo may not be going to marry me, but he is still going to help me, she thought. He was going to make arrangements for Albert to establish himself as a painter. He was going to get her book published. These were significant things.
I have much to be grateful to him for. Another thought struck her and she smiled. He is even going to be our ringmaster.
He must have wanted to kiss her very much, if he had made such a sacrifice to do it.
He had wanted to kiss her; he had told her that he longed for her. Maybe he loves me a little bit. And on that thought, she finally drifted off to sleep.
“Let me spend one more day watching Gerard, and then I will be the ringmaster tomorrow,” Leo said to Gabrielle the following morning.
He was looking grim, and she forcibly quelled her impulse to let him off the hook altogether. It would be safer for them all if Leo would become more a part of the circus. She agreed to let him watch for one more day.
Leo was sitting with the band during the afternoon performance. Luc had finished the Courier of St. Petersburg, and Henri and Franz put up the ropes for their performance while Sully stood on a small ladder and tried to hang washing on them. Gerard chased Sully away and the last thing Henri and Franz did was secure the safety net that they always used.
The rope-dancing routine began and Leo watched it absently, his mind on Gabrielle and what had happened between them last night.
That damn dog, he thought for the hundredth time. God knew he was a dog lover, but it was hard to have good feelings about Colette this afternoon.
Up above him, the Martins began their act, the Rivals. Carlotta postured coquettishly as Henri and Franz pretended to fight over her. Finally Henri prevailed, and Franz took his usual dive downward.
The net didn’t hold.
The crowd gave a loud cry, and Leo raced into the ring to go to Franz, who was lying very still in the middle of the collapsed net.
When Leo got to him, Franz’s eyes opened. Thank God, Leo thought.
“What happened?” Franz asked slowly.
“Lie still,” Leo said. He knelt beside him. “The net broke. How do you feel?”
“I hurt all over,” Franz said.
“That’s good,” Leo said. “It would be worse if you didn’t feel anything.”
At this point, Henri and Carlotta appeared and knelt on the other side of Franz. “Are you all right?” Henri asked urgently.
“I don’t know,” Franz replied.
The volume of noise from the crowd had increased and people were standing on their benches trying to see what was going on. Gerard came running up to Franz.
“Tell everyone to stay in their seats, Gerard,” Leo ordered. “Tell them that we’ll attend to Franz and everything will be all right.”
Gerard nodded and went to do Leo’s bidding.
Gabrielle came running up and looked down at Franz. She was very white. “How could this have happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” a distraught Henri replied.
Leo said, “Can you move your legs, Franz?”
There was a moment of tense silence as Franz tried. “Yes,” he said. His lips were white.
“How about your arms?”
Once more silence prevailed as Franz tried. “Yes,” he groaned.
“Try to move your head from side to side.”
Franz did it, turning his head stiffly.
Leo looked at Henri. “It doesn’t look as if he’s broken his back or his neck.”
“Thank God,” Henri said.
Leo turned to Gabrielle. “He needs to see a doctor immediately. He may have some broken bones, and he probably has a concussion. Get a litter rigged up and we’ll take him back to the hotel and I’ll get a doctor.”
As Gabrielle raced off, Leo said to Franz, “Do you have bad pain anywhere in particular?”
“My right leg and my right arm,” Franz said. “I must have landed on them.”
“All right. Gabrielle’s getting a Utter and we’ll get you back to the hotel and get you a doctor. Just hold on.”
“You’re going to be all right, Franz,” Henri said.
The noise from the crowd had subsided into a steady murmur. Leo stood up, went to the edge of the ring and looked out at the assembled faces. “Who can tell me where’s the nearest doctor? Raise your hands.”
Dozens of hands went up. Leo went to the closest man and got directions. The Maroni brothers came into the ring with a Utter and two of them lifted Franz onto it. The crowd went silent as he was carried out.
Leo had stopped two of the Maronis from following the litter. Now he said to Julius, “Pick up the net and put it into my wagon. I want to have a look at it.”
A flash of understanding flickered in Julius’s dark eyes. “Si.” he said. “We will do that, Leo.”
Leo turned to Gerard. “Tell the audience that the show will resume in a few minutes.”
Gerard nodded and Leo went out of the tent to look for Gabrielle. He saw her standing next to the Martins’ wagon, where they were loading Franz, and went over to join her.
“I told Gerard to announce the next act,” he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes deeply troubled. “Yes, we have only my pas de deux with Mathieu left, anyway. We’ll perform it and get these people on their way.” She shut her eyes briefly. “Please God, let Franz be all right.”
“I’ll collect the doctor and, hopefully, have him at the hotel by the time Franz arrives,” he assured her.
“You could ride Tonton,” she said. “He will go under saddle.”
He nodded. “Good. That would be faster than taking the wagon.”
“I’ll tell Albert to help you saddle up,” she said. “I have to perform.”
“I’ll find Albert,” he said. “You and Mathieu just try to settle down the audience.”
He started to turn away, but she put a hand on his arm and said in a troubled voice, “Leo…do you think someone could have tampered with the net?”
She’s thinking the same thing I am, he thought.
“I told Julius to put the net in our wagon,” he said. “I’ll take a look at it as soon as I can.”
“Dieu.” she said, and touched her hand to her forehead.
He hated to see her so worried. “Don’t look like that, sweetheart,” he said. “It was probably just an accident.”
“I hope so.” But she did not sound convinced.
He was probably even more skeptical than she was, but he smiled encouragingly. “Go ahead, collect Noble and do your act.”
She drew a deep, long breath. “All right.”
He watched her walk away, her slender back straight as an iron rod. She would make a good soldier, Gabrielle, he thought.
Leo was fortunate to find the doctor at home, and he tied Tonton to the back of the doctor’s trap and went with him
to the hotel. The doctor examined Franz and found that he had a broken arm, a broken leg and a broken collarbone, all on his right side.
“It’s fortunate that he landed on his side,” the doctor said. “If he had landed on his back, he may have had more serious injuries.”
He splinted the arm and the leg but left the collarbone to heal on its own. He also thought Franz probably had a concussion.
“It could have been much worse,” the doctor said to Henri and Carlotta. “From what you have told me, the net probably did break his fall a little.” He shook his head. “Dangerous stunts you folks do.”
Henri said, “The net is there to keep it from being too dangerous.” He looked at Leo. “I don’t understand how it gave way like that. It has been fine.”
Leo said, “Do you check it before all your performances?”
Henri shook his head. “No. We have never had trouble with it before.”
“Something might have frayed,” Leo said. “I had it put in my wagon and I’ll look it over and let you know.”
Henri nodded. Unlike Gabrielle, he did not seem to suspect an outside hand. “I should have checked it,” he said. “It was careless not to.”
Leo left the Martins at their hotel and rode Tonton back to the circus field, passing some leftover circus traffic on the road as he went. As he rode into the field, he was surrounded by the remaining circus members, all wanting to know how Franz was doing.
Pierre was not among the group.
He reported on Franz’s injuries, then he and Gabrielle went back to their wagon.
“Wait until the others are occupied and then we’ll take the net out and examine it,” Leo said.
Gabrielle nodded.
Mathieu and Albert arrived at the wagon.
“Poor Franz,” Mathieu said. “What a miserable thing to happen to him. Didn’t they check the net?”
“Apparently not,” Leo replied. “I asked Henri and he confessed that he just put it up without looking at it.”
“That’s so stupid!” Gabrielle said passionately. “How could he be so careless with such an important piece of equipment? Franz took a dive into that net every performance!”
Leo shrugged. “Sometimes it takes an accident like this to open people’s eyes, sweetheart. It’s too bad.”
The four of them were standing outside the back of the wagon and now Colette got up off her sofa, stretched and walked around the net to jump out the back and join them. Gabrielle bent to hug her and she licked Gabrielle’s cheek.
Albert said soberly, “What is going to happen to the rope-dancing act? Will Henri and Carlotta still perform? Will Franz be able to travel with us?”
Gabrielle shut her eyes. “I don’t know, Albert.”
Mathieu said, “Every circus has a rope-dancing act.”
“I know,” Gabrielle sighed.
Leo said, “Henri and Carlotta will need their salaries—even more, with Franz injured. I can’t see them just throwing away their jobs to stay here and nurse Franz.”
Gabrielle brightened. “That’s true.”
Leo said, “Perhaps we can find a family that will take Franz in and nurse him until he is able to rejoin the circus. I’m sure the doctor must know someone who would be happy to earn some extra money.”
Gabrielle brightened even more. “That’s a wonderful idea, Leo! I will tell Henri that I will continue to pay Franz his salary, and he can use it to pay for Franz’s care.”
“How much salary does he make?” Leo asked.
She told him.
“Excellent,” said Leo, who privately thought that he would have to subsidize Franz’s salary to get the kind of care he was thinking of. But if he did that, he wasn’t going to let Gabrielle know.
She said, “Maybe I should go into town now and talk to Henri and Carlotta. Then We can talk to the doctor.” She looked into the wagon, toward the place where the gold was hidden. “Unfortunately, we can’t afford to fall behind schedule. Otherwise I would suggest we stay an extra day at Alencon.”
“Why don’t you let me talk to the doctor first?” Leo said. “If we can find someone to take Franz, it would be easier to bring the idea to the Martins with all the details in place. And I have the whole afternoon. I don’t have to get ready for a show.”
“Would you really do that, Leo?” Gabrielle asked.
“Of course.”
“Leo will arrange it, Gabrielle. Don’t worry. Everyone will do as he says,” Albert said with simple faith.
Gabrielle smiled wryly. “Leo does have a way of getting what he wants.”
Colette rejoined the group by the wagon. She pushed her head under Leo’s hand for him to pet her. Gabrielle looked first at the dog, then at him. He raised his eyebrows and she smiled.
“Let’s get the net out and look at it,” Mathieu said. “I wonder what could have happened.”
It didn’t take them long to find the broken spot in one of the main supports. Leo looked at it closely: The edges of the rope on both sides of the break were frayed.
Gabrielle said, with relief in her voice, “It broke because it’s worn.”
“Yes,” Mathieu said. “Shame on Henri and Franz. They should have looked after this. We check our bridles and our stirrup leathers and our girths all the time.”
Leo said nothing. He knew it wasn’t impossible for someone to have cut the rope, then frayed the ends by hand. As a matter of fact, it looked to him as if that might be what had happened. But he did not want to alarm Gabrielle.
“Can someone fix this rope before the evening performance?” he asked.
“Gerard can,” Gabrielle said. “Do you think Henri and Carlotta will perform later?”
“There’s not much they can do sitting around the hotel while Franz sleeps,” Leo returned. “And isn’t there a tradition in circuses that the performance must go on?”
Gabrielle smiled. “There is.”
He nodded. “Then why don’t I go back into town, talk to the doctor about finding a family, talk to Henri and Carlotta, and see what I can arrange.”
“Thank you, Leo,” Gabrielle said simply. “You are very good.”
Sully and Paul came wandering up. “What was wrong with the net?” Sully asked.
“One of the main supports was frayed,” Leo replied. “It finally gave way when Franz’s weight hit it this afternoon.”
“What a shame,” Sully said.
Paul said, “Henri and Franz should have kept better watch on their equipment.”
Leo nodded agreement.
“What’s going to happen to the rope-dancing act with Franz gone?” Sully asked.
“I’m going to see about that,” Leo returned. “If you all will excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”
He could feel them all watching him as he walked toward the stable tent.
Twenty-One
Leo went back to the doctor’s house, but he had to wait because the doctor was out on another call. When he returned, he and Leo sat down in his small surgery and Leo explained what he wanted.
“I’m assuming he can’t travel in his condition,” Leo said.
“Certainly not right at this moment,” the doctor replied. He was a small, slim man with a large mustache. “He is in a great deal of pain, plus we can’t take a chance of those bones being jarred.”
“Well, is there someone in the neighborhood with whom we could leave him?” Leo asked. “I am willing to pay well for good care.”
“How well?” the doctor asked bluntly.
“Very well, if the situation is a good one.”
The doctor thought for a minute. Then he said slowly, “I have an extra bedroom in my house. If it would be all right with my wife, he could stay with me.”
“That would be perfect,” Leo said vigorously. “None of us would worry about Franz if he was under the constant supervision of a doctor.”
“I would have to speak to my wife.”
“If you would like to invite her in here, I would be happy to explain ou
r situation,” Leo said. He smiled. “Perhaps I can appeal to her charitable instincts.”
When Madame joined them, however, it became clear that the instincts Leo was going to have to appeal to were mercenary rather than charitable. She dickered like a fishwife and Leo had to promise a considerable amount of his own money in addition to Franz’s salary.
It was worth it, he thought, to keep Gabrielle from worrying.
From the doctor’s house he went to the hotel, where he found Carlotta and Henri sitting together in the salon, looking distraught.
“Did you look at the net?” Henri asked as Leo came into the room.
“Yes. One of the main ropes was frayed. Evidently it gave way when Franz’s weight hit it.”
Henri struck himself on the forehead. “Stupid! How could I have been so stupid not to check the net?”
“Franz didn’t check it, either,” Carlotta pointed out.
“I am the elder. It was my responsibility.”
Leo pulled a chair up close to the old brocade sofa they were sitting on. “I have made some tentative arrangements for Franz, if they meet with your approval,” he said, and went on to explain his agreement with the doctor.
“This way, Franz will be well looked after, and you can continue on tour with the circus,” he concluded. “He can rejoin us when he is able.”
Henri said, “And Gabrielle will continue to pay Franz his salary, so he can pay the doctor?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s very nice of Gabrielle,” Carlotta said.
“She is concerned about Franz.”
Henri and Carlotta looked at each other. “It sounds good,” Henri said.
“Yes,” Carlotta agreed. “I think it is the best solution to a nasty situation.”
Leo said, “Can the two of you perform the rope- dancing act without Franz?”
“We’ll have to,” Henri said grimly.
Carlotta said, “I can write to my cousin Philippe. Remember how over the winter he was afraid that his act was breaking up? Perhaps he would like to join us.”
Henri said, “Then what do we do with Philippe when Franz comes back? Can Gabrielle afford to keep paying an extra rope dancer?”
Leo said, “It may be a while before Franz is well enough to perform again. Why not write to this Philippe and see if he is interested in coming on a temporary basis, with the possibility of a permanent job?”