Will You Love Me in September

He told her that Jeanne's body had been found.

"In the dene hole!" Aimee was almost disbelieving.

Lance nodded.

"It must have been this Gypsy ... or prowler ... all that time ago ...”

Lance was silent.

I said, "There is the loss of the jewelry to explain. What could that have to do with Jeanne's being attacked in the woods?”

"That," said Lance, "we shall have to find out.”

"But ... howl" asked Aimee.

"Well, someone sold the jewelry to the London jeweler from whom Clarissa bought the bezoar ring.”

"Oh, yes, I see," said Aimee slowly.

"We'll get to the bottom of it in time," said Lance. "At least poor Jeanne has been exonerated. Poor girl ... to die like that ... and to be blamed for stealing ...”

"Dear Jeanne," I said, "I never really believed it of her. At least some good has come out of this attack on me.”

"I shall go up to London at once," said Lance. "I'll call on that jeweler.”

There was no talk of anything but the fate which had befallen Jeanne. In the village, in the servants' hall, it was discussed endlessly. Most people declared that they had always known Jeanne was honest and that there was something decidedly odd about her disappearance-which was not true of course, as most of them had stated at the time of Jeanne's disappearance that you never could be sure of foreigners.

After a few days Lance came back from London. It was a stormy evening when he returned and he had had a difficult journey from London because of the weather. He had seen the jeweler and questioned him. The man had repeated his story about a Frenchwoman coming in with the jewelry and the tale she had told about leaving England in a hurry.

Did he think he would know her if he saw her again? He was sure of it.

More enquiries were being made, said Lance, and they would go on until the mystery was solved.

The next morning Madame Legrand and Aimee were missing.

"It began to seem rather obvious," said Lance, "from the time we found Jeanne's body.

A Frenchwoman selling the jewelry could very likely be Madame Legrand or Aimee.”

"Yes," I pondered, "but what has that to do with the death of Jeanne?”

Lance thought that when she had disappeared, they might have had the idea that they could steal the jewelry and make it appear that Jeanne had taken it-which it did.

"They are obviously running away now," he said. "You can depend upon it, they will try to get to France. I'm going to get them back, because there is a lot of explaining to be done. They might try to make for Dover. On the other hand, that would take time. How would they get to Dover? The horses are all in the stables ,.. besides, Madame Legrand cannot ride. I am sure they will take one of our little boats and try to get along the coast in it ... to Dover possibly, where they can take ship for the Continent. I'm going to get down there and see what I can find out.”

I watched him ride away. Sabrina was with me. She looked pleased; although she said nothing she was reminding me by her very expression that she had always known there was something wrong with both Aimee and her mother.

All through that day I waited. It was late evening when Lance came back, bringing Aimee with him. She seemed more dead than alive and unaware of what was happening to her. We got her to bed and the doctor was sent for. She was like someone in a trance.

While we were waiting for the doctor Lance explained to me. In desperation they must have taken one of the boats and attempted to get along the coast, as he had thought they would. The sea was rough and their craft very frail, and they could make no headway. They were washed back to the shore again and again, but when Lance found them they had been carried out to sea. He watched them, contemplating how he could best get out to them. He saw their boat capsize and the two women washed overboard.

He saw that they were in danger of drowning. Madame Legrand went under, but he managed to save Aimee.

One or two of the grooms were with him, but they could not save Madame Legrand although they made several attempts. Aimee was half-drowned, but when Lance applied artificial respiration she survived. He thought the best thing was to get her back to the house, and here they were.

Aimee recovered in a day or so. She was deeply shocked and very frightened, but I think there was a certain relief that she could tell the truth. This she did, throwing herself on our mercy.

She was wicked-she was a cheat and a liar-but she begged our forgiveness and said that if we could possibly give her another chance she would go back to France and try to earn her living there as a dressmaker, which was what she should have stayed in France to do all the time.

I was sorry for Aimee. She was quite different now from the girl I had known first at Hessenfield Castle and later here in my home. She was very fearful of the future; she was subdued, almost cringing in her terror.

She seemed to be afraid of Lance, and turned her pleading eyes on me as though begging me to save her from her deserts.