Becoming Lisette: A Novel (The Queen's Painter an Historical Romance Book 1)

by Rebecca Glenn

  As Le Sèvre was nearly finished organizing his display of jewels, a page approached them. “Monsieur and Madame Le Sèvre?” The page appeared no older than Lisette. He held his breath while he stood waiting for a reply. Lisette watched his face redden.

  Le Sèvre replied cautiously, “Yes.”

  The page exhaled loudly and the redness of his face gave way to a healthy pink. “The Baron and Baronne Fontaine have a message for you. They are attending morning Mass with the King and Queen. You are to wait in the Helvetia Salon for them.”

  Lisette regarded Le Sèvre. He pursed his lips tightly together and squinted his eyes. Le Sèvre had said that he wasn’t satisfied to simply wait for customers in his stall in the merchant’s room. Going out of his way to arrange a special session with the Baron and Baronne Fontaine, he expected results for his efforts. Lisette thought that he might holler at the page, but Le Sèvre was polite and merely responded, “Very well. Thank you.”

  After the page had left them, Le Sèvre turned to Jeanne. “We are going to find them in the chapel. The more time with the Baron and Baronne, the better my chances are of convincing them to buy. Let’s go.”

  “But the chapel is on the other side of the palace in the south wing, François. We are not close,” Jeanne said.

  Le Sèvre ignored his wife. Instead, he shot Lisette a stern look and said, “You are coming too. I know that the Baronne will be especially enamored with the necklace you are wearing.”

  They left the north wing and went back down the stairs. After entering the south wing, Lisette heard an organ playing and voices singing. Le Sèvre darted ahead as if called by a Siren. Both Jeanne and Lisette struggled to keep up with him. Jeanne pleaded with him to slow down, but instead he picked up his pace and moved faster down the hall.

  They arrived at the chapel and Le Sèvre marched in, waiting for neither Jeanne nor Lisette. He disappeared into the crowd.

  Jeanne stopped and grabbed Lisette’s hand. “We should stay here. He’ll come back for us. We are wearing his goods.”

  Lisette slipped her hand out of her mother’s grip. Standing in the rear of the crowded chapel, Lisette examined the long, narrow, oval-shaped room. It was impressive in every way imaginable. Light streamed in from all angles. The tall windows spanned the great height of the chapel, allowing natural sunlight to flood the space and imbue it with an other-worldly feel.

  Soaring columns with elaborately decorated capitals defined the second level of the royal gallery, where the King and Queen attended Mass. Lisette peered up. The ceiling was covered with paintings, divided into three compartments. In each compartment a bright, light-filled sky figured prominently. She also saw angels, a dove and cherubs carrying a cross.

  “There is the new King! And the Queen is standing next to him!” Her mother was awestruck.

  Lisette looked to where her mother was pointing. She saw a young man wearing a blue sash with a white star on it standing in the gallery above them. He appeared not much older than Lisette. Next to him was a young woman. Marie-Antoinette, she thought. Lisette recognized her from the Joyous Entry. She was even more enchanting than she had been a year ago when Lisette saw her waving from her carriage.

  Lisette felt someone pinch her arm. It was her mother motioning for Lisette to follow.

  Jeanne pointed to Le Sèvre.

  Lisette saw that he was in full showman mode, charming and flattering a noble couple. As she watched Le Sèvre talk, Lisette felt the necklace tighten.

  Her mother tugged at her wrist. “Come, Lisette, we are needed by his side.” Jeanne was so eager to reach Le Sèvre that she left Lisette standing by herself, still near the rear of the chapel.

  Lisette didn’t follow her mother. Instead, she turned and searched for the exit. She noticed a set of enormous double doors. They weren’t the same doors that she had come through to enter the chapel, but Lisette suspected that they led back into the main corridor.

  She backed up slowly, carefully keeping track of Le Sèvre and her mother as she made her way to the doors. They never once turned around to see Lisette leaving. When she had reached the doors, she didn’t hesitate. Lisette dashed out of the chapel. She had been right. She was now back in the main hallway.

  Lisette moved quickly down the wide corridor, trying to get away from the chapel. She couldn’t move as swiftly as she would have liked because the marble floors beneath her feet were slippery. To make matters worse, her new shoes were too big for her feet. Even though they were ill-fitting, Le Sèvre had insisted that she wear them today.

  As Lisette made her way to the end of the hall, she saw a staircase. She thought it was best to climb to a different floor. The more distance she put between herself and Le Sèvre, the less time she would have to spend doing his bidding. Lisette was not excited to act as Le Sèvre’s pawn today.

  He was there to sell jewels for the upcoming coronation to as many noble ladies as possible. He was one of the few people in Paris who, instead of mourning King Louis XV’s recent death, celebrated it. Le Sèvre knew that with the death of the old king, a new king would have to be crowned. Coronations were always elaborate affairs with all who attended wearing their finest and newest clothing and jewels. Le Sèvre knew that the coming months would be some of his most profitable ever. Lisette had heard her step-father and her mother discussing it often, but Lisette wasn’t interested in jewels today.

  She wanted to see the palace’s renowned paintings. Lisette had heard her papa talk about the multitude of remarkable paintings displayed at Versailles. Her papa had been especially enamored with a particular Veronese painting, Feast in the House of Simon. Lisette hoped to find it.

  As she advanced to the next floor, once again her new shoes impeded her progress, causing her to slip with each step. She considered removing them, but then decided against it when she noticed the piles of feces and pools of urine in the corners of the staircase. Lisette covered her nose and mouth with her hand to avoid breathing in the fetid odors. It smelled like the alleyway behind her house where chamber pots were emptied. Lisette decided to take her time ascending the stairs. As she dodged a particularly large, yellow puddle, she nearly collided with a servant coming down the stairs carrying a large water pail. Their shoulders brushed.

  “Watch out! Pay attention to where you are going!” the young boy shouted as he balanced his pail with both hands to prevent the water from spilling over the side of it. After he said this to Lisette, he stopped to look at her. He scanned her dress and then said, “What are you doing using the servants’ staircase? It belongs to us. You shouldn’t be here. Move along.” He reached out, like he was going to shove her.

  Lisette moved quickly out of his reach and continued up the stairs.

  Immediately after leaving the stairwell and entering the corridor on an upper floor, Lisette heard loud voices. She couldn’t determine their location because the voices were muffled, but she thought she heard a girl crying out from a room in the hall.

  As Lisette peered down the hallway, she noticed that most of the doors were closed. Lisette also observed that this higher floor seemed different from the one directly below. It appeared grander. There were fewer doors and they were spaced farther apart from each other than those on the lower floor. She continued in the direction of the voices.

  As she moved down the hall, the voices grew louder. About halfway down the corridor, she noticed a door that was slightly ajar. Are they coming from this room? she wondered. Lisette carefully pushed the door open and peeked inside. She had taken no more than two steps into the room when she jumped up. Lisette was immediately taken aback by a large, gray animal that had been stuffed and placed on a platform in the middle of the room. It had a single horn coming out of its head and was like nothing Lisette had ever seen. What is that? she thought.

  As she surveyed the room, she noticed more bizarre objects, each one strange in its own way. The room was filled to the brim with paintings, animals and other items that were very unfamiliar to Lisette. Se
veral walls were covered with canvases hung so closely together that the wall was no longer visible. On other walls there were more animal carcasses. Some were stuffed heads, while others were entire specimens. There were also creatures that Lisette determined must be counterfeit. They were tacked and mounted directly onto the wall.

  Lisette walked closer to the far wall to more carefully inspect a skeleton that appeared to have a human torso and a long fish’s tail instead of legs. What is that? she wondered. Next to the skeleton, she noticed tiny human heads, as if they had been shrunk. What is this room? she thought. Lisette’s eyes moved from object to object, each one more disarming than the next. She might have stayed in the room all morning, getting lost in its strange world, but she was brought back to the present moment when she heard the girl’s cries again.

  Lisette left the room with the oddities and went back into the hall. It seemed as if the voices were coming from the next room down. As she approached the door, she could see it was open a crack. She went up to the door and listened. Lisette heard two voices: an older woman’s and a young girl’s.

  “Stop! Please stop, Mother! Let me go!” The girl’s voice was rife with fear. Before Lisette could peek inside, she heard a loud thump. It sounded like a body hitting the floor.

  The girl continued to protest vehemently, “You can’t keep me here!”

  Then Lisette heard the older woman’s voice reply in a loud whisper. “Lower your voice. I don’t want to keep you in here, but you are giving me no choice.” The woman sounded determined, but also eerily calm as she uttered the threat.

  Lisette’s curiosity got the better of her. She moved so that her body was concealed behind the door and then craned her neck so that she could see inside the room. A young woman was collapsed on the floor and a tall, thin woman loomed over her with a raised hand.

  “Oh!” Lisette let out a gasp and then immediately put her hand over her mouth. Lisette thought that she recognized the girl, so she looked closer. It wasn’t Adélaïde de La Valette, but the girl bore a striking resemblance to her. They could almost be twins.

  Lisette swiftly turned to leave. I shouldn’t be here, she realized. After she had only taken a few steps, she felt a bony hand clamp down on her wrist. Suddenly, she was jerked around. It was the older woman she had glimpsed from the doorway…the woman who had been threatening the girl.

  She pulled Lisette into the room and hastily shut the door. “What are you doing in this corridor, my child?” The woman tightened her grip on Lisette’s arm as she stared directly at her. She towered over Lisette and had to lower her head to meet Lisette’s gaze.

  “I am no child.” Lisette’s leg shook uncontrollably beneath her dress, but she held her voice steady. She thought it was best not to show any fear.

  “You appear to be a child…you couldn’t be much older than the new Queen.” This woman’s tone caused Lisette’s leg to shake more. She had not released Lisette’s wrist.

  Lisette said nothing in response, but held her gaze. She didn’t want to look away.

  The woman scoffed at Lisette. “You haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Lisette saw the girl running toward the door.

  The woman immediately let go of Lisette and went after the girl. “No you don’t!” She grabbed the girl with both arms, shoved her down into a nearby chair and then slowly pushed the heavy armchair to the farthest corner of the room. The woman seemed to have the strength of three men. As the armchair moved along the floor it made a loud screeching noise that hurt Lisette’s ears. “You stay put,” the woman said.

  The girl looked too scared to move again. She began to quietly sob.

  Before the older woman turned back around, Lisette made a run for the door herself.

  She had one foot over the threshold when the woman pulled her back into the room. “I wasn’t finished with you. What are you doing here?”

  As she leaned in closer, Lisette noticed that the woman had a large scar on her left cheek. A shiver shot down her back. “I was lost.” Lisette hoped the woman would accept her explanation.

  “Have it your way. Because you insist on acting like an insolent child and refuse to answer my questions, I will answer them for you. You will leave this wing of the palace immediately. You will mind your own business and say nothing about what you’ve seen here to anyone.” She slid her hand to Lisette’s upper arm and squeezed harder than she had earlier.

  Again, Lisette was surprised by this woman’s strength. The terrible pain in Lisette’s arm was quickly giving way to numbness.

  “Do you understand?” the woman asked her. She looked like she was about to say something else, but paused. The woman sniffed Lisette and then appeared confused. “What is that smell on you? I know it…” She inhaled deeply again and a knowing smile came across her face. “Ah yes, I know it well. It is turpentine! You smell like my older daughter. But why would you smell like a painter? Who are you?” She stared at Lisette like she was an oddity that belonged with the shrunken heads in the room next door. Then the look morphed into one of disapproval.

  Despite the woman’s hold on her, Lisette stood tall and said, “If you will release me, I will be on my way, Madame.”

  The woman’s countenance returned to her initial menacing expression. Her eyes bored into Lisette. “Remember, you are to say nothing about what you think you’ve seen here.” She quickly glanced at the girl in the armchair, probably to ensure she hadn’t moved. She looked back at Lisette and added, “Or I will find you and silence you myself. You do not want to cross me, young mistress. I can hurt you and your entire family if I please.”

  Lisette heard the girl let out a low squeal as the woman said these words.

  The older woman twisted toward the girl. “You be quiet. I will deal with you in a moment.”

  Then she faced Lisette again. “Weren’t you leaving?”

  Lisette simply nodded.

  The woman seemed to be satisfied because she opened the door, pushed Lisette into the hall and returned to the room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

  Lisette stood in front of the closed door considering what had just transpired. She had to tell someone what she had witnessed. Could that woman really come after me? she thought. As Lisette considered her predicament, she was unsure that this woman would be able to follow through on her threat. How can she hurt me or my family if she doesn’t even know my name? Lisette wondered.

  Lisette hadn’t yet moved when a palace guard came by. Like the guard who had inspected them at the entrance, his waistcoat was the color of a deep blue sky and was trimmed with a red collar and cuffs. Lisette noticed that his red culottes and white leggings offered a striking contrast with the deep blue coat. The vivid reds and blues reminded her of the Rubens’ paintings that she had seen so many times in the Luxembourg Palace.

  “Mademoiselle, you shouldn’t be lingering in this hall. I need to escort you to another room.” This guard was just as brusque as the entrance guard.

  Lisette considered telling him what was going on behind the closed door in front of them, but the guard didn’t look like he wanted to listen to her.

  “I must clear this hall now.” He reached out to take her arm when she swiftly stepped back.

  She didn’t want to be held captive again. She thought quickly, trying to remember the name of the room where Le Sèvre was to meet with the nobles. “Can you take me to the Hercules Salon? I am expected there. I’m afraid I have lost my way.”

  He grunted and started walking.

  Lisette stood frozen, still unsure of what the guard might do to her.

  After a few paces, he turned around. He must have realized he was walking by himself. “Follow me,” he said and waited for Lisette to move before he proceeded.

  Lisette slowly followed, careful to stay several paces behind him.

  He muttered under his breath as he strutted down the hall.

  All Lisette could make out was “s
tupid girl.”

  As they walked down the corridor, Lisette remained behind the guard. He would look back from time to time to ensure that she was still following him. He never said a word to Lisette, but continued talking quietly to himself. He seemed resentful of his current duty.

  After they had covered the entire length of the long hall, they came to a room with an imposing set of open doors. The guard led Lisette inside the room. “The Hercules Salon,” he said.

  Lisette knew instantly she was not in the right place. This room was empty. She didn’t see Le Sèvre or her mother.

  The guard looked at her briefly and said, “I do not want to find you lingering in the halls again.” He turned and left, closing the doors behind him.

  Lisette released a long sigh when she didn’t hear the door lock. She glanced around the room. It was magnificent. The windows stretched from floor to ceiling and were each framed by marble arches. She couldn’t help but follow the marble pilasters placed in between the windows from the floor all the way up to their gold-covered capitals. As her eyes moved closer to the ceiling she noticed the golden crown molding. It was thick and framed the entire room.

  She looked directly above her. What is that painting? she wondered. The painting covered the whole ceiling. Lisette had never seen anything like it before. It was glorious. She began to count the figures, but soon stopped when she realized that there were too many. She was already losing track. There must be over one hundred people in this painting! she thought.

  As she lowered her gaze she saw the Veronese, Feast in the House of Simon. Her papa had created a copy of this painting and hung it in their drawing room. She had grown up seeing it every day. The real painting was much bigger than she imagined. It took up most of the wall. The balance of figures, objects and space was perfect. Lisette marveled at how Veronese had divided the groupings of people evenly in between the massive Corinthian columns, with Christ in the center. She considered every element carefully: the pristine, white classical buildings in the background, the brilliant colors depicting the smallest details, the several dozen human figures, and the atmosphere of pageantry. I must sketch this, she thought.