The River Maid (20 page)

The footman examined the card before calling out, “
Prince Christian of Hesse.”

Christian stepped forward. Since he had been in Paris, he had always been introduced under his military title.

The ballroom was already packed full of people. The French aristocracy - or what remained of them - and the newer members of the elite who had prospered under Napoleon, had all turned out for the Emperor’s ball. He spotted more than one German prince amongst the throng and heard snatches of languages from across Europe mixed in with the French.

A footman stopped before him bearing a tray. He reached out to take a glass of wine, but stopped. He withdrew his hand and shook his head. The footman continued on. Part of the room had been cornered off with screens, while an orchestra played in the gallery above. 

He scanned the crowd, looking for Gaspard. He wanted to go home. He’d been avoiding it for so long, but now it was the only place he wanted to go. He just had to convince Gaspard to come with him. 

For once, he made an attempt to speak to the other guests. Many knew who he was before he had been introduced.

“You’re not wearing your uniform, Your Highness,” one lady in a cream dress scolded. Her red hair was piled high on her head in an elaborate array. 

“Not tonight,” he replied. “You should try wearing one and then you would know how uncomfortable they are.”

Much of his attempt at conversation sounded hollow to his ears, but they smiled politely. He realised all conversation here sounded hollow. There was a time when he wouldn’t have noticed. He was careful not to pay any one lady too much attention, fearing they would mistake his intentions as Lorelei had done.

The orchestra broke off as the huge doors at the end of the hall opened and the Emperor and Empress made their entrance. The men bowed low, while the ladies sank into a deep curtsy. Ducasse had introduced Christian to Napoleon after he had recovered enough to leave his tent. The Emperor had embraced him and congratulated him on his heroism and even invited him to dine with him, but he had yet to take up the Emperor
’s generous offer. 

The crowd parted as the Emperor and Empress made their way through the ballroom, the guests shuffling back in deference. The royal couple turned and there was complete silence as the guests waited for the Emperor to address them. 

The Emperor waited until he had everyone’s attention before he spoke. “My friends, I have brought you back the treasures of Italy and the wonders of Egypt, but now I have a new treasure. Something no other country in the world has.”

He nodded to the footmen and they began folding back the screens that had kept part of the hall hidden to reveal a huge glass tank.

There were gasps as the tank was revealed. The guests stood in stunned silence, staring in shock. Inside was a creature. The top half gave her the appearance of an ordinary girl, but it was her bottom half that had caused people to stare. Instead of legs, a green fish like tail covered with tiny scales moved back and forth in the water.

The Emperor gestured to the tank with the sweep of his arm. “
I give to you a mermaid.”

She wore a thin chemise that reached just above her waist, leaving the full length of her tail visible. The crowd surged forward. Christian stood transfixed, his mind refusing to believe what he was seeing. There was something familiar about the way her tail moved.

He looked up finally and saw her face. Large dark brown eyes, wide and afraid, peered out through strands of long brown hair that floated around her face. Her slender arms were skeletal thin and dappled green and blue. She seemed familiar. He knew her; he was sure of it. He stared, trying to remember. His mind flashed back to the night he had jumped in after Lorelei. It seemed a hundred years ago since he had been there in the water. He had swum to the surface and then he had turned around in the water, looking for Lorelei, and she had been there.

“
My god,” Christian said.

It was Adrianna. She cowered at the bottom of the tank, trying to get away from the guests as they crowded round. Christian stood there gaping. The crowd got over their shock and pressed forward, surrounding the tank.

“It can’t be real,” one lady said to her husband.

“
It’s impossible,” another said. “It must be a costume.”

Only one person in the room didn’t look shocked. Gaspard stood looking sad, but not surprised. Christian pushed his way to him.
“Did you know?” Gaspard didn’t answer him. Christian seized his arm. “Did you know?”

Gaspard finally turned to face him.
“I suspected, but there was no way it could possibly be true.”

Christian released him. He was too stunned to think. He looked at the creature in the tank, but all he could see was her tail. “How?” he asked. “How can she be a… whatever she is
?”

“I don’t know.”

“I saw her walking by the river. She had legs. How is this possible?”

“
We cannot talk here,” Gaspard said quietly, “and I do not wish to stay and watch them stare.”

Still stunned,
Christian nodded. People were pushing forward, trying to get a better view. He didn’t want to be one of them.

“I’m staying with a friend of mine,” Gaspard continued. “I knew her before the revolution. She will lend us her carriage.”

Gaspard led him over to his companion who was with the other guests, trying to get a better view of the mermaid.

“Elise,
may I borrow your carriage?” Gaspard asked.

Elise turned. She had hazel eyes and lips painted a dark red
. Her dark hair hung in ringlets held up with jewelled clasps. Christian guessed her age to be somewhere in her fifties, but she was still a striking woman. Lines only lightly webbed her eyes.   

“
Of course,” she said, smiling. “But how can you leave now? Don’t you want to stay and look at the creature?”

Gaspard grimaced.
“Not tonight.” He turned to Christian. “Your Highness, may I introduce Madame Renard to you.”

“Your Highness,” Elise said, curtsying. “Gaspard has told me so much about you.”

“Madame,” Christian said, bowing stiffly.

“I will send the carriage back for you later,” Gaspard said to Elise.

Christian followed Gaspard through the throng of people. He was relieved once they were outside and he could breathe again. Gaspard gave Elise’s driver the address of Christian’s lodgings. They sat in silence on the way back. He didn’t know what to say. Once they left the palace it seemed ridiculous that Adrianna could possibly be a mermaid.

Once they were inside, Christian poured brandy into two glasses and handed one to Gaspard. Gaspard sank into an armchair, but Christian couldn
’t sit. He paced the room back and forth, his long strides quickly crossing the distance.

“
Do you think it’s really the same girl from St Goarshausen?” Christian asked. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Gaspard say it.

“
It’s her,” Gaspard said.

“It must be a
costume. Something to fit over her legs.”

“The Emperor would have made sure she was real before he showed her off to the world. He woudn’
t risk being made to look a fool.”

“
She lived her whole life in that town. How can no one have known what she was?” Gaspard didn’t answer. Christian finally sat down on the chair across from his former tutor. “Do you think her mother knew her daughter was really a mermaid?”

“I don’t believe Adrianna was always a mermaid. Something must have happened to her. I intend to find out what it was.”

“There’s nothing you can do,” Christian said. “She’s not the girl that you knew. She’s something else. She deceived you and lied about what she was.”

“We cannot
leave her at the mercy of the French.”

“
She’s not human.”

“
I believe that if it wasn’t for her you would have drowned. You owe her your life. We cannot leave her to be paraded about and stared at.” He sipped the brandy. “I will let the excitement die down and then I will find a way to see her. I won’t leave until I have spoken to her.”

“
You will never get close enough.”

“
I will find a way.”

Christian thought of the soldiers that patrolled the palace. The Emperor was no fool; he would see that she was protected. Gaspard would probably get shot trying to get close enough to speak to her. He sighed. He couldn
’t leave him. He would have to stay as well.

~~~~~

Adrianna huddled into a tight ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. The crowd of people were banging on the glass, trying to get her attention. The noise reverberated through the tank.

Earlier that day, wooden screens painted with pictures of birds and trailing vines had been placed around the tank to conceal her. She assumed that the Emperor was going to present her at another one of his private dinners. Later, the chandeliers were lit and hoisted up to the ceiling. Then she heard the rustle of fabric and the sound of footsteps and voices. The screens reached past the top of the tank, blocking her view, but there were more voices than she had ever heard before. Music started and then she heard even more people arrive. Afraid, she had gone underwater and stayed there. She had huddled down in the corner, trying to make herself small and hoping no one would notice her.

She had thought she was safe, until the screens were suddenly pulled away and she could see the sea of people in fine clothes all staring at her. Hundreds and hundreds of them filled the room, all looking at her. She could see Fournier standing at the front, just behind the Emperor and Empress. The crowd rushed forward, surrounding her. She shrank back from them, but they surrounded every side of the tank, pushing forward, trying to see.

There were so many faces, all looking at her. She tucked her tail to her chest and wrapped her arms around it, trying to hide from their gaze. The soldiers forced the crowd back and the little metal set of stairs was pushed against the tank. She watched as two soldiers climbed up, both holding long wooden poles. They thrust them in the water at her and she had to move quickly to avoid being hit. She swam around the tank, trying to avoid them. The people banged even harder and cheered. The moment she stopped moving, the poles were thrust at her again.

Occasionally, they would make her change direction or move even faster. Eventually, she began to slow down and, unable to avoid them any longer, the poles caught her on the small of her back and her hip. Fournier climbed up the stairs, shaking his head, and finally they pulled the poles out. Exhausted and bruised, she sank down to the bottom of the tank.

  The dancing started again, but a small crowd stayed to look at her. They drifted away, but always more came to stare. She wanted to ignore them, but it only made them bang harder. She covered her ears against the noise, but they didn
’t care.

She wasn
’t a person to them. She was a mermaid.

Chapter Twenty Three

By the next day news of the mermaid had spread throughout Paris. She was on the front page of every newspaper that Christian
’s valet brought him.

“Did you see the creature at the ball, Your Highness?” his valet asked.

“Only from a distance,” Christian replied, unwilling to talk about Adrianna. Gaspard had stayed late, but Christian had been unable to persuade him to come back to St Goarshausen with him. 

Christian rubbed his eyes as he drank his coffee. He had slept badly. He had dreamed of Lorelei and the night she had jumped from the cliff. He had half expected to wake up and find that last night had all been a dream. In the end he had given up trying to sleep and decided to get up. 

It was the first time he had been awake this early since the army. Outside his window, the streets of Paris were busy. A steady stream of people were heading toward the palace. Feeling restless, he left his lodgings and hailed a cab and gave the driver the address Gaspard had given him last night of where he was staying. As he rang the bell, he realised how early it was. He shouldn’t be calling on anyone at this time, but the door opened before he could leave.

“Is Monsieur Gaspard at home?” he asked, giving his card to the butler.

The butler disappeared and returned a moment later. “Monsieur Gaspard has already gone out, but Madame Renard will see you. If you will come with me.”

Christian handed him his gloves and hat and followed him through the entrance hall and into the breakfast room. Elise lounged in a chair, wearing a silk robe, buttering a piece of toast and reading the newspaper in front of her. She set her knife down and rose when he entered.

“Your Highness, what a lovely surprise.”

“
I’m sorry to disturb you,” Christian said, bowing. “I was looking for Gaspard.”

“Gaspard isn’t here. He left first thing this morning.”
She waved him to a seat and proceeded to pour him a cup of coffee. “Please come and join me.”

“
Did he say where he was going?” he asked as he accepted the cup and stirred in cream and sugar.

“
He didn’t need to. I heard him pacing all night. He went to see the creature. I still can’t believe that she was real.”

He could hardly believe it himself. 

“Gaspard says that he knows her,” Elise continued. “How can that be?” She was watching for his reaction above her teacup.

“
I’m not sure,” Christian said, awkwardly shifting in his seat.

Elise set her teacup down and rose. “Well,
I suppose we should go and find him. I’ll get dressed.”

She left in a flurry of silk. He pulled the stack of newspapers toward him. Leafing through them, he scanned the pages. In one paper, they described Adrianna as having long claws and razor sharp teeth. Another had a drawing of her with scales covering her entire body. They were making her out to be some kind of monster. Disgusted, he pushed them away.

Elise made him wait nearly an hour before she finally returned dressed in a pale pink walking dress. He took the cloak from her butler and placed it around her shoulders and then offered her his arm. “Madame.” She smiled and placed her hand on his arm and he escorted her outside.

He handed her into the carriage before taking the seat opposite her. As they neared the Tuileries, the carriage slowed. A crowd had gathered outside the palace and the soldiers were struggling to keep them back.

“It looks like the whole of Paris has come to see the creature,” Elise said as she peered out of the window. 

“
She’s not a creature,” Christian replied.

Elise raised a brow at his remark, but said nothing.

Elise’s driver had brought them as close to the palace as he could, but the carriage could go no further. Christian helped Elise down and then forced a way through the crush of people. Panic rose inside him as people pressed in all around him.

Elise squeezed his arm, bringing him back to the present.
“You’re safe, Your Highness,” she whispered. There was understanding in her eyes. He nodded to her and kept close as they made their way through the crowd. 

The soldiers guarding the palace let them pass. Inside, the rooms were packed full of people as anyone of any importance in Paris had come to see the mermaid. Christian guided Elise to the ballroom. He spotted Napoleon
’s brother talking to the Empress and other dignitaries from across Europe. The ballroom thronged with people. If they hadn’t been wearing day dress, he would have thought the guests were still here from last night.

Adrianna
’s tank had been moved to the very centre of the room. He was still shocked by the sight of her tail. Adrianna shrank back as people crowded round. She seemed so small and helpless in the tank. Unable to watch, he averted his eyes. He was glad they couldn’t get any closer. 

Gaspard stood by himself on one side of the room. Christian left Elise and made his way over to him. Soldiers were everywhere, dotted around the room and in the gallery above them, their muskets ready.

“I have to speak to her,” Gaspard said. “But I don’t know how.”

“It’s too dangerous,”
Christian said, keeping his voice low. “There are too many people here. You will never get close enough.”

“I have to try.”

Fearing he would attract attention standing there, Christian left Gaspard and went back to join Elise. Elise gazed at the tank, a wistful smile touching her lips.

“
You don’t seem shocked by her,” he said. She hadn’t behaved like everyone else, fighting to get close to the mermaid.

She looked up at him.
“I saw so many horrors during the revolution. It’s impossible to think that she could be real, but it would be so wonderful if she was. To think that mermaids exist somewhere in the world. How many other wonders are out there that we don’t know about?”

For a moment, he tried to look at Adrianna through Elise
’s eyes, not as a girl, but as a mermaid. If she was real, it would be incredible.

“
Would you like to come to dinner this evening, Your Highness?” Elise asked.

“
Only if you will call me Christian.”

There was something about Elise that put him at ease. It could be that she reminded him of his mother. They left Gaspard at the palace and Elise dropped him off at his lodgings. Gaspard had still not returned when he arrived for dinner that evening. Elise was a charming hostess. She regaled him with stories about Versailles and life in France before the revolution.

“I would never have placed Gaspard as a tutor,” she said after they had retired to the drawing room, leaving the servants to clear away the plates. “But then, we all did what we had to in order to survive.”

“Who was he before the revolution?” Christian asked.

Elise’s brow arched. “He hasn’t told you?”

“
No.”

Elise shook her head, making her ringlets bounce.
“It’s not my story to tell, but perhaps it’s a story you should know. Gaspard must know I would tell you if you asked and he hasn’t forbidden me to speak of it. You know that he had a wife and child once?”

“
Yes,” Christian said. “Although he rarely speaks of them. I guessed that he was at Versailles.”

“
Yes, he was at the French court. His wife, Juliette, came from a very old French family. I knew her. We were friends once. Talk of revolution was sweeping the country. It wasn’t only the poor who were swept up by it. Many of the aristocracy believed in it as well, Gaspard most of all. He was there on the tennis courts that day they signed a pledge to write a constitution. Gaspard didn’t know then what was to come. He couldn’t have imagined the bloodshed that was to follow. His wife and child were visiting her parents in Paris when they were arrested.”

“
They died on the guillotine?”

“
No. They died in the chaos following the uprising at the Bastille. Gaspard wasn’t the same afterwards. Their deaths haunted him. He left France and wandered across Europe. He tried to find a way to live with himself. I saw him a few times over the years. And then I received a letter saying he had found a position as a tutor to a young German prince.”

They were both silent as they reflected on such a terrible tragedy. Gaspard had helped bring about the very revolution that was responsible for taking his wife and child from him. Christian wondered how he had managed to live with such knowledge.

They both rose as the door opened and a very weary Gaspard entered, a look of dejection on his face. He sank down onto a chair. Elise hurried to the sideboard to pour him a drink. She pressed the glass into his hand.  

“
I couldn’t get close enough,” Gaspard said with an exhausted sigh. “There were too many people around the tank. I managed to get near the front, but she didn’t see me. She wouldn’t look up. She just stared at the bottom of the tank.”

“I still don’t understand h
ow you can know her,” Elise said.

“I knew her in St Goarshausen,” Gaspard replied, “but she wasn’
t a mermaid then. She was just a girl.”

Elise frowned.
“Do you think it could be a trick? They took this poor girl and attached a tail to her legs to make her look like a mermaid.”

The same thought had occurred to him, but having seen Adrianna in the tank, Christian didn
’t believe it was a ruse. Her tail looked too real, plus she could obviously breathe underwater.

“We’
re not sure how she came to be a mermaid,” Christian said. “Something happened to her. The only way to find out is to speak with her.”

Gaspard went back each day to try and get close enough. Christian was restless now that Ducasse had left, but there was nothing to do but go to court functions where Adrianna was the centre of every event. The Emperor was throwing balls and extravagant parties to show her off, but Christian couldn
’t dance with her there. He felt uncomfortable seeing her in the tank and he avoided going to the palace.

The whole of Paris wanted to see the mermaid. There was talk of building another tank, even bigger than the first, in the very centre of the city, where everyone could come and see her. There would be other exotic animals there and treasures that Napoleon had plundered from across Europe, but she would be the main exhibit. They wanted to display her with the animals, as if she was some sort of animal herself. They couldn
’t see the girl underneath.

With nothing else to occupy him, Christian escorted Elise to her various engagements, grateful to have something to do.

“Gaspard is at the palace again,” Elise whispered to him during the interval. They were at the opera watching Mozart’s Don Giovanni. “He’s still trying to get close enough to speak to the mermaid. I’m worried he will get himself arrested. They must have noticed how much time he’s spending there.”

“I will speak to him,” Christian said.

After the performance, he dropped Elise off and then asked the driver to take him to the palace. Once there, he pushed his way through the crowd of people outside. Inside the palace, another ball was taking place. People crowded around the tank. Adrianna shrank back, but she had nowhere to hide. She was hugging her arms around her chest, staring at the floor and not looking at anyone. Her hair swirled around her face, as if she was trying to hide behind it. Her gaze was fixed on the bottom of the tank, but no matter how hard the crowd banged, she wouldn’t look up. A cheer went up as the soldiers got out the poles and climbed up the steps. Disgusted, he turned away. He looked at her and saw a girl; a frightened, terrified girl. How could they not see it? 

He spotted Gaspard and went over to join him.
“You will never be able to speak to her in the day. We will have to try at night.”

“
We?” Gaspard said, turning to face him. “You’re going to help?”

“
Yes,” Christian said, watching them raise the poles again. “I’ll help.”

~~~~~

Fists banged on the glass and faces peered in, but Adrianna didn’t respond. She didn’t care anymore if they got out the poles. Bruises covered her back and shoulders, but no matter how hard they struck her, she wouldn’t move for them. She had stopped eating. At night, they dragged her out of the tank and forced a tube down her throat to feed her, but she threw most of the food back up. After the crowds had finally left, Fournier would rant and rage at her, but she didn’t react. She had tried looking at the people and meeting their eyes, hoping they might see past her tail and see her as a girl. She willed them to have some compassion, some pity, but there was none.

The crowd was getting angry that she wouldn
’t move. The soldiers stopped them if they banged too hard, afraid they would break the glass. She wondered what they would do if the glass broke. She had thought about it one night, thinking that she could break the glass herself. She didn’t think she could survive out of the water for long, but at least it would be an end to this. But she didn’t want to die. She was afraid of what would happen to her if she did. The doctors would cut her open and study her and she would end up mounted as a trophy on the Emperor’s wall. Her mother would never know what had become of her. No one in St Goarshausen would.