The Sheik's Son (12 page)

Her pamphlet “Marry, Carry and Bear” was everywhere and everyone was talking about it. She had heard her father mention the pamphlet to a friend and Lizette had told her that she had heard her parents arguing about it as well. Women seemed to be in support of her pamphlet and men thought it ridiculous.

She didn’t know what to think until Monsieur Blanche sent her a note saying he would take anything her cousin had written. No one could talk of anything else. She told him that he was in Germany and that she would forward his request.

“Sophie, what do you think?”

“Of?”

“Of? Of? Of your pamphlet! No one can talk about anything else! Are you pleased?”

“I’m not sure. I think I’m terrified more than anything else if my father ever finds out, and what he will do,” she said softly.

“He won’t. Only two people know the truth and we’ll never tell,” she assured her dear friend.

“I know,” Sophie said, smiling. “I’m not worried. I trust you and Marie more than anyone. It’s just that things seem uncertain in these times. I don’t want to be the cause of anything.”

Lizette frowned. Not an intellectual and preferring only novels, she was unaware of the unrest that was stirring in Paris and, indeed, France.

“How could it?” she asked. “A simple pamphlet on women and childbearing?” Lizette shook her head.

Sophie nodded, but couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a low smoke building in Paris and that her simple pamphlet had just lit the flame.

The fact that she would be leaving town at the end of the week to go to the country at Madame Necker’s invitation seemed like a godsend.

She would spend the days reading, basking in the sun and taking long walks with Germaine. At night she would converse with the men Madame Necker surrounded herself with and spar with the most intelligent men in France. Sophie was delighted at the prospect.

***

“Enjoy yourself, Sophie. Madame Necker thinks highly of you.” Jean Pierre kissed his daughter’s forehead as she settled into the carriage.

He smiled at his mother, who smiled back at him.

“We’ll be back before you have time to miss us,” Eugenie said tartly to her son.

The carriage ride was not very long before Eugenie and Sophie arrived at the country chateau, situated prettily along a green meadow surrounded by mature trees, with a small river running through the entire property.

Madame Necker greeted them herself dressed in a
chemise a la reine
. It was a style of dress also called “gaulle,” introduced by Queen Marie Antoinette. The gaulle was made of thin muslin loosely draped around the body and belted around the waist with a sash.

It was in sharp contrast to the silk and satin gowns worn in Paris by French society. Madame Necker looked younger and at peace in the woodland paradise.

“My dear Sophie,” she said, kissing her cheeks. She smiled genuinely at both women, but was quite taken with the younger of the pair, whom she admired; she wanted to nurture Sophie’s intelligence. “Madame Gauvreau,” she said in greeting to Eugenie as well and ushered them inside.

The chateau itself was large and old but the Neckers had spent a small fortune renovating it to receive guests and ensure it was modern, accommodating and outfitted with all one would expect in Paris.

“You are the first to arrive so you will have the pick of rooms,” she said to Sophie, smiling warmly.

“You are too kind,
madame
.” Sophie had taken a great liking to the older woman.

“Not at all. I will show you my favorite rooms and you and your
grand-mère
will make your choice.”

“May we have adjoining rooms?” Eugenie asked.

“Is that necessary,
Grand-mère
?” Sophie asked, irritated. She wondered what exactly her grandmother expected to happen in this country paradise. A ravishment at the hands of the elderly intellectual men?

Eugenie recalled her conversation with her son. Sophie was a grown woman. “No. Not if you don’t think it so.”

Sophie instantly felt remorse for treating her grandmother badly. “No. I’m sorry. If you would like adjoining rooms, then it will be as you wish.”

Eugenie smiled at the appeasement and backed down. “No. It is not necessary. You are a grown woman, after all, not a child. It was a foolish request.”

The women weaved in and out of several rooms as Madame Necker pointed out certain things about one room and then something else about another.

Sophie chose a room at the far end of one wing of the chateau. It overlooked the woodland trees and river and it was decorated in green, cream and rose, and reminded her of a cool Paris garden.

Her grandmother by chance chose a room in the opposite wing from her. She’d immediately liked the grandeur of the room, which was one of the largest, and the gold furniture was immaculately decorated. It was a decadent room and Madame Necker nodded.

“This room is one of the finest,” she concurred and Eugenie was smug in her acceptance. She had chosen wisely.

***

Madame Necker and Sophie stayed up late the first evening talking before the fire over coffee and biscuits.

“Madame, are you at all concerned about France?” Sophie asked tentatively.

She never spoke of such issues with her grandmother and rarely with her father. Much of her discussions had been at the salon and this open discussion was new to her, though she understood that Madame Necker was of the same mind.

“Concerned?” She pondered the question. “Yes, I see. Concerned. No, my dear Sophie, I’m not concerned. I’m frightened.” Madame Necker moved away from the fire to pour them both another cup of coffee and handed her guest back the cup and saucer.

“Frightened?” Sophie asked. That was such a strong word, she thought. Surely Madame Necker was not frightened.

“Oh yes. You see, my dear Sophie, I have watched my husband for many years. He may not think it, but I have made my own opinions of what has occurred and is occurring still.”

“What has occurred?” she asked.

“We have a weak king.” She sipped her coffee. “There is great animosity between the classes.”

“But surely a king, whether he is weak or not, does not matter. He is king. He will always be king,” Sophie argued.

Madame Necker shook her head. “Oh, my dear. History is filled with kings being overthrown and executed because someone else feels entitled to the throne and has the money and men to do so.”

“But surely we are living in a civilized time—”

“Our queen is not liked and not even French, and I’m afraid this, along with our financial crisis, is leading up to a very uncertain future,” Madame Necker said.

“Financial crisis?” Sophie asked.

“Peasants pay taxes to land owners to grow crops but the taxes are steep and these people barely make a living from their harvests. The king’s court at Versailles is extremely costly and decadent and the king’s support of the war in America, though admirable, was an immense burden financially.” Madame Necker ticked off several grave issues affecting France’s purse.

Sophie shook her head. “I didn’t know.”

Madame Necker shook her head and felt suddenly very world-weary. “Of course you didn’t. You study classics written by dead men. You know several languages, and yet we are on the edge of something here. Right now.”

“Yes, I see that.”

Madame Necker suddenly snapped out of her brooding thoughts. “I’m sorry, Sophie. I am prattling away about such serious issues and I am not behaving as a good hostess should.”

“No, that’s not true. I am grateful to you. I don’t want to be ignorant. I want to be included even if, as you say, the ending is frightening. I want to know.” Sophie spoke with concern, their eyes meeting.

Madame Necker stood up and together they walked through the large marble foyer and upstairs to the wing where Sophie’s room was situated. “Tomorrow Messieurs Marmontel and La Harpe will arrive, so there will be many discussions in the evenings. And you will be included, have no fear.” They stopped outside her bedroom. “And if I’m not mistaken, Germaine is to arrive as well.”

“I shall look forward to it.” Sophie smiled.

She touched the younger woman’s cheek fondly. “This is the garden room and my favorite room. I love the view. Many guests have enjoyed it as well. Good night, my dear.”

“Good night,
madame
.”

***

Eugenie always slept in late in the mornings and would never rise before her cup of chocolate. Sophie wore a simple white gaulle dress with a lavender sash and went downstairs for breakfast. She was alone.

In the dining room, she helped herself to tea, bread and butter and a handful of strawberries from the sideboard before she decided to explore the grounds. She went upstairs for her parasol and quietly left the chateau by the large French doors adjacent to the dining hall.

As she walked onto the green lawns she turned back to look at the chateau. It was a magnificent building with three floors of rooms, and she had heard Madame Necker say there were sixteen bedrooms as well as a billiards room, library, formal dining room and sitting room on the ground floor. Red bricks dotted the outside of the building, creating a lovely contrast with the white ones.

It was a grand building and Sophie felt quite dwarfed by its size. The morning was just beginning and the smell of dew on the grass was heavy in the air. She picked up her hem and held on to her parasol as she walked beyond the green expansive lawns and into a lane with deep grooves from the carriages passing.

The trees created a pretty effect of covering the lane as she walked. From her room she had watched the river wind through the property and she wanted to follow it to see where it led. She veered off the large lane and walked near the river’s edge, following it as it snaked along.

She smelled the earth and breathed in deeply. There was such a simple, sweet feeling of breathing in the clean air, so different from the dirty city air in Paris. The small river was flowing at a slow pace and she had been walking for only a short time when she found a large tree to rest under.

She wished that she had thought to bring a book because the day was so lovely and fine. Before she realized it, she was suddenly sleepy and drifted off.

***

An hour passed before Sophie awoke and she continued to follow the river for a bit longer. She passed a simple bridge of wood that spanned across the water’s length and she walked across it and returned back. There were several large rocks in the water and the depth of it she guessed to be no more than ten feet at its deepest and a few inches at its shallowest.

It was a quaint feeling to be walking along this river and she felt like a woodland fairy. She saw some thatched roofs coming into view behind the trees and wondered if she was still on the chateau grounds or if she had come upon a village. She surmised it must be a village.

She had not seen another person in the entire time since she had left the chateau and she quite liked that feeling. In Paris there was always a crush of people no matter where she went and she didn’t mind—it was a large metropolitan city, after all. But to be in this quiet country had a calming effect on her.

She returned to the chateau, following the river again. She walked back through the trees, the wide lane and green lawns entering the chateau. She saw her grandmother enjoying breakfast with Madame Necker and she joined the women.

“You have a lovely color in your cheeks, Sophie,” Madame Necker remarked as she sipped her tea.

“I was out exploring. I walked along the lane and then the river. It’s charming,” Sophie sat across from the women.

“All alone? Was that wise?” Eugenie asked.

Sophie smiled. “Yes. All alone. And it was entirely wise. Join me on my next outing,
Grand-mère
.”

“No, I think not. I’m not a great walker. But if you enjoyed yourself, that is all that matters.” Eugenie nodded.

“I did.” She kissed her grandmother’s cheek and left the ladies to their breakfast.

***

That evening, Marmontel and La Harpe arrived and were settled into their rooms before dinner. Sophie dressed in a simple gown of apricot silk in a style less flamboyant than one she would have chosen for a Paris evening.

She passed by the library and heard Madame Necker speaking to the housekeeper. She passed along into the sitting room where her grandmother sat before the fire with a glass of wine.

“All right. Let me see. So Madame Gauvreau is in the gold room,” Madame Necker noted.

“Yes,” came the reply.

“Mademoiselle Sophie is in the garden room. Marmontel is in the blue room and La Harpe is in the red room.”

“That is so.”

“Germaine will arrive this evening and have her room, of course,” Madame Necker said.

“Yes,
madame
.”

“The other guests are arriving the day after tomorrow. So of course they may have their pick of what is left. Make certain the room list is circulated so there is no mix-up of the rooms already taken.”

The housekeeper nodded.

“I know
le duc
likes the gold room, but I could not refuse Madame Gauvreau,” Madame Necker supplied.

Again the housekeeper nodded. “Yes.”

“All right. Let the staff know where everyone is. I don’t want any problems this week.”

The housekeeper departed at the dismissal.

***

Sophie stayed with her grandmother in the salon and helped herself to a glass of sherry as the guests began trickling in. Marmontel and La Harpe joined the small group for dinner while Germaine met everyone for coffee following dinner.

“Sophie!” She kissed the younger woman on both cheeks.

“Germaine!” Sophie liked the lively young woman and enjoyed her company.

“I’m so pleased
Mère
was able to convince you to join us,” she said, smiling at everyone.

“Your mother is very gracious. I did not expect the invitation, nor such attention.”

“Nonsense. You are a better addition than anyone.” Germaine settled into the couch next to her friend while coffee was passed to everyone.