Jane Feather - Charade by Unknown (howl and other poems .TXT) 📕

but you will not succeed in shaping me to your requirements. Youmay succeed in imprisoning my body and only I would question your rightto do so, but there will be no gain for either of us, only the greatestloss."

Dear God! Justin looked down at the determined face in helplessfrustration. "I am sorry, Danielle, but I must do what I must do," hesaid with quiet finality. "You must learn where your true prioritieslie, and there is no one to teach you but myself. If you resist me,then we shall, indeed, be miserable, but in the interests of thegreater good, that is a consequence I am prepared to accept." Quitegently, he put her back on the bed.

"My happiness means nothing to you, then?" Danielle turned her head tothe wall.

"On the contrary, it means a great deal to me. But I believe you willbe happier when you have learned to behave in a proper way, consonantwith your position in society. You are still a child, Danielle, but youare soon to be a mother—the mother of

my

child. It is time to put yourown childish willfulness behind you." He pulled the bell rope by thebed. "You must now get out of that soaked nightgown, take a hot bath,and return to bed with your chocolate. I will visit you later, and if Ifind you disobedient then, I

shall be obliged to assume the role ofjailer."

Justin left the room without another word, brushing past Molly who hadappeared in the doorway in answer to the summons.

"What may I do for you, m'lady?" Molly approached the bed, looking inhorror at her mistress's deathly pallor, the dry eyes huge and stricken.

"Nothing," Danielle said. She would not involve Molly in this thatwould bring the story of her marriage full circle. "I wish only to beleft alone to sleep. Do not come again until noon."

Molly looked uncertain, but there was a grim determination in HerLadyship's expression and voice that the servant knew not how toquestion. Bobbing a curtsy, she also left.

Danny met the first obstacle to her plan when she tried to fasten thebritches that she had not worn for two months. It was quite impossible;so she would not be able to leave Justin's life exactly in the mannerin which she had entered it. Shrugging, she dressed in her plainestriding habit, wincing at the renewed throb of her bruised legs as shewalked around the chamber, gathering together the few possessions shewould take. The de St. Varennes jewels were her own. How she wouldcontrive to sell them, Danielle

had as yet no idea, but there was noimmediate urgency. She had money enough for a few months, and friendsaplenty amongst her compatriots in London who were not known to Justin,and who would take her in willingly.

After the child was born, she would move to some country village whereshe would have more than enough money to set up as a young widowedrecluse . . . What in the devil's name was she doing? Danielle staredat herself in the mirror. After the child was born . . .! She had noright to deprive Linton's child of its birthright. She had no right todeprive Linton of his child. She was no longer a free agent who couldrun away at will from

anything.

She had conceived this child with clearthought and she had been about to expose it to ... Sweet heaven, buther husband had been right. She was everything he had said— reckless,foolhardy, stubborn, spoiled. The thicket of her self-made prisonsprang up like the thorny

hedge enclosing the Sleeping Beauty.Desolately, she sat on the bed cradling her abdomen....

*  *  *

The earl was at his breakfast when he received a visit from the elderMonsieur Roberts. With quiet

dignity the visitor refused all offers ofrefreshment and explained that he had come to inquire after My Lady'shealth and to express, however inadequately, their gratitude. Therewere no words, of course,when the sanity of a child had been saved. Brigitte had at last beenpersuaded to talk of her experiences and it was to be hoped that sincethat was the case the horror would eventually recede.

Justin had listened to the dignified elder's speech with but half anear, lost as he was in his own desolation. He

was

doing the rightthing, wasn't he? Danielle

did

haveto accept her changed position, onethat she had freely chosen despite the restrictions it would place onher freedom. If she didn't see those necessary restrictions herself,then he had the absolute obligation to open her eyes ... didn't he? Hebecame aware that his visitor had fallen silent. The words "sanity,""horror" still hung in the air.

"What happened to her,

monsieur?

I would like to know if you can bearto tell me." He heard in horrified silence as the old man described thenear rape of his granddaughter, the way her clothes had been rippedfrom her and she'd been rolled in the ordure-stained hay on the cellfloor, filth rubbed into her hair. Justin heard again Danielle'sringing accusation: "Have you no compassion?" He felt shrunken, a tiny,self-centered atom beside his wife's vast imagination, total empathyand utterly selfless humanity. She had not gone into that cage blind tothe danger; she had a pistol in her pocket, had removed all of value onher person and since she had attempted to put up bail she hadpresumably gone in only as a last resort. He relived the terrifyingscene and at last saw all the pieces that his fear-fueled rage hadrepressed.

Danielle was like no other woman and she never would be. He'd beenranting and raving like a conventional outraged husband and he mightjust as well have saved his breath to cool his porridge. His choice wasquite simple. Either he enforced his will, as was his right, and losthis wife as surely as if he had never met her, or he accepted her onher own terms—for she was her own person and would be true only toherself. He'd always known it, of course. Why else had a man of hisyears