Pure and Untouched Page 7

  The Duke thought for a moment. Then he drew in his breath and began,

  “The Kings of France, like Kings everywhere, had their wives chosen for them for reasons of policy, so that the uniting of two Royal families might strengthen their throne or their country.” He paused.

  “But because he was also a man with ordinary desires, the King often chose a woman whom he found attractive to be his companion.”

  As the Duke spoke, he watched Anoushka’s face and knew by the expression in her eyes that she was trying to understand exactly what he was saying.

  “Did the King love the woman who was his mistress?” she asked.

  “Usually,” the Duke replied, “and Louis XV not only loved Madame Pompadour but was faithful to her, which was unusual.”

  “You mean that some Kings have had more than one mistress?”

  “I see that you will have to read about Charles II of England,” the Duke said, “who had many mistresses, all of them very beautiful, one of the most important being a French woman. I have a portrait of Louise de Keroualle in my house in the country which is one of the finest that was ever painted of her.”

  Anoushka did not speak for a few seconds. Then she asked:

  “If Kings have mistresses, do ordinary men have them too?”

  “Only when they can afford them.”

  “You mean – they are expensive? Why?”

  “A mistress expects to be rewarded for her services – ” “What do those services entail?” Anoushka interrupted.

  The Duke thought for a moment.

  He felt it might be a mistake to pursue this conversation so soon after they were married. At the same time it was inevitable sooner or later in the world in which Anoushka would live with him. “A mistress reciprocates her protector’s attention as best she can,” he said, “and you will learn, Anoushka, that she expects to be paid either with money or jewellery for her kisses and any further show of affection a man requires of her.”

  Anoushka thought this over in silence until she said,

  “It seems – very strange. I always thought that love would be given and was not something for which one would expect – payment of any sort.”

  The Duke appreciated the quickness of her mind, but he said,

  “I suggest we leave this subject. It is certainly not one we should be discussing on our wedding day.” Anoushka looked at him.

  “I think because you say that, it means that you have had mistresses you would not wish me to know about.”

  “If I have, it is not something I should be discussing with my wife,” the Duke retorted.

  He spoke sharply and then realised that it was a mistake.

  “I am – sorry if that was – wrong of me,” Anoushka said humbly, “but you – did say we were to be frank with – each other.”

  The Duke felt as if he had walked into a maze and for the moment lost his way.

  “I meant what I said,” he replied. “It is just that today of all days, I want you to learn about things that are beautiful, like my pictures and a great many other objects in this house.”

  “I understand, but everything you tell me is of interest to me.”

  The Duke knew that this was true and a little later when he thought his explanations to Anoushka’s questions had been very skilful, he said:

  “Tomorrow I intend to take you to meet Monsieur Worth and ask him to design some extra special gowns for you that will express your personality and your individuality. Only he can do that, which is the reason why he is hailed as such a genius.”

  He thought that Anoushka looked pleased and he went on,

  “Tonight when you go upstairs to dress for dinner you will find several gowns waiting for you that I have ordered which will do until Worth’s creations are ready, and I hope that the bonnets and the other accessories that go with them will please you.”

  “I hope somebody will show me how to put them on.”

  “An experienced lady’s maid will do that,” the Duke replied, “and as a coiffeur, the most famous in Paris, is coming to style your hair, I think you will soon begin to feel you are a very different person from the one you have been in the past.”

  “A coiffeur?” Anoushka questioned. “That means a hairdresser.”

  The Duke smiled.

  “Another man!” he said. “Henri is the most famous coiffeur in Paris. It is not only difficult to obtain his services, but he charges an astronomical sum to attend you.”

  “I can see it is very expensive to be a lady of fashion,” Anoushka commented. “I am only hoping that you will think I am worth it.”

  Because her eyes were so expressive, the Duke knew he could read her thoughts – she was thinking that in accepting so much from him it was almost as if she was his mistress.

  He wondered what she would say if he explained exactly what was expected of a mistress and also of a wife.

  Then he remembered his promise to his sister and thought that, as they had three months of chastity imposed on them, it would be a mistake to talk too soon of eventualities that might make his promise hard to keep. *

  The door of the salon opened and Anoushka came in.

  She was wearing another exquisitely beautiful gown which became her even though it did not have the special unique touch that only Worth could impart.

  It was made of very pale pink tulle with a bustle billowing out behind it and with tulle framing her shoulders, which the Duke realised for the first time were pearly white.

  She looked so lovely as she advanced towards him that he felt as if he should applaud.

  Henri had certainly created a masterpiece with her hair. It was coiled round her head in the way that the Princess of Wales had made fashionable in England and it accentuated the Grecian look that the Duke had noticed the first time he had seen her.

  At the same time, he thought that, while she had none of Cleodel’s pink-and-white, little girl prettiness, she indeed looked young, pure and untouched in a way that was more spiritual than physical.

  She came towards him and as she reached him she laughed,

  “You are right, Monseigneur, I feel very unlike myself. In fact, when I looked in the mirror, I saw a stranger staring at me. But there is one thing that worries me.”

  Her laughter died away and now she looked at him a little nervously.

  “What is it?” the Duke asked.

  “Is it really correct and not immodest to – wear so little on my – chest and arms?”

  The Duke noted she did not blush, because he was a man looking at her, but her eyes were as uncertain as was her voice.

  “You will find”, he replied, “that you would look very strange indeed if your evening gowns were not exactly like the one you are wearing now with perhaps an even lower décolletage.”

  “What is the idea?” Anoushka asked. “It is colder at night than it is in the day and it seems more sensible to be covered up, especially in the winter.”

  “But not so attractive,” the Duke said. “When you see a ballroom filled with women dressed as you are now, they look like beautiful swans gliding around the room and the men who partner them appreciate the whiteness of their skin.”

  He did not wait for Anoushka’s reply but went on, “As I appreciate yours. I have a present for you.” He picked up a green leather box from the table beside him and held it out to her.

  “This is – for me?” she asked.

  “A wedding present,” the Duke replied. “And because we have been married in such haste we have, I am glad to say, no letters of thanks to write, no rose bowls, entrée dishes or candelabra we do not want.”

  “Is that what people generally send when one is married?”

  “Dozens of them,” the Duke answered, thinking of the presents laid out in the ballroom at Ravenstock House.

  “Do the bridegroom and the bride give each other presents?” Anoushka enquired. “I have nothing for you.”

  “You can buy me a present later if you wish to do so,” the Duke
replied. “But – I have no money.”

  “My sister did not explain to you that you are in fact a very rich woman?”

  “Is – that – true? Then – Pap – ”

  The Duke realised that she had been about to say the word ‘Papa’ and then stopped herself.

  “I would like you to finish that sentence, Anoushka.”

  She shook her head and he said,

  “I think you were going to speak of your father.” Anoushka was looking down at the green box he had put into her hands.

  She then opened the lid to see arranged on black velvet a diamond necklace, bracelet, earrings and a ring.

  They flashed and glittered as she stared at them and the Duke realised that she had no intention of answering his question.

  “I hope these will give you pleasure,” he said. “They will belong to you personally, although there are also a great number of very fine jewels which are heirlooms worn by every Duchess of Ravenstock.”

  “They are – very beautiful,” Anoushka said, “and I never thought I should own anything like this, although I have seen such jewels in pictures and drawings.

  “These are yours, and I will show you how to put them on.”

  He took the necklace from the box and put it around her neck, fastening it skilfully at the back.

  He found himself thinking how many necklaces he had given in the past to women who had always been eager for jewels, but this was certainly the first time he had ever given them to a woman who had never owned any before. Having fastened the necklace, he took the earrings and fixed them to the small lobes of her ears.

  He had ordered them to be made specially for ears that had not been pierced and he thought that as hers were so small she might find the earring heavy and difficult to keep on.

  Only as he fixed the second one did he realise that Anoushka could see her reflection in the mirror over the mantelpiece and was watching what he was doing.

  Then she gave one of her spontaneous little laughs,

  “I would feel like a Queen if I had a crown!”

  “Are you in an obscure way asking for a tiara?” the Duke enquired.

  She looked at him to see if he was serious before she answered,

  “I would never ask for anything when you have been so generous to me already and I know what a tiara is. Will I have to wear one now I am your wife and we go to parties?”

  “Invariably,” the Duke replied. “In London every woman wears a tiara at the big balls and receptions and especially when they dine at Marlborough House with the Prince and Princess of Wales.”

  For a moment he thought Anoushka looked nervous. Then she said as if she was consoling or comforting herself,

  “I suppose really it is only a jewelled bonnet.”

  The Duke laughed.

  “A very good description, but there is no need to be nervous. I will tell you what you must wear and when you should wear it.”

  “That is what I would like you to do,” Anoushka said, “but as you have already chosen my new gowns, I wonder how you know so much about how a woman should look when I am sure most women have no idea what a man should wear?”

  She spoke as if she was thinking out loud. Then she added quickly,

  “Do not answer that question. I am sure I am talking nonsense. It only seems strange to me, since, having always been with women who know nothing about men, it never struck me that men would know about us.”

  “Not about nuns,” the Duke agreed, “but about ordinary women with whom I and most men like to spend a great deal of time.”

  “Why?” Anoushka enquired.

  “Because I find women extremely attractive, I like to look at them, admire them and – ”

  The Duke hesitated. Then he took the plunge, “ – sometimes to make love to them.”

  “Even when you are not married?”

  The Duke nodded.

  “Then the ladies to whom you make love are your mistresses?” Anoushka enquired.

  “Not always,” the Duke replied. “As I said this afternoon, it’s too soon to explain a somewhat complicated subject in detail.”

  He was thinking as he spoke that it would be very difficult for him to put into words the difference between a mistress who was a courtesan or what the Bible termed a ‘harlot’ and a lady with whom one had an affaire de coeur.

  He was, however, saved from answering any more of Anoushka’s questions because, as he clasped the diamond bracelet round her wrist and put the ring that matched the whole suite on her finger, the butler entered the room to announce dinner. After an excellent meal in the candlelit dining room and the table decorated with white flowers, the Duke did not linger over his port but went with Anoushka to the salon.

  “As the night is so young,” he said, “I thought you might like to visit one of the places of amusement in Paris. There are quite a number of them of which I suppose you are not aware and tomorrow we might go to the theatre.”

  Anoushka’s eyes widened.

  “Can we really do that?”

  “There is nothing to stop us unless you do not want to see a play or listen to an opera.”

  “But I would like to do both!”

  “Then you will certainly have your wish. Tonight I will take you to a restaurant where there is also dancing and we will have supper there.”

  “You realise I cannot dance?” Anoushka said in a low voice.

  “You shall have lessons as soon as I can arrange it,” he replied. “In the meantime I will teach you a few steps myself.”

  “That would indeed be very exciting, but I wonder what the Mother Superior would say.”

  “You are not at the Convent now, Anoushka, and the only person to whom you are responsible for your behaviour is your husband.”

  “I feel rather embarrassed at being so ignorant of all the things you do and also the subjects you talk about.” “There is no reason to feel like that,” the Duke replied. “I have promised to teach you, and let me say I find it an intriguing task, especially as you react to most of the new things you encounter in a different way from what I expected.”

  “What did you expect?” Anoushka asked him.

  The Duke considered for a moment.

  “A frightened young woman who would be prudish and disapproving of most of the things I have suggested.”

  Anoushka smiled.

  “I do not wish to disapprove of anything,” she said. “It is only that everything is so strange, but at the same time so funny.”

  “What is funny now?” the Duke enquired.

  “I was thinking how funny the servants look dressed up in that elaborate livery and the food on silver plates which must be very valuable. It is funny too that you have so many houses belonging to you when you are a man alone without a wife to entertain for you and with no children.”

  “That is something that can be remedied in the future,” the Duke parried in a quiet voice.

  “You mean that we can have children?” Anoushka enquired.

  “I sincerely hope so.”

  “I would like that, but how can we do it? They always talked at the Convent about our being the ‘children of God’, but they never explained how, as we had ordinary parents, we came into the world.”

  “As this is a subject we have to find time to talk about, shall we postpone it for the moment?” the Duke asked. “The carriage is waiting now to take us to see the bright lights of Paris.”

  Anoushka smiled and he saw the excitement in her eyes.

  A servant produced a fur-trimmed wrap which matched her gown and the Duke allowed his red-lined cape to be placed over his shoulders, and took his tall hat, gloves and ivory-headed cane from one of the footmen.

  As the Duke joined Anoushka in the carriage, she asked,

  “Why are you carrying a stick? We are not walking.” “It is the correct to carry one in the evening,” he replied.

  “Like a lady carrying a fan?”

  “Exactly!”

  “I think it is a fu
nny thing to do.”

  “I have never thought about it,” the Duke admitted, “but I suppose it is in a way, just as it is unnecessary really to carry gloves that are seldom put on.”

  “I am putting mine on. Is that correct?”

  “Of course,” he answered, “a lady should always wear gloves when she is not at home.”

  “Always?”

  “It would be thought strange if her hands were bare.”

  “But we can have a bare chest?”

  “It may seem somewhat incongruous, but I do not set the fashions, which have evolved ever since Eve was particular about what shaped fig-leaf she should wear!”

  Anoushka’s laughter rang out.

  “Do you really think there was fashion in the Garden of Eden? Whenever our Priests told us the story of how Adam and Eve were expelled after they had realised they were naked, they always seemed to hurry over how they clothed themselves when they were outside in the wilderness.”

  “I am sure they found it embarrassing to talk to young girls about nakedness,” the Duke suggested.

  “It cannot really be wrong if we are all born naked,” Anoushka argued. “I have not said it is wrong,” the Duke replied, “but it would be cold if you went about without clothes and surely you would be disillusioned when you realised that someone whom you admired very much in a gown such as you are wearing now had very ugly legs or a thick waist.”

  Anoushka laughed again.

  “We were never allowed to talk about our legs at the Convent and some of the girls had very fat ones. I am glad mine are thin.”

  The Duke wondered if he dare say that he was looking forward to seeing them and decided that was too intimate.

  He realised that Anoushka was talking to him quite naturally as she might have talked to another girl and he thought that, when he had asked for a wife who was pure and untouched, he might also have added the word ‘unawakened’.

  That was what Anoushka was, he thought, completely unawakened to the fact that a man could be an attractive being and that her feeling for one could be anything different from what she felt towards a Priest who was the only type of man she had seen up to now.