He laughed triumphantly.
“Then what are you doing down here.
Mademoiselle? “
“It is my first visit to the house. I lost my way.”
“And you were looking in these rooms to find it?”
I was silent. He drew me to the window and pulled me down beside him.
I was close to him, deeply aware of the linen that smelt faintly of sandalwood and the large signet ring with the crest which he wore on the little finger of his right hand.
“You should tell me your name,” he said.
“I am Minella Maddox.”
“Minella Maddox,” he repeated. I know well. You are the schoolmistress’s daughter. “
“I am. But I hope you will tell no one that I came down here.”
He nodded gravely.
“So you have disobeyed orders …”
“I was lost,” I said firmly.
“I would not like it to be known that I was so foolish.”
“So you are asking a favour of me?”
I merely suggest that you do not mention this trivial matter. ” ” It is not trivial to me. Mademoiselle. “
“I do not understand you. Monsieur Ie Comte.”
“So you know me?”
“Everyone in the neighbourhood knows you.”
“I wonder how much you know of me.”
“Only who you are and that you are Margot’s father and that you come from France to visit Derringham from time to time.”
My daughter has talked of me, has she? “
“Now and then.”
“She has told you of my many … what is the word?”
“Sins, do you mean? If you would prefer to speak in French …”
“I see you have formed an opinion of me. I am a sinner ,i who does not speak your language as well as you speak mine.” He was talking in rapid French, hoping, I knew, that I should not understand, but I had had a good grounding and my fear was deserting me; moreover, although I knew that I was in a difficult situation and he was the sort of man who would not be chivalrous enough to help me out of it, I could not suppress a certain exhilaration. I replied in French that I had thought the word he was searching for was the one I had supplied and if he was thinking of something else would he give it to me in French and I was sure I should understand.
“I see,” he said, still speaking very quickly, ‘that you are a spirited young lady. Now let us understand each other. You seek my daughter Marguerite, whom you call Margot. She is hiding on the upper floor of the house. You know this yet you seek her down here. Ah, Mademoiselle, you did not seek Marguerite but to satisfy your curiosity. Come, admit it. ” He frowned in a manner which was, I was sure, calculated to strike terror in those who observed it.
“I do not like people to tell me untruths.”
“Well,” I said, determined not to be browbeaten, ‘it is my first visit to a house of this type and I do admit to a certain curiosity. “
“Natural, very natural. You have very pretty hair. Mademoiselle. I would say it is the colour of the corn in August. Would you agree?”
“You are pleased to flatter me.”
He put up a hand and caught a strand of my hair which my mother had curled carefully and which was tied back with a blue riband to match my dress.
I felt uneasy, yet the exhilaration persisted. I was forced to move closer to him as he pulled at my hair. I could see his face very clearly, the shadow under the luminous dark eyes, the brows thick, yet finely marked. He was the most striking-looking man I had ever seen.
“And now,” I said, “I should go.”
“You came at your pleasure,” he reminded me, ‘and I think it only courteous that you should leave at mine. “
“As we are concerned with courtesy you will not detain me against my will.”
“But we are discussing the courtesy you owe me. I owe you none, remember. You are the intruder. Oh, Mademoiselle, to peep into my bedchamber! To pry so! Shame on you!”
His eyes were sparkling. I remembered Margot’s talk of his unpredictability. At the moment he was amused, hi a short time he might not be.
I jerked my hair out of his hand and stood up.
“I apologize for my curiosity,” I said.
“It was most ill-mannered of me. You must do what you think fit about the matter. If you wish to tell Sir John …” I thank you for your permission,” he said. He was beside me, and to my horror he put his arms about me and held me against him.
Then his finger was under my chin lifting my face.
“When we transgress,” he went on, ‘we must pay for our sins. This is the payment I ask. ” He took my face in his hands and kissed me on the lips not once but many times.
I was horrified. I had never been kissed in such a way before. I wrenched myself free and ran.
The thought uppermost in my mind was that he had treated me as a serving girl. I was horrified. Moreover, it was my own fault.
I stumbled out of the room. I found the spiral staircase and as I started up it I heard a movement behind me. For a moment I thought it was the Comte in pursuit and I felt numb with terror.
Margot said: “What are you doing down here, Minelle?”
I turned. She was flushed and her eyes were dancing.
“Where have you been?” I demanded.
“Where have you" She put her fingers to her lips.
“Come on. Upstairs.”
We went up the staircase. At the top, she turned to me and laughed. We went into the solarium together.
Maria and Sybil were already there.
“Minelle found me,” said Margot.
“Where?” demanded Sybil.
“Do you think I’m telling?” retorted Margot.
“I might decide to hide there again.”
That was the beginning. He had become aware of me and I was, certainly not going to forget him in a hurry. During the rest of the afternoon I could not get him out of my mind. As we sat in the solarium and played a guessing game I was expecting him all the time to come to denounce me. More likely, I thought, he had told Sir John. I was most uncomfortable thinking of the way he had kissed me. What interpretation had he put on that?
I knew that it was my mother’s constant concern that I should remain virtuous and make a good marriage. She wanted the best possible for me. A doctor would be suitable, she had once said, but the only doctor we knew had remained un married for fifty-five years and was hardly likely to take a wife now; and even if he had decided to and offered to bestow the honour on me, I should have declined.
“We are midway between two worlds,” said my mother, meaning that the villagers were far beneath us and the occupants of the Big House far above us. It was for this reason that she was so eager to leave me a flourishing school. Though I must say the thought of spending the rest of my life teaching the offspring of the nobility who were to visit Derringham Manor in the years to come held no great charm for me.
It was the Comte who had set my thoughts in this direction. I realized angrily that he would not have dared kiss a young lady of good family in this way. But would he? Of course he would. He would do whatever his inclination moved him to. Of course, he might have been very angry. He might have told Sir John that I had come peeping into his bedchamber. Instead of which he had treated me like a . like a what?
How could I know. All I did know was that if my mother was aware of it she would be horrified.
She was eagerly waiting for me when I returned.
“You look flushed,” she scolded tenderly, and a little reproachfully.
She would have preferred me to look cool as though taking tea at Derringham Manor was an everyday occurrence in my life.
“Did you enjoy it? What happened?”
I told her what we had had for tea and what the girls were wearing.
“Sybil presided,” I said, ‘and afterwards we played games. “