Duc ever marrying her.”
“But he did,” Lord Hartcourt said, sitting back in his writing chair, a twinkle in his eyes as he listened to his friend’s story.
There was, however, a cynical twist to his mouth, as if he was not prepared to believe the whole story, even while he was ready to give it his attention.
“Oh, Lily saw to it that he married her all right,” Bertram observed. “One of the Russian Grand Dukes came along at that time, I have forgotten which one it was, but, just like Boris and that other chap who are here now, he was splashing his money about, snaffling all the best women and giving parties and presents that no ordinary fellow could compete with. My father always said that Lily gave the Duc exactly twenty-four hours to make up his mind.”
“As to whether he was going to marry her?” Lord Hartcourt asked.
“Exactly,” Bertram agreed. “It was a gold ring or the Russian roubles. The Grand Duke had offered her a Château on the outskirts of Paris. She already had a rope of fine pearls from him, which she had the impudence to wear with her Wedding dress.”
“So that was how Lily became a Duchesse,” Lord Hartcourt chuckled.
He rose to his feet again and walked to the door.
“A salutary lesson for all young ladies who aspire to succeed in life. Come on, Bertie, I am hungry.”
“Damn you, if you are not ungrateful!” Bertram Cunningham replied, getting down from the desk. “I kill myself entertaining you with one of the most intriguing histoires that Paris has ever produced and all you can think about is your stomach.”
“I am really thinking about my head. The champagne last night was a good vintage, but there was too much of it.”
“It sounds like a tip-top party. I just cannot understand why you left so early.”
“I will tell you why,” Lord Hartcourt said as they walked down the marble staircase into the Embassy hall. “They were starting their usual wild horseplay. Terence was squirting the girls with soda syphons and Madelaine, what is her name, was screaming so loudly that it got on my nerves.”
“The Archduke Boris seems rather interested in her.”
“As far as I am concerned, he can have her.”
“Well, actually none of them measure up to Henriette,” Bertram said convivially. “I must say one thing about you, Vane, your taste in horses and women is impeccable.”
“It is exactly what I have always thought myself, but I am gratified that you agree with me.”
“Damn it all, I always do agree with you, don’t I?” Bertram asked. “That is the whole trouble. If I had seen Henriette before you I should certainly have offered her my protection.”
Lord Hartcourt smiled.
“Poor Bertie, I pipped you at the post, did I? To console you, let me say that you are not rich enough, you are just not rich enough for Henriette.”
“I am prepared to agree over that one too,” Bertram said in a resigned tone. “But I can tell you, if I don’t find a ladybird soon, I shall be getting myself an odd reputation in Paris. All the toffs like you seem to have themselves fixed up. I am just unlucky. Do you remember that blasted German Prince who enticed Lulu away from me? I just could not compete with a Villa at Monte Carlo and a yacht. As it was it nearly broke me buying her a motor car. A rotten machine it was too. It was always breaking down.”
“They all do. Give me a decent piece of horseflesh every time.”
They passed through the Embassy door into the courtyard.
“That reminds me,” Bertram continued. “I am thinking about buying a new racehorse. I would like your opinion on it. It is from the Labrisé stables.”
“Don’t say any more,” Lord Hartcourt replied. “The answer is ‘no’. Labrisé is one of the biggest crooks on the French turf. I would not touch anything he offered me, even if it was a donkey.”
Bertram’s face fell.
“Damn it all, Vane, you do damp a fellow down,” he grumbled.
“Where you are concerned,” Lord Hartcourt said. “You can lose your money much more easily and more pleasantly on women.”
“Perhaps you are right,” Bertram said brightening. “Let’s go and look at André’s little nun. She might well suit me, who knows?”
Lord Hartcourt did not answer and it appeared to his friend as though he had lost interest in the subject.
*
Gardenia all morning had been waiting a little apprehensively for her first meeting with her aunt.
She had slept late, far later than she had intended and, when she awoke, it was to find the sunshine struggling through the heavy curtains.
Getting out of bed, she drew them back and had her first glimpse of the grey hotch-potch of French roofs that seemed to stretch almost interminably away into the distance. There were pigeons flying across the blue sky and a kind of magic in the air, which made Gardenia throw the window open and lean out, breathing in the fragrance and freshness of the Paris spring.
The doubts and apprehensions and fears that she had known the night before had gone. It was morning, it was sunny and already she was falling in love with Paris!
She turned away from the window, not knowing what to do. Should she ring and ask for breakfast? Should she go in search of it? While she was still hesitating, there came a tentative knock on the door.
Quickly Gardenia wrapped her old flannel dressing gown round her before she turned the key to see who was outside.
“Votre petit dejeuner, mamselle,” a young voice told her as she peeped into the passage and opened the door wider to admit a somewhat saucy-looking French maid with a white cap awry and dark eyes that seemed to hint at mischief.
She set down the tray on a table by the bed.
“The housekeeper said I was to unpack for you, mamselle,” she announced. “She also said that you were to move your room this mornin’ so it doesn’t really seem worth startin’, does it?”
“No, indeed, it does not,” Gardenia answered in her rather careful French.
She found the swiftness of the maid’s words a little difficult to follow. It was one thing to speak almost perfect French in England, but quite another to follow the patois of a French girl speaking at double the pace of anyone she had ever listened to before.
“No,” she said after a moment. “You are right. I will get dressed, then perhaps my trunk can be taken to the other room and then I will be most grateful if you would unpack for me.”
“Very good, mamselle.”
The maid left the room with a sidelong glance of her eyes that Gardenia found somewhat disconcerting. What was there about the servants in this house, she wondered, that made them seem
