Will You Love Me in September

There was Lance. What did I know of Lance? He was in a way a secret person, and this was all the more alarming because he showed no signs of secrecy. He appeared to be lighthearted in all ways, reckless, even careless, but always kind ... avoiding trouble or any form of unpleasantness. How could he be capable of intrigue, of plots to be rid of me-for that was what it amounted to. I looked for motive. He had been both passionate and tender, a lover and a friend, but I had always known that his real passion was for gambling, and it had made a barrier between us. I had made it clear that I thought his gambling foolish-and there was Aimee, pretty enough and very elegant, with a love of gambling which almost equaled his own. They were together a great deal... . There was one other dark thought. I guessed that there were debts, and they might be enormous ones. Lance was constantly staving off his creditors.

If I died my fortune would be his ... except the Hessenfield inheritance, which had so rapidly increased at the time of the South Sea Bubble. But Aimee would have that, because my money was to go to her, and hers to me, in the event of either one of us dying.

So there was a motive.

I wondered about the extent of Lance's debts, but he would never tell me. He would always shrug the matter aside if I raised it, as though debt were a natural sequence in the life of a gentleman. Then it occurred to me that he might be in dire financial straits, in which case my death would be a necessity to him. It would give him escape from his creditors and at the same time give him Aimee, if it was true he was in love with her. How could I be sure? He was charming to her, but he was charming to everyone, and it was his nature to pretend that people were of the greatest importance to him. My death might even mean to him escape from a debtors' prison-and marriage with Aimee.

No, I could not believe it. There were times when my doubts seemed to have grown out of the wildest imaginings and to be quite absurd.

Oh, Sabrina, I thought, I am as bad as you are!

I found a certain pleasure in escaping to the woods, which I loved. I found them enchanting and different every day. I liked to watch the leaves change and to listen to the birds' song. There was peace there, and when I was among the trees everything seemed natural and normal, and my doubts faded away.

Of course, I would say to myself, it must have been Eddy who gave the bezoar ring to Aimee. She had been intrigued by it from the time she had first seen it, and knowing how I felt about it, she did not want me to know that it was in her possession. She probably felt she ought to hand it back to me, and I could understand that she wanted it for herself. As for the suggestion that she and Lance were lovers, it was too ridiculous to stand up to credulity. He was my devoted husband; and I did not believe that he had ever been unfaithful to me either in thought or deed.

So I went to the woods in the late afternoon of each day; that was when Sabrina was having her riding lesson and that was something she would not willingly give up.

She was learning to jump now and was very excited about it.

I had returned from the woods that afternoon and was resting, as was my custom, when I heard Madame Legrand in the corridor outside my room talking excitedly to Aimee.

I rose and looked out.

"Has something happened?" I asked.

"Oh, dear," said Madame Legrand, raising her hands and looking extremely annoyed with herself. "Now I have awakened you, which is mechanic of me. Oh, but the 'eart it go pit-pat, pit-pat. I think it burst from the bosom.”

"Maman had a shock near the common," Aimee explained. "There were Gypsies there a day or so ago. One of them was lurking in the bushes. He called out to her as she passed... . something about telling her fortune.”

"He look ... evil," said Madame Legrand. "I begin to run ...”

"And he ran after her, or so she thought," went on Aimee. Poor Maman, rest a while, and I will bring you one of your tisanes.”

"And now we have return and disturb poor Clarissa. See to her, Aimee. I will go to my room. Clarissa, you must forgive.”

"Oh, it was nothing," I assured her. "I wasn't asleep. I'm so sorry you've had a fright.”

'Maman is nervous by nature," whispered Aimee, "but she will be recovered in half an hour.”

I went back to bed, and shortly afterward Sabrina came in to tell me how high her horse had jumped and how Job, the groom who was teaching her, had said he had never had as good a pupil as she was.

She was so proud of her achievements that she could think of nothing else and was not even very interested when I told her how Madame Legrand had been frightened by a Gypsy.