Claire's Last Secret by Marty Ambrose

Author:Marty Ambrose [Marty Ambrose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2018-04-10T16:00:00+00:00

SIX

Castle Chillon, Montreux, on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, June 1816

I could not resist the lure of Castle Chillon.

As Byron and Shelley planned their sailing trip around Lake Geneva – a literary pilgrimage to Rousseau’s novel Julie – Mary and I initially thought we would be invited to accompany them. But it rapidly became clear that the men wanted to take this expedition alone. We loved sailing just as much as they did, with the feel of the wind against our backs as we mastered the challenge of a starboard tack. So why not ask us as well?

Silly of me, but I was jealous.

Not over the loss of Byron’s presence; I had gradually come to accept that our relationship might not have the permanence that I had once sought so passionately. I coveted the adventure. Why should we not enjoy the beauties of the lake simply because we were women? And our exclusion was not because of my ‘delicate condition,’ since neither Mary nor – surprisingly – Polidori had revealed my pregnancy to the other members of our circle. If truth be known, it seemed as if the poets wanted to experience this trip without having to bother with ‘female vanities,’ as Byron termed it.

Maddening.

Undeniably brilliant, Byron could also be annoyingly conventional in some of his views regarding women.

Of course, Mary accepted this fact with her usual grace and equanimity, but I was not so agreeable. I wanted to see the eastern part of the lake – especially the magnificence of Chillon, a medieval fortress that stood on a flat rock, its towers and battlements extending out over the water, almost as if it were floating on the surface. An island of rock and power. It had stood guard over the lake for centuries, and I wanted to see it for myself and imagine the memories of wars and lost generations that had seeped into the stones and settled into dust during the long years as time passed. And I wanted to share it with Byron before he slipped away from me, which was beginning to feel inevitable, in spite of our unborn child.

I realized that if I made the land passage to Chillon, they would have no choice but to let me accompany them in the sailboat for the return trip. It would be worth it to risk the overland journey around the lake – and the prospect of Byron’s anger – just to have those few magic days of sailing along the lake with the men whom I most admired and loved. It might only last as long as a whisper in the wind, but I would make that moment last a lifetime.

I told Mary that I was going to stay with a friend in Geneva for a few days and engaged passage on a public conveyance to take me around the eastern side of the lake, along the road to Montreux. Byron and Shelley had planned to be there by the end of the week, so I had time to make my overland journey, which I calculated would take two days.

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