Books: Jeanne Of The Marshes
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E. Phillips Oppenheim >> Jeanne Of The Marshes
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The Duke, who was well acquainted with the house in which they
were, led Jeanne into a small retiring room and found her an easy
chair.
"My dear young lady," he said, "I hope you will not be disappointed,
but I have not danced for ten years. I brought you here because I
wanted to say something to you."
Jeanne looked up at him a little surprised.
"Something to me?" she repeated.
He bowed.
"Andrew de la Borne is one of my oldest and best friends," he said,
"and what I am going to say to you is a little for his sake,
although I am sure that if I knew you better I should say it also
for your own. You must not be annoyed or offended, because I am old
enough to be your father, and what I say I say altogether for your
own good. They tell me that you are a young lady with a great
fortune, and you know that nowadays half the evil that is done in
the world is done for the sake of money. Frankly, without wishing to
say a word against your stepmother, I consider that for a young girl
you are placed in a very difficult and dangerous position. The man
Forrest--mind you must not be offended if he should be a friend of
yours--but I am bound to tell you that I believe him to be an
unscrupulous adventurer, and I am afraid that your stepmother is
very much under his influence. You have no other relatives or
friends in this country, and I hear that a man named De Brensault is
a suitor for your hand."
"I shall never marry him," Jeanne said firmly. "I think that he is
detestable."
"I am glad to hear you say so," the Duke continued, "because he is
not a man whom I would allow any young lady for whom I had any shade
of respect or affection, to become acquainted with. Now the fact
that your stepmother deliberately encourages him makes me fear that
you may find yourself at any moment in a very difficult position. I
do not wish to say anything against your friends or your stepmother.
I hope you will believe that. But nowadays people who are poor
themselves, but who know the value and the use of money, are tempted
to do things for the sake of it which are utterly unworthy and
wrong. I want you to understand that if any time you should need a
friend it will give me very great happiness indeed to be of any
service to you I can. I am a bachelor, it is true, but I am old
enough to be your father, and I can bring you into touch at once
with friends more suitable for you and your station. Will you come
to me, or send for me, if you find yourself in any sort of trouble?"
She said very little, but she looked at him for a moment with her
wonderful eyes, very soft with unshed tears.
"You are very, very kind," she said. "I have been very unhappy, and
I have felt very lonely. It will make everything seem quite
different to know there is some one to whom I may come for advice
if--if--"
"I know, dear," the Duke interrupted, rising and holding out his
arm. "I know quite well what you mean. All I can say is, don't be
afraid to come or to send, and don't let any one bully you into
throwing away your life upon a scoundrel like De Brensault. I am
going to give you back to Andrew now. He is a good fellow--one of
the best. I only wish--"
The Duke broke off short. After all, he remembered, he had no right
to complete his sentence. Andrew, he felt, was no more of a marrying
man than he himself, and he was the last person in the world to ever
think of marrying a great heiress. They found him waiting about
outside.
"I must relinquish my charge," the Duke said smiling. "You will not
forget, Miss Le Mesurier?"
"I am never likely to," she answered gratefully.
CHAPTER VII
The Count de Brensault had seldom been in a worse temper. That
Jeanne should have flouted him was not in itself so terrible,
because he had quite made up his mind that sooner or later he would
take a coward's revenge for the slights he had been made to endure
at her hands. But that he should have been flouted in the presence
of a whole roomful of people, that he should have been deliberately
left for another man, was a different matter altogether. His first
impulse when Jeanne left him, was to walk out of the house and have
nothing more to say to the Princess or Jeanne herself. The world was
full of girls perfectly willing to tumble into his arms, and mothers
only too anxious to push them there. Why should he put himself in
this position for Jeanne, great heiress though she might be? But
somehow or other, after he had tossed off two glasses of champagne
at the buffet, he realized that his fancy for her was a real thing,
and one from which he could not so readily escape. If she had wished
to deliberately attract him, she could scarcely have chosen means
more calculated to attain that end than by this avowed indifference,
even dislike. He sat by himself in a small smoking-room and thought
of her--her slim girlish perfection of figure and bearing, her
perfect complexion, her beautiful eyes, her scarlet lips. All these
things came into his mind as he sat there, until he felt his cheeks
flush with the desire to succeed, and his eyes grow bright at the
thought of the time when he should hold her in his arms and take
what revenge he chose for these slights. No! he would not let her
go, he determined. Dignified or undignified, he would pursue her to
the end, only he must have an understanding with the Princess,
something definite must be done. He would not run the risk again of
being made a laughing-stock before all his friends. Forrest found
him in exactly the mood most suitable for his purpose.
"Come and talk to the Princess," he said. "She has something to say
to you."
De Brensault rose somewhat heavily to his feet.
"And I," he said, "I, too, have something to say to her. We will
take a glass of champagne together, my friend Forrest, and then we
will seek the Princess."
Forrest nodded.
"By all means," he said. "To tell you the truth I need it."
De Brensault looked at him curiously.
"You are very pale, my friend," he said. "You look as though things
were not going too well with you."
"I have been annoyed," Forrest answered. "There is a man here whom I
dislike, and it made me angry to see him with Miss Jeanne. I think
myself that the time has come when something definite must be done
as regards that child. She is too young to be allowed to run loose
like this, and a great deal too inexperienced."
"I agree with you," De Brensault said solemnly. "We will drink that
glass of wine together, and we will go and talk to the Princess."
They found the Princess where Forrest had left her. She motioned to
De Brensault to sit by her side, and Forrest left them.
"My dear Count," the Princess said, "to-night has proved to me that
it is quite time Jeanne had some one to look after her. Let me ask
you. Are you perfectly serious in your suit?"
"Absolutely!" De Brensault answered eagerly. "I myself would like
the matter settled. I propose to you for her hand."
The Princess bowed her head thoughtfully.
"Now, my dear Count," she said, "I am going to talk to you as a
woman of the world. You know that my husband, in leaving his fortune
entirely to Jeanne, treated me very badly. You may know this, or you
may not know it, but the fact remains that I am a very poor woman."
De Brensault nodded sympathetically. He guessed pretty well what was
coming.
"If I," the Princess continued, "assist you to gain my stepdaughter
Jeanne for your wife, and the control of all her fortune, it is only
fair," she continued, "that I should be recompensed in some way for
the allowance which I have been receiving as her guardian, and which
will then come to an end. I do not ask for anything impossible or
unreasonable. I want you to give me twenty thousand pounds the day
that you marry Jeanne. It is about one year's income for her rentes,
a mere trifle to you, of course."
"Twenty thousand pounds," De Brensault repeated reflectively.
The Princess nodded. She was sorry that she had not asked thirty
thousand.
"I am not a mercenary woman," she said. "If I were not almost a
pauper I would accept nothing. As it is, I think you will call my
proposal a very fair one."
"The exact amount of Mademoiselle Jeanne's dot," he remarked, "has
never been discussed between us."
"The figures are altogether beyond me," the Princess said. "To tell
you the truth I have never had the heart to go into them. I have
always thought it terribly unfair that my husband should have left
me nothing but an annuity, and this great fortune to the child.
However, as you are both rich, it seems to me that settlements will
not be necessary. On your honeymoon you can go and see her trustees
in Paris, and you yourself will, of course, then take over the
management of her fortune."
De Brensault looked thoughtful for a moment or two.
"Perhaps," he said, "it would be better if I had a business
interview with her trustees before the ceremony."
"Just as you like," the Princess answered carelessly. "Monsieur
Laplanche is in Cairo just now, but he will be back in Paris in a
few weeks' time. Perhaps you would rather delay everything until
then?"
"No!" De Brensault said, after a moment's hesitation. "I would like
to delay nothing. I would like to marry Mademoiselle Jeanne at once,
if it can be arranged."
"To tell you the truth," the Princess said, "I think it would be
much the best way out of a very difficult situation. I am finding
Jeanne very difficult to manage, and I am quite sure that she will
be happier and better off married. I am proposing, if you are
willing, to exercise my authority absolutely. If she shows the
slightest reluctance to accept you, I propose that we all go over to
Paris. I shall know how to arrange things there."
De Brensault smiled. The prospect of winning Jeanne at any cost
became more and more attractive to him. The Princess, who was
looking at him through half closed eyes, saw that he was perfectly
safe.
"And now, my dear Count," she said, "I am going to ask you a favour.
I am doing for you something for which you ought to be grateful to
me all your life. For a mere trifle which will not recompense me in
the least for what I am giving up, I am finding you one of the most
desirable brides in Europe. I want you to help me a little."
"What is it that I can do?" he asked.
"Let me have five thousand pounds on account of what you are going
to give me, to-morrow morning," she said coolly.
De Brensault hesitated. He was prepared to pay for what he wanted,
but five thousand pounds was nevertheless a great deal of money.
"I would not ask you," the Princess continued, "if I were not really
hard up. I have been gambling, a foolish thing to do, and I do not
want to sell my securities, because I know that very soon they will
pay me over and over again. Will you do this for me? Remember, I am
giving you my word that Jeanne is to be yours."
"Make it three thousand," De Brensault said slowly. "Three thousand
pounds I will send you a cheque for, to-morrow morning."
The Princess nodded.
"As you will," she said. "I think if I were you, though, I should
make it five. However, I shall leave it for you to do what you can.
Now will you take me out into the ballroom. I am going to look for
Jeanne."
They found her at supper with the Duke and Andrew and a very great
lady, a connection of the Duke's, who was one of those few who had
refused to accept the Princess. The Princess swept up to the little
party and laid her hand upon Jeanne's shoulder.
"I do not want to hurry you, dear," she said, "but when you have
finished supper I should be glad to go. We have to go on to
Dorchester House, you know."
Jeanne sighed. She had been enjoying herself very much indeed.
"I am ready now," she said, standing up, "but must we go to
Dorchester House? I would so much rather go straight home. I have
not had such a good time since I have been in London."
The Duke offered her his arm, ignoring altogether Count De
Brensault, who was standing by.
"At least," he said, "you will permit me to see you to your
carriage."
The Princess smiled graciously. It was bad enough to be ignored, as
she certainly was to some extent, but on the other hand it was good
for De Brensault to see Jeanne held in such esteem. She took his arm
and they followed down the room. The Duke was bending down and
talking earnestly to Jeanne; this surprised the Princess.
"I wonder," she remarked, more to herself than to her companion,
"what he is saying."
De Brensault shrugged his shoulders.
"I do not care," he said. "We will keep to our bargain, you and I.
In a few days it will be my arm that she shall take, and nobody
else's. Perhaps I shall be a little jealous. Who can say? In a
little time she will not mind."
"Remember," the Duke was saying, as he drew Jeanne's hand through
his arm, "that I was very much in earnest in what I said to you just
now. I have seen a good deal of the world, and you nothing at all,
and I cannot help believing that the time when you may need some
one's help is a good deal nearer than you yourself imagine."
"I wonder," she asked, a little timidly, "why you are so kind to
me?"
"I accept you upon trust," the Duke said, "for the sake of my friend
Andrew. I know that he lives out of the world, and has not much
experience in judging others, but I do believe that when he has made
up his mind about anybody, he is generally right. Frankly, from what
I have heard, and a little that I know, I am afraid that I should
have been suspicious about even a child like you, because of your
associates. But because I believe in you, I am all the more sure
that very soon you are going to find yourself in trouble. It is
agreed, remember, that when that time comes you will remember that I
am your friend."
"I will remember," she murmured. "I am not likely to forget. Except
for you and Mr. De la Borne, no one has been really kind to me since
I left school. They all say foolish things, and try to make me like
them, because I am a great heiress, but one understands how much
that is worth."
The Duke looked at her, and seemed half inclined to say something.
Whatever it may have been, however, he thought better of it. He
contented himself with taking her hand in his and shaking it warmly.
"Good night," he said, "little Miss Jeanne, and remember, No. 51,
Grosvenor Square. If I am not there, I have a very nice old
housekeeper who will look after you until I turn up."
"No. 51," she repeated softly. "No, I shall not forget!"
CHAPTER VIII
The Princess and Jeanne drove homewards in a silence which remained
unbroken until the last few minutes. The events of the evening had
been somewhat perplexing to the former. She scarcely understood even
now why a great personage like the Duke of Westerham had shown such
interest in her charge.
"Tell me, Jeanne," she asked at last, "why is the Duke of Westerham
so friendly with your fisherman?"
Jeanne raised her eyebrows slightly.
"'My fisherman,' as you call him," she answered, "is, after all,
Andrew de la Borne! They were at school together."
"That is all very well," the Princess answered, "but I cannot see
what possible sympathy there can be between them now. Their stations
in life are altogether different. You talked with the Duke for some
time, Jeanne?"
"He was very kind to me," Jeanne answered.
"Did he give you any idea," the Princess asked, "as to why he was
staying down at Salthouse with Mr. Andrew?"
"None at all," Jeanne answered.
"You know very well," the Princess continued, "of what I am
thinking. Did he speak to you at all of Major Forrest?"
"Not a word," Jeanne answered.
"Of his brother, then?"
"He did not mention his name," Jeanne declared.
"He asked you no questions at all about anything which may have
happened at the Red Hall?"
Jeanne shook her head.
"Certainly not!"
"You do not think, then," the Princess persisted, "that it was for
the sake of gaining information about his brother that he talked
with you so much?"
"Why should I think so?" Jeanne asked. "He scarcely mentioned any of
your names even. He talked to me simply out of kindness, and I think
because he knew that Mr. Andrew and I were friends."
The Princess smiled.
"You seem," she remarked, "to have made quite a conquest. I
congratulate you. The Duke has not the reputation of being an easy
man to get on with."
The carriage pulled up before their house in Berkeley Square, and
the Princess did not pursue the subject, but as Jeanne left her for
the night, her stepmother called her back.
"To-morrow morning," she said, "I should be glad if you would come
to my room at twelve o'clock, I have something to say to you."
Jeanne slept well that night. For the first time she felt that she
had lost the feeling of friendlessness which for the last few weeks
had constantly oppressed her. Andrew de la Borne was back in London,
and the Duke, who seemed to have some sort of understanding as to
the troubles which were likely to beset her, had gone out of his way
to offer her his help. She felt now that she would not have to fight
her stepmother's influence unaided. Yet when she sought her room at
twelve o'clock the next morning she had very little idea of the sort
of fight which she might indeed have to make.
The Princess had already spent an hour at her toilette. Her hair was
carefully arranged and her face massaged. She received her
stepdaughter with some show of affection, and bade her sit close to
her.
"Jeanne," she said, "you are now nearly twenty years old. For many
reasons I wish to see you married. The Count de Brensault formally
proposed for you last night. He is coming at three o'clock this
afternoon for his answer."
Jeanne sat upright in her chair. Her stepmother noticed a new air of
determination in the poise of her head, and the firm lines of her
mouth.
"The Count might have spared himself the trouble," she said. "He
knows very well what my answer will be. I think that you know, too.
It is no, most emphatically and decidedly! I will not marry the
Count de Brensault."
"Before you express yourself so irrevocably," the Princess said
calmly, "I should like you to understand that it is my wish that you
accept his offer."
"In all ordinary matters," Jeanne answered, "I am prepared to obey
you. In this, no! I think that I have the right to choose my husband
for myself, or at any rate to approve of whomever you may select. I-
-do not approve of the Count de Brensault. I do not care for him,
and I never could care for him, and I will not marry him!"
The Princess said nothing for several moments. Then she moved toward
the door which led into her sleeping chamber, where her maid was
still busy, and turned the key in the lock.
"Jeanne," she said when she returned, "I think it is time that you
were told something which I am afraid will be a shock to you. This
great fortune of yours, of which you have heard so much, and which
has been so much talked about, is a myth."
"What do you mean?" Jeanne asked, looking at her stepmother with
startled eyes.
"Exactly what I say," the Princess continued. "Your father made huge
gifts to his relatives during the last few years of his life, and he
left enormous sums in charity. To you he left the remainder of his
estate, which all the world believed to amount to at least a million
pounds. But when things came to be realized, all his securities
seemed to have depreciated. The legacies were paid in cash. The
depreciation of his fortune all fell upon you. When everything had
been paid, there was something like twenty-five thousand pounds
left. More than half of that has gone in your education, and in an
allowance to myself since I have had the charge of you. There is a
little left in the hands of Monsieur Laplanche, but very little
indeed. What there is we owe for your dresses, the rent of this
house, and other things."
"You mean," Jeanne interrupted bewildered, "that I have no money at
all?"
"Practically none," the Princess answered. "Now you can see why it
is so important that you should marry a rich man."
Jeanne was bewildered. It was hard to grasp these things which her
stepmother was telling her.
"If this be true," she said, "how is it that every one speaks of me
as being a great heiress?"
The Princess glanced at her with a contemptuous smile.
"You do not suppose," she said, "that I have found it necessary to
take the whole world into my confidence."
"You mean," Jeanne said, "that people don't know that I am not a
great heiress?"
"Certainly not," the Princess replied, "or we should scarcely be
here."
"The Count de Brensault?" Jeanne asked.
"He does not know, of course," the Princess answered. "He is a rich
man. He can afford quite well to marry a girl without a DOT."
Jeanne's head fell slowly between her hands. The suddenness of this
blow had staggered her. It was not the loss of her fortune so much
which affected her as the other contingencies with which she was
surrounded. She tried to think, and the more she thought the more
involved it all seemed. She looked up at last.
"If my fortune is really gone," she said, "why do you let people
talk about it, and write about me in the papers as though I were
still so rich?"
The Princess shrugged her shoulders.
"For your own sake," she answered. "It is necessary to find you a
husband, is it not, and nowadays one does not find them easily when
there is no DOT."
Jeanne felt her cheeks burning.
"I am to be married, then," she said slowly, "by some one who thinks
I have a great deal of money, and who afterwards will be able to
turn round and reproach me for having deceived him."
The Princess laughed.
"Afterwards," she said, "the man will not be too anxious to let the
world know that he has been made a fool of. If you play your cards
properly, the afterwards will come out all right."
Jeanne rose slowly to her feet.
"I do not think," she said, "that you have quite understood me. I
should like you to know that nothing would ever induce me to marry
any one unless they knew the truth. I will not go on accepting
invitations and visiting people's houses, many of whom have only
asked me because they think that I am very rich. Every one must know
the truth at once."
"And how, may I ask, do you propose to live?" the Princess asked
quietly.
"If there is nothing left at all of my money," Jeanne said, "I will
work. If it is the worst which comes, I will go back to the convent
and teach the children."
The Princess laughed softly.
"Jeanne," she said, "you are talking like a positive idiot. It is
because you have had no time to think this thing out. Remember that
after all you are not sailing under any false colours. You are your
father's daughter, and you are also his heiress. If the newspapers
and gossip have exaggerated the amount of his fortune, that is not
your affair. Be reasonable, little girl," she added, letting her
hand fall upon Jeanne's. "Don't give us all away like this. Remember
that I have made sacrifices for your sake. I owe more money than I
can pay for your dresses, for the carriage, for the house here.
Nothing but your marriage will put us straight again. You must make
up your mind to this. The Count de Brensault is so much in love with
you that he will ask no questions. You must marry him."
Jeanne drew herself away from her stepmother's touch.
"Nothing," she said, "would induce me to marry the Count de
Brensault, not even if he knew that I am penniless. If we cannot
afford to live in this house, or to keep carriages, let us go away
at once and take rooms somewhere. I do not wish to live under false
pretences."
The Princess was very pale, but her eyes were hard and steely.
"Child," she said, "don't be a fool. Don't make me angry, or I may
say and do things for which I should be sorry. It is no fault of
mine that you are not a great heiress. I have done the next best
thing for you. I have made people believe that you are. Be
reasonable, and all will be well yet. If you are going to play the
Quixote, it will be ruin for all of us. I cannot think how a child
like you got such ideas. Remember that I am many years older and
wiser than you. You should leave it to me to do what is best."
Jeanne shook her head.
"I cannot," she said simply. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but I
shall tell every one I meet that I have no money, and I will not
marry the Count de Brensault."
The Princess grasped her by the wrist.
"You will not obey me, child?" she said.
"I will obey you in everything reasonable," Jeanne said.
"Very well, then," the Princess answered, "go to your room at once."
Jeanne turned and walked toward the door. On the threshold, however,
she paused. There were many times, she remembered, when her
stepmother had been kind to her. She looked around at the Princess,
sitting with her head resting upon her clasped hands.
"I am very sorry," Jeanne said timidly, "that I cannot do what you
wish. It is not honest. Cannot you see that it is not honest?"
The Princess turned slowly round.
"Honest!" she repeated scornfully. "Who is there in our world who
can afford to be honest? You are behaving like a baby, Jeanne. I
only hope that before long you may come to your senses. Will you
obey me if I tell you not to leave your room until I send for you?"
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