Paris: The Novel (130 page)

“I suppose, being a bourgeois, that deep down I feel that a man should go out to work each day,” she remarked to Roland one evening. “He should have a job, an office, an occupation.”

“The noble tradition—at least in France,” he replied, “is that we are there to lead in battle. To fight and die for our king, or our country. And when we aren’t doing that, we manage our estates, and dress up to look elegant. This last is very important.”

“It’s not the way most people see things.”

“We are not most people.”

“You’re not ashamed of not working at a regular occupation. A job.”

“On the contrary. I’d be ashamed if I had a job.”

“Ordinary work is beneath you.”

“I suppose so.”

“And by cutting a handsome figure in the world, of course, Charlie is bringing honor to the family name.” She nodded. “This is what it means to be an aristocrat.”

“Not only an aristocrat, I think. It’s the same with a matador, a great opera star, or a sporting hero. It’s a human instinct.”

“That is true,” she acknowledged.

But aristocrats were more imbued with the idea than other classes,
all the same. She remembered a conversation at the dinner table with a visiting aristocrat who was descended from La Fayette, and whose family still had the sword that George Washington had given him. “La Fayette certainly found a way to make a name for himself,” the aristocrat said proudly.

“But he was driven by a passion for freedom and democracy, wasn’t he?” Marie asked.

Her guest looked doubtful.

“It’s true that he came to believe that a constitutional monarchy, like the English one, would be best for France,” he answered. “But he wasn’t searching for freedom in America. He was searching for glory.”

Of course, she thought. Nothing had changed since the Middle Ages. Heroes went in search of honor and renown. War, crusade, America: it made no difference.

So what could a young French aristocrat do in the decade after the horrors of the Great War? Become an explorer? Perhaps. Charlie could do that. In the meantime, however, even the fastest motor car did not look daring enough. No wonder Charlie wanted an airplane.

The first time Louise set eyes on Charlie was in 1937. Some friends had brought him to L’Invitation au Voyage. He was standing in the hall. He was a little taller than his companions, both of whom had been there before. He was very handsome, she thought.

The three men were ushered into the salon. They sat down. Champagne appeared, and she sent three girls in to chat with them. From the doorway, she noticed that although he observed the girls and quickly noted their good points, there was an air of detachment about him.

Curious, she stepped into the salon herself and went over.

“You have never been here before, monsieur.”

“Non, madame.”
The faint surprise in his voice told her that he had noticed her elegant manner and accent. “But I had heard of it by reputation, and my friends here were kind enough to bring me here to see for myself.”

“Louise,” one of his companions now cried out, “I haven’t introduced my friend to you. This is Charlie de Cygne.”

She bowed her head politely. If this was the case, she thought, then he must be the stepson of Marie. But her face betrayed nothing.

“Allow me to welcome you then, monsieur. I am Madame Louise, the owner. Most of the girls are quite amusing to talk to. You are free to enjoy their company in the salon.”

Then she left him.

Even in an exclusive establishment like L’Invitation au Voyage, people would appear without any introduction to spend an hour or two; but the majority of the men who came there were regulars, or soon became so. And before any new patron of her establishment sampled the goods, it was Louise’s custom to invite him to her office for a discreet conversation. This would not only ensure that all financial matters were taken care of, but she would also do her best to ensure that her girls wouldn’t pick up any infections. “I run my house rather like an English gentleman’s club,” she would explain. “The other members are your friends. And of course, if you break the rules, your membership will be revoked, permanently.”

She waited twenty minutes before she sent a servant to ask him to come upstairs.

She observed him carefully as he entered. She liked the way he moved. He was elegant, but strong. As he reached the chair, he had to turn slightly, so that she could see his body in profile. She noted everything about that too. Perfectly formed, she thought. As he sat down, he smiled. Good smile. He seemed quite relaxed. Confident in himself. His eyes looked slightly amused.

She stared at him for a moment or two.

“You haven’t come here for the girls at all, have you?” she remarked pleasantly.

“Why do you say that, madame?”

“I don’t mean that you won’t sample the goods. But I think you came out of curiosity. Because of the rooms.”

“It’s the total experience, perhaps.”

“You don’t want it said, when history is written, that in the Paris of his day, Monsieur Charles de Cygne missed out on L’Invitation au Voyage.”

He laughed.

“I confess.”

“Well, monsieur, I am very flattered that my house should qualify as such an attraction.”

“It is becoming a legend, madame.”

She inclined her head. Then she stood up.

“One moment, monsieur.” She walked past him to a small filing cabinet,
opened a drawer, closed it and returned past him to her seat. As she passed him, her keen sense of smell picked out the faint lemony smell of the pomade he used for his hair, receding a little, and the lavender balm he applied after shaving. Behind that, she could just discern the natural smell of his body with which these scents interacted, flesh and follicle, in a way that was pleasing.

She made up her mind.

“Very well.” She smiled apologetically. “The truth is, monsieur, that your arriving without an appointment this evening has placed me in a small difficulty. I don’t think I have a girl for you. But I should like to offer you something in recompense. On Sundays we are closed. That is my rule. If you care to come by on Sunday afternoon, I will show you all the rooms. Then,” she smiled, “you will be able to say that you have seen something that very few men have ever seen.”

He stared at her in amazement.

“You would really do that?”

“I would.”

“Then I accept, madame, with pleasure.”

“You are to come alone, monsieur. I am not turning my house into a public gallery.”

“Of course, madame,” he said. “I understand.”

She wondered if he really did.

He arrived promptly at four o’clock the following Sunday afternoon. Apart from herself and a couple of servants still cleaning the house, the place was empty.

It took her some time to show him all the rooms. He was quite curious. Two of the rooms were Belle Époque and very plush. Another might have come from the eighteenth century, shortly before the Revolution. She had a Napoleonic room. “At least three of our regulars,” she told him, “I am certain, imagine they were the emperor Napoléon in another life.”

The English Tudor room with its heavy oak four-poster bed also contained two Elizabethan portraits that caught his attention at once.

“They look genuine,” he remarked.

“They’re seventeenth-century copies, and heavily restored,” she told him. “But I got them through an English dealer I trust. They look well, don’t they?”

This caused him to ask if she had English connections, and she smiled.

“My parents were English, in fact. Highly respectable. My father was a banker. Fortunately they can’t see me now.”

“So that’s why your French is so pure. You learned it.”

“I did. In the valley of the Loire.”

Were her parents still alive? he asked.

“They were killed in a car accident, I’m afraid. Driving in the mist.” She shrugged sadly. “A long time ago.”

She could see he was intrigued by her creative efforts. She showed him the Wild West room next. Then a room draped as if it were a tent, with a low bed and many cushions.

“It’s like something from the Valentino movie:
The Sheik
,” he cried.

“Of course. It’s quite popular. We have one man—he comes once a week, always the same girl, always this room. He’s tall and handsome. They’re both into role-playing. They really get into it.”

Charlie admired the Oriental room, and the Spanish room. Recently, Louise had created a German room, modeled after the romantic castle of Neuschwanstein. “I wanted music for this room,” she said. “You know: Wagner. It’s difficult to arrange it short of having a full orchestra in the house. I tried a gramophone playing
Carmen
in the Spanish room, but it didn’t really sound right.”

By the time she had shown him all the rooms, almost half an hour had passed.

“That’s everything?” Charlie asked.

“There was a girl who wanted to make a dungeon in the cellars. You know, chains … everything. But I said no.” Louise shrugged. “Perhaps I’ll change my mind, one day.”

Did she ever take on any of the customers herself? he ventured to ask.

“Absolutely not,” she answered firmly. “In fact, I haven’t had a lover for quite a while. It would have to be someone who interests me.”

“And may I ask what your next design is going to be?”

“I’ve got a girl—very beautiful—from Senegal. I want to make an African room for her. But I haven’t yet decided how to do it.”

He accepted her offer to take a little tea, in the English manner, in her apartment. She asked a few questions about his life. He was intrigued to know how she came to make such a transition from upper-middle-class England to being a madam in Paris.

“The transition was not as great as you might think,” she said. “I was
sent to France. I liked it. I modeled for Chanel. I became the mistress of a rich man, then another. I inherited a little money.” She shrugged. “But I didn’t marry. And I wanted a business.”

“But you hadn’t lived the life of the streets.”

“No. I had a friend—he’s not a friend anymore now—but he knew everything there is to know about Paris, from the richest houses to the low life of the streets. He was very helpful to me. But as you know very well, a business like this is as far removed from the poor prostitutes in the rue Saint-Denis as your own house is from a slum.”

“I’ve often seen them. Can’t say I ever felt any attraction.”

“Don’t go near them. But most of those girls are just trying to survive. Put food on the table. They can’t charge much, so to make any money at all they have to do maybe ten tricks a day. To do that you have to turn yourself into a machine, just to survive. And it’s physically dangerous too.” She shrugged. “Paris is the romantic capital of the world. But there’s nothing romantic about the underside of any great city.”

He nodded.

“Funnily enough, you remind me of my stepmother,” he remarked.

“Why?”

“She ran a business, with a lot of imagination. She’s very capable.”

“Stepmothers have an evil reputation.”

“Not this one. I love her. And she makes my father happy.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“I have another question. I noticed a picture when I came in. It looked a bit like you.”

“It does, doesn’t it? That’s just a coincidence, though. I bought it from a dealer because it came with two preparatory sketches, which you don’t often find.”

Louise stood up and went to the window. It was an October afternoon. The sky was clear; the sun was still shining over Paris. She loved the autumn season, yet she often felt a strange melancholy on Sunday afternoons.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” she suddenly said.