The Forbidden Rose (20 page)

“He’s going to be one of the great ones, Helen. One of us. Either that, or I’ll kill him myself.”

“THE AGENT WILLIAM DOYLE GAVE ME THE SLIP in the market at Les Halles. With donkeys. He went through the stable yard of an inn and I lost sight of two donkeys among the pack animals. I am a donkey myself, Madame, and I am ashamed.” Justine hung her head.

Madame laughed at her. Oh, not with her mouth. She was too kind to do that. She laughed with her eyes. “He is very good.”

“I am very good as well. My heart is broken. I would have sworn there was no man I could not follow through my Paris. And now I am defeated by an Englishman.” There was worse. “The boy also disappeared sometime after they left Hôtel de Fleurignac. I was not exactly following him, you understand, but it is a mortification to add upon the other one that I am not entirely certain where he went or when. I have the brains of a pineapple.”

She was in the salon, which was the prettiest of several fine rooms in the brothel. All was effortlessly elegant here; the pale, cream-colored walls, the blue curtains with gold swags, the delicate mahogany furniture. No part existed by accident or failed to harmonize with the whole. Someday, she would create rooms like this.

Madame made her a cup of chocolate, made it with her own hands from hot milk Babette brought up from the kitchen. Madame had taken her own silk shawl from the arm of the sofa and pulled it over the dust and dirt of the servant dress so that Justine would not feel shabby in this beautiful room.

“When I admitted to myself that I had lost this offensive Monsieur Doyle of England—and that was not soon for I am very stubborn—and lost also two entire donkeys, I came home to confess.”

Madame did not interrupt her or hurry her.

She drank chocolate and delayed one more minute. She must admit straightforwardly what she had done. “I have deserted my post. You set me to watch the
hôtel
and report on any who came to Victor de Fleurignac. Instead, I followed the Englishman. I judged you would want me to.”

“Exactly well. You did exactly well. I can set any of a dozen girls to watch front doors and make reports. You are one who will know when to abandon your post to follow an order that has not been given.”

“I am abashed that I lost him in the confusion of the market. I will try to do better.”

Madame had set a white dish heaped with raisins upon the table. Now she nudged it forward. They were not so sweet, these raisins, but they were perfumed like dreams. They were made from the grapes of Burgundy. Burgundy had been home once.

She rescued me from hell. When I make this failure before her, she comforts me with a tiny gift from my old home.
Madame made nothing of her stupidity but only smiled and tipped more chocolate from the flowered pot into the cup.

“You shall take these raisins with you and share with your sister. She will enjoy them. Now. Consider this with me. We discover that the admirable William Doyle travels in the company of the daughter of Citoyen de Fleurignac.”

“They do not merely travel together. I saw her face when she looked upon him. They are lovers.”

“That is ingenious of him, is it not? He seduces the daughter so she will lead him to her father.”

“That would be very stupid of her.”

“Alas, yes. Even clever women commit stupidities in the name of love.”

“Love.” Justine shrugged. “We will sell love tonight to anyone who can pay.” She lived in a brothel. She could set an exact price on what happened between sweaty bodies in a bed.

A point of light slid on Madame’s silver ring as she turned it upon her finger. “As you say. Let us hope this woman is not so cynical. We will wish Monsieur Doyle every success in finding de Fleurignac. Perhaps he will become so vexed he strikes de Fleurignac fatally upon the skull and rids us all of a nuisance. Perhaps he will even discover the man who stands behind de Fleurignac.”

“And orders the deaths in England . . .”

“Which can only bring reprisals, if we do not put a stop to them.” Madame spoke to herself, knowing her words would go not one inch further. “We have a rabid dog upon the playing field. It is, I fear, a Frenchman of some importance.”

“The Secret Police have brought down important men.”

“True. But I would rather the British killed him. Like Rousseau, I am a great admirer of the natural order of things.” Madame had walked to the window to look out over Paris. “I have a task for you, Justine. Not an easy one.”

“I will not fail you this time. I—”

Madame waved her to silence. “You have not failed me yet. Listen, child. I have learned that Marguerite de Fleurignac is the Finch.”

“Finch? The de Fleurignac is Finch?” Now that it had been said, it made sense. If La Flèche was backed by one of the old nobility of Normandy, it explained many things. “And I did not discover this. Not in all the months I have been your eyes inside La Flèche.”

“You have discovered other things.”

“I never caught a glimpse of her. We are all a little jealous, here in Paris, because the Finch holds herself aloof. She meets only with the same few friends who were with her from the beginning.”

“And thus does not show her face to spies of the Secret Police. I hope you will someday be as shrewd.” The milk jug went to the tray beside the flowered bowl. Ashes, damp in that little bowl, said Madame had received messages recently, and burned them. “Here is your task. You will watch her as well as this William Doyle. When the time is right, you will approach and gain her confidence.”

“I would like to meet her.” She bit delicately at the edge of a raisin. “She smuggled several of the Dantonists out of Paris. In dung carts. I admired that.”

“I was much amused myself. You will come to her as the Owl and give her the passwords. Try to have many convincing stories under your tongue. She will be more discerning than your Gardener, Jean-Paul.
Peste.
What is that?”

From below came a sound of tearing cloth and a shriek of outrage. Two girls of the house shouted back and forth, quarreling over a scarf no one would admit to borrowing. Madame turned, ruefully, to the door. “I will go quiet matters downstairs. No, do not get up and leave. I am not such a taskmistress as that. You shall finish this excellent chocolate and then go to your room. You will not, my poor child, wash. You must continue to be the sweepings of the street for a while. But you shall sleep for four hours. I will send Babette to wake you. Go then to the Café des Marchands and become involved in polishing some doorstep in the neighborhood. Citoyen Doyle will doubtless return there. Follow him and see what an interesting life the Englishman leads.”

When Madame left, Justine did not sit to finish the chocolate but carried it up the stairs to the attic to give to Séverine. She brought the raisins in the little saucer as well.

Séverine was on the bed in their room, humming to her doll, Belle-Marie, telling it stories. They all sat together and held a small celebration on top of the blankets, passing the chocolate back and forth between them, and the raisins, making sure the doll had a portion. Séverine ate those, since Belle-Marie, for reasons of indigestion, could not finish them.

The window of her room looked out over the back of the whorehouse, where there were stables and a shed behind them. Already, men were coming and going with their horses. The business of the house had begun.

Séverine lay down, holding her Belle-Marie tight in her arms. Justine held Séverine.

She would sleep for a while, then begin her own work, when it was evening, and cooler. There would be wind moving through the streets soon. The country people called that hour between evening and night the hour between dog and wolf. She had chosen to be the wolf in life, not the tame dog.

MARGUERITE RODE WITH THE CARRIAGE WINDOWS rolled down, leaning forward on the seat, looking out at the streets.

The sun was hot as bronze overhead. The streets were crowded. The cafés of the Boulevard des Italiens were filled. At first glance, nothing had changed.

Restauranteurs pulled tables out onto the walkway, as always. Women in bright print dresses and wide hats drank wine or coffee. They gathered like flocks of birds under the trees, perched on rush-bottomed chairs, their skirts spread wide, fanning themselves and chatting, surrounded by their maids and their children and their dogs. Young men, the
flâneurs
of the boulevards, lounged their way from group to group. They leaned over the backs of the chairs, trading witticisms, flirting.

It was a species of courage, this laughter and the crumbs of biscuit shared with the strutting pigeons. A mile away, to the east of Paris, men died on the guillotine. Death and the most humorless brutality held the high ground. But not here. This boulevard was the front line against the barbarians who had destroyed her Paris. Wit and le bon mot and talk of the theater made a stand at these barricades. The ribbon on a bonnet, the lace of a starched cap, were the weapons.

Another jolt and the fiacre pulled to a stop in front of the Chinese Baths.

A boy from the baths ran to open the door of the carriage and let down the steps. He climbed like a squirrel to pass her payment to the driver. He followed her inside, carrying her basket, chattering about the heat. Oh yes, many fine citoyennes, many dashing young men, came today to relax in the waters. He had been busy since the morning, carrying lemonades and coffees upstairs. What heat. Everyone complained.

One entered this most fashionable of public baths between artificial hills on either side of the gate. Statues of Chinese gentlemen, holding umbrellas, sat atop promontories. The central court held a red and yellow pagoda with the café and garden where the bathers might refresh themselves. The chambers for the baths were above. The left-hand side for men. The right for women.

Whether this Chinese bath would have passed muster in Peking or Shanghai, she did not know. But it was Chinese enough for Paris. She climbed the stairs to the righthand side and found an old friend, Olivie Garmand, the matron on duty. She stood behind the counter, neatly compact, with smooth night-black hair. In La Flèche she was called the Quail. She was as discreet and unobtrusive as her namesake.

Olivie kept the gate to one of pathways out of France. Men and women entered the baths and were not seen again till they were safe in England.

Olivie nodded, polite but not curtsying, as if she were the most staunch of revolutionaries. “Citoyenne. It has been a long time. It is good to see you again.”

“Citoyenne Olivie. Good day.” She put a coin in the boy’s palm and sent him away. Under cover of setting her basket on the counter, she passed the note that was ready in her hand. She whispered, “For the Gardener.”

A glance along the hall. The letter disappeared. Olivie said, “How may we serve you?” and under her breath, “Are there orders?”

“None.” She raised her voice. “The hot bath today, even though it is so unpleasantly hot outside.”

A maidservant came then, with towels and a
robe de chambre
piled flat across her arms, holding them carefully for they were still hot from being warmed over the little braziers. Olivie, herself, led the way. They went to a cabinet far down at the end of the row, where silence and discretion were abundant. To her left was the inconspicuous door between the men’s side and the women’s. These rooms had seen many discreet meetings. It was a sad commentary on life that adultery and the intrigues of La Flèche had much in common.

The bathing cabinet was a bright room with huge windows covered by screens that let the light through. The walls were painted to resemble marble. The maid placed the stack of towels and the folded linen robe on the sideboard and went to prepare the tub.

Olivie, who had brought the basket, set that down also and uncovered it and began to lay out the clean clothing from inside and the hairbrush and the bottles of bath oils. “May we bring you wine? A light meal? No? You are right. It’s too hot to eat. There is a compress of crushed mint leaves for the forehead, if you would like to try it.” Olivie uncorked one of the bottles of bath oil. “This is nice. Neroli and coriander?”