Adrienne by Amy Le Feuvre

"AUNT CECILY, did you know that Cousin Guy was married?"

The Countess looked her astonishment as Adrienne put this question to her after dinner.

"No; but I should never be surprised at anything he did," she said, recovering her equanimity very quickly. "He is very reserved and secretive. Who has been talking to you?"

"He has. I think he will tell you about it himself to-morrow. I don't know the rights of it, but it evidently was not a happy marriage, as she left him very soon, and died a few months later."

"I believe," the Countess said thoughtfully, "that dear Philippe must have known it. I dare say he did not care to trouble me with the details. I never cared for Guy or for his concerns. But dear Philippe said to me when he lay dying: 'My dearest, if we ever have grandchildren, I should like them to know this home of theirs! ' I did not pay much attention then; but really Guy may have a dozen children for all I know."

"He has not a dozen," said Adrienne very quietly; "but he has one. He thought the child was dead, then heard he was not, and went off to America to look for him."

"And has he found it? Is it a boy or a girl?"

The Countess was sitting up in her chair now and looking interested.

"A boy. He is at the farm. I saw him this evening. Cousin Guy said I could tell you. You will be able to hear about it all to-morrow."

"A boy!"

The Countess repeated it to herself, then subsided upon her cushions again.

"I really don't see that his family has anything to do with us, Adrienne. He must board him out somewhere if he is small. French children generally have foster-mothers, you know. It doesn't concern us. I cannot imagine Guy with a child to look after. But it is treating me very strangely to withhold this information from me. I always say he is a most unnatural stepson. I ought to have been told before."

Adrienne tried to soothe her ruffled feelings. She was relieved to find that Guy was right in his conjectures; that his stepmother would not be disturbed by his news. The child itself was of no interest to her. She did not even ask Adrienne for a description of him, and in a few moments she was full of her Orleans friends, and she kept up an animated conversation with Adrienne till bedtime over the possible gaieties when she had settled in her flat.

The next morning Guy arrived over for his business talk. But the Countess would not discuss any business before déjeuner. At twelve o'clock they adjourned to the library and then Guy plunged into the matter in hand. He told his stepmother that his lawyer held many proofs of Monsieur Bouverie's dishonesty, that he meant to have the matter cleared up, and that at three o'clock that afternoon both lawyers were coming to have an interview with him at the Château.

"There is no doubt," said Guy gravely, "that I shall be able to prevent him taking possession here next Tuesday, but the question is, ma mère, about yourself. What are your wishes about continuing to live here? Do you not prefer Orleans? In the winter I know you do; and I should suggest your making no alteration in your plans, but go there on the date you have settled. But would you like to return next summer?"

"I may not be alive then," said the Countess, feeling for her handkerchief. "Of course I do not wish to be turned out of my dear husband's home. Is it likely that I should? It is the dreadful penury in which I live which is my greatest trial."

"Well-now listen to me, ma mère. I am hoping I shall be able to square things up, and we'll make a fresh start, but with this difference: that I take over the Château as well as the farm and run it on my own. You have tried to do it and have failed. Now I'll have a try and hope I may succeed. I have changed in my views somewhat-lately. I'm tired of a roving life and I mean to settle down. If I go away at all, it will be for a couple of months in the winter. I want to relieve you of the whole care and responsibility of this place. If buy it back, or get it back from your little notary, it must be for myself, but with the understanding that, for as long as you live, you can consider it as your home. I will pay for all repairs, all wages; I will run the house on my own lines, and I see that I shall have to spend a good sum on outside decoration as well as the inside. I shall welcome you every summer as my guest-in fact, at any time of the year you like to come; but as far as money goes, you will have your own marriage settlement, which has not been touched by this scoundrel, and I think I shall be able to afford you from the estate an extra two hundred a year. Will this suit you? I think you will enjoy the freedom of all care and anxiety. And you ought to be able to live comfortably on your income in your Orleans flat."

The Countess listened to her stepson rather more quietly than he had expected; she appeared to be weighing it in her mind, for she was absolutely silent for a few minutes. Then she said:

"And how will you, a man, be able to run this big house satisfactorily? I little thought that, after promising me I could have this for my life, you would now be turning me out."

"No, ma mère, Monsieur Bouverie has turned you out. You have sold the Château to him. Your possession comes to an end. If I buy it back, I buy it back for myself. But you can still look upon it as your home. Your rooms will be always ready for you. Everything in them that you have always had."