Will You Love Me in September

"Not usually. I was going to wear it last night but changed my mind at the last minute.

It was in my jewel box.”

"On the dressing table,' piped up Sabrina. "I knew where to get it.”

Aimee lifted her shoulders in a gesture of helpless resignation. I said nothing.

I did not want to discuss Sabrina with Aimee, so I turned to go, and as she followed me out she said in a sibilant whisper, "Something will have to be done about that child. She'll grow up into a ... monster.”

I looked back, hoping Sabrina had not heard. She did not appear to, she was listening to Jeanne, whose hands had gone to the Jean-Baptiste she wore under her blouse. She was murmuring, "All those fine jewels. Mon Dieu, she might have lost some of them.

And there's enough there to buy a flower shop in the heart of Paris.”

A few months had passed and the summer was nearly over. It was September and the leaves were turning to bronze, but most of them were still on the trees and it was a pleasure to walk through the woods. When I came in I was thinking that very soon we should be leaving the country for London. When the season started, that was where Lance wanted to be. He would find some excuse for returning there, and as the management of the country estates was in good hands, he could do this with ease.

There were card parties in the country, but there were even more opportunities for gambling for large stakes in London. He liked to go to the clubs and play, and it was in London that he had his circle of reckless friends.

I was determined to make the most of the days while they were still warm and I could ride or walk through those lovely leafy lanes and watch the coming of autumn, with its mists and fruits and silvery cobwebs, which suddenly seemed to be draped everywhere.

I remember distinctly coming in from my ride with Sabrina. She was quite a good little horsewoman now. Gone were the leading reins, and she had discarded her pony for a small mare which Lance had given her. She loved the mare more dearly and was growing more and more fond of Lance. She liked his indifference to her waywardness, and I think she was a little fascinated by his handsome looks and elegant way of dressing.

"He's my cousin," she said once with a certain satisfaction. "Of course not a real one-only because you're married to him,”

Sabrina found it difficult to be indifferent to anyone. It seemed that for her there could only be fierce loves and fiercer hates. I was very glad that Lance was beginning to be included in the former.

So we came in that day little suspecting that anything unusual. had happened. There was a dinner party that night and I went to my room to prepare myself. Jeanne was usually there laying out my things, but on this day she was absent and nothing had been prepared.

I rang the bell and one of the servants came to answer my call.

"Will you please find Jeanne and tell her that I am waiting," I said.

She went off in search of her.

That in itself was strange, for at such times Jeanne always assumed an air of importance and bustled about my room long before it was time for me to dress.

Jeanne did not come. In due course the servant appeared, rather breathless and concerned.

"Please, milady, I can't find Jeanne. She don't seem to be in the house.”

This was growing very strange. Had she gone out somewhere and forgotten the time?

That must be the explanation. She never went very far. Sometimes she would take a walk in the woods to gather herbs, for she liked to make a few medicinal and cosmetic concoctions and was fond of remarking that everything of worth came out of the earth.

It was an old saying which had caught her fancy.

At any moment I expected her to come bursting in breathless- iy.

But no such thing happened. The minutes ticked away and still Jeanne did not return.

I had decided to wear a dress of cream-colored brocade, thinking that my emeralds would go well with it. I went to the cupboard and brought out the dress. Then I went to my jewel case. To my consternation it was empty. The emerald necklace and brooch had gone, together with the bezoar ring.

This was very strange. I could not understand it, and now I was beginning to feel alarmed.

I went to Jeanne's room. There was an emptiness there. The bed was neatly made, but there was no sign of Jeanne. I went to the cupboard. It was empty. Her best black gown, which she liked to put on in the evenings, was gone. There was nothing at all there. I opened the drawers in the chest near the window. Every one of them was empty.

Jeanne had gone!

It was impossible. There must be some explanation. As if she would have gone away like that! As if she would disappear without telling me! But where was she?

I began to look frantically around for a note. There was none.

I went back to my room and pulled the bell rope. The little maid appeared again.

I said firmly, "Find Jeanne. Let everyone look for her. Her bedroom is empty. Her clothes have gone.”

The maid stared at me openmouthed.

"We must find her," I said.