The Devil on Horseback (28 page)

There were three inns at Bordereaux and we tried them all without success. We studied the signposts and found there were three routes which the couple could have taken.

“We must try them all,” said Margot firmly.

How weary we were! What a hopeless chase it was i How could we hope to find the baby? But Margot was determined to.

“We cannot stay away much longer,” I pointed out.

“Already we have behaved in a very strange way. What do you think Mimi and Bessell think?”

They are servants,” retorted Margot haughtily. They are not paid to think.”

“Only when it is in your interests for them to do so, I suppose! They have some inkling of what all this is about. Do you think it wise, Margot?”

“I don’t care if it is wise or not. I’m going to find my baby.”

So we went on with our enquiries which brought us nowhere.

At length I said to Margot: “You said that this was to be a visit to your old nurse Yvette. Don’t you think it would be wise to call on her since that is supposed to be the object of the journey?”

She said she did not want to waste time but finally I pc|| suaded her that it would be wise to go. Again I seem^| to hear the Comte’s voice warning me that if one is going t| weave a web of deceit it is better to work in a few strandj of truth. I Yvette lived in a pretty little house with a walled garde| surrounding it. The gates were wide enough for the carriage to pass through and Yvette herself came to the door.

She was a gentle-faced woman whom I liked immediatel;

but I was very much aware of her evident dismay when sh saw who her visitors were.

Margot ran to her and threw herself into her arms.

My little one,” said Yvette fondly.

“But this is a surprise (| ” We were in the neighbourhood and could not fail to come and see you,” said Margofc | oh… who were you visiting?” asked Yvette. ‘| “Oh … well, we really came to see you. It seemed such a long time since I had. This is Mademoiselle Maddox m^j friend… and cousin.”

“Cousin?” said Yvette.

“I did not know you had this cousin^ Welcome, Mademoiselle. Please do come in. Oh, do I see Mimi? Welcome, Mimi.”

But her uneasiness seemed to have increased.

“Jose will take care of Mimi and your coachman,” she said, Jose was her maid a woman as old as herself. Mimi and Bessell went off with her and Margot and I followed Yvette into the house. It was neat, clean and very comfortably furnished.

“You are happy here, Yvette?” asked Margot.

“Monsieur Ie Comte has always been good to those who worked well for him,” she said.

“When you no longer needed me and I left the chateau he provided this house for me and an income so that I could afford Jose to look after me. We live very happily here.”

She took us into a pleasant room.

“And Mademoiselle Maddox is from England?”

I wondered how she knew for I had not mentioned it and my accent should not have betrayed me as so far I had said very little. My name?

Pronounced as Margot pronounced it, it did not sound really English.

“Sit down, my dear child, and you. Mademoiselle. You will have some refreshment, and you must stay to dine with me. We have a good chicken and Jose6 is a wonderful cook.”

She picked up a piece of needlework which was lying on a chair.

“Do you still do the same wonderful embroidery, Yvette?” Margot turned to me.

“She used to put it on most of my dresses, didn’t you, Yvette?”

“I was always fond of my needle. And I hear you are betrothed?”

“Oh, did you hear that, then? Who told you?”

Yvette hesitated. Then she said: “The Comte always wants to know how I am faring and he has called on me now and then.”

This was an aspect of his character I had not hitherto suspected. I was delighted to learn of it and the knowledge filled me with elation.

Margot said: We shall be happy to share in the chicken, shall we not, Minelle? “

Still thinking of the Comte’s concern for those whom he considered to be in his care, I nodded happily.

“I must show you Yvette’s wonderful work,” went on Margot. She was out of her armchair and had taken the piece of needlework on which Yvette had been working and brought it over to me.

“Seel This light feathery stitch. What is this, Yvette?” She held it up. It was a baby’s coat.

Yvette blushed and said: “I am working it for a friend,” Margot’s face puckered as it always did when she was reminded of babies. I thought then: She will never get over this until she has another child.

She folded the little coat and laid it on a chair.

“It’s very pretty,” she said.

“How is everything at the chateauT asked Yvette.

“Much as ever. Oh no … We have had stones through the windows, haven’t we, Minelle?”

Yvette shook her head sadly.

“Sometimes I think the people are going mad. We hear little of it here but there are tales from Paris.” Then she talked of the old days and told little anecdotes about Margot’s adventures as a child. It was clear that she had a great fondness for her.

“I heard of your mother’s death,” she said. That was a great sadness.

Poor lady! Nou-Nou must be quite demented.

no-H. 193 o

For her there was none but the Comtesse. She had had her a baby. I can understand that. We do not have babies of 01 own and our charges take that place in our hearts which v could give to our own. The bond is a strong one. Ah, I a a foolish old woman but I have always loved little babies| Strange tricks of fate often give them to those who do noft want them and withhold them from those who do. Poor, pooy. || Nou-Nou.

I can imagine her grief. ” ?

“She is taking it very badly,” said Margot.

“What was that?”

We listened. T thought I heard a child, crying. “

“No, no,” said Yvette.

“If you will excuse me I will go to the kitchen to see how Jose is faring with the chicken. Jose and I do the cooking between us.”

As she opened the door we heard the unmistakable cry of a child.

Margot was beside her.

You have a baby here,” she said.

Yvette flushed scarlet and stammered.

“Well… for a while. I am looking after …”

Margot was up the stairs. In a few seconds she was standing at the top of them holding a baby in her arms. There was a smile of triumph on her face. I thought: God works in a mysterious way, for I knew before Yvette admitted it that we had found Chariot.

She brought him into the room, her face radiant. She sat down and held him in her lap. He was clucking and kicking and seemed clearly pleased with life in spite of the fact that a few moments before he had been crying.

“Oh, he is beautiful … beautiful,” breathed Margot; and indeed he was. Plump, well-fed, happy, he was all that a baby should be.

Yvette looked at Margot and shook her head slowly.

“You should not have come here, my dear,” she said.

“Not to see my beautiful Chariot!” cried Margot.

“Oh, I have missed my little pet. And to find him here! Yvette, you deceiver but you have cared for him well.”

“Of course I have cared for him well. Do you think I wouldn’t care well for any baby? And yours is especially dear to me. That is what the Comte said: ” I know you will give him that special care,” he said, ” because he is Marguerite’s. ” But oh, my dear, you should never have come here now that you are betrothed.

You see it was all for the best that he should come here. I don’t know what the Comte will say. “

“This is my affair,” said Margot.

“Margot,” I reminded her, ‘you must see that the best thing that could happen is for Chariot to remain here. “

She would not speak. She could not think of anything but that she had Chariot in her arms. She would not let him go and when he slept and Yvette said he must go into his cot, Margot took him upstairs. I guessed that she wanted to be alone with him and I remained with Yvette.

Yvette said to me: “Mademoiselle, I know that you have looked after Marguerite. The Comte has told me everything. He has spoken very warmly of you. I don’t know what he will say when he hears you have been here.”

“Margot’s feelings are very natural. He must understand that.”

She nodded.

“There is something else that worries me. Enquiries are being made … have been made.”

“Enquiries? What sort of enquiries?”

“About the child. Jose hears a good deal that doesn’t reach me. She goes into the town on market days. I chided her in the past for being such a gossip, but sometimes it can be useful. The fact that we have a child here cannot be kept a secret naturally and it is realized that I am looking after it for someone in a high place. The Comte’s orders were that the child should have the best of everything, and although I was not poor before, I have become more affluent since the baby has been with me. These things are noticed. Jose tells me that a gentleman, who tried to disguise himself as a travelling salesman and failed because he was clearly an aristocrat, has been asking questions. He is obviously interested in the child and is trying to find out who he is.”

T wonder,” I began and paused. Yvette was a woman whom I instinctively trusted. Moreover, she would have been in the Comte’s employ for so many years and had been selected by him to look after the child. I went on: ” Could it have been Robert de Grasseville . Margot’s fiance?

”

“That was what occurred to me. tt would not be difficult for someone who was ready to ferret to discover that I had been employed at the chateau. The Comte is a man of distinction. He has visited me twice since the child was brought here. He is anxious for little Charles’s welfare and he likes! to assure himself that the boy is well. He comes simply dressed! for him. Mademoiselle, but as you know, it is impossible fotlfl such men to hide hundreds of years of breeding. Sometimes this tremble when I think what the future holds.”

“I understand well. Thank you for telling me.”

There is something else. Mademoiselle. Jose hears these things. She came in one day and said that she had heard it said that the Comte was the father of the child. “

“Oh no! Surely …”

She looked at me searchingly.

“You were with Margot when the child was born. You have been at the chateau. You see …”

I was flushing, hot and indignant.

“You cannot mean that I…”

“These rumours get around. I don’t know how this one started … But you see how it could be possible.”

“Yes,” I said, ‘it could be possible, I suppose. Would the Comte have sent his daughter to be with a woman who was to bear his illegitimate child? “

Yvette lifted her shoulders.

“It is so much nonsense. But the baby is here. I was a nurse at the chateau and the Comte has called to ascertain all is well with the child. People add up these things and get the wrong answer.”

My head was whirling. There seemed no end to the maze of intrigue which was closing around me.

“I think you should be warned. Mademoiselle. Take care of Margot. She is so impulsive and has always acted without thought. I should so much like to see her happily settled and it seems that here is a chance.

The Grassevilles are a very good family . I mean their reputation is high. They treat their people well and are generous to them. The match would be the making of Margot. But there is this matter of the child.

How I wish little Charles had been Robert de Grasseville’s son and born in wedlock. “

“That would have been ideal and we should not be here now if it were so.”

“Mademoiselle, I see that you are a sensible young woman. The Comte has great faith in you. Take care of her. It may be that these enquiries did come from the Grassevilles and that if they know that the child is Margot’s they will not want to go on with the marriage. I think you should be prepared for that.”

“I

believe it would be wise not to mention this to Margot now. “

“I have been glad of the opportunity to talk to you alone.”

I agreed that it had been beneficial.

“We can only wait and see what happens,” I said.

“If it were Robert who was making enquiries we shall soon know.”

She nodded.

“But you will be prepared. Mademoiselle, in case anything should go wrong.”

I said I would.

Margot returned to us looking ecstatic.

“He is fast asleep. Oh, he is angelic.”

I was apprehensive because I knew how miserable she was going to be when she was obliged to part with him.

We stayed the night at Yvette’s house for Margot said she must have a little time with her baby. She sent Mimi and Bessell to the inn where they stayed the night and I must say I was relieved that they were out of the house.

She and I lay awake for a long time talking-for we shared a room.

“What am I going to do?” she demanded.

“He could not be better looked after.”

“I know what you’re going to say. Leave Chariot here.”

“The wise thing, I hope,” I replied.

“If I had to engage a nurse I would take Yvette before anyone else.”

“He has Yvette now and she has obviously cared well for him. Chariot lacks nothing.”

“Except his mother.”

“In the circumstances he is best as he is.”

“You, you are heartless, Minelle. Sometimes I could slap you for your cool, precise and so logical manner. I hate it all the more because I know that most people would say you were right.”

“Of course I’m right. You have found him. You have the great satisfaction of knowing -that he is in the best possible hands. You can come and see him sometimes. What more could you ask?”

That I could have him with me all the time. “

Then you should have waited until he could be born in a| respectable manner. ” | ” You would not have made me marry James Wedder?

” I “

I think it would have been an unsuitable marriage, but having behaved as you did you should be prepared to take I the consequences. Your father has done a good deal for you. ? Now you must do as he wishes. ” ] ” Is it fair to Robert? ” i!

“Tell him, then.” ;

“You are bold all of a sudden. He might discard me.” | “If that is the case perhaps it would be better to be discarded.”