But this was not so and he dispelled that suspicion immediately.
“I came to warn you,” he said.
“You know what is happening.” He did not wait for a comment from us.
“It’s … debacle,” he went on.
“We have allowed a fool to govern France.”
“He did some good,” Nicole defended the Emperor.
“He is just not a soldier.”
“If he is not a soldier he should not go to war. He misled the country into thinking it had an army which could fight. It was unprepared .. untrained … There was not a chance against the Germans. However, we waste time and God knows we have little of it to spare.”
“The Baron is suggesting that we leave Paris,” said Nicole.
“Leave Paris? To go where?”
“He is offering us the shelter of his chateau until we can make our plans.”
I said: “I have no intention of going to Centeville.”
“Do you understand the situation?” he demanded.
“I have been following the news. I know there has been disaster at Sedan and the Emperor taken prisoner.”
“And that does not give you cause for alarm?”
I said: “Nothing would make me come to your castle. I have been there before.”
“The situation is grim, Kate,” said Nicole.
“I know. But I shall stay here. It’s my home now, and if it were impossible to live here I suppose I could go to England.”
“You will not find travelling easy in wartime.”
I looked at him steadily and I could not shut out the memory of him in that turret room with triumph in his eyes and the determination to enforce his will.
“I shall stay here,” I said firmly.
“You’re being foolish. You don’t understand what it means to have an occupying enemy in your country.”
“And what of you? You are in the same country.”
“The Prussians will not come to my chateau.”
“Why not?”
“I shall not allow it.”
“You … you’re going to stand out against the Prussian armies?”
“We’re wasting time,” he said.
“You should prepare to leave at once.”
I looked at Nicole and said: “You go if you want to. I shall stay here.”
“Kate.. it’s not safe.”
“There is a choice of two evils. I choose this one.”
The Baron was regarding me with that quizzical look which I had seen before.
“Go, Nicole,” I said.
“You believe him. I don’t.”
He raised his shoulders in a helpless gesture.
Nicole said: “You know I won’t leave you and Kendal.”
The Baron shrugged his shoulders.
“Then there is nothing more I can do. Adieu, ladies. And may you have better luck than you have good sense.”
With that he was gone.
Nicole sat down and stared in front other.
“You should have gone with him,” I said.
She shook her head.
“No … I’ll stay here. This is my home. You and the boy are my family.”
“But you think I’m wrong.”
She lifted her shoulders rather as he had done a few moments before.
“It remains to be seen,” she said.
Those September days were strangely unreal hazy in the mornings and when the sun rose the city seemed to be touched with a golden light.
There was tension on the streets as the people waited for news.
The whole of Paris was in revolt against the Emperor whom they declared had betrayed them. It seemed such a short while ago that they had cheered him and his beautiful Empress. Now they despised them. It had been the same with the kings, they said. The Bonapartes behaved as though they were kings and Paris had rejected those flamboyant rulers eighty years before.
I caught a glimpse during those days of what it must have been like in Paris before the Revolution burst upon the city.
When France declared herself to be a Republic once more, there was excitement in the streets. No more kings. No more emperors. This was the people’s land.
But this could not hold back the German advance, and as September neared its end came the final blow. Strasbourg, one of the last strongholds of the French, capitulated to the Germans, whose armies were now marching on Paris.
Then came the terrifying information. The King of Prussia was actually in the Palace of Versailles.
We had for some time begun to feel the strain. Food was fast disappearing from the shops. Nicole had said we must get together what we could. If we had plenty of flour we could at least make bread. And as long as we could we went on buying.
There came a day which I shall never forget. Nicole went out to see what she could buy and while she was gone the bombardment started.
I heard the explosion and wondered what it was. I thought there must be fighting near the outskirts of the city. I was worried about Kendal. I thought then that I should have listened to the Baron. He was right. We should have left Paris.
There was just that one explosion.
Kendal was in the studio doing his lessons with Jeanne. He was using the studio now as I had had no clients for weeks.
I was thinking that Nicole seemed to have been away a long time when I heard the concierge calling me.
I ran down. A boy was there.
“Madame Collison,” he said, ‘will you come at once to the Hopital St. Jacques. A lady there is asking for you. “
“A… lady?”
“Madame St. Giles … She has been hurt. These cursed Germans ..”
I felt sick with fear. The explosion! They were bombarding Paris and I had to go there as fast as I could, but I thought of Kendal.
I said: “Give me a moment. I must tell them I am leaving.”
I called to Jeanne.
“Madame St. Giles has been hurt,” I said briefly.
“I’m going to the hospital. Take care of Kendal while I’m away.”
Jeanne nodded. I could trust her.
Fortunately the hospital was only a few streets away and within a few minutes I was there.
Nicole almost unrecognizable was lying in a bed. She was wrapped in a white robe and there were bloodstains on it.
I threw myself on to my knees and gazed at her.
She recognized me, but I think only just.
“Kate,” she whispered.
“I’m here, Nicole. I came as soon as I could.”
“They’re bombarding Paris. They’re all round us… I was hurrying home to tell you …”
“Should you talk?”
“I must talk, Kate.”
“No,” I said.
“You shouldn’t. Are you all right here? Is there anything I can do? Are you in pain?”
She shook her head.
“I can’t … feel … much. Something’s happened to me.”
“Oh Nicole!” I said and I was overcome with remorse and shame. She should never have been here. She would have gone away with the Baron but for me.
“Kate …”
“Yes?”
She gave me a crooked smile. There was no colour in her face. She looked dead. apart from her eyes.
“I… I want to tell you …”
“You shouldn’t talk.”
“It’s the end… for me. Strange… Shot in a Paris street. I often wondered what my end would be. Now I know.”
“You should try to sleep.”
She smiled.
“I want you to… understand …”
“I understand, my dear friend, that I could never have got through my troubles but for you.” I felt the tears welling into my eyes.
She blinked. I think she was trying to shake her head.
“Him… Kate.”
“Him?”
“He’s safe in his Norman stronghold,” I said.
“Try Kate … Try to understand. He was the one. It was his house . He wanted to make sure that you were all right…”
What was she trying to tell me?