I ran to her and we were in each other’s arms.
“Is it really you, Clare?”
She nodded.
“No doubt of it. I had to see you. It’s been so difficult to get news. But your letter came … at last. it was a long time getting to me, I could see from the date … But it told me where to come, so I didn’t trust another letter. I came.”
We clung together again, laughing, almost crying.
The two maids watched us.
I said: “It’s all right. This is my stepmother.”
The one who had brought her set down her travelling bag inside her and they slipped away together.
“I got a lift from the station in a sort of fly,” said Clare.
“It was hard making myself understood.”
“Has it been a difficult journey?”
We were gazing at each other, talking trivialities because we were too moved for anything else.
“Come into the Loge,” I said.
“This is where we live … temporarily.”
“My dear Kate! Whatever has it been like? I was so worried. I kept telling myself that it was a good thing your father had gone. He would have been half crazy with anxiety.”
“It has been a very difficult time, Clare.” I took her bag in my hand and opened the door of the Loge.
“You see,” I said, ‘it is separate from the castle, but part of it . ”
“And how long have you been here?”
“We came directly after the siege of Paris. We were lucky to get out…”
“Thank God you are safe.”
“Oh yes, we were fortunate. My poor friend Nicole St. Giles you met her—was killed during the bombardment.”
“How dreadful! And … Kendal?”
“Kendal is all right. We suffered a great deal during the siege, as you can imagine. We almost died of starvation.”
“I thought of you constantly. I tried to get in touch, but there was no way of getting communications across the Channel.”
“I know. It was to be expected with France at war. But never mind that now. You’re here, Glare, and I am so glad to see you. Are you hungry?
Can I get you some coffee. The boys are playing together somewhere. ”
The boys? “
“Oh yes … the son of the Baron and the Princesse … William. He and Kendal are good friends.”
“Is it all right for me to be here?”
“But, of course. You can stay at the Loge. There is plenty of room.”
“Are you working here?”
“Yes. I am restoring some manuscripts and I have painted a miniature of William … the boy I was telling you about.”
“The Baron’s son, you say. And he and Kendal get along well together?”
“Oh yes.”
“Did you come straight her from Paris? This chateau is the first place you came to when you first arrived in France … you and your father?”
“Oh yes, we came here. After the siege the Baron brought us back here.”
“What was he doing in Paris?”
“He was there on business. He saved Kendal’s life. You’ve no idea what it was like. You see, the Prussians were bombarding Paris and Kendal would have been crushed to death if the Baron had not been there just at the right moment to protect him from the falling masonry. The Baron was injured and I looked after him , . and then as soon as the siege was over we got out. There was nowhere else for us to go but here. It is difficult to explain …”
“And you met him just by chance in Paris … just at the moment when Kendal was in danger. How wonderful and how exciting that he should happen to have been there.”
“It was a blessing that he was. We might never have go out of Paris if he hadn’t helped us and brought us here. The city got worse after we left. There was fighting and rioting and setting fire to buildings.
The house where we were was destroyed by fire. “
“My poor Kate! I’ve thought of you so much. It’s been so lonely. I promised myself that as soon as it was possible I would get to you. I realized it was no use just writing, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to get your letter … although I did receive it long after you had written in.”
“Let me make that coffee,” I said, ‘and then we can talk. “
We did. I found it difficult to explain what had happened and quite clearly she continued to think that it was the oddest coincidence that the Baron should have happened to be on the spot when Kendal was in danger. I guessed how her mind was working. My father had suspected that the Baron was Kendal’s father and it may have been that he had discussed this possibility with Clare. After all, she had been his wife.
I could see that she really believed the Baron had been with me in Paris and that she was carefully wording her questions to avoid embarrassment.
Then I wanted to hear what she had to tell me.
“A very different story from yours, Kate,” she said.
“I have been so lonely since your father … went. It was like the end of everything. We were so fond of each other, right from the first.”
“I know. You were wonderful to him. He told me so. I am so glad you found each other. You were a great comfort to him.”
“Not enough,” she answered. Her lips trembled and there were tears in her eyes.
“I often wonder if I did right. You see, I ought to have made it so that he could be happy … even though he was getting blinder every day. But he couldn’t face it, Kate. His eyes had meant so much to him, even more than they do to most other people. He had always loved looking at things and he saw’ them so much more clearly than most people. You know what I mean because you are the same. He just could not face the future, Kate.”
“No. There was nothing you could have done more than you did. I understand how he felt. His work had been his life. I shall never forget his misery when he first told me. Then after a while I thought that even though he couldn’t do the close work he’d been doing all his life, he would be able to paint… at least for a while.”
“But he was losing his sight completely, Kate. In a few months he would have been totally blind. Oh, I do hope I did the right thing by him. I think of it often. I torment myself, Was there something else I could have done … or left undone?”
“You mustn’t distress yourself, Clare. You did everything for him. You made him happier than he could possibly have been without you.”
“I like to think so. I wake up in the night and tell myself that.”
“Dear Clare, you mustn’t brood on it. Remember the happy times you shared with him. It must have come over him suddenly … like a dark cloud. Oh, I can imagine it. He couldn’t sleep towards the end, could he? That meant he was worried. Then I imagine in a fit of depression he just took the overdose …”
“That was how it happened.”
“You have to forget, Clare.”
She brightened.
“I try to. I want to. Now I must tell you what has happened. He left everything to me, Kate, except the miniatures. Even the house he left to me. He said:
“Kate’s all right. She’ll be able to look after herself. She won’t want to come back to England.” But the miniatures are yours, Kate. I have had them put into the bank for safety. I thought they should be valued too. They are worth a small fortune . even more than your father believed them to be worth. He talked a great deal to me. He said: “If ever she should happen to fall on lean times, she’ll have the miniatures. She could sell them singly, if necessary, and live for two or three years on the price she would get for one of them.” He was a very practical man in some ways, when he was planning for those he loved, for instance. You don’t mind his leaving the house to me, I hope? “
“My dear Clare, I’m glad he did.”
“There wasn’t a lot else. He had saved a little, and you will know that he kept the family going on what his work brought in. He left that little bit to me with the house. It is enough for me to live on, simply, of course.”