Читаем Will You Love Me in September полностью

"No ... no ... never," I replied. "She has been with me so long, and she came in rather exceptional circumstances. Jeanne was a good friend to me when I needed a friend. She could not be insolent , , . just aware that there is a rather special bond between us.”

Jeanne said, "The baby will come, and it is good to have a dear little baby in the house. But she is not the mistress here. Oh, no-that is you, my Lady Clarissa, and no one is going to forget that if I can help it!”

"I am sure Aimee doesn't forget it.”

"She is deep, that one," was Jeanne's comment.

But of course she was delighted with the prospect of the baby.

Aimee and I would talk of it for hours, and then little scraps of information came out about her past. I gathered her mother had been a dominating character and Aimee had had to obey her in all things. She described the book shop on the Left Bank, and how her mother had worked hard to give her a good education. She talked about the streets of Paris, of sitting by the river and watching the boats go down the Seine; she made me, as she had before, feel the atmosphere of those streets, see the crowds of gesticulating people, the traders, the ladies going by in their coaches, and the perpetual mud.

At last, with the coming of April, Aimee's pains started, and after a few anxious hours her child was born.

It was a son. I went in almost as soon as he was born to see that red, wrinkled little creature, and I was overjoyed to learn that he was sound in every way, with a pair of lungs which he liked to air.

Aimee herself made a quick recovery, and we had a lot of fun selecting names. Eventually she settled on Jean-Louis. Now we had two additional members of the household.

It is amazing how quickly people's lives become changed by a baby. The entire household was devoted to Jean-Louis. He only had to appear and he was the center of attention.

When his first tooth came we were all excited, and I sent messengers over to Eversleigh to tell them of this astounding event.

We vied with each other for the privilege of holding him, and when he smiled at us we were in transports of delight. Even the male members of the household were not immune to the baby's charm. And Jeffers, the coachman, who had been with Lance's family for the last fifty years-since he was a stable boy of eight-and was as sour as vinegar, would try hard not to smile when he saw the baby, and could not prevent himself from doing so.

As soon as summer came we went to Clavering Hall, for we thought that it would be good for the baby to be in the country. There he received the same adoration as he had in London. He was rather a solemn little baby.

"That," said Jeanne, "comes of having an old father.”

I noticed that she watched Aimee with a certain suspicion. I wondered whether she was a little jealous of my sister on account of me, for Jeanne was inclined to be possessive. Jeanne was the sort of person who wanted someone to look after. She had cared for her mother and old grandmother and now she had turned to me. She was a born organizer, inclined to dominate if given a chance, but her motives were of the very best. Lance always said, "Jeanne was born to serve." I suppose it was only natural that she should dislike Aimee, who had come into our household and, largely because of Jean-Louis, seemed to dominate it.

Jeanne repeated her assertion that Aimee behaved as though she were the mistress of the house.

"Oh, Jeanne," I said, "you see trouble where there is none.”

"Do not be too sure." Then she leaned toward me and said, "She is French.”

That made me laugh. "So are you," I said.

"Ah, that is why I know.”

She touched her neck-a frequent habit of hers which I had wondered about until I discovered that beneath her bodice she wore a kind of locket on a gold chain. She had once shown this locket to me. On it was engraved a figure of John the Baptist.

She called it her Jean-Baptiste; it had been put on her neck when she was a baby. She was never without it and regarded it as a sort of talisman against evil.

We had servants who were permanently at Clavering Hall and those who remained in London, but Jeanne, of course, was my personal maid and always with me. After the losses Lance had suffered in the South Sea Bubble he had thought he would have to get rid of some of his servants, and the fact really did worry him. He decided in the end to sell some land and horses rather than do so. It was typical of him. He loved his horses and hated to part with land which had been in his family's possession for generations, but he considered the welfare of his servants before his pride in his possessions. He was sad for a while, but as always with him, his depression did not last for more than a week.

We needed a nurse for Jean-Louis and I was determined to pay for her. I said to Lance, "Aimee is my sister, and it is good of you to make her welcome here. I insist on providing the nurse.”

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Несколько лет назад молодой торговец Ульвар ушел в море и пропал. Его жена, Снефрид, желая найти его, отправляется за Восточное море. Богиня Фрейя обещает ей покровительство в этом пути: у них одна беда, Фрейя тоже находится в вечном поиске своего возлюбленного, Ода. В первом же доме, где Снефрид останавливается, ее принимают за саму Фрейю, и это кладет начало череде удивительных событий: Снефрид приходится по-своему переживать приключения Фрейи, вступая в борьбу то с норнами, то с викингами, то со старым проклятьем, стараясь при помощи данных ей сил сделать мир лучше. Но судьба Снефрид – лишь поле, на котором разыгрывается очередной круг борьбы Одина и Фрейи, поединок вдохновленного разума с загадкой жизни и любви. История путешествия Снефрид через море, из Швеции на Русь, тесно переплетается с историями из жизни Асгарда, рассказанными самой Фрейей, историями об упорстве женской души в борьбе за любовь. (К концу линия Снефрид вливается в линию Свенельда.)

Елизавета Алексеевна Дворецкая

Исторические любовные романы / Славянское фэнтези / Романы