The Awakening, Zuleika and the Barbarian Read Free Page B

aunt took her aboard a sailing yacht owned by one of Renée's old friends, an English duke. There the child bid her aunt farewell, and was taken to school in England.
    In England, Marguerite spent her holidays with the duke and his large family. He would be her legal guardian, it was explained, as long as she was in England. The following August her Aunt Renée arrived from France to take her to Cornwall. It was there they vacationed each summer after that until Marguerite was married in a seaside village quite similar to the one in Brittany. And as much as Renée wanted her niece to regain the social position that the revolution in France had cost their family, she would not give her permission for Marguerite's marriage to Lord Abbott until he had been made fully aware of the entire truth of their situation.
    Lord Abbott had nodded gravely when Renée de Thierry had finished her recital. Then he said, "You say that Marguerite is legally born. She is the daughter of Jules and Marie-Agnes, Comte and Comtesse de Thierry. That she was ensconced within the Convent of St. Anne in Paris at the age of three months when her parents were executed; that she visited your house in Paris two days each year until she was six, when you sent her to England. Here she has been in school, her guardians being the Duke and Duchess of Sedgwick, under whom she made her debut. That while she is aware of your, um, enterprise, she has never had any part in it. Is that correct, madame?" Lord Abbott had eyes the color of sherry, and a quiet way about him. He never raised his voice.
    "That is correct, my lord," Renée had answered him. "When she lived in France, my niece was too young to understand my pursuits. She visited my home on Christmas and Easter. There were never any negotiations conducted on those days, and no gentlemen were permitted in my house then. There was a time, sir, when the de Thierrys held great places of honor in France. The house in which my brother and I were raised contained armor that our ancestors had worn into battle. The hall was hung with banners brought from the crusades, and the wars we fought for king and country. The revolution changed all of that. My brother chose to sacrifice himself for a France that is gone, that had become an anachronism. I chose to survive. Jules and his wife martyred themselves, but I would not allow them to martyr Marguerite. She was three months old when they perished. So," and here Renée paused with a wry smile, "I seduced the governor of the Île de Cité prison."
    "How old were you?" Lord Abbott inquired, for he was indeed curious. Renée de Thierry might be a courtesan, but she was still every inch an aristocrat.
    "Sixteen, a virgin, and frightened to death," Renée told him frankly. "Fortunately François was both kind to me, touched by the sacrifice I was making, and a practical man. He saved my life, keeping my name from the lists of those to be guillotined. That first day he allowed me to take Marguerite to the convent outside the prison walls, and leave her with the nuns. After that I lived in his rooms and became his mistress. When the Terror was over, he freed me to do as I pleased for marriage to a man of his station was not an option. I fear I am a snob despite the fact my world was gone. It was necessary that I support my niece. However, I never wanted her to follow in my footsteps, my lord. I wanted her back in the world from which we had both come, but any man who seeks to marry Marguerite must understand both her history, and mine. If you still wish to wed my niece knowing what you do, then you will have my blessing. While I should like to see Marguerite wed, I will, once she has, absent myself from her life to save your family an embarrassment. But, sir, if you decide to cry off, I will certainly understand."
    "Perhaps you would," Lord Abbott had replied, "but I do not think our Marguerite would. You are a brave woman, madame. I salute you." And Lord Abbott had kissed her