Lost heritage (13 page)

Raoul unrolled the curling paper and lock a long careful look at it before turning it to show to his father. *Dieu soil b&nil* Bernard murmured piously, and came across to peer briefly at the drawing. *We did not think to look '

Charlotte was looking at Raoul. His eyes were hidden by

the long sweep oi black lashes and it was difficult to tell what he was thinking, but she remembered how he had come to look for her, and the non-committal shrug of his shoulders that neither confirmed nor denied his suspicion of her. Thrusting out her chin, she looked up at him with the light of challenge in her blue eyes.

Tm as relieved as you are. Monsieur Bernard,' she told him in a voice that she simply could not stop from shaking. *Monsieur Raoul was so ccmvinced Fd taken the wretch^ thing he was ready to stand up in court and swear it! Thank heaven it was he who found it and not me!'

Charlotte was not sure what reaction she expected from him, but the sudden narrow-eyed fury he showed her was so alarming that she shrank from it. Then he turned swiftly on his heel and went striding round the desk, thrust the drawing into his father's hands and marched out of the room, closing the door with a resounding bang behind him.

It was difficult to understand her own sense of regret, for she was convinced that she had said no more than the truth, but she watched him go with a wildly beating heart and her legs were shaking uncontrollably. For a second or two after he had gone the big room was silent, and the yellow garish-ness of die overhead light gave Bernard's thickening jaw-line the same taut leanness as his son's for a moment. Then he turned and looked down at her with an expression in his eyes that she could not quite define.

*You do my son an injustice, Charlotte,' he told her, and in the face of his reproach Charlotte found it hard to maintain her air of injured innocence. *No one accused you of taking the drawing, and Raoul most of all was insistent on your innocence. He declared that you had left this room empty-handed and that you were—as he put it—incapable of anything deviously criminal because you would be bound to give yourself away.'

The urgency of her heartbeat nearly choked her as she

Stood with her hands held tighdy together, trying not to meet Bernard's reproachful gaze. She wanted to cry and did not know why, but she dared not look at Bernard because he had the same kindly and understanding character his mother had and if she looked at him she might lose the control she clung to so tightly. Then after a moment or two she spread her hands in that appealing gesture of helplessness that was something she used unthinkingly.

*I—^I didn't know,' she murmured huskily. *I thought— he came after me and told me that the drawing was missing

and I thought ' Once more she gestured and Bernard

reached out to press her hands with his own gende ones.

*Do not look so troubled, ma chere, he advised with a faint glimmer of smile in his eyes. *There will be opportunities enough to offer your apologies. You may believe diat, petitCy for I know my son very well!' A hand imder her chin raised her face and he smiled down at her encouragingly. *You are a very pretty girl, Charlotte, there will be opportunities to make him forgive you, believe me.'

Charlotte was far too doubtful at the moment about Raoul's capacity for forgiveness, but she did not have the heart to say so in ±e face of Bernard's confident optimism, so she smiled and nodded her head as if she believed it.

*I hope so,' she said.

CHAPTER SIX

A coup^.E of mornings later when Charlotte came downstairs for the mail as usual, she found Madame Menais already standing beside the small table in the front hall. It was $6 unusual to see her collecting her own mail, which Cdline normally took in to her on her morning coffee tray.

that Charlotte felt something must be amiss this morning.

Something about her suggested that she had things on her mind and, since she seemed to have been waiting for Charlotte to appear, it seemed possible that whatever it was concerned her in some way.

*Good morning, Charlotte!'

The greeting was accompanied by the customary smile and her brisk alermess at diat hour of the day put Charlotte's own rather lethargic mood to shame. 'Good morning, Madame Menais, it*s a lovely morning again!'

'Mais ouU*

She stood watching while Charlotte sorted out Lizette's letters from the waiting pile, and tapped her own considerable share into a neat bundle rather thoughtfully while she waited, then fell into step with her as they crossed the hall to the staircase. By then Charlotte was definitely curious and not a litde uneasy, for it seemed so obvious that the old lady was simply awaiting the right moment to say something of what was on her mind.

*How is Lizette this morning?" The very ordinariness of the question was disconcerting when she was expecting something more profound, and Charlotte's manner must have given her an inkling of it.

'Quite well, madame. I left her getting up while I came down for the post.'

Charlotte glanced at her from the comer of her eye as they began the ascent, side by side on the wide staircase. She refrained from lending a hand as instinct urged her to because usually the old lady preferred to choose her own moment for being helped, she was very independent on the whole.

'Can Lizette spare you for just a few moments, do you suppose?' Madame Menais asked, and Charlotte took a second to answer.

*Why—^yes. I'm sure I can be spared, madame^ if there's

something I can do for you.'

*Just a word or two,' the old lady promised, and placed a hand on her arm, though whether for the assistance it gave her or to establish a sense of confidence Charlotte was uncertain at the moment. *I understand there was some confusion over a drawing that was missing,' Madame Menais said, and Giarlotte sighed inwardly. The old lady's shrewd grey eyes were rather too reminiscent of Raoul's at the moment and she had hoped, vainly she now realised, that ^t incident could have been forgotten. *Raoul was very angry about it, although it was difficult for me to get the whole story from him. It seems he felt himself misjudged.'

Charlotte's feeling had been that she was the one misjudged, but she supposed if what Bernard suggested was true, Raoul saw himself the victim. *It was something of a storm in a teacup,' she suggested, attempting to make light of it. *Over and done with once the drawing was found— not stolen, as had been suggested, but simply rolled out of sight under Monsieur Bernard's desk.'

'But you imagined that Raoul suspected you of taking it? Oh, what a foolish notion to get into your head, child!'

'What else was I to think?' Charlotte asked, prickly defensive. 'He came after me, striding across the parkland

after me as if ' She shrugged uneasily, a slight flush on

her face at the memory of it. 'What else was I to think?'

Madame Menais regarded her for a moment with bright, knowing eyes. 'But of course he came after you, Charlotte! Have you never had a man follow you before? I cannot believe that such a pretty girl has never before had a man come striding after her when he sees her alone in a quiet place!'

'Not Raoul,' Charlotte insisted, keeping her eyes downcast because she was finding this word or two with Madame Menais too discomfiting, and she had to ccmvince herself that Raoul had had an ulterior motive. 'He thought I'd taken

tbat drawing, madame, Fm sure of it, no matter what he claims to the contrary. Had it been anyone else who came

—^in the same circumstances and ' She stumbled over

her words, trying to judge RaouPs action frcmi a purely practical point of view. 'Anyone else I might have believed —^what you suggested, madamey but not Raoul!*

*You know my grandson so well?' Madame Menais asked, but was shaking her head ieven before she finished speaking. 'Raoul did not for a moment believe that you took that drawing, Charlotte, believe me.' Charlotte looked down at the empty hall and said nothing and the old lady went on. *That is not all that troubles him, however,* she said. *He suspects your motive in applying for the post as Lizette's companion, and I cannot for a moment see his reason for doing so. I have, however, said that I will have a word or two with you and endeavour to put his mind at rest.*

Charlotte kept her eyes on the crystal chandelier hanging immediately below her, and tried to tell herself diat she had no reason to feel guilty. This discomfiting interview with Madame Menais was RaouPs doing, and she was angry with him as well as with her own inability to come up with an answer.

*I have told him,* the old lady went on without waiting for a reply, *that I think it most unlikely you are here to find an unfaithful lover. In my opinion you are too young and too pretty to need to chase an absconding lover across Europe, and I have told him so. But this family is not without its skeletons—is that what you say, heinl —and I have done as I promised and spoken to you.'

Endless possibilities ran through Charlotte*s head, not least the possibility of her own story being among the skeletons mentioned, and she considered the relief of bringing her quest into the open at long last to the sympathetic ear of Madame Menais. She might have found the necessary nerve too, but apparendy the old lady was bent

on monopolising the conversation and she gave her no time to say anything. Instead she spoke again, quickly and rather jerkily, as if she disliked what she said, but felt she must say it.

^Charlotte, it is surely not possible that you are here to seek recompense from Michel, is it?'

'Michel?' She stared in genuine bewilderment, but Madame Menais was frowning.

*Oh, his— passe-temps is well known,' she said shordy and with obvious distaste, 'and he has spent a good deal of time in England, even ' ^

*Oh, no, madame, there's nothing like that at all.'

'Michel is an attractive man, we know, and unfortunately

he is also very susceptible. If Raoul is correct and ' She

broke off and once more looked at Charlotte with those disturbingly shrewd eyes. 'If such a situation exists; one of your family perhaps who is older and you are seeking revenge, then I must tell you that in no circumstances must the name of Menais be discredited. It has never been our way to allow private indiscretions to become public knowledge, no matter what means are employed to ensure it. There must be no scandal attached to the name of Menais.'

^Madamey please!'

A hand pressed lighdy on to her arm, but somewhere behind the determination in the old lady's eyes lurked the more familiar gendeness. 'If you, or anyone in your family, has been wronged by one of us, child, then you will be compensated, generously compensated. All that we ask is that we are not involved in a public scandal. Is that so unreasonable?'

'No, madame.^ Charlotte was too stunned for the moment to say more. Raoul had seemingly been very convincing with his story of a cheating lover and, because he fitted the bill so well and was also in that photograph she had taken an interest m, Michel had been identified as the most likely

candidate. 'There's nothing like that at all!' She cleared her throat nervously when she recalled how close she had come to telling the true story to Madame Menais. 1 didn't know anyone in your family vmtil I came to work here, no one at all, and I've certainly never had an—^an affair with Monsieur Michel or anyone else I'

It was the truth as far as it went, and clearly Madame Menais was more than willing to be convinced, for she reached out to take her hand, pressing her thin fingers into hers reassuringly. ^Oh, my dear child, he is so very wrong about you, is he not? I knew he must be wrong, but he

seemed ' She spread her hands expressively in appeal.

*But of course there is no mysterious lover for whom you search! You are here simply to care for Lizette and to answer her letters, that is all, I am convinced of it! I apologise, Charlotte, both for myself and for my grandson, and I hope you will forgive us. I should not have spoken!'

It was hard to face such trust when it was based on yet another misconception, but there seemed litde Charlotte could say at the moment. Definitely she could not be as honest now as she had intended, for if, as the old lady had made clear, the Menais were ready to go to great lengths to prevent a scandal, she could hardly raise a matter that could well prove more shattering to their public image dian any of Michel's indiscretions.

Tlease don't apologise, madame^ she pleaded huskily. •You have no cause to.'

*But Raoul ' The old lady eyed her for a moment,

then shook her head. 'He should be told how wrong he is.*

Charlotte kept her eyes downcast. 'I'd rather the matter was let drop, Madame Menais,' she said, and smiled a litde ruefully as she recognised the truth. 1 doubt if anything will convince Raoul that he's wrong!'

'Tiens!' Madame Menais declared without hesitation. 'He was always a hothead, just like my son Raoul! But how

can I blame them when they inherit the trait from me, eh, child? All I ask is that you do not leave us in anger, for Lizette would miss you so much, as we all would—even my hotheaded grandson!'

Charlotte kept her opinion of Raoul's reacticm to herself, but she smiled as she gave her assurances to the old lady. 1 won't leave Madame Lizette,' she promised, but wondered how she was ever going to trace her own beginnings when she now had to move even more cautiously than before.

Charlotte felt vaguely restless. Her life ran smoothly enough for the most part and Lizette, despite initial doubts about her moodiness, was not a hard employer. She was given plenty of free time and Lizette never once refused to let her go a litde early if there was somewhere special she wanted to go.

Dinner with Jean Cordet was quite a regular event, but she also went occasionally with another yoimg man in the same department as Jean; one whom he had reluctantly introduced to her during a party. Her only regret was the lack of opportunities she had for making progress on the matter closest to her heart.

She was sometimes tempted to involve Jean, but the possibility of the damage a careless word could do to the family she almost considered her own weighed against any information he might have been able to glean was not, she had decided, worth the risk.