Immortal Beauty Read Online Free PDF Page A

larger than one’s self and stronger than the individual. One had to learn how to yield like one of the enormous plane trees that grew in her park which bent sometimes impossibly to the strongest of gales. She could see no one and heard nothing more as she looked around one more time before returning to the house.
    “I’m afraid I’m becoming eccentric!” she half whispered to herself and then laughed. First she is drawn into the night by something she cannot define and now she found herself retreating because of some threat she cannot see. Perhaps it was her intuition. She knew that something was coming but she could not name it. It was the most helpless of feelings and she fought the sense of terror it brought to her breast.
    “Madame!” A shrill voice cried into the night. “Madame, what are you doing here?” She looked down at her feet. They were covered in the daintiest slippers of light pink with little oriental flowers embroidered in burgundy, or was it black? “Madame! Please come inside! You will catch your death on a night like this.” She suddenly felt very confused. Was she still Sasha or was she someone else? The moon was bright and the cold light was streaming though the branches making dappled pools of blue and green and gray appear randomly throughout the place. It was breathtaking and frightening at the same time. The voice roused her out of her contemplation and now the voice was becoming louder and more urgent.
    Madame! If you do not come in right now I am going to call for the doctor! I must say you are behaving like a mad woman. If I did not know better…” The voice trailed off. Sasha began to remember. She turned around and gasped in wonder. Just behind her was the grandest of houses. There was a large terrace running the length of the house. The building was three stories high and built most peculiarly right into the side of a hill. It was made of Caen stone with tall windows running from floor to ceiling throughout the façade.
    “This is my house.” She whispered, afraid of appearing any more mad than she already did. On the terrace she saw an elderly woman with shock white hair gaping at her. The woman had obviously been sleeping as she was dressed in a heavy robe and had nothing on her feet. Her hair was sticking up all over the place giving the woman the appearance of a specter from beyond. Sasha’s memory was returning slowly as the dream progressed, for this had to be a dream! She was no longer Sasha but Helene Corbet the owner of the fabulous chateau. She was the woman of the dream and she stepped into the role and allowed the dream to become her reality.
    “Honorine! Really you must go back to bed and stop all this nonsense. This is my house and my garden and if I feel like taking in some fresh air then it is no one’s business but my own!” She waved her hand in a dismissive manner. She treated the whole affair lightly hoping that her maid would do the same.
    “Honestly Madame I must insist that you put on a cloak or a fur perhaps to shield your delicate nature from the cold. I brought one out of your wardrobe when I saw you standing out here in the moonlight. At first I was full of fright thinking you were a ghost but then I realized it was you. My very own mistress wandering around in this air with nothing on but a night dress!” The woman waddled toward Helene carrying the heavy cloak in her hands. It was the darkest of velvet and the sight of it warmed Sasha’s heart. She suddenly missed her mother and hoped that she was here somewhere inside the mysterious chateau on the side of the hill.
    “Honorine! Stay where you are, your feet are bare! I will come to you.” She glanced once more into the trees. Was there someone out there waiting for her? Did she have a meeting with someone; a lover perhaps? Had she arranged a secret rendezvous in the middle of the night? If only she could remember what she was looking for out there. If it was to meet someone if must be a