For the next fifteen minutes, Leonie busied herself with making a home for the tiny rabbit, which was uninjured. She had made a nest in a large box by lining it with an old blanket and put a small saucer of water inside. “I’ll go get you some milk,” she whispered to the rabbit. With her forefinger she stroked the soft, silky fur and cast a disgusted look at Louis, who had watched all of this. “Now you’ll have to stay out of my room until he’s old enough to turn loose. It serves you right, Louis.”
Louis stared at her but did not seem in the least repentant.
She left, then returned with some milk and an eyedropper. Carefully she fed the tiny creature until he would take no more. “You stay here now, and I’ll be back and feed you a little more later. Come along, Louis. You can’t stay in here.”
As she left her room, she met Mrs. Danvers. “What are you doing, Leonie?”
“Oh, that cat of mine brought a baby rabbit in, and I had to make a home for it.”
Mrs. Danvers smiled. “That’s the nature of cats. I used to keep cats, but I loved the birds too, so it was a constant battle to save the birds and keep the cats. I don’t think you can do both successfully, not all the time. Was the rabbit all right?”
“Oh, he’s so tiny, but I fed him some milk with an eyedropper and made him a little nest. Louis will have to stay out, though, until he’s old enough to turn loose.”
Mrs. Danvers studied Leonie’s face. The young woman had been back at her home now for five weeks. The injury to her head had given her little trouble, although Dr. Sheffield had insisted that she take things very easy. Slowly she had recovered her strength, and it had been a joy to watch her blossom.
“Your grandmother wants to see you as soon as you can find time.”
“Oh, I’ll go now.”
“It’s been a good thing for you to be here for everyone, Leonie,” she said, “but especially for Lady Maria. She was so lonely, and now you and she are almost like a couple of schoolgirls. I’ve never seen her laugh or enjoy life so much.”
Indeed, this had been the case. Lady Maria Augustine had blossomed as her relationship with Leonie deepened. The two of them spent hours together. Much of it consisted of Maria’s telling Leonie about her father’s early years. The two also had taken great pleasure in the tapestry that Leonie was making. Lady Maria was an expert seamstress herself, and the two had worked on the tapestry for hours at a time, sometimes in silence, sometimes laughing and talking.
“She’s so sweet to me and so very good—as you all are, Mrs. Danvers.”
“Well, we’re glad to have you here.”
Leonie smiled. “I’ve never had such a good time. It’s so different from any kind of life I’ve ever had.”
“Well, everyone’s happy then.”
“Except Zara. She doesn’t like me.”
Mrs. Danvers’s countenance darkened. “She’s jealous. That’s what it is. She’s always been first, but now she’s not. It’s understandable, I suppose. But she’ll have to change. Now, you’d better get along to see your grandmother.”
“I will, but I want to come and help work on the dinner tonight.”
“All right, but your grandmother first.”
Mrs. Danvers watched the girl as she stepped downstairs, then returned to the kitchen where the staff members were working—or at least talking about it. They were all sitting around the table, drinking café au lait, and Mrs. Danvers said in mock severity, “What’s this? Have you all grown rich and retired?”
“Sit down and have some cake, Mrs. Danvers,” Charles Dupre, the butler, said. He was a tall man with gray hair and brown eyes. “I couldn’t have made better cake myself.”
“I’m sure you couldn’t,” Mrs. Danvers agreed with a smile. She sat down and joined in the tea party. The talk and the laughter went back and forth, and Mrs. Danvers was very aware of the difference in the atmosphere of the house. Opal Dupre, Charles’s wife and the cook, had always been a prophet of gloom, but now she seemed as cheerful as it was possible for a woman with her temperament to be.
“Well, I will say,” Opal said between bites of the cake, “she’ll be a good mistress, Miss Leonie will, when it’s her turn.”
“It’s too soon to talk about that,” Mrs. Danvers said.
“You never know,” Opal said, frowning. “When we wake up in the morning, none of us know whether we’ll be dead by nightfall.”
A groan went around the table, and Olan Winters, the overseer who was rarely in such meetings as this, complained, “I wish you’d be a little bit more cheerful, woman. Charles, why don’t you take a stick to her until she learns how to be more happy?”
“Yes, indeed,” Charles said. “I will do that immediately.”
“You will not!” Opal snapped. “It would worth your life.”
“Well, I dare say that the day will come,” Olan Winters said. “It comes to all of us, but you’re right. She’ll make a good mistress.”
The party went on for some time until finally one of the maids heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll answer it,” Mrs. Danvers said. “The rest of you get on with your work.”
Leaving the kitchen, Mrs. Danvers went to the door. When she opened it, she found Blaise Mignon standing on the porch. “Come in, Sir. I suppose you’ve come to see Madam?”
“Yes, I have, Mrs. Danvers.”
“She’s in the large parlor. Come with me, please.”
Maria looked up as the lawyer entered and greeted him. “How are you, Blaise? Is it business that brings you here?”
“I have a rather important announcement to make, but I think I would like to make it, with your permission, before the entire family. It will save time.”
“The whole family? You mean all of us?”
“Yes. It’s very important. Critical, I would say.”
“Very well.” Lady Maria pulled the sash cord by her side, and Mrs. Danvers was back almost at once. “Would you go find Leonie, Zara, and Lowell, and tell them to come at once to me?”
“Yes, Madam, at once.”
As soon as Mrs. Danvers closed the door, Lady Maria gave Blaise a careful look. “You’re being very mysterious, and you look very pleased with yourself.”
“I am both. More pleased than mysterious. How is the young lady doing?”
“Miss Leonie is completely recovered, I’m glad to say.”
“That’s good news indeed.” Blaise studied the woman and said, “You two get along famously, do you not?”
“It has been a joy to have Leonie with me. It’s almost like having Ives back. She is so much like him.”
“She resembles him a great deal.”
“But she’s also like him in her ways. He was always sweet-tempered, and she has that same touch of humor that he always had.”
The family began filing in. Lowell came first, a quizzical look in his eye. “What’s going on, Blaise?”
“A matter of family business,” Blaise said smoothly.
Zara was there almost at once, and she cast a cold look at Blaise Mignon. She had never liked the man or trusted him, and she barely gave him a nod when he greeted her. She went over to stand close to Lowell, looking suspicious.
Leonie entered then and went at once to Blaise with a smile. She extended her hand, and he kissed it and said, “Ah, Leonie, you look beautiful. All well now.”
“Yes, indeed, Blaise.”
“All right,” Lady Maria said abruptly, “you’ve greeted everyone. Now, what is this all about?”
“It is a matter of business, Madam. I have two depositions here, and you will be very interested in both.” Reaching into his pocket, Blaise pulled out an envelope and removed two sheets of paper. “The first is from a physician, Dr. Rupert Jones. He is semiretired now, but he is of high standing and of very good reputation among the medical community. It took some time for me to find Dr. Jones, for I had to check every doctor that was practicing in the area at the time that Leonie was born.”
Every eye went to Leonie and then back to B
laise. He liked his drama, Blaise Mignon did, and held the paper high. “Dr. Jones vows in this deposition that he delivered a baby girl on the exact day before a child was found by the reverend mother of the convent.”
“That proves nothing!” Zara said sharply. “It could have been anybody’s child!”
“But according to the deposition, which you shall all read,” Blaise said with some force, “the woman cried out in pain the name ‘Ives’ many times. And afterwards Dr. Jones does hereby avow she told him that her husband’s name was Ives Augustine.”
“My Ives!” Lady Maria exclaimed. “Let me see that, Blaise.”
“Certainly, Madam.”
Lady Maria took the paper, read through it quickly, and then looked across the room at Leonie. “I did not need this kind of evidence to know that you were my granddaughter. Nevertheless, it makes it more legally firm, does it not, Blaise?”
“Indeed, as firm as it can be. The evidence is irrefutable.”
“Well, I don’t believe it!” Zara said stubbornly. She was pale and glared across the room at Leonie. “Who knows whether that child even lived?”
“I think the courts would agree that in all probability the two infants were one and the same.”
“Be still, Zara,” Lowell said sharply. “It’s obvious that Leonie is Ives’s daughter.”
“Yes, it is,” Lady Maria said. “What is the other deposition?”
“The last, it is not such a happy one. I was never convinced that Leonie was guilty of having an affair with a servant, as someone accused her of doing, so I set out to find Luke Benteen.”
Every eye then was riveted on Mignon, and he said, “It took some time, but I finally located him. He’s serving a term in a prison in Tennessee—for assault and burglary. I went to Tennessee myself and spoke with him, and in the presence of another attorney I took this deposition.”
He walked across the room and handed the paper to Lady Maria. As she read it, Leonie looked across at Zara and saw that her face had turned pale as paste and that she was trembling.
For a long time Lady Maria stared at the paper, and then she looked up and said, “I will deal with this, Monsieur Mignon.”
“Yes, of course, Lady Augustine.”
“You must stay for dinner. It’s my granddaughter’s birthday.”
Leonie was puzzled about the contents of the second deposition. Finally she determined to ask no questions, but just before dinner, her grandmother called her into the study. When Leonie entered, Lady Maria said, “I didn’t want Lowell to know about this unless it was necessary, but I want you to read the deposition that the lawyer brought.”
Leonie took the paper and read it quickly. It was very brief, and she looked up in astonishment. “Why, can this be true?”
“The man would have no reason for lying. I am so ashamed of Zara. It’s all her doing. She paid the man, and I’ve already spoken with her.”
“What did she say?” Leonie whispered.
“She finally confessed it all.” Maria shook her head. “She won’t be at dinner. But I’m going to leave it to you, my dear, about what should be done. You would be totally just in demanding that Zara never show her face in this family again.”
“Oh, we can’t do that, Grandmother!” Leonie cried. “She did wrong, but we must show mercy.”
Lady Maria’s face softened. “I knew you’d say that, but I wanted to hear it. Very well. We will let her have some time to think about what she’s done, and perhaps we can help her in some way.”
Leonie left the room, and Lady Maria Augustine felt a tremendous satisfaction. It’s exactly, she thought, the sort of thing that Ives would have done. Zara deserves no consideration, but I’m glad that Leonie has the same quality of mercy as her father had.
Chapter twenty-five
Hugh went to speak with his sister when she was in the rose garden. He stood talking with her for a moment and then said abruptly, “I’ve been somewhat surprised about Leonie.”
Maria looked up quickly. “What do you mean?”
“Well, she’s got what she wanted most. She has a family. She has security, but somehow, well, she just doesn’t seem right.”
“No, she’s not entirely happy.”
Hugh stood for a moment admiring one of the roses. He plucked it off and stuck it in his buttonhole. “I think I know what her problem is.”
Maria looked at him. “What do you think is bothering her?”
“It’s a secret, but let me work on it. I think I can help.” He smiled, turned, and left the garden.
Maria stared after him and shook her head. “You always were a mysterious fellow, Hugh,” she said, “but I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Hugh went at once into the house. He searched until he found Leonie in the library. She had pulled several books from a shelf and was poring over one of them. “Hello, Uncle Hugh,” she said.
“I have to talk to you, my dear,” Hugh said.
As Hugh came to stand over her, Leonie felt a moment’s discomfort. “What is it? You sound serious.”
“Well, it is serious,” Hugh said. He studied the girl’s face and said, “You’re not as happy as you should be.”
“Why, I’m perfectly happy,” Leonie protested.
“No, you’re not. It’s been two months now since you’ve been proclaimed officially and proven to be, by our good lawyer, the granddaughter of Maria Augustine. So now here you are, Mademoiselle Leonie Augustine, heir to a prosperous plantation. But you stay in this house. You never go anywhere. You don’t have any young men calling on you.”
“I don’t want any young men calling on me,” Leonie said. “I’m happy enough as I am.”
Hugh leaned forward and took her hand. “My dear,” he said quietly, “you know my history. You know that I had a loss, and I allowed that loss to ruin much of my life. So I’ve come to beg you not to do the same as I did.”
“I don’t understand you, Hugh.”
“You know, in a way Leonie, moments in time—that’s all we have. We don’t have yesterday. They are only memories. And no one is certain about tomorrow. But this very moment, right now, we have that. And I saw that I wasted many moments when I could have been doing something good and productive. I want to keep you from making that same mistake.”
“You think I’m wasting my life?”
“I think there’s something that you want very desperately, and you don’t know how to get it. Therefore, think of me as your elderly uncle. Sit down, Leonie, and let me give you a push.”
“A push? What do you mean?”
“I mean there are times in our lives when we need someone in our lives to help us get started when we are uncertain and unhappy. So I’m giving you a little push. Now sit down and listen to your Uncle Hugh!”
The day had been long, and Ransom slumped in his chair at his desk. He had seen many patients, and now that the day was over, he was drained. A knock on the door startled him.
Getting to his feet, he thought, I thought I locked the outside door.How can anyone get in to my office? He opened the door, and when he saw who was there, he exclaimed, “Why, Leonie!”
“Yes. I need to talk to you, Ransom.”
“Well, come in.” He stepped back, and when she stepped inside, he saw from her face how serious she was. Her lips were drawn tight. “Is someone ill?” he asked at once. “Lady Maria?”
“No. Everyone is fine—except me.”
Ransom leaned closer and studied her face more intently. “You’re not having headaches or any kind of aftereffects from that fall?”
“No, I’m not. Physically I’m all right, but I—I do have a problem, and you’re the only one that can help me.”
“Of course I will help in any way I can, Leonie,” Ransom said at once.
The two were standing in the center of his office. The light cast a pale corona across her face, and he saw the tension and the strain there. “Come now, it can’t be all that bad,” Ransom said soothingly.
&nb
sp; “I don’t know how bad it is, but I will in a few minutes. I have something to confess.”
“Confess? Why, I don’t think it can be very bad, knowing you.”
“I don’t know if it’s bad or good, but I’ve got to say it.”
“Just say it then, Leonie.” He reached out and took one of her hands and held it between both of his. The action seemed to encourage her, and she looked up into his face.
“I haven’t had any experience in love, Ransom. I can only follow my heart.”
Ransom was puzzled. “Well, I haven’t had much experience myself.” A thought came to him, and his brow wrinkled. “You haven’t fallen in love with someone, have you?”
“Yes, I have.”
Leonie felt his grasp tighten on her hand and saw that her words had shocked him.
“Who is it?” he demanded. “Who could you have met in this short length of time?”
“I met you, Ransom.” He stared at her. Leonie knew she had to speak quickly, or she would never be able to express herself. “I have loved you for a long time. I know it’s not proper for a woman to say this to a man. That men are supposed to make the first move. And I’ve been waiting for you to come, but—you never have, so I can only tell you what my heart is. I love you, and I want to be your wife. I know women aren’t supposed to say this, but I have to, Ransom. I know I’ll never love another man the way I love you.”
As Ransom looked down, he saw the tears glimmering in Leonie’s eyes, and her lips were trembling. She whispered, “Do you have any feelings at all for me?”
Ransom could not answer for a moment, but then he put his arms around her and drew her close. “Yes, I do, but I haven’t come for a very good reason. You’re going to be a wealthy woman. You’ll be able to move in high society here. I’ll never be rich. My heart is in serving poor people. You know that, Leonie. I couldn’t ask a woman with money and position and all that goes with it to step down to my lifestyle.”
“Oh, Ransom, I don’t want those things! The money doesn’t mean anything to me. I’ve already decided that whether you love me or not, when I get the inheritance it will go toward making your dream come true—for it’s my dream too.”
The Creole Historical Romance 4-In-1 Bundle Page 99
