Darkest Longings (29 page)

the accelerator, she gave a jaunty toss of her head and sped

off down the drive.

When she pulled up at the cafe in Lorvoire, several men

were sitting outside playing cards. She knew them all, by

now, and had a special greeting for Thomas, the farmer she

and Lucien had encountered in his tractor all those months

ago. He had taken great pride, she knew, in being the first of

the villagers to be introduced to the future Comtesse, and

continued to bore his cronies half to death with the story of

how he had torn her off a strip for her bad driving.

‘Sit down, madame,’ he croaked in his tobacco

roughened voice. ‘Gustave! Bring wine for Madame de

Lorvoire.’

Claudine shook her head, laughing. ‘It’s too early in the

day for me, Thomas,’ she said. ‘And I’ll bet your wife is at

market and doesn’t have the first idea you aren’t out in the

fields.’

‘Oh Id Id,’ he chuckled, evidently delighted with his

ticking off.

‘We hear there’s going to be a part)’ up at the chateau

when the grapes are in,’ Claude Derlot said, speaking

through the cigarette in his teeth and peering up at her with

his watery blue eyes.

‘I hope so,’ she said, ‘and I’m looking for volunteers for a

cabaret, so you must all think what you could do.’ She was

turning as she spoke as she’d heard the thunder of tiny feet

coming up behind her. ‘Now where on earth did you all

spring from?’ she said, looking down at the group of

children who had come to a bashful halt beside her.

‘We were playing by the stream,’ Richard, one of

Thomas’s grandchildren, told her, smearing even more mud on his face as he rubbed an eye.

‘And don’t tell me, you heard my car and thought, bonbons.’

The way she said it brought a grin to each of their faces,

and she dug into her pockets and handed over the toffees,

keeping some aside for Janette and Robert Reinberg.

Gustave, the proprietor of the cafe, came out then,

holding a bottle of Lorvoire wine, and as usual when she saw

him Claudine felt her lips begin to twitch. His face, with its

florid complexion and bulbous eyes, was almost as fat and

round as his belly, and his bushy eyebrows arched so steeply

towards his monkish fringe, gave him a look of such extreme

surprise, that one felt one’s own eyebrows lifting in

response. His most arresting feature, though, was a

splendid moustache, curled and waxed at the tips, which

provided him with the most comical of permanent smiles.

Claudine didn’t remember ever having seen anyone who

looked quite so jolly.

‘Ah ha!’ he cried. ‘You see the sun shines, now that madame is back at Lorvoire.’

There were smiles all round. Then, feeling a tug at her

pocket, Claudine looked down to discover young Richard

trying to steal a toffee.

‘Un voleur!’ she cried, throwing up her hands in horror,

and Richard shrieked and scampered off across the square

with the other children.

It was a game they often played, but today, instead of

going after them Claudine remembered that she had to ask

Gustave about the cigars for Louis.

‘Si, I have been keeping them for him,’ he answered.

‘Can we have a toffee please, madame?’ a soft voice asked.

Claudine looked down to find a little girl with an angelic

face and an abundance of white-blonde curls staring up at

her. She was no more than six years old, and was holding the

hand of her even smaller brother. They looked so adorable

that Claudine found herself struggling with the urge to

gather them up in her arms. ‘I’m afraid I’m keeping the

toffees that are left for Janette and Robert Reinberg,’ she

said sadly.

‘But I’m Janette Reinberg,’ the little girl told her, truly

believing that Claudine hadn’t recognized her.

‘No!’ Claudine gasped. ‘But Janette Reinberg is only a

baby and you’re such a big girl!’

Janette’s face beamed as the toffees were handed over.

Robert, with his mouth full, said, ‘My Papa has gone away.’

Claudine nodded, and had to swallow a lump in her

throat. ‘Is Maman at home?’ she said.

‘Yes,’ Robert answered, stuffing another toffee in his

mouth but never taking his eyes from hers.

Claudine turned back to Gustave. ‘I’ll collect the cigars

later,’ she said. Then tucking her purse under her arm and

waving goodbye to everyone, she went to knock on Madame

Reinberg’s door …

When she emerged an hour later, the village was

deserted. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. There

was a delicious aroma of freshly baked bread coming from

the boulangerie, and she could hear the rush and gurgle of

the river as it flowed behind the cottages on the opposite

side of the square. She looked at her watch, wondering if

she had time to call on Liliane to ask her where she could

buy a secondhand sewing-machine - the possible solution to

Madame Reinberg’s money problems. Madame Reinberg

had been a seamstress in Tours before her marriage, and

home sewing and tailoring might restore the poor woman’s

income, and her pride.

By the time Claudine drove out of the village and headed

back to the chateau, it was already five past eleven. On the

seat beside her were six pots of blackberry jam and a recipe

for dry-cured pickled pork, written in code, for Arlette from

Liliane, and a box of cigars for Louis from Gustave. She did

not think Armand would mind that she was late, and she was

feeling in such a good mood that she very much hoped that

Francois had taken himself elsewhere, because she didn’t

want anything to spoil it.

Smiling, she turned on the wireless, and when she heard

the song they were singing she burst out laughing. It was the

first time she had heard it in French, but the tune was

unmistakable, so she sang along to it in English: ‘Who’s afraid

of the Big Bad Wolf?’ It was a pity, she thought, when the song

ended, that she couldn’t share the joke with Francois - but of

course, if she could there wouldn’t be a joke.

Freddy Prendergast was sitting on a wooden bench beside

the Montvisse dovecote, watching Monique walk towards

him across the lawn. He felt his anxiety deepening with

every step she took, and when she came to a stop beside him,

he looked up at her and smiled weakly. She looked

particularly attractive today, he thought miserably; her dark

hair suited her combed back from her face like that,

especially when she was smiling so happily. Their eyes met,

but he looked away quickly as his misgivings got the better of

him, and shuffled awkwardly along the bench to make room

for her.

Monique smiled at him fondly. ‘Oh, chert,’ she said

consolingly, ‘you are unhappy because we have not been

able to spend time alone together for almost a week. It has

hurt me too, but I am here now.’ She lifted his hand into her

lap and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘I have thought about

you all the time, mon chou. I read your poems again and again

and I tingle all over when I think of how much you love me. I

am truly the happiest woman alive.’ She took his chin and

pulled him round to face her. ‘You are not angry, are you, that I wish to wait for Lucien to come home before we announce our engagement?’

Freddy shook his head. ‘No, not in the slightest.’ His

voice sounded high-pitched and nervous. He tried again.

‘Not a bit,’ he boomed.

‘Lucien will be here tomorrow,’ she smiled, resting her

head on his shoulder, ‘and then we shall be able to tell the

whole world.’ If she was aware of the tension in him she

didn’t show it, and after a while she looked up at him and

whispered, ‘Kiss me, Freddy.’

He was suddenly seized with panic, but not knowing what

else to do, he planted a quick kiss on her lips, then looked

away.

She laughed softly. ‘You are afraid that someone is

watching us from the window, oui?’

He gave a jerky nod and looked desperately towards the

sky for Divine intervention.

‘I have a surprise for you, cheri? she said. ‘Do you want to

know what it is?’

No, he most certainly did not, but he found himself saying

that he did.

‘I have been thinking how we could spend a whole night

together,’ she told him, ‘and now I have the solution. If you

come to Lorvoire after dark and climb up into the forest - it

is very steep behind the chateau so you must be sure to take

great care - you will find the bridge which leads into the

nursery corridor. It is next to Claudine’s bedroom, so we

will have to be quiet, but if you come after midnight then she

will be sure to be sleeping.’

He gaped at her. The woman had clearly taken leave of

her senses if she thought for one moment that he would

contemplate going into a forest in the dead of night.

‘It is perfect, don’t you agree?’ she said, apparently

mistaking his horror for wonder.

A strange noise escaped his lips, and laughing, she leaned

forward to kiss them. ‘So you will come tonight?’ she

whispered, treating him to one of her most provocative

smiles.

Tonight! She wanted him to go tonight! ‘Er, well, er,’ he

stammered. He cleared his throat. ‘Well…’ he continued.

‘Er, one has a teensy bit of a problem.’

‘ Un probleme? she repeated, still smiling.

‘Yes. Well, it’s like this, you see. One has a friend. Well,

not a friend exactly; more of a girlfriend.’

He winced as the smile froze on her face, and suddenly

the idea of thrashing about in a forest at midnight seemed

infinitely preferable to this.

‘Go on,’ she breathed.

He shrugged, and attempted to smile. ‘Well, that’s it

really. One has a girlfriend.’ There was more, but he didn’t

quite have the courage to go through with it now that her

face had gone so dreadfully pale.

‘But you said, you told me you had never…’

‘Oh, but we haven’t,’ he assured her, assuming that she

was referring to his virginity and not wanting her to think

him a liar. ‘Teresa’s not that sort of girl.’

Even before Monique’s hand rang across his cheek, he

realized he had made a stupendous blunder.

‘I’m sorry,’ he gasped. ‘One didn’t mean to say that. What

one meant to say was… What one meant, was… She’s too

young. Much, much younger than you.’

He had never seen such a look in his life, and groaning, he

dropped his head in his hands. He could feel her trembling,

and was just beginning to wish he had never set foot in

France, never mind Montvisse, when to his unmitigated

horror she started to plead. ‘But couldn’t we have just one

night together?’ she begged. ‘You could still come to the

chateau … It doesn’t matter that you…’

‘I can’t!’ he wailed. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to, because I

do, very much, but you see, Teresa … Well, Teresa is

coming here, to Montvisse, today.’

She stared at him, her eyes wide and uncomprehending,

until finally, to his utter dismay, she seemed to crumple

before his very eyes. He had never felt such a heel.

‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured. ‘You see, she was my girlfriend

before, but she told me in July that she didn’t want to see me

again. So when I told you I didn’t have a girlfriend, I wasn’t

lying. But she called me yesterday from Paris and said she

had changed her mind.’

“And you invited her to Montvisse?’

‘Yes,’ he confessed miserably, and lowered his eyes as the

horrible burden of shame grew heavier on his shoulders.

For the moment Monique didn’t know what to say. It was

as though someone had delivered her a physical blow and

she was still reeling from the shock. She took a deep breath

in an effort to steady herself, but an icy torrent of rage swept

through her as once again she saw her happiness slipping

away. She wanted to scream; she wanted to fall on her knees

and rage against God; she wanted to run, to escape from all

the torment welling up inside her. She wanted to thrash out

with her hands, kick out with her feet; she wanted to fall to

the floor, to clutch at his legs, beg him to love her, make him

understand that he couldn’t do this to her, he couldn’t leave

her, not when she had already told Claudine …

Suddenly she went very still and her eyes glazed over.

Freddy was so horrified that his nerves erupted in a loud

guffaw. Then, to his amazement, she took his hand and held

it between her own. He looked down, trembling with terror;

he felt sure she was going to break every bone in his fingers.

Several minutes ticked by and neither of them moved, then,

tentatively, he lifted his eyes back to her face. To his

overwhelming relief the terrible expression had gone, and in

its place was such a heartrending sadness that it almost

moved him to tears.

‘It’s all right, Freddy,’ she said, ‘I understand. I am far too

old for you really, and I’m sure we would have made one

another unhappy in the end. You are wise to take your