A Woman's Affair by Liane De Pougy

Author:Liane De Pougy [Anderson, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912868551
Publisher: Dedalus
Published: 2021-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

XIII

The day after this terrible catastrophe, when Annhine regained consciousness after fainting and suffering a blackout that lasted nearly four hours, the first thing she became aware of was the presence of Henri and Altesse, leaning anxiously over her, waiting for her to return to life. Recovery of her senses came only slowly. She felt exhausted, shattered. She could just about remember that something unspeakable, dreadful had happened, right in front of her… but what it was she couldn’t say, or even where she had been. What was it all about? She must have had a nightmare, some awful dream… she tried to smile. Lifting her head a little, she could see her bedroom more clearly, and all the lamps shining brightly. Was it still nighttime then…? Then, by their light, she saw costumes scattered all around, gaudy theatrical clothes tricked out with a lot of embroidery and sequins. She fell back on the pillow, overwhelmed. Lights flashed before her eyes. She could feel her heart thudding as if it might burst. Oh, everything hurt, she felt so ill…! The thought she might be dying flitted into her mind, then, raising her arms and waving them agitatedly, she seemed to be trying to ward off invisible enemies.

‘Oh…! Who’s there…? Where am I…? What’s happened…?’

‘It’s us, Nhine darling…’ And they leaned over her more closely, concerned and reassuring at the same time. ‘You’ve had a bad dream, poor little thing. Don’t be frightened, it’s all gone now. Everything is going to be all right and we’ll be here with you.’

She hardly paid attention to their voices. There was a humming in her ears. Her breath came with difficulty.

‘I can see you! Oh! Don’t leave me…! Tesse…! Henri…! What happened to me?’

‘Hush!’ And Tesse placed a finger against her lips. ‘Be quiet, darling, don’t speak, I’ll tell you. You had a severe shock and it was too much for you. Your heart stopped for a few moments. Ah, you gave us a real scare…! It was while you were dancing, at the ball… and then there was a hideous prank, a really naughty carnival prank that was played right in front of you.’

Tesse was managing the situation carefully, putting off until later the painful necessity of recalling the sad truth.

‘Ah! Yes…!’ Annhine’s memory was returning now. ‘So… it was all just a prank then…?’

‘Why, yes…! A stupid piece of play-acting in any case. Nhinon, you’re fragile, really quite fragile. We’re going to help you get better, and as soon as you’re on your feet again, we’re taking you away, Henri and I. It’s decided! We’ll go and find some peace and quiet and some sunshine further south, in Italy… and very timely, because the nasty winter months are coming and they’ll make this Paris lifestyle dangerous and unsustainable, so we’ll get ahead of them a bit. Not Monte Carlo… just a big factory, very unhealthy, and the types you get there, too high-society! No, we’ll go to Florence, Rome, Venice, Naples. We’ll cross to Palermo, then, when you’re properly better, we’ll sail to Malta, Gibraltar.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.