The Silk Vendetta (50 page)

Later that day the news was out. The mystery was solved. “The Silk Vendetta” proclaimed the headlines. “The long standing feud between two branches of the same family. The story of Sallon Silk which should have been St. Allengere Silk.”

There was speculation everywhere. Sallongers would be in trouble. This would ruin them. The French firm would demand crippling damages; but the main interest was in the solution of the mystery.

Drake came to see me. I was dreading the meeting.

He took both my hands and looked earnestly at me. He was like a man who has suddenly cast off a crippling burden.

“I feel free, Lenore,” he said. “I can’t get used to it.”

But I was not free. I was caught up in a web from which I could not escape—a web which Gaston de la Tour had woven round me. I knew that I was foolish. I knew that a peaceful dignified life could lie ahead of me with Drake—but always my thoughts would be in Carsonne.

Drake went on: “This means so much to us, Lenore.”

I was silent. I could not meet his eyes.

He said: “You don’t want to marry me, do you? Is it this Comte? He went to a great deal of trouble. Are you going to marry him?”

“Marry him! He has never suggested such a thing. Drake, I’m sorry. I’m so fond of you, but I have a feeling that it would not be right. You made one mistake. You must not make another.”

“With you, Lenore, I feel I could face anything. It won’t be easy after all this. Even though one is shown not to be guilty it is never wholly accepted. Perhaps you will change your mind.”

“Drake, please understand.”

“I do understand. I know we should have a good life together.”

“People would always remember that we had been suspected of being lovers while Julia was alive. They would always believe it of us. It would harm your career.”

“We could live that down. We could fight together. I would get back everything I have lost… if only we were together.”

I nodded. I thought perhaps I might.

The next day the Comte called. He took my hand and kissed it looking at me with that half mocking expression which I knew so well.

“So,” he said, “the news is out. It made exciting reading. The whole of London is reading of the Silk Vendetta. How does it feel to be one of the central figures in such a story?”

“Embarrassing.”

“Believe me, it will be forgotten in a few weeks. Something else will turn up and lo! … Who are these Sallongers? It will not be over for Monsieur Charles, of course. He will have to pay rather highly for his sins, I do believe. But why should we concern ourselves with that gentleman? I have come to tell you that I have decided to marry. I thought you should be the first to know.”

I hoped I did not show my feelings. I was suddenly so wretched. I should have guessed, of course. It would be some member of the old French aristocracy … someone whose family had survived the holocaust of the Revolution as his had done.

“Yes,” he went on. “Raoul has been very ill. He nearly died in that fall. It set me thinking. I used to feel I had done my duty by providing the heir. But the family needs more than one heir … life being so precarious.”

“I see. So you have decided to marry again?”

He nodded. “We have always had marriages of convenience in our family. It was considered a duty. Noblesse oblige and that kind of thing. And now the time has come for me to contract such a marriage. I must first of all consult you.”

“Why?”

“Because it concerns you, of course.”

He put his arm about me and held me tightly against him. “What suits rny convenience has always been my chief concern … and this would suit me very well. What do you say? Could you give up your great business interests to become the Comtesse de Carsonne? Could you change your modish style of life for one of feudal customs? It is no use saying No. I warn you in advance. I have promised Raoul that he shall have the company of the delectable Mademoiselle Katie each day. What do you say?”

“You are asking me. …”

”Who else could possibly suit my convenience but the one who inspires me with emotions which I have never felt before? It is love, I suppose.”

Waves of great joy swept over me. I felt so happy. But I thought: This can’t be true.

”My dear one,” he said, ”you do not look overjoyed.”

“I am too overjoyed to feel anything but shock.”

“So I have your agreement?”

“You … you have made up your mind.”

“How well you know me! You would not have been allowed to refuse. It is well to understand the man you are going to marry.”

I laid my head against him and let myself become suffused with happiness.

“The good Grand’mere must be told,” he said. “The chateau is vast. There will be room for her. She must be with you for I know what she means to you. Besides, with her I am not the chosen one. I look forward to skirmishes with that redoubtable lady. We have only one thing in common, she and I, but that is the most important thing in the world to us—our sweet Lenore. She will do her best to dissuade you, you know.”

“I know.”

“She will tell you that you are making a big mistake. You should take the virtuous Drake. You are going to a life which is different from anything you have known, with a man who is not of her choice. What shall you say, Lenore?”

“I shall say that is where I want to go … and what I will find will be what I could never have come to miss.”

“That is what I hoped to hear,” he said. “Now let us go together and face the dragon.”