Kozincko knew which side his bread was buttered. He offered:
«While we are away, you might come and stay at the manor house with your daughters, I'm so seldom there myself…
«I know, said Mrs. Cornavin, I might make myself useful in some little ways… I have still got some trustworthy friends who… besides I know the world and…
«It's a pity really you didn't tell me before of all this. I'm delighted. So it's all settled?
«Yes, and believe me, be firm with this child, she needs a master.
«I think I'll know how to… break her in…»
And they parted with a smile.
Myriam was waiting for him outside. She read in his eyes it was all right.
«We'll wait for you to night at the manor.»
Myriam could hardly believe her ears, she almost hugged him.
She didn't see the look in her aunt eyes as the car was driving away, neither did she hear her woods:
«If I know how to manage him, he will have a lot to pay for that little fool's maidenhead.
— Her aunt was surprisingly kind to Myriam when she left. She gave her little presents, pin money; but, at the last moment, she had a small chat with her…
«I suppose you understand why Mr. Nicolas is so anxious to take you to Paris…?
«No, my aunt, he told me Ghislaine…
«You silly fool! Don't you see he's got something else on his mind. You're pretty, you're young, with a fine figure. Don't you understand…»
«I…
Myriam protested.
«No, I don't see what you mean!
«Listen, you're no longer a baby… I know there ear many things you don't understand yet, but you've been reading enough books to guess what a man expects from a girl he doesn't love.»
Myriam was silent, her aunt went on:
«And even if you're too silly to know that, it doesn't matter much, the only thing is the result. Mr. Nicolas wants you… You mustn't disappoint him… He's a rich man… He may do a lot for you and… for us. When you'll be in Paris, he'll try to caress you, to kiss you. Let him for. Heaven's sake!.. But stop him in time. He mustn't go too far… at least not yet…
«But my aunt, cried our innocent Myriam, who didn't understand a word of this motherly piece of advice… what must I do?
«This is what you're to do, pursued Mrs. Cornavin, and she gave a vivid concise, if somewhat coarse description of the process.»
Myriam's cheeks were hot with shame. She had never thought of all this; she had never imagined any such thing, and she thought what Kozincko had done the limit!
Her aunt's accurateness was the ruin of her dreams. She understood now she had had a hairbreadth escape. Now she'd never be able to set eyes on Ghislaine's father without thinking of her aunt's realistic description.
«You mustn't let him shove in. Let him do anything he likes, but not that!
«But if he forces me?
«If you're not a fool, he'll never be able to force you, just dodge him! When he will be nuts on you, I'll tell you then what you must do… You understand then; anything but your maidenhead.
«Yes, my aunt.
«You'll tell me everything, beside, I'll see for myself as we're going to move into the manor.»
The news startled Myriam.
«You'll live in the Chateau Vert?
«Yes, do you wonder?
«No, said Myriam, no… I no longer wonder at anything!»
Yet she wasn't far from thinking her aunt had combined and planned the whole thing, and her joy was mixed with some bitterness and apprehension.
— Yet Katy and Helen envied her, unaware they would soon play their part in the intrigues so unexpectedly schemed up…
CHAPTER V
«Myriam? Have you ever been in love?»
This momentous question was asked when Ghislaine was having her hair brushed by her friend at night, as usual.
Myriam smiled:
«No Mademoiselle, never…
«Don't Mademoiselle me when we're alone, please…
«Well Ghislaine, I've never been in love. I knew nobody over there.»
Ghislaine looked disappointed.
«So you know nothing about love?
«I don't think the pair of us knows much about it…
«Why! I do know something I've read books, forbidden books in Daddy's library. They told extraordinary, unbelievable stories. There was one about a girl who had been kidnapped, and raped afterwards, then they obliged her to sell herself to everybody, and if she refused she was beaten…
«It was written all along…?
«Yes, and how she had been forced, and everything they did her… Do you think such things are possible?
«If it was printed it must be true, said our naive heroine. What did he do…?
«Oh I can't explain, but it must have been painful, she cried, and the more she'd cry the more he'd hurt her.
«Yet said Myriam, they say love doesn't hurt, except the first time because it's big and of course you're not used.
«How do you know that since you never tried?
«I heard it once, it was a girl who had just married. She was telling my aunt her first night with her husband, I was hidden and I heard everything, but I didn't understand it all.
«Did she like it?
«Yes, she said it was fine!
«It must have been something different from the book. Surely there are several ways to do it. I won't bear to be hurt, I'll fight.
«In that case you can't fight. They may bind you on the bed…»
Ghislaine giggled.
«What a silly goose! how could a man bind you. It would no longer be love it'd be just a fight!
«Anyhow, this can't be love. If I was in love, I'd give anything to my lover. Even if he hurt me, I'd love him all the better for it…
«And I would be so sweet, he couldn't help being kind.»
This pretty scene was on, a quiet night in their delightful mansion in Neuilly, a fortnight after they had settled down there.»
Ghislaine's father who had his flat on the Avenue Foch, visited them everyday. He showed them around, took them to the theatre, played the darling father to a nicety.
He had never been alone with Myriam yet, and only got a few stolen caresses here and there in the dark… when he left at night, a few kisses at best…
Myriam was too much absorbed by her new life to attach much importance to Kozincko's attempts, she had never refused him the trifles he had asked for up till now, he was as much attentionate to her as to Ghislaine and seemed to guess her slightest desires.
Myriam now was very well dressed, and on an equal footing with Ghislaine who, kind hearted as she was, would always approve her father's, suggestions.
Everything, then would have been for the best, if, by chance…
— On that morning, Ghislaine found her favourite scent bottle broken, a very small matter indeed, if Ghislaine hadn't thought it impossible to do without that subtle personal mark of elegance. Myriam quickly proposed to go and bring back from town the missing bottle.
She went out, looking for a taxi. The weather was enchanting, as she walked along the Bois towards the Porte Maillot, a smart Jaguar stopped by her side and a youthful male voice laughed:
«May I take you for a drive, Mademoiselle?»
Myriam turned round and her heart beat quick. The man who had called to her was young, gay, suntanned… He looked so self-confident, he was so handsome she had to stop, thought unwilling. She was aghast at her own answer:
«Why not?.. In such a deliberate tone the man laughed outright.
«Here's a girl who knows her own mind!»
He got out of the car and helped her in. Myriam sat down on the low seat. She didn't catch his eyes, diving quickly and appraising the snowy frills between her thighs as they were revealed for half a second.
«My name is Jerome, would it be too much to ask for yours?
«Mine is Myriam.»
She had spoken without the least embarrassment. She was amazed at finding herself sitting by this stranger, as she had so often dreamt…