The Awakening, Zuleika and the Barbarian Read Online Free PDF

assigned your own bedchamber on the third floor with Josie and Leonie. And Marguerite, perhaps for Emilie's sake it would be wise that from now on you be introduced as my niece, Mademoiselle de Thierry, and not Madame Abbott. N'est-ce pas?"
    Marguerite nodded. "I agree," she said.
    Renée led the younger woman upstairs to the top floor of her Paris house saying, "The entire floor is yours, and your servants'. My own servants sleep below stairs, or above the stables. The women who do the heavy cleaning live elsewhere, and come in daily. You will be private and safe here, ma chérie." She opened a door, ushering Marguerite into a charming but simple bedroom beneath the eaves, where Clarice was waiting for her mistress. "Bonsoir , Clarice," Madame said as the maid curtsied. Then Renée turned to her niece. "I leave you in good hands, ma petite . I usually do not arise until noon, but Cook is in the kitchens before six." She kissed Marguerite on both of her cheeks. "Sleep well, chérie." Then she turned again, and was quickly gone down the narrow staircase.
    "She said me and Louis could have a room here too," Clarice told her mistress. "I thought this was a bawdy house, my lady."
    "Indeed it is," Marguerite replied, laughing, "but it is an elegant bawdy house. My aunt entertains in a very recherché manner. There are but two young ladies. Gentlemen of means, and of breeding, come to call. They drink, they gamble, and they amuse themselves with Josie and Leonie. Sometimes if a gentleman takes my aunt's fancy, she honors him with her company. I understand there are men who come just in hopes of catching Madame Renée's fancy. Soon I will be joining them."
    "Madame!" Clarice's large brown eyes were wide with surprise.
    "What else am I to do, Clarice?" Marguerite asked.
    "Couldn't your aunt. . ." Clarice began.
    "No," Marguerite said firmly to her maid. Clarice had been with her ever since she married Charles. She had had a French father and an English mother, and was bilingual. And she had been trained by the Duchess of Sedgwick's own maid. When Lord and Lady Abbott had removed themselves to France, she had come with them, and it was there she had met Louis, who had been hired to drive Lord Abbott's coaches. They had married, and were completely loyal to Marguerite.
    "What about little Miss Emilie?" Clarice asked.
    "I shall be able to pay her school fees myself. As I shall use the name I was born with, and not the Abbott name. She will not be tainted by my behavior."
    "As long as no one figures out that Lady Abbott is Mademoiselle de Thierry," Clarice said sharply.
    "You know I would do nothing to harm my daughter. I should send her to England to the duke and his family, but I fear William Abbott," Marguerite told her maid. "For now, Emilie is safer at St. Anne's."
    "Perhaps you're right, my lady, but when I think of you, such a proper lady being brought so low," Clarice sniffled.
    "I shall remain a proper lady," her mistress assured her. "I shall just take lovers in order to earn my living now. I no longer have a husband to look after me, Clarice, and no hope of one in my pitiful and poverty-stricken state."
    "You got your jewels, my lady. I saw to that when I packed your things. We knew what Lord William was up to, for he could not resist trumpeting what he was going to do to gain his revenge on his father for marrying you all them years ago," Clarice said.
    "Ohh, Clarice, you did not take the Abbott family jewels with us, did you? They rightfully belong to the new Lord Abbott. He will have the law on us, and this is the first place he will look!" Marguerite had gone pale as her maid had proudly given her recitation.
    "The Abbott jewels? Non, non , my lady. I did not take them . I only took the pretties that your husband had made especially for you. That wicked villain who disinherited you would know nothing of them, nor has he a right to them. I thought you would want them for Mademoiselle Emilie one day," Clarice