Bertrice Small - The Duchess

The next day dawned gray and damp. A light rain fell, but the winds were steady, and the seas relatively calm. The Seagull seemed to skip along the waves easily. Bobby brought them a platter of eggs, ham, and buttered brown bread. They ate gingerly, waiting to see if their food settled, but it did. They spent the day playing cards for imaginary stakes, except for Honor and the duke. Allegra's maid went over each garment Madame Paul had supplied, making certain every piece was ready to don come the morning. The duke walked the deck of the yacht as he considered what they were attempting to do lor the hundredth time. It was madness, he knew, and yet friendship demanded that they help the countess and her children.

Captain Grant joined him at one point, saying, "If the winds keep up, Your Grace, we should anchor some time tonight, late."

"How far is it into the town?" Quinton Hunter asked.

"Only a mile and a bit, Your Grace."

"You know the town?"

"Aye," the captain nodded.

"We'll need a horse and a cart," the duke told him.

"I know a man," the captain offered, "but it will cost, and you must pay in French coin, not English."

"Agreed. You will go with us?"

"Nay," the captain said. "It is better that you not be seen in Harfleur, Your Grace. These days everyone watches, and strangers are easily and quickly ferreted out."

"You are known then," the duke noted.

"I am. I will fetch the horse and cart. My friend will think it is to meet the man who helps me smuggle certain items. I always leave the horse and cart at a set location afterward so I am not seen. Let me make the arrangements, Your Grace. The cove where we will anchor is just below the road you must take to reach the Countess d'Aumont. The d'Aumonts are well known in the region for their charity. The people were devastated when the count was executed in Paris. It would not have happened here. The man with the horse and cart has a sister who labors on the d'Aumont farm. When the earl told me who you were attempting to rescue, 1 was glad that I could be of help to you."

"Thank you, Captain Grant," the duke replied.

"I will ask my friend what he knows regarding the countess's arrest," Captain Grant said.

"No, do not," the duke advised. "This man is willing to deal with you because it puts money in his pocket in particularly hard times, but he is a loyal Frenchman first. If you attempt to compromise his loyalties he may turn on you. Let him, as you have earlier suggested, believe you are merely here to smuggle wine and other goods as you usually do. Do not arouse his suspicions by even mentioning the Comtesse d'Aumont."

"You are absolutely right, my lord," Captain Grant said.

Just before sunset, although the entire day had been gray, they could just make out the outline of the French coast in the hazy distance. The duke explained to his companions that the captain would fetch them a horse and a cart for their journey. They would leave as soon after the dawn as they possibly could. They ate ham, bread, and cheese for their evening meal, drinking a rather good wine which warmed them and eased them all into sleep.

***

Bobby, the cabin boy, awoke the duke as soon as the captain departed the ship to row himself ashore. Awakened, the women stepped out onto the deck of the yacht into a chill and dank darkness, allowing the gentlemen to change into their costumes. They did not speak. The three men exiting the cabin some minutes later did not look at all like three English milords. The women returned to the cabin to change into their own garments. When they were dressed but for their mobcaps, Honor loosened their hair, tangling it, and rubbing dirt from a jar she had carried with her into their tresses. Then she passed the jar around, suggesting they dirty themselves on their faces and about the neck where their collars rested.

"Plain folk don't bathe as much as your fine ladies do," she told them in her perfect French.

"She truly can speak French," Caroline squealed.

"And you had better, lady, from now on," Honor advised. "Sound carries over the water, and we don't know who is listening."

As the maidservant's words died they all looked at one another, realizing the game, this dangerous game, was now truly on, and a careless slip of the tongue could destroy them all.

Eunice, Countess of Aston, swallowed visibly, suddenly shaken, but seeing Allegra's look of alarm, said calmly in her rather good French, "It is all right, Allegra. I am afraid, but ready to do my part."

"We cannot call ourselves by our own Christian names," Allegra said softly. "We will need simple French names. I will be Marie. Honor, you are the only one who can keep her name. Honneur. Eunice, you are now Jeanne, and Caroline, Prunelle. We must tell the men, and rechristen them as well." She pulled her mobcap over her long snarled black hair. "Allons, mes amies!" The four women exited the cabin.

The name change explained to them, the gentlemen became Joseph, the duke; Pierre, the earl; and Michel, Lord Walworth. Then they waited. When the captain returned they exchanged places with him in the rowboat.

"Gawd, your lordships, I wouldn't have recognized you, but that I know it is you," he exclaimed softly. "You will find the cart and the horse at the top of the path. How long should I wait?"

"Until we return, Captain Grant, unless you find yourself and my yacht in danger," the earl said. "I do not know how long it will take us to retrieve the comtesse and her family. With luck we shall be back by nightfall."

"I'll keep a single light burning at the stern of the vessel, my lord," Captain Grant said. "God bless you all, and bring you safely back to us quickly, and madame countess with you."

The duke rowed their little boat to the shore. Getting out, they pulled it up upon the beach, the sand crunching beneath their wooden shoes, then began the climb up the hillside. They were in France. The game was indeed on!

The Comtesse d'Aumont stared disbelieving at the man before her. He was stocky and of medium height. There was enough of her late husband in his face to make his words unreal. She could not believe what he was saying.

"You were his brother," she finally managed to say. "You are a d'Aumont."

"Half brother," he corrected her. "I was our father's bastard."

"You were raised with him. You were with him your whole life," Anne-Marie d'Aumont cried. "He loved and respected you."

"We were five years apart in age," the man replied. "I was raised to be his servant. I was the older, and yet he was the heir, only for an accident of birth. Now I shall have what rightfully belongs to me."

"This estate belongs to my son, the Comte d'Aumont," Anne-Marie said, her voice shaking. "Jean-Robert is the heir to Le Verger."

"Did I ever tell you how I was conceived, madame? My mother came into this house as a servant at the age of twelve. My father raped her when she was thirteen. I was born when she was fourteen. She died shortly thereafter, and I was raised by my grandmère."

"Do not think to shock me, Reynaud," the comtesse said. "I know how you came into being, but your father was drunk when he attacked your mother. That does not excuse his crime. It was bestial, but he never touched her again. And he paid your grandmère to care for you. She wanted to put you out on a hillside for the wild animals. Did you know that? He would not permit it, for you were his very flesh. He paid her very generously to look after you, although she used precious little of his coin for your care. That is why when you were four he brought you into the house to be raised by his wife, along with the baby she was carrying. Rachelle d'Aumont was good to you, Reynaud. And your lather tried to make up for what he had done to your mother as best he could. And my husband, your brother, treated you as an equal all his life."

"Yes," Reynaud said. "Jean-Claude was a good brother, 1 will admit. That is what made it so hard for me to betray him. But alas, I had no choice."

"What are you saying?" she gasped, going pale, her heart beating violently against her chest. My God! My God! It could not be.

"Once we were in Paris it was very easy for me to put a note in one of those boxes the Committee for Public Safety scattered about the city to give anonymity to those wishing to expose traitors to the new regime. They are very efficient in Paris. Jean-Claude was quickly arrested. I, of course, was fortunate to escape the authorities, and I knew my dear little brother would not expose me as his companion. I went to see him beheaded, and even walked alongside the tumbrel as it took him to the guillotine. He begged me to see to your safety, and that of his children. He had absolutely no idea that it was I who had betrayed him." Reynaud smiled, and the smile was so like her husband's that Anne-Marie cried out as if in pain.

"Monster!" she accused.

"Then I returned here, and joined our local Committee for Public Safety. I became so invaluable, so skilled in hunting out the enemies of the people, that the authorities in Harfleur gave me total authority over the committee in St. Jean Baptiste. I am the one responsible for your arrest, Citizeness d'Aumont. Your fate is in my hands entirely." He laughed aloud.

"God will punish you, Reynaud," she told him. "You cannot hide from God."

"I am arranging," he continued as if she had not spoken, "for your son to be sent to the army."

"He is ten years old!" she shrieked at him. Then she began to tremble as the realization of how helpless she was penetrated her consciousness.

"Old enough to carry water, or ammunition, or if he pleases the men in his unit with his elegant behavior, he might even become a little drummer boy for his regiment. You need not worry, citi-zeness, my nephew is a pretty little fellow. He will find friends to protect him."

His meaning was very obvious, and the Comtesse d'Aumont was unable to suppress a shudder of revulsion. "No," she cried weakly.

"And as for your daughter, I have arranged for her to be apprenticed to a glovemaker in Paris. She will learn to be useful, Citizeness, and not grow up to be a worthless little aristo. The glovemaker told me that he likes young girls." He smiled again. "He will take good care of my niece, I am certain." He chuckled knowingly.

"Please," the comtesse pleaded, "please, I beg you! Do what you will with me, but leave my children alone. We will leave Le Verger. It is yours. I have family in England that I can go to for shelter and aid. I will do whatever you want. Just do not harm my babies!" She fell to her knees before him, and clutched at his jacket. "Please!" The tears were streaming down her pretty face.

He looked on her dispassionately, his brown eyes cold, cruel. "Anything, Citizeness?" he said softly. Loosening his breeches he pulled out his flaccid manhood. "Anything?" he repeated.

"Anything," she sobbed brokenly. She would do what she must to save her children.

"Very well then, open your mouth, Citizeness, and entertain my rod. If you please me we will speak further on these matters. Now, suck, you aristocratic bitch. Suck!" His fingers cruelly dug into her head, threading themselves into her thick brown hair.

Anne-Marie d'Aumont closed her eyes and obeyed as she prayed that God would forgive her; her dead husband and their parents would forgive her; that she would one day forgive herself. But she had no other choice. She had to save the children! Why, oh why, had she not taken her English uncle up on his offer to shelter them when he had first made it? She knew now that she could not trust Reynaud d'Aumont, but she had to hope his desire for Le Verger was greater than his need to punish the legitimate branch of the d'Aumont family for their existence. That if she let him have his way with her, he would let them all go. She felt his flesh growing thicker in her mouth, and sucked harder on him.

"Ahh, yes, you little bitch," he groaned, his eyes closing with the pleasure she was giving him. "You are skillful indeed. That's it. That's it! Ah! Ah! Ahhhhh!" His fingers loosened their grip on her tresses, and he sighed with his release.