Rosalie ran to Lisette’s side, but she was of little help. Rosalie needed steadying herself.
“Monsieur, must you do this now? Could you return after we have prepared for your arrival?” Rosalie asked the bailiff.
He ignored Rosalie and ordered the men to finish collecting the paintings against the back wall.
Rosalie stared at the guards in astonishment. As she stood in the middle of the room watching them, she appeared unable to move.
“Monsieur, what about the large painting on the easel?” one of the guards asked the bailiff.
“Take it too. Monsieur Gervais said to collect everything,” the bailiff ordered.
Lisette moved to block the guard. “You cannot do this!”
“I most certainly can…and if you continue to interfere, I will have you arrested and brought to jail.” The bailiff ordered one of his men to pick up the allegory painting that was on the easel.
At first the guard struggled with its large and awkward size, but then he began bending it until the stretcher bars snapped and it more easily fit in his arms.
“No! You will ruin it.” Lisette lunged forward and tried to wrestle the painting out of the guard’s arms.
The bailiff came close to Lisette. “I told you not to interfere. I was given explicit instructions that if you protested at all, I was to arrest you.” He restrained Lisette’s wrists behind her back and pushed her out of the studio. The bailiff waited in the hall with Lisette while the men carried Lisette’s supplies, canvases and even her easel and stool out of the studio and down the stairs of the building.
She wanted to fall down onto the floor and cry, but she didn’t. Instead, she stood and watched them remove everything she had worked so hard to accumulate.
When the room was empty, with the exception of Rosalie, who was still inside dumbfounded, the bailiff said, “This studio must be cleared out…completely empty…that means you, Madame.”
Rosalie came out and the bailiff shut the door behind her. Then he held up a piece of paper with the words: Seized by order of the Commissaire. He proceeded to nail it to the back of the closed door. He ordered Lisette down the stairs.
Before Lisette started moving, she turned and looked at the sign. She thought that if she stared at it long enough, it would make sense. She read all of the words several times but she saw only one: Seized.
“Come on, move.” The bailiff nudged Lisette down the stairs.
Rosalie followed behind them in silence.
Lisette thought Rosalie might be in shock. She wondered if Rosalie had ever experienced anything so traumatic in her life. Rosalie wore a trancelike expression.
Lisette tried to get her attention. “Rosalie…this is very important…I need you to find Henri, a servant boy at Le Sèvre’s house. Tell him that I need my money. He is to bring it to La Salpêtrière.”
Rosalie stared past Lisette.
“Rosalie! Do you hear me?” Lisette asked.
Rosalie suddenly appeared awake again. “Yes. Henri. I will fetch him.”
When they had reached the front of the building, Lisette watched Rosalie walk away. “Rosalie, please hurry!” she called out after her.
Chapter Thirty-One
November 10, 1774
The next morning, Lisette and Henri hailed a carriage from La Salpêtrière to the Rue Saint-Honoré. The prison was on the other side of the Seine, located in the Faubourg Saint Victor. It was too far to walk.
As she sat in the carriage, the previous night’s events flashed through her mind. Lisette had been uncertain that Rosalie would follow her directions, but Henri had arrived at the prison with her money. Lisette hadn’t wanted to involve Henri, but he was the only one who knew where her money was hidden. Henri had come to the jail and secured her release, but not before Lisette had spent all night at La Salpêtrière. In those miserable hours, she considered what had led her to that horrible place. Lisette was certain that Le Sèvre’s maneuvering was to blame for her arrest and imprisonment in a dark jail cell with rats, roaches and inmates who smelled of death. Most of the other women in the all-female prison were starved and diseased prostitutes. Lisette had been careful to maintain distance from the other prisoners. She kept to herself the entire time.
All that night she had tried to connect Monsieur Gervais, Madame Gervais and Le Sèvre. The bailiff who had seized her studio had mentioned Monsieur Gervais as the man behind the seizure, but Lisette suspected that Le Sèvre had been involved too, probably to an even greater degree. She thought about how Monsieur Gervais had influenced the other Guild members’ votes and about Madame Gervais’ presence at the council meeting. She also remembered how Madame Gervais had met Le Sèvre in the Tuileries and then had later come to his house. Lisette was convinced that all of these events were linked. They all somehow led to Le Sèvre.
Lisette paid the carriage driver. She and Henri exited to the street. She told Henri to return to the house. He silently agreed and left her. Standing alone in front of Le Sèvre’s shop, Lisette felt her heart racing. Exhausted, Lisette was aware of her fragile state of mind, but she had to confront him. She didn’t care about the repercussions. Le Sèvre had already taken so much away from her, including her freedom.
Lisette reached into her pocket and felt around. There was a small brush, her palette knife and a few livres. She gripped the palette knife. He can’t do this to me, she thought. Lisette decided it was best if she concealed the knife under her sleeve until she was close enough to Le Sèvre.
She marched toward the shop door. Just as Lisette was about to go inside, someone burst out, knocking Lisette to the ground. Her palette knife tumbled out of her hand and bounced into the street.
“Mademoiselle, are you hurt? I apologize for my clumsiness.”
Lisette peered up and saw a man standing above her extending his hand. Lisette accepted it and stood upright.
“I’m not hurt. You came out of the door so quickly.” Lisette searched for her palette knife. She spotted it in a ditch meant for collecting dirty kitchen water and human refuse from the nearby residences scattered along the Rue Saint-Honoré.
“I apologize again, Mademoiselle,” the man said and departed.
Lisette brushed herself off and smoothed out her dress. She grabbed her palette knife from the ditch. She didn’t care that it was wet from the putrid water. The jolt had brought her back to reality and she considered her impetuousness.
As she watched the man walk away, she felt her heart rate and breathing slow. I can’t go in there and confront him, she thought. Lisette realized that a direct confrontation would only make things worse for herself. She might not ever get her studio back, or worse, she might be sent to prison or banished forever to a remote convent.
She returned the palette knife to her pocket bag. Lisette inhaled deeply, slowly exhaled and calmed herself further. She felt her pulse slow and her thoughts become more focused. She was coming out of the fog of anger that had developed overnight in the prison and that had clouded her judgment for the past hour since her release. Watching the bailiff and his men cart off her art supplies and then spending the night in La Salpêtrière had pushed Lisette past the point of reason.
Lisette checked her appearance in the reflection of the store window. As she looked at herself, she saw Le Sèvre arguing with someone inside the shop. Careful not to be spotted by Le Sèvre, Lisette moved to the edge of the long horizontal windows. She could barely see over the display of jewels. She looked closer.
Le Sèvre was fighting with a woman whose back was to Lisette. The woman cowered as he hollered and flapped his arms wildly. That’s not like Le Sèvre to act like that, Lisette thought. He was always collected, even when he was livid. Lisette saw that he held something in his hands, but the woman’s body blocked a clear view of it. Then he raised his other hand high up in the air. He is going to strike her, Lisette realized. Not a moment later, Le Sèvre whacked the woman in the face. The blow caused the woman to fall to the floor. I should help her, she
thought. Lisette stepped closer to the door, but then she saw the woman stand. As the woman slowly rose up off the floor, she faced Lisette. It is Madame Gervais, she realized.
Lisette continued watching. Le Sèvre had a particularly foul expression on his face. Lisette shuddered. Le Sèvre had stopped screeching at Madame Gervais and now studied the object in his hands. He brought it close to his face. Lisette squinted so that she could better see the object he held. Le Sèvre was examining a necklace. The large, central ruby was heart-shaped. Lisette gasped. Le Sèvre was holding the Comtesse de Labelle’s stolen necklace.
Lisette continued to watch Le Sèvre and Madame Gervais from outside the shop. She saw Le Sèvre, still clutching the Comtesse’s necklace, disappear into the rear of the store. When he reappeared, he no longer held the necklace. Madame Gervais exchanged a few more words with Le Sèvre and then headed out of the shop.
Lisette followed Madame Gervais down the street and around a corner before speaking to her.
“Madame Gervais?” Lisette asked. She noticed that today Le Sèvre’s collaborator appeared more like the wife of a successful Guild painter and less like a servant. Madame Gervais wore a simple, but newer pleated dress and matching petticoat. Her shoes had bright shiny buckles and looked unworn.
Madame Gervais narrowed her eyes when she saw Lisette. “I know who you are. I have nothing to say to you.” She turned to walk away.
Lisette saw that the right side of her face was swollen from where Le Sèvre had hit her. “Please, Madame Gervais, I think we can help each other,” Lisette said to her.
“No one can help me. I have to leave,” Madame Gervais said as she dashed off. Lisette followed her, but Madame Gervais moved too quickly. Lisette lost her after being delayed by an assertive Auvergnat boy offering his plank. She must have caught a fiacre, Lisette realized.
Lisette took her time returning to Le Sèvre’s house. She thought about Le Sèvre and Madame Gervais and wondered if she had reacted appropriately. If I would have gone inside… Lisette stopped herself. She knew that she would have only caused more problems for herself − and probably for Madame Gervais too. If I had interfered, I would have never seen Le Sèvre with the Comtesse’s necklace.
As Lisette approached the house, she pondered her options. I could go to the sergeant, she thought. But why would the sergeant believe her? She knew he would never accept a girl’s word over a man’s, let alone the word of a disobedient step-daughter over an established, successful jeweler. I could tell Mother, she thought.
Lisette had reached the house, but she hesitated before going inside. Had Le Sèvre told Jeanne about Lisette’s arrest and night in jail? Did her mother know the truth? Lisette wanted to tell her everything and ask her for advice, but Lisette knew better. There had to be another option.
Before she could do anything, her mother opened the front door. She had lingered too long outside.
“Lisette, what are you doing standing in front of the house? Where were you? I’ve been worried! Please come inside. Your father was about to send one of the servants to look for you. He is home for the mid-day meal, a rare treat. He arrived a quarter of an hour ago. Go upstairs and change for the meal,” Jeanne said as she disappeared back inside.
Le Sèvre never came home in the middle of the day. He knows I’m out of jail, Lisette realized. But how? He would not be happy about it. Clearly, Le Sèvre had not told her mother anything. Lisette did not want to talk to him. He is sending me to the convent, she realized.
Reluctantly, Lisette walked into the house. Before going up the stairs, she peeked into the drawing room. Le Sèvre stood near the fireplace, holding a glass of brandy. When their eyes met, he locked his gaze on Lisette. Le Sèvre took several large strides toward her.
“You have your allies in this house and I have mine,” he whispered so that Jeanne couldn’t hear him. She was deeper in the drawing room, sitting on the upholstered settee holding her own glass of brandy. “You’ve crossed me for the final time. And so has that boy, Henri.”
Le Sèvre was different somehow. Lisette had never seen such a look of contempt in his eyes before. He truly wants to hurt me.
“What are you going to do to him?” Lisette asked without thinking.
Le Sèvre came closer to her. “That is none of your concern.”
Lisette stepped back. Her instincts told her to move away from Le Sèvre.
Lisette headed toward the front door, but before she could reach it, Le Sèvre pulled her back toward him.
“You will go when I say you can go,” Le Sèvre said as he shoved her. “Get in the drawing room. There is something I want to say to both you and your mother.”
When Lisette did not move, Le Sèvre grabbed Lisette with both of his hands and threw her down on the floor. “I said move.”
Lisette landed with a thump on the hard marble surface. On her way down, she hit her head on a tall Sèvres porcelain vase sitting on the center table. Her vision blurred and she vaguely heard her mother calling her name. Then the room faded to black.
When Lisette opened her eyes, she saw her mother crouched over her, propping up her head and smoothing her hair. They were both on the floor. “Lisette, how do you feel?”
“Stand up, Lisette.” Le Sèvre paced in front of them. “Both of you stand. I have some important news.”
Lisette knew that standing was not an option, but with her mother’s help, Lisette tried to sit up. The room whirled around her. She closed her eyes again and collapsed on her mother’s lap.
“Sit up slowly,” Jeanne said as she supported Lisette’s back. She had never suffered such injuries. Her head was bleeding and she felt a sharp pain in her wrist.
“François, you’ve really hurt her. She can’t stand,” Jeanne said to him as she applied pressure to Lisette’s head wound with her linen kerchief.
“Get up,” Le Sèvre said. His tone lacked both remorse and sympathy.
Lisette tried to rise, but she couldn’t.
“Whatever you need to say, you’ll have to say with both of us on the floor. She cannot stand.”
Jeanne said these words with more force and conviction than Lisette had ever heard her use when speaking to Le Sèvre.
“Lisette will be leaving for the Saint Ignatius Convent next week,” he said flatly.
“You are sending her away?” Jeanne asked. There was panic in her voice.
Le Sèvre ignored Jeanne. “You will be taking none of your current possessions with you. You will be renouncing a life of marriage, children and certainly painting. You will become a nun.”
“You cannot do this!” Jeanne shrieked.
Lisette tugged at her mother’s arm. “Mother, stop. Let him talk.” She didn’t want her mother to suffer at Le Sèvre’s hands. Lisette knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Jeanne if she continued to scream at him and question his decisions.
“François, I don’t understand this decision. Is it final?” Jeanne’s voice was calmer.
“The nuns are expecting Lisette in one week,” Le Sèvre said and then he promptly left the foyer.
Lisette looked at her mother. She wanted to ease the pain on her mother’s face.
“You know there is nothing that we can do. He has made his decision,” Jeanne said. She resumed stroking Lisette’s hair.
“Mother…this doesn’t have to…” Lisette had to tell her mother about what she had seen earlier at Le Sèvre’s shop.
“Shhh. You need your rest,” Jeanne said as she put her fingers gently over Lisette’s mouth.
“But Mother, we don’t have to do what he says. Today, I saw −”
Jeanne interrupted her, “Lisette, you know that is not true. There is no need for any more words. Let’s get you into bed.”
With her head pulsating, Lisette leaned on her mother and they headed for the stairs. As Jeanne guided her up to her room, Lisette realized that her mother would not be able to help her. Jeanne would always be firmly under Le Sèvre’s control.
Lisette
needed rest tonight. Tomorrow, she would have a clear mind and could focus on how to free herself from Le Sèvre's control − for good. She had exactly one week.
Chapter Thirty-Two
November 11, 1774
It was late the next morning when Lisette awoke. Her head no longer ached. Her mother had been right, she had needed the sleep. Lisette could think clearly again. She was not going to spend the rest of her life in a convent, but she didn’t know how to stop it from happening. As she searched her mind for answers, Lisette thought of Marguerite. She can help me, Lisette realized. She hoped that Marguerite had returned from Italy. It had been over a month since she had visited Lisette's atelier. Lisette thought, Surely she has returned.
Lisette waited until Le Sèvre left for the day before she departed. She considered hailing a carriage, but decided to walk. Lisette needed the time to plan out what she would say to Marguerite.
As she traversed the Rue Saint-Honoré, Lisette found her brain moving very quickly. Her mind raced as she considered all of her options. Lisette forced her legs to move as rapidly as her thoughts. How could she prove Le Sèvre’s guilt? Could she stop Le Sèvre in just a week? Marguerite would have answers for her. Lisette continued moving briskly. She wanted to reach Marguerite’s before the afternoon guests arrived, or at least before her house became overrun with visitors.
Lisette reached the Salonnière’s and went directly inside. The footman took her cloak and indicated that Marguerite was in the main drawing room. Before Lisette had fully entered the room, she spotted Amante. He was standing on the far side of the entrance, flirting with several young, attractive women. She hadn’t seen him since their disagreement over the studio license, nearly a month ago. Lisette felt like she had behaved badly. She wanted to apologize to him, but she wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it. Lisette would wait until he noticed her. If he acknowledged her, then she would approach him.
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