“Yes. Please do,” she said, putting aside the tray and pulling out the plain chair for him.
He waved this aside. “I will not need to sit down,” he told her. “I wanted to see if you were all right.”
“Yes,” she said.
“You saw Von Ryn last night?”
“Yes. I dined with him.”
The old man nodded grimly. “So I understand. And he bedded you afterward.”
Her cheeks burned. “Did he boast of that?”
“He spoke of it.”
“It was not a conquest. It was rape.”
“I understand,” the veteran doctor said. “You were wise to accede to his wishes. He is not above wanting to have you executed. Best to give him no excuse. I think he derives some sexual satisfaction from ordering people’s deaths by the firing squad. I have watched his face as it happened.”
“I knew his threat was genuine. But I fear he was much disappointed. I did not prove satisfactory to him.”
Dr. Lacoste smiled. “You used a woman’s weapon and did it well. He is vain where his bedroom prowess is concerned. Unless he leaves a maid in raptures, he feels he has not been properly appreciated. Your smartest move was to fail him.”
“Yes,” she said wryly. “He let me know he prefers the embrace of the kitchen maid.”
“So let her have the dubious honor of pleasuring him,” the old doctor said. “From all that he said this morning, he considers you a cold fish not worth the bother. So you ought to be safe until you are taken to Valmy.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Is he a ravisher of his women captives also?”
“He is fond of your sex,” the doctor admitted. “And he beds down those who appeal to him.”
“Perhaps I can make myself look ugly,” she suggested.
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t worry about it yet. And it may well be by the time you reach Valmy, he will be too busy with the new revolution to think about women.”
“Is the revolt that close?”
“The day has been set,” Major Lacoste told her. “We leave here with tomorrow mornings early tide. It is a couple of days transport by vessel to headquarters.”
“I do not like what I’m hearing about Napoleon’s physical and mental state,” she said.
“Perhaps seeing you will be good for him.”
“I was his friend, not his mistress. I was little more than a child at the time.”
“The emperor needs friends more than he ever did,” the old doctor said gravely. “That is why I will not desert the cause.”
“It is Valmy’s cause!”
He raised a protesting hand. “I have hopes, perhaps they are fantasies. But I believe when the moment of crisis arrives, the emperor will regain his strength. He will rise to his old self!”
“I fear you will be disappointed,” she said.
“We shall see,” the one-armed man sighed. “I shall keep a protective eye on you. And let me warn you not to annoy Von Ryn further. I believe him to be a little mad.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I shall attempt to stay quietly out of his way.”
Pursuing this thought, she remained in her room most of the day. She opened the small window to let in the sun and air. And mostly she paced up and down the small space trying to think what she might do that she had not done, balancing thoughts of escape in her mind. She knew the house was well guarded, but perhaps between the house and the boat she might make a break or even at the other end of the journey.
She thought of Raj Singh who had given his life trying to warn her. She also wondered what had happened to Kingston. The poor actor would be in a state with Singh dead and both she and Eric vanished. But it was of Eric she thought most. If there had been any doubts in her mind as to her love for him, they no longer existed. She wondered what the sphinxlike Felix Black would say if he were told she had come to truly love the young officer. Perhaps it was what he’d expected.
For it was difficult to know what a master plotter like the thin man in black had in mind. She did not believe, as the old doctor had tried to tell her, that she was a pawn in a game designed to take the life of Napoleon. Felix Black had clearly stated that he wanted the former emperor saved and sent to a safe exile in the United States.
But Edward Barry O’Meara had not believed that. Like Dr. Lacoste, it was the Irishman’s view that Black simply meant to discover if Napoleon had escaped for this final adventure and if he had, eliminate him from the earth. She clung to her belief in the word of Felix Black despite her growing confusion.
No invitation to share dinner with him came from General Von Ryn this second night of her being a captive in the old house. She had not expected one, indeed she had hoped she would not hear from him again.
But shortly before seven Dr. Lacoste came to her door, and with a wry smile on his lined face, the one-armed man told her, “I have come to ask you to dine with me. I cannot promise as fine fare as the general offered last night, but on the other hand I shall not expect the sort of payment which he demanded.”
She returned the old man’s smile. “I shall be happy to dine with you. As long as it will not anger the general.”
The old doctor said, “He has left us for the evening. There is a brothel in the next village. He often goes there. I doubt if he will return much before sailing time tomorrow morning.”
“In that case I look forward to our dinner,” she said.
And she actually enjoyed it. They dined at the same table in a candlelit atmosphere. The food was ample if not as rich as the previous night, and she was able to relax and enjoy it. The conversation was much more interesting.
It turned out that the old doctor was a native of Le Havre on the English Channel and had often visited in England as a youth. He regretted the wars, but he revered Napoleon and his days of service as an army surgeon.
“I lost my arm in a battle with the Austrians,” he said, reminiscing over his brandy. “Seventy thousand men crossed the river! We marched over the field where six centuries earlier the first Hapsburgs had battled for their throne.”
“It all is still real to you,” she said.
“It is,” he agreed. “The emperor was there looking after us. It seemed he was everywhere at once. The men worshiped him and so did I. The battle began in earnest in the tall cornfields of yellow! The cavalry rode across the plain under a cloudless sky. Then the casualties began to roll in.”
“That would keep you occupied.”
“We were near the front line most of the time. So the men hadn’t to be brought far. Some of the poor devils were beyond anything but the priest. Others we could help. Fifteen hundred from one division returned, and their strength had been sixteen thousand when they started out.”
“So many men lost!” she said, shocked.
“We didn’t even think about it,” he told her. “I was trying to stop the bleeding in the side of an infantryman when the blast hit us. When the air cleared, I saw the ends of my torn left sleeve. My severed arm was on the ground a distance away!”
“How awful for you!” Betsy said.
“I didn’t even realize what had happened: that it was I who had been maimed this time. My helper came to me and stood there in shock. He’d been lucky enough to escape any damage. I swore at him and told him to tie off the stump so I wouldn’t bleed to death. I still felt no pain. He did as I directed and then he saw me on my way back to the hospital tent. I collapsed on my way there and had to be carted the last mile.”
“And after all that you still had the urge to return to active military service,” she said in wonder.
“It is in my blood,” Major Lacoste told her. “I felt useless and mutilated. As soon as I was out of hospital, I worked at improving my skill as a one-armed man. I amazed my colleagues at the hospital by my ability to manipulate the scalpel and direct an operation.”
“And you did return to the army.”
“I had a special audience with the emperor. He gave me a decoration, and I told hi
m that was not what I wanted. When I asked to be allowed to return to front-line service again, he smiled at me and gave his permission. I shall never forget that moment.”
“You are a very brave man, Major. Napoleon sensed that.”
“He had always been my idol. But after that day my worship was complete. He is my life.”
“You long for more battles?”
“I hate war and its battles,” he said with a burst of emotion. “But I long for victory, to see the emperor restored to his greatness.”
She shook her head sadly. “I fear for you. I fear for both you and the emperor.”
“You are a good girl,” the old man said. “But you do not understand.”
“On the contrary,” she said, “I believe that I do. I saw the greatness in Napoleon even as a young girl meeting him only a few times. But the time has passed, if only you could bring yourself to accept that.”
“A man lives on his dreams, mademoiselle,” the doctor said earnestly. “I cannot give up mine lightly.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
Her sleep was restless that night, and she was wakened before dawn by the maid arriving with her breakfast tray. Then old Major Lacoste came and told her, “I’m responsible for getting you to the boat. I do not wish to make it too unpleasant for you. So I shall merely blindfold you.”
“Is even that necessary?” she asked. “I have no hope of escaping in this strange place.”
“I have my orders,” he said. “I would be negligent if I did not take certain precautions.”
So she was blindfolded, and he led her outside. She was placed in a cart with a lad and another girl. She could not see either of them. But as they chattered back and forth, she gathered that the girl was the kitchen maid who had so caught the White Executioner’s fancy that he was taking her along on the vessel with him. The boy was to be cabin boy. Both of them were excited about the prospects of the sea voyage, and neither showed the slightest interest in her. She guessed they had been warned not to speak with her.
The cart was driven off, and she could tell it was only one of a caravan of wagons. She heard the wheels of the others and the voices of their passengers. After some incredibly rough road she could smell salt air more strongly. She knew they were close to the sea. The wagon stopped, and she was helped out.
She stood on the wharf waiting until old Dr. Lacoste came to her. He took her arm and said, “I will personally escort you on board.”
And he did. He took her below, and when she was in a tiny cabin, he removed the blindfold from her eyes. He said, “You will stay down here until the ship is well away from shore. I will come and advise you. Then you will have the run of the ship until we reach our destination.”
“Venice,” she said, for she had been told that was where Valmy was in hiding with the emperor.
The old man’s eyes twinkled. “Wherever!” he said.
“That kitchen maid rode in the car with me,” she told him.
“I know,” the doctor said with a frown. “That is very wrong. Von Ryn should not have taken her away from her village. He will be reprimanded for bringing her on board, and he will likely rid himself of her as soon as we reach port. She will surely end up in some sad straits perhaps even soliciting in the streets.”
“Can nothing be done for her?” she worried.
“I will try and arrange something,” the old doctor promised. “Perhaps one of the crew will have a sister or mother to take her in as household help. She should not be turned out on her own.”
“I agree,” Betsy said.
It was more than an hour later that she was notified she could go up on deck. When she made her appearance, the sun was shining and the air was warm and clean smelling. She stood by the railing, her hair blowing in the slight breeze.
She heard young laughter and turned to see that the new cabin boy and the kitchen maid were playing some game of tag on the afterdeck like two mischievious puppies. Her heart went out to the naïve young girl and the fate which might be in store for her.
Moving further forward, she came abreast of the wheel. And as she was standing there, General Von Ryn came out to stand on the bridge. He was resplendent in his usual white uniform, but he was wearing dark glasses. They gave him the look of a blind man.
But he was not blind to her. He came over to her and said, “So you are safely on board, Mademoiselle Chapman.”
“Yes,” she said, gazing out at the sea.
“You are distant today.”
She glanced at him. “Do you wish me to pretend to be friends when we both know it is not possible?”
“I expect nothing from you!” he said harshly. “You will soon be confronting our leader. It will be interesting to know his decision concerning you.”
“I expect no kindness,” she said.
He gave a short, mirthless laugh. “You had better not, for you will surely receive none. Raymond Valmy is a bad man to have as an enemy.”
She said, “Yet the emperor is my friend. I will prevail upon him to have Valmy let me go free.”
“Small chance!” Von Ryn gloated. “Valmy makes the decisions these days.”
Thinking to turn the conversation from a difficult subject, she countered with, “Are your eyes troubling you? I note you are wearing dark glasses.”
He touched the fingers of a hand to the glasses and slightly adjusted them. “People suffering from lack of coloring are troubled by too much light. My eyes pain in the sunlight unless I have something to protect them.”
“I did not know,” she said.
Happily the captain of the three-masted vessel came along at this moment and took Von Ryn aside for some sort of discussion, and she used the moment to escape. She went to the other side of the deck and later to her cabin.
She dined with Major Lacoste and the captain and first mate in the first mate’s quarters that night. It was known that General Von Ryn had taken over the captain’s ample cabin and was hosting his kitchen maid there.
The old doctor said, “The sea is calm and the captain thinks it will continue to be until we reach port.”
“It is a good season for sailing,” the captain explained.
Betsy asked him, “Have you ever left these waters?”
“We have once gone to Gibraltar,” the captain said. “But never on to the Atlantic. We have always returned.”
Dr. Lacoste said, “If it is turbulent water you’re looking for, let me recommend the English Channel. It is rough more than it is smooth. I speak as one who lived near it.”
“I prefer it here,” the captain said.
When they finished dinner, Betsy and the old doctor went for a stroll on deck. Dusk was turning into darkness and stars were beginning to appear overhead. The vessel was silent except for the creaking and movement of its hull and sails. She rode the waves gracefully, moving up and down like a true queen.
Betsy asked the doctor, “Shall I see you when we land?”
“I hope so,” he said. “I would like to be assigned to look after the emperor’s health.”
“In that case you would remain at headquarters.”
“Yes.”
“I question that they will give you that responsibility,” she said. “You are too honest a man. And you would be bound to tell both the emperor and those around him the true state of his health.”
He frowned. “I do not think it will be that bad.”
“I’m worried,” she said. “But I do hope you will be somewhere nearby. I will not be so afraid.”
“I will continue to do my best for you,” was his promise.
And she was certain he meant it. In the short time she had known the old doctor, she had come to respect him. She must cling to him until she had escaped from this grim situation. They stood by the forward railing talking earnestly for a long while.
The captain’s cabin showed lights through the portholes, and occasionally loud drunken talk could be heard from in there.
Then to the alarm an
d concern of Betsy and the old doctor, the shouting inside the cabin became more ugly. They could distinctly hear the sound of the young kitchen maid crying.
Betsy turned to the old man. “What do you think?”
“If it goes on, I’ll go to the door in a moment,” he said grimly. “He must be abusing that girl!”
“Has he done anything else?”
The sound of the girl’s crying became louder and then the door of the cabin burst open and she came running out on deck naked. She ran to the railing and leaned against it, breathing heavily, her hair askew, behaving like a frightened animal.
Then Von Ryn came out in his bathrobe, a pistol in his hand. He spoke sharply to the girl, “Stop sniveling and come back in here!”
“No,” the girl sobbed, covering her face with her hands.
Betsy was about to rush to the aid of the nude girl when without warning Von Ryn fired the pistol. There was a sharp report, a cry of terror from the girl, and a spreading stain of blood running down between her breasts.
“The scoundrel!” Dr. Lacoste said between clenched teeth, and then he ran forward to where the girl had slumped on the deck. He demanded of Von Ryn, still there with the pistol in his hand, “What have you done, you scum?”
“She wouldn’t stop her sniveling! Refused to bed with me!” Von Ryn said sullenly.
The old doctor examined the girl and then looked up and said in a hushed voice, “You’ve killed her! She’s dead!”
“No!” Betsy cried in protest. She had come up to stand beside the kneeling doctor.
Von Ryn smiled coldly and put the pistol back in his robe pocket. “It was her fault! She annoyed me!”
Some of the crew had silently gathered now, drawn by the gunshot. The cabin boy was there, sobbing sporadically, his teeth chattering.
Dr. Lacoste stood up and said grimly, “I regret I shall have to inform Raymond Valmy of this atrocious and needless crime you have committed.”
“Tell him what you like,” Von Ryn said with anger. “I shall give him my version of it.”
The old doctor said, “Sir, you will do me the favor of not addressing me for the balance of the voyage, and I shall behave in a similar way with you.”
Vintage Love Page 22