The Silk Merchant's Daughter Read Free Page A

I’m the right man for the job. It is a great honour to be selected to work for the good of France.’
    ‘But you do mean here in Hanoi?’
    ‘Mainly.’ He paused briefly. ‘This may come as a surprise, but I believe it’s in the best interests of the company that only one of you should be in charge. As Sylvie is the elder, I have decided to make over control of the business to her, with immediate effect.’
    Nicole glanced at her sister, but Sylvie lowered her eyes and fiddled with her napkin.
    ‘By the end of the year everything will be in Sylvie’s name, but I have saved the small silk shop for you, Nicole.’
    ‘I don’t understand. Why can’t we share? I always thought that one day Sylvie and I would run the business together.’
    He shook his head. ‘Sylvie is older and wiser. She has more experience, especially of the American markets, and it’s only right that she should take control. If you had learnt all your lessons at the lycée, as your sister so diligently did, you would have had many more opportunities. You surely must see that.’
    Nicole frowned. ‘So Sylvie will be in charge of Paul Bert?’
    He nodded.
    Nicole swallowed rapidly, picturing the imposing Maison Duval, with its wonderful domed ceiling, polished teak staircase and elegant balconied upper floors. It was on Rue Paul Bert, often nicknamed the Champs-Élysées, and Nicole loved it.
    ‘What else?’ she said.
    He stared at a spot above her head as he counted off on his fingers. ‘The import and export business, and the emporium in the French quarter.’
    Nicole knew much of the silk they supplied came from Huế, where the export side of the business operated, and where she had focused her hopes. ‘But I was hoping to become the chief buyer one day. I thought that was why you took me with you to the silk villages while Sylvie was in America.’
    He reached into his pocket for a cigar then tapped it on the table. ‘Look, I’m sorry if it disappoints you,
chérie
, but there it is. You still have the option of finishing your education or you can take up my offer of the old silk shop; otherwise I’ll have to find you a nice Vietnamese husband.’
    It was a joke but Nicole couldn’t prevent the tears of distress welling up. ‘I thought the old shop had been abandoned.’
    Another squawk reached them from outside. Her father’s cheeks puffed out and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the table. Nicole could smell his scent – the leather wax, brandy and cigars – as she watched his nostrils flair.
    ‘Damn those birds,’ he said.
    Nicole felt devastated. It had been exactly the same over Europe. Sylvie went and she didn’t. Though of course that had been soon after she’d accidentally set fire to the marquee on Sylvie’s eighteenth birthday.
    Their father got to his feet. ‘You two stay and finish your supper. Lisa will be bringing in the coffee any moment now. I shall take mine in my study.’
    Nicole managed to hold back the burning at the backs of her eyelids.
    ‘As for the business, do remember that Sylvie is your senior by five years and she is extremely reliable.’ As her father reached the door, he glanced back. ‘If you will drop out before your exams and disappear for days, what else do you expect me to do? The entire police force was out looking for you. And all the time you and that idiotic friend of yours had decided to get on a bus for Saigon. You must have known we’d be worried. Anything could have happened.’
    She hung her head. Were they ever going to let her forget it? ‘I know. I’m really sorry. I didn’t think.’
    ‘Well, you need to think now and I can only hope you’ve learnt from your mistakes.’
    ‘I have, Papa. Truly.’
    ‘So make a success of the shop and prove it. Then we’ll see what else you might be able to do.’

3
    The next day the temperature must have touched thirty-two or thirty-three degrees. As Nicole watched a bulging-eyed lizard run up the wall to hide behind the