The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay

Author:Tatiana de Rosnay [Rosnay, Tatiana de]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2012-05-23T21:00:00+00:00

GILBERT HAS INTERRUPTED ME with the most astounding news. He has just seen Alexandrine skulking along the street. I asked him what he meant. He looked at me sternly.

“Your flower girl, Madame Rose. The tall, dark one with all that hair and a round face.”

“Yes, that’s her,” I said, smiling inwardly at his description, which was most fitting.

“Well, she was just outside the house, Madame Rose, peering in. I thought she was going to ring on your bell or open the door, so I gave her a little fright. It’s getting mighty dark out there, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when I popped out of that corner. She scuttled off like a frantic hen, and she did not have time to recognize me, I can assure you.”

“What was she doing?” I asked.

“Well, I believe she was looking for you, Madame Rose.”

I stared at his grimy face.

“But she thinks I’m with Violette, or on my way there.”

He pursed his lips together.

“She’s a bright girl, Madame Rose. You know that. She won’t be taken in that easily.”

He was right, of course. A few weeks ago, Alexandrine had supervised the packing up and removal of my furniture and valises with an eagle eye.

“Are you truly going to your daughter’s place, Madame Rose?” she had asked nonchalantly, bent over one of my cases as she struggled to close it with Germaine’s help.

And I had replied, even more nonchalantly, gazing at the darker patch on the wall where the oval mirror used to hang:

“Well, of course I am. But first I shall spend some time with the Baronne de Vresse. Germaine is going down to my daughter’s with most of my luggage.”

Alexandrine had shot a keen eye in my direction. Her grating voice hurt my ears:

“Now, that is unusual, Madame Rose. Because I was with the Baronne recently, delivering her roses, and she never once mentioned you were coming to stay with her.”

I was not to be deterred. No matter how much I was fond of the girl (and believe me, Armand, I am far more attached to that odd creature and her button mouth than to my own daughter), I simply could not let her tamper with my plans. So I tried another tactic. I took her long slim hand in mine and patted her wrist.

“Now, now, Alexandrine, what do you think an old woman like me would do in an empty house on a closed-down street? I have no choice but to go to the Baronne’s and then to my daughter’s. And that is what I shall do. Trust me.”

She glared down at me.

“I will try to trust you, Madame Rose. I will try.”

To Gilbert, I said worriedly:

“She somehow learned from my daughter that I have not yet arrived … And the Baronne has informed her, I presume, that I never did come and stay. Oh, dear…”

“We could always move somewhere else,” suggested Gilbert. “There are a couple of places I know. Warmer and more comfortable.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I will never leave this house.

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