72. The Impetuous Duchess Read online

  “Therefore I suspect,” the Duc went on, “there will be sentries on guard along the coastline. That may be one of the reasons for sending more troops to Le Havre, Calais and Boulogne.”

  He paused and added,

  “Of course Bonaparte may be preparing to put into operation immediately his ambition of invading England.”

  “He will never be able to do that!” the Duke retorted.

  “That is what we think,” the Duc agreed, “but at the same time he may attempt it.”

  “Whether he does or not,” the Vicomte interposed, “there will be a number of troops guarding the coast. So be very careful how you approach the creeks or bays where the smugglers will be bringing in their boats.”

  “I will!” the Duke said, “and thank you, Armand. One day I may be able to repay you.”

  “One day,” the Vicomte said, “I shall be happy when you and Lady Jabina will be able to spend more time in Paris.”

  “I was so looking forward to visiting the dance garden again,” Jabina sighed in a wistful voice, “and I have never seen the Louvre.”

  He lifted her hand to his lips and then, as the Duke turned aside to say ‘goodbye’ to the Duc de St. Croix, the Vicomte said in a low voice that only she could hear,

  “This is your chance to help Drue – you realise that?”

  “You know that I will try to make him happy,” Jabina answered, and once again the Vicomte kissed her hand.

  There was no time to say more.

  They were taken to the front of the house to climb alone up the dirty broken basement steps to the pavement.

  They walked quickly and spoke little.

  “From now on we must converse with each other only in French,” the Duke said in a low voice. “Not only will it be dangerous to speak English, but it might also improve my accent!”

  “Try to make your voice sound a little common,” Jabina advised.

  Then she taught him some of the idioms that a servant in his position would be most likely to use.

  *

  The General was younger than Jabina had expected, until she remembered that Napoleon Bonaparte regularly promoted young men to high rank in the Army.

  He had a long nose and eyes that seemed uncomfortably penetrating.

  “In what Regiment were you? Where were you wounded?” he asked the Duke, firing question after question at him in quick succession.

  Fortunately the Duke had already been given every detail of his supposed Army career.

  He answered servilely, clipping his words and slurring some of his vowels, which made his French sound less anglicised and far more convincing.

  “You come from Normandy I see,” the General remarked looking at his papers. “Is your family still there?”

  “Oui, mon General,” the Duke replied. “That’s one of the reasons why my wife and I would like to come with you and Madame to Le Havre.”

  “I shall expect you to work hard,” the General said sharply. “Are you fit enough to take employment?”

  “The doctors say so, mon General.”

  The General turned his attention to Jabina.

  “You have been in service before, Maria?” he asked.

  Jabina, who had also been given a reference, explained that she had been a lady’s maid for two years to a lady of fashion, who had unfortunately left Paris for her country estate.

  “There was no place for my husband in her household, monsieur, so I stayed behind and we hope to find employment where we can be together.”

  “Yes, yes. I understand,” the General said. “Well, Madame Delmas will instruct you in your duties and, if you stay here tonight, you can help our servants with the packing and find out from them the way we both like things done.”

  “We are engaged, mon General?” the Duke enquired.

  “You are engaged,” the General said briefly, “but, if you are not satisfactory, I shall dismiss you both when we reach Le Havre.”

  “I hope we shall prove satisfactory,” the Duke said humbly.

  There was so much to do that Jabina, who had wondered what sleeping arrangements would be made for them, found that she was expected to snatch no more than an hour’s sleep on a sofa before she was awakened to finish the packing and help Madame Delmas to dress for the journey.

  The General’s wife was not a particularly attractive woman, a few years older than her husband.

  Jabina soon discovered that she gave herself airs because she was better bred than the General and had made, according to her family, quite a mésalliance by marrying a man whose career lay only in the Army.

  “She has the money!” her employer’s lady’s maid hissed in Jabina’s ear.

  Jabina felt that this must have been the reason for the General’s choice.

  Despite his sharpness and the way he ordered everyone about as if they were troops under his command, Jabina felt that of the two he was the nicer.

  But she was not particularly concerned with the characters or personalities of her employers.

  All she wished to do was to get out of Paris, feeling quite certain that Napoleon’s soldiers would be searching for them having not found them as had been expected in their apartment.

  The coach drawn by four horses moved off slowly and soon joined the other coaches, chaises and cabriolets that drove with amazing rapidity over the irregular paving stones of Paris.

  From inside the carriage yesterday, Jabina had not noticed what a deafening noise the traffic made splashing through the gutters that ran down the middle of the streets.

  She had also not been aware that the lack of foot pavements such as there were in London, made it very dangerous for those who had to walk.

  She thought that the poor pedestrians hurrying to work, shopping or going inoffensively about their business, were driven about by the coaches and cabriolets like a flock of frightened sheep.

  She saw in the short space between the General’s house and the gates of Paris quite a number of accidents and the dirt and water from the roads being splattered over clean skirts and gentlemen’s stockings until she felt thankful that she was being driven behind the horses.

  Once through the gates of Paris, they began to move at a speed that Jabina thought must equal the diligences.

  The coachman confirmed this idea when he told the Duke that the General wished to reach Verdon before nightfall, which was eighty-one miles away.

  “Can we really manage that?” the Duke enquired.

  “Certainly,” the coachman replied. “We shall change horses every twelve to fifteen miles and soldiers have already been sent ahead to reserve the best animals for the General.”

  It was, however difficult, to have much conversation.

  Jabina was concerned with keeping her seat and not falling from the box of the coach when they sped round a corner or were drawn unexpectedly to a halt by being held up or meeting another vehicle.

  As if the Duke realised her predicament, he put his arm round her waist and drew her closer to him.

  “I should have let you sit on the inside,” he said quietly. “You would be safer that way, but I thought that you would dislike being squeezed between the coachman and myself.”

  She knew that he had been thinking of her and knowing that she would be disgusted by the close proximity of a coachman who smelt of garlic and sweat, but who was, however, quite proficient with the reins.

  “I will be all right,” Jabina answered.

  She was very conscious of the strength of the Duke’s arm and the fact that he was so close to her that neither of them could move without the other being aware of it.

  Nevertheless the Duke insisted on their changing places when they reached the first Posting inn.

  Here Madame Delmas, while she did not alight, demanded coffee and the General a glass of wine.

  The Duke had to scramble agilely down from the coach to fetch it for them from the inn. Then almost before he had time to hand back the china and the glass they had used, the coachman was wh
ipping up the fresh horses.

  “Here – not so fast, friend!” the Duke pleaded. “Remember I have had a bullet in my leg and it slows me up.”

  “Sorry, comrade,” the coachman replied, “but the General’s in a hurry to get to grips with the English. If I don’t get the speed out of these mule-like creatures, like as not he’ll blow my head off!”

  “A harsh man, is he?” the Duke enquired.

  “Those as serve under him says he can be the very devil if he chooses.”

  Jabina felt herself shiver apprehensively.

  The Duke, thinking that she was cold, drew her cloak more closely round her.

  “I must try to find you a rug,” he said in a considerate voice that made her feel that he cared a little for her well-being.

  “I am not cold,” she answered.

  “We can at least be thankful it’s not raining,” the Duke smiled.

  The day seemed endless.

  They stopped at noon for a quick meal. The Duke and Jabina were expected to eat in the kitchen of the inn, which Jabina at any rate found amusing.

  There were strings of onions hanging on the wall, brass pots and pans, ham smoking up in the rafters.

  It was all quite picturesque, but it certainly did not compensate for the dirt on the floor and the slovenly manner in which the cooking was done.

  Strangely enough what they ate tasted good, but there was no doubt that an English cook would have been horrified at the dirt and debris.

  Whenever they stopped at Posting inns in the country villages, there was always a number of beggars to ask for alms from the General and his wife and also soldiers who had lost legs or arms and who appeared to be almost in rags.

  “Is nothing done for them once they have been discharged from the Army?” Jabina asked the Duke.

  “Does any country worry about the men who fight for it once they are no longer of any use?” the Duke replied almost savagely.

  Jabina was so tired by the time the afternoon came that her head began to nod and the Duke pulled her a little closer to him and she slept against his shoulder.

  She had had little sleep the night before and the unusual exertion of bending over trunks, running up and down many flights of stairs and being at the beck and call of Madame Delmas’s querulous voice made her feel more tired than she had ever been before.

  When her eyes closed, she was conscious that they were still moving.

  She could hear the crack of the whip, the sound of the wheels moving over rough roads, but it sometimes seemed far away and was mixed with her dreams.

  It was with a start that she heard the Duke say,

  “We are there,” and awakened to find that they were driving into the yard of a large quite impressive-looking inn.

  “Are we at Verdon?” she enquired.

  “Eighty-one miles in just over seven hours!” the coachman crowed with satisfaction.

  At any time when she was travelling, Jabina would have welcomed the idea of a rest from the movement of the coach and something to eat.

  Now she had her duties to perform first.

  Madame Delmas was escorted up to the best bedchamber in the inn.

  She required particular trunks from the coach, all of which seemed to be at the bottom of the pile stacked on the roof.

  There was also hot water to be fetched, her gown to be changed and her hair to be arranged and all the time Jabina was attending to her, she complained that they were travelling too fast and that it was insensitive of the General to expect it of her.

  “Who wants,” she asked, not once but a dozen times, “to be isolated in a place like Le Havre when I might be in Paris?”

  As she was obviously expected to answer, Jabina said tentatively,

  “I am sure, madame, that the General’s appointment is of the utmost importance.”

  “Of course it is!” Madame Delmas snapped. “But I am not a soldier and too much, I tell you, is expected of a soldier’s wife!”

  She paused to ask,

  “I suppose your husband can look after the General properly? We cannot be bothered by having sick people on our hands.”

  “No indeed, madame,” Jabina replied. “My husband will be quite capable of fulfilling his duties.”

  “So I should hope!” Madame Delmas snorted.

  Finally, when she was ready to descend to the private parlour for supper, she gave Jabina a long list of items she required for the night.

  They included a change of pillows, more blankets and a bed warmer to be placed between the sheets for it least an hour before she retired.

  To be sure that she would not forget what had been ordered, Jabina went in search of the innkeeper or his wife. She thought that she had seen very little of them since their arrival and realised the reason was that the Posting inn was packed with soldiers.

  She could hear them talking and laughing in the tavern, which was the public part of the inn and she could also hear female voices mingling with theirs.

  She found the innkeeper’s wife in the kitchen busy cooking the supper.

  “More blankets? Fresh pillows?” the woman exclaimed. “We have none! The inn is full, every room is occupied. You will have to take them off your own bed or she can go without.”

  Jabina saw no reason why she should be cold to suit Madame Delmas.

  She therefore found the Duke and suggested that he bring in one of the thick fur-lined carriage rugs.

  He brought one from the coach and carried it upstairs to Madame Delmas’s room.

  “Have you had anything to eat?” he asked Jabina after he had put the rug on the bed.

  “I have not had a moment to breathe!” Jabina answered. “But since you mention it, I am very hungry!”

  “Come along,” he said. “Before you do anything else, you must be fed.”

  “Was the General difficult?” Jabina enquired.

  “A trifle impatient,” the Duke said with a smile. “I shall always have the greatest respect in future for my valet’s quickness. I never knew how difficult it was to remove Army boots. Especially for a man who is inclined to kick you while you do it!”

  Jabina found herself laughing helplessly.

  Then they went downstairs and literally helped themselves to food in the kitchen while the innkeeper’s wife grumbled at them and the innkeeper, who was hurrying in and out with trays and bottles, pushed them out of the way.

  Finally they took their plates and, sitting on an oak settle in the passage, ate more or less in comfort.

  “This really is an adventure!” Jabina murmured.

  “I am glad you look at it like that,” the Duke answered. “I have been thanking our lucky stars for Armand ever since we left Paris.”

  Jabina gave a little shudder.

  “I too,” she said in a low voice, “have thought how frightening it would be to be shut up in a French prison, especially if they would not let me be with you.”

  “It might have been possible if I convinced them that you were my wife, but it would have required a lot of explaining why I introduced you to Paris as my sister.”

  “My Nanny always used to say ‘one lie leads to another’.”

  “I am sure that is true,” the Duke agreed, “at the same time I am praying that our disguise, if you count it as a lie, will be successful.”

  “How much longer do we have to stay with them?” Jabina asked.

  “Until we reach Quillebeuf where I understand we are staying tomorrow night,” the Duke replied. “It is about thirty-five miles from Le Havre and it lies near the sea. What we will have to decide is when to make for the coast – before we reach Le Havre, where there is a very strong garrison of soldiers, or try our luck at Quillebeuf when our employers are asleep.”

  “I think it would be wise to wait and see what it looks like,” Jabina replied.

  The Duke smiled.

  “Strangely enough that is what I have decided myself.”

  The landlord passed them and Jabina called out,

&nb
sp; “Monsieur, have the General and Madame finished their dinner?”

  “They have,” he replied, “and Madame is talking of retiring to bed.”

  “Then I must go and see her,” Jabina said quickly.

  “I will wait for you on the stairs,” the Duke said. “I have carried up your luggage. We are sleeping in the attic.”

  “I might have guessed that!” Jabina grinned and then she hurried away to attend to Madame Delmas. It took her some time. In fact it was nearly two lours later when Madame finally got into bed and, while complaining about having to sleep under the carriage rug, accepted that there was no alternative.

  Jabina had to pin up Madame’s hair in neat curls after brushing it for over one hundred strokes.

  She required to have her feet massaged with a special lotion, her hands with another and her back with yet a third.

  There seemed to be no end to the different beauty preparations with which Madame Delmas attempted to enhance her looks.

  The result, Jabina could not help thinking, was not very satisfactory.

  After she had made up the fire, tidied away Madame’s clothes and seen that the window was securely shut, she was permitted to blow out the candles and leave her employer in the darkness.

  She was not surprised to find that the Duke was no longer on the stairs and thought that he might be waiting where they had eaten their dinner.

  She went down to the ground floor and now she heard music very like the gay compelling sounds she had danced to last night coming from the tavern.

  They were dancing!

  Jabina felt that her feet itched to dance too.

  She was no longer tired.

  She felt some of the excitement that had been hers the night before flow over her as she listened to the exhilarating sounds. It meant, she felt, that soldiers were twirling round in a waltz such as she had danced in the Duke’s arms.

  Impulsively and without thinking that it might be an unwise thing to do, she put out her hand to open the door that led into the tavern.

  Even as she did so she heard the Duke’s voice say,

  “Jabina!”

  She turned to see him coming down the corridor.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “They are dancing,” she said her eyes shining. “Oh, Drue, let’s join them!”