Brilliance (23 page)

‘Not for me,’ he replied stubbornly. Then as she began moving away from him, he called after her in exaperation, flapping his hands at his sides, ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going now?’

‘To fetch my bicycle.’

‘Damnation to your bicycle! I’ve a cab waiting.’

She came to a halt again and faced him squarely amid the flow of people around them. ‘Unless you stop being so angry I’m not going anywhere with you!’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘My apologies.’ Then a grin touched his well-shaped mouth and he held out a hand to her in supplication. ‘I was so relieved to find you at last that I couldn’t help cursing all the wasted hours of hunting for you in vain.’

She ignored his hand, thinking to herself that he had behaved like a frantic parent slapping a missing child in relief that it had returned safely. But there was no returning for her.

‘Very well,’ she said coolly. ‘Where is the cab?’

‘In the street.’

She fell into step beside him out through the factory gates while he asked her how she was, adding that he had been astounded to discover that she was working for the Lumières. The cab was waiting nearby and she stepped into it. He sat down opposite her.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked, resting back against the leather upholstery and clasping her purse with both hands on her lap.

‘My hotel. There’s a quiet salon where we can talk and later we’ll have dinner there. The chef is excellent and I’ve heard that Lyon is becoming quite a magnet for gourmets.’

‘I can’t stay. I’m dining with someone else.’

‘Who is this person?’

She refrained from saying it was no business of his. ‘A lawyer friend. His name is Michel Ferrand.’

‘You could send a message from the hotel to say that you’re not able to come after all.’

‘No, I will not,’ she said crisply, although inwardly aware of being glad to see him fit and well and full of spirit. ‘How long are you going to be in Lyon?’

‘I go back to Paris tomorrow. I’m attending the viewing of the Lumière Cinematograph, which is being presented to the Society for the Promotion of National Industry. Otherwise I’m living in England again these days. I came to Lyon for discussions with the Lumières about my own project. I was lucky enough to be given a tour of their splendid laboratory here on the factory site where they carry out all their camera work and experiments.’

‘How do you know the Lumières?’

‘I first met Monsieur Lumière at the Edison demonstration some time ago and we have been in contact ever since. I was invited to Louis Lumière’s house yesterday evening for a demonstration of some of his animated pictures and also some of mine. That’s when I saw you on the screen riding past on your bicycle.’

‘So that’s how you found me today.’

‘I need hardly tell you how astonished I was to see you. I hope you won’t be disappointed, but that piece is to be cut out of what the Lumières will be showing in Paris this time. It comes too quickly to set the factory scene.’

‘I don’t mind in the least,’ she said truthfully. ‘I’m not looking for fame.’

‘What are you looking for, Lisette?’

She escaped answering, for they had arrived at the hotel.

There was no one else in the salon and he helped her off with her coat before divesting himself of his outdoor wear. They sat in comfortable chairs near the fireplace and he ordered wine. In her own mind she was glad it was not champagne, which might have signified a celebration of their meeting again. She supposed that he had sensed the defence she had put up against him.

‘Tell me about your camera,’ she asked. ‘From what you have said already I gather that you have succeeded exactly as you have wished?’

‘Oh, yes. It takes pictures as well as projecting them, and has been patented. But Louis Lumière was far ahead of me and everybody else in eliminating flickering. It took time for me to realize that the solution lay in the number of sprockets on the reel as well as some other minor adjustments that I have recently put right. I remember so well the frustration of early days when using reels of sensitized paper, which ripped so easily. Now I am like the Lumières in taking advantage of the recently invented celluloid strips, which are much stronger and have proved very successful.’

‘That’s splendid news.’ She had clasped her hands together in her pleasure at his success. ‘I congratulate you. But do you mind very much that the Lumières passed the winning post first with their special camera?’

‘I don’t begrudge them their success in any way, but –’ he added with a wry smile ‘– I have to be honest and admit that I would have liked to have been the first. They are even ahead in planning the first public showing of animated pictures, which neither I nor anybody else seems ready to do yet. All along it has been touch and go to beat Edison and every other inventor competing in the field, but in a way we were all preceded some while ago by the English photographer William Friese-Greene.’

‘You worked for him once. I remember you telling me.’

‘That’s right. It’s quite a while since he patented a working, animated picture camera. He gave a few demonstrations to scientific and photographic associations, but he was unable to inspire any particular interest. I called on him a few weeks ago. Money troubles plague him, but he is forever optimistic as he continues his lonely path. Ever since his wife gave him a prism, he has set his heart on capturing colour in his animated pictures almost to the exclusion of all else.’

‘What an ambitious project! Will he ever succeed, do you think?’

‘I’m sure he will. In any case, it’s bound to come eventually.’

‘And you? What path are you following?’

His face lit up with enthusiasm. ‘You remember those slide sequences on my lantern that told a story? Well, I want to do that with animated pictures. I’ve given demonstrations to interest possible investors and had a better response than poor Friese-Green. I’ve also sold some London property in the heart of the city that I inherited a while ago, which has enabled me to get together all the cinematic apparatus and props that I’m going to need.’

‘Where will you set up this new business? Is it to be in England?’

‘Yes, on the south coast. Not far from a seaside resort in Sussex. The climate is mild there and is said to have more hours of sunshine than anywhere else in England. A good light is most important. At present I use my camera to take traffic scenes, local events and so forth, but I’m looking beyond that to the future. I’ve had long discussions with both the Lumière brothers and they believe as I do that animated pictures are going to capture the world.’

‘I agree with you.’ She smiled as she raised her glass. ‘To motion pictures and those who make them!’

He acknowledged her toast and the atmosphere between them became more relaxed. ‘There is so much I want to ask you, Lisette,’ he said, resting an arm across his knee as he leaned towards her. ‘Did all go well with you after you left me? I searched non-stop for you over several weeks and never ceased looking and asking for you wherever I went. It was as if you had vanished off the face of the earth.’

She glanced down for a moment, wondering what he would say if she told him that his child had taken life within her before she had left him that day. ‘I found work,’ she said, looking up again to meet his eyes with a bright expression that hid her thoughts. ‘Then eventually I came back to Lyon and took employment at the factory to see me through until I come into my inheritance. Even then I may continue working for the Lumières, because I could never idle my days away.’

‘But now that we’ve met again perhaps you’ll consider doing something else.’

Instantly she was wary. ‘What would that be?’

‘Come to England and help me follow my aim. I’d like to make my first feature picture with you in it. We could work together as we did with the lantern show.’

She regarded him with amusement, tilting her head slightly. ‘That’s a last minute suggestion if ever I heard one! You did not know where I was until yesterday, so you cannot have given it any previous thought!’

‘That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve never stopped thinking about you and wanting you back in my life. Naturally I didn’t know I was going to find you in Lyon. But you’ll consider my suggestion?’

‘No, of course not! I’ve told you my plans.’

‘Does this Michel Ferrand feature in them?’

She had no intention of explaining anything to him. ‘Maybe. Time will tell.’

He sat back in exasperation. ‘How can you say that after this reunion?’

She sighed. ‘It’s very good to see you again and I truly enjoyed the time we worked and travelled together, but we have our own lives now – yours in England and mine in France. When I come of age my grandmother’s Bellecour house will be my home. I have struck roots again in Lyon after a long absence and have no wish to live anywhere else.’ She glanced at the clock on the mantel. ‘Now it’s time for me to go.’

‘Running away again?’ he questioned dryly as they rose to their feet together.

‘Not at all. You know where to find me now. We can always meet if you should come back to Lyon at any time.’

He glanced at his watch. ‘You’re dining early, aren’t you?’

‘I’ve another appointment afterwards.’

‘What’s that?’

She sighed impatiently. ‘If you must know, I belong to an amateur dramatic society and there is a rehearsal.’

‘Good. I’ll come along and watch. Where is it?’

She told him and he wrote the address down. In the next moment, taking her completely by surprise, he took her by the arms and pulled her close to him. For a few revealing seconds they looked searchingly into each other’s eyes, seeing what had long lain dormant between them. Then she was locked in his arms, arching at the waist as he brought his mouth down on hers in a deep kiss from which there was no escape. Neither did she want there to be. Suddenly she was alive and afire, recapturing moments that she had long ago driven to the back of her mind. They swayed together as they kissed, her arms looped tightly about his neck. It was as if they were trying to assuage with kissing the flare of passion that each felt for the other in that heated, extraordinary matrix in time.

She was breathless when their kiss ended, but he continued to hold her, looking down into her face. ‘There’s far more between us than you’re prepared to admit. That day by the cornfield was only the beginning. Say you will come to England with me!’

But her common sense was returning, already sweeping away what had taken place. ‘No, Daniel,’ she said, easing herself free of his embrace. ‘As I told you, my future is mapped out.’

‘I don’t think it is. We’ll meet again, Lisette. In the meantime, if nothing else, look upon my offer as a business venture that will bring you a new career. Do you really want to bury yourself in a house in Lyon until the end of your days?’

‘It is a haven to me, not just a house.’

‘Then it always can be. With the ease of travel with channel boats and trains these days you’d be able to visit it whenever you liked.’

‘No, I’ll not be persuaded.’

He ignored her statement. ‘I don’t expect to go into production with my cinematograph project for several months yet. So you’ll have plenty of time to think about my offer. In any case I’ll be back in Paris in December when the Lumière Cinematograph is to be revealed to the general public for the first time. I wouldn’t miss that event for anything. It will give me a chance to gauge how successful my own line is going to be.’

He had helped her on with her coat, but when he was about to put on his own to accompany her she stopped him. ‘Stay here now. I’m going by cab straight to the restaurant where I’m meeting Michel.’

Yet he still went with her through the revolving door and out to the hotel steps. As she left in a cab she resisted an impulse to look back.

Over dinner she mentioned to Michel that she had met again the lanternist for whom she had once worked, having told him some while ago how she had managed to leave the château without trace. She explained casually why Daniel had been visiting the Lumière brothers, but to her relief Michel showed no interest, having plans of his own to discuss with her. A friend of his had bought a villa in Italy and had invited them as well as several other of their friends to visit him in the spring.

‘Let’s go too, Lisette,’ he urged. ‘Tuscany is beautiful. We could visit Florence and see its wonderful treasures.’

She would have loved to go, but he would want to pay all expenses and that would involve her too deeply. Fortunately she had a legitimate excuse. ‘There is my work to consider. I could not ask for time off.’

He answered her softly. ‘Forget about work altogether. We could go on our own to Italy and make it a honeymoon.’

She wondered afterwards if that was the moment she might have accepted him if Daniel had not burst back into her life that afternoon.

Michel saw her to the door of the hall where her rehearsal was to take place. She entered to find Daniel already there and seated in a chair at the back of the hall. He gave her a wave as soon as she appeared, but did not come to speak to her. He watched the whole rehearsal in silence. Afterwards he took her home, but although he passed comments on the play he said nothing about her performance. But at the doorstep of the apartment building she could hold back no longer. Suddenly his opinion was all-important to her.

‘Was I any good on the stage?’

He grinned at her in the lamplight. ‘Yes, you were. Keep at it.’

She felt cheered by his praise. ‘Yes, I will.’

‘You’ll meet me in Paris at the Lumière show?’

‘I have made a special request to view it and that has been granted. I’m to have three days off from work to be there, but,’ she warned firmly, ‘I shall be accompanied by Michel.’

He shrugged. ‘We can still talk. But don’t go marrying him between now and then.’

‘What makes you think I’ve changed my mind about marriage?’

He answered bluntly and without hesitation. ‘You’ve lost the hard streak that bitterness had instilled in you when you were travelling with me. Something has happened to soften you. I’d like to think it was that afternoon we shared, but I believe there’s more to the change in you than you’re letting me know.’