Lisette spied him from across the room. He was incredibly dashing in his officer’s uniform. His officer’s waist coast accentuated his already broad shoulders and made him appear very strong. The deep blue color of the coat stood out against his dark hair and eyes. Lisette knew that it wasn’t only his good looks that drew women to him. The confident aura that surrounded him was irresistible. Most women became helpless in his presence. It had happened to her. Lisette watched him bring his cordial to his lips to take a drink. Lisette wanted to touch those lips. They would feel so ….
“Lisette!” Marguerite suddenly appeared directly in front of her.
As soon as Marguerite had called out her name, Lisette saw Amante’s head swivel in her direction. At first he smiled broadly at her, as if nothing unsavory had ever transpired between them, but then he stopped himself. He turned his back and returned to the women who were hanging on him.
“What a wonderful surprise to see you.” Marguerite took Lisette’s arm like she was about to guide her out of the room.
“Wait. I don’t want to leave before speaking to Amante. He is over there.” Lisette pointed to where Amante stood with the young women.
“Yes, I know he is.” Marguerite tried to turn Lisette’s body so that she faced away from Amante.
“I need to speak with him. I must apologize for my rudeness last month.” Lisette pulled her arm out of Marguerite’s.
“No, Lisette, he doesn’t want to see you. Let’s retire to my private chamber.” Marguerite grabbed her arm again.
Just as Lisette was about to pull away from her once again, Amante glanced over at Lisette. She recognized the look. It was one of longing. He wanted to be with her. Lisette was certain.
“Yes, he does want to see me.” Lisette broke free from Marguerite’s hold and strode across the room over to Amante.
Before she could reach him, he extended his hand in front of his body. “Lisette. No, stop there and turn around. I cannot talk to you.”
“But I need to apologize. You were right about the license. My studio was seized.”
“I know, Lisette. But I really cannot talk to you.” Amante walked away.
Lisette followed him. “It was Le Sèvre.”
“I know. Why do you think I cannot see you anymore?” Amante looked at her pleadingly. His eyes said that he wanted to be near her. “Good bye, Lisette. It is for the best. Please do not contact me again,” he said and left.
Lisette continued to run after him. “But I have a way to get him out of my life…can’t we just talk?” Lisette had followed him all the way to the front door, but Amante was much faster.
By the time she had reached the entryway, his carriage had driven away. Lisette stood in the front vestibule looking at the empty forecourt for several minutes.
“Let him go. It is for the best.” Marguerite stood next to Lisette. “Come, let’s move to my boudoir.”
Lisette plunked herself down onto one of the velvet couches in Marguerite’s boudoir. She scanned the room. It hadn’t changed since her previous visit, when she had first met the Salonnière. Marguerite had given her advice then. Advice was what she needed now.
Marguerite sat on a striped satin duchesse directly across from Lisette. She didn’t recline, but the piece of furniture, being a combination of an armchair and a daybed, was very well-suited for lounging. On either side of the duchesse were delicate rosewood end tables, both of which held silver perfume burners. Lisette remembered their sweet smell from the last time she had visited Marguerite’s boudoir. The scents of jasmine and lavender filled the room. Lisette watched the playful smoke wisps emanate from the burners and move up toward the ceiling. They were mesmerizing. Lisette inhaled deeply. The pleasant fragrance instantly relaxed her.
“Don’t fret about Amante,” Marguerite said as she went around the room lighting more perfume burners.
“But I have offended him. I’m ashamed of the way I acted.”
“You shouldn’t feel ashamed of anything.”
Lisette looked at Marguerite. “But I do.”
“Amante is only doing what is best for you. He wants to protect you and so do I.” Marguerite had finished lighting the remaining burners. She laid her hand on Lisette’s arm as she sat down on the couch beside her.
“I don’t need to be protected,” Lisette told her.
“My dear, there are forces here at work that are much bigger than you. Be mindful of that.”
“Le Sèvre? Are you speaking of him?” Lisette scooted forward to the edge of the sofa.
Marguerite nodded. “I don’t know what he has said to Amante.” Marguerite shook her head in disgust. “I hope he did not threaten his career in the military. His position is already tenuous.”
“What do you mean?” Lisette asked.
“There are some who are working to prevent men like Amante from becoming officers.”
“But he is already an officer.” Lisette was confused.
“For now, yes. But there are highborn men who don’t believe that the lowborn should achieve any rank.”
“But Amante isn’t lowborn,” Lisette said.
“To them, a provincial noble might as well be lowborn. He isn’t of their ilk. To make matters worse, he is a graduate of the École Militaire. Even though he is well-trained, the nobles do not like officers like Amante who they consider to be lowborn upstarts. They are threatened and afraid that one might have to actually learn military science to lead a regiment and to engage the enemy in battle.”
Lisette thought for a moment. “So Amante is only helping himself…his career. That is why he can’t talk to me.”
“Oh no, my dear. Amante is trying to protect you from that awful Le Sèvre.”
“I don’t need protection,” Lisette said again.
“Of course you do, don’t be silly.” Marguerite waved her hand dismissively.
“Right now, I don’t need protection, but I do need help. I don’t have much time,” Lisette said.
“I don’t understand,” said Marguerite.
“Le Sèvre is sending me to the Saint Ignatius Convent next week,” Lisette blurted out.
“A nun? For the rest of your life? He cannot do that.” Marguerite covered her mouth with her hand.
Lisette supposed that to Marguerite, a life of abstinence would be worse than death.
“Le Sèvre does seem to have the upper hand, Lisette. We need to find a way to get it back…turn the tables on him.”
Lisette knew that Marguerite would be ever hopeful and always resourceful.
“That is why I came here to see you today,” Lisette said.
Marguerite’s eyes narrowed like she was already strategizing. “But what can we do?”
“I might have a way,” Lisette said.
Marguerite’s eyes widened and she waited for Lisette to speak again.
“The jeweler may be more than a jeweler,” Lisette said.
“Go on,” Marguerite said, leaning toward Lisette.
“Le Sèvre is a common thief disguised as a businessman.”
“A thief? You are speaking in riddles, Lisette. Please, be plain about it. What do you know?”
“Enough to cause him great harm…” Lisette paused.
“Let’s hear it.” Marguerite moved so that she was closer to Lisette on the couch.
Lisette told Marguerite what she had seen at Le Sèvre’s store the day before. She related every detail about Madame Gervais and the Comtesse’s stolen necklace.
Marguerite listened intently.
Lisette felt a burden had lifted after she had shared this information with Marguerite.
After Lisette finished speaking, Marguerite’s eyes lit up. “Lisette, you are going to turn him over to the authorities.”
“You mean have him arrested?”
“Precisely.” Marguerite left the couch and began pacing.
“But wouldn’t they execute him?” Lisette asked. She was willing to do just about anything to be free of Le Sèvre, but she didn
’t think that she could send him to his death.
“No, that very rarely happens to thieves. They are either banished or sent to the galleys to serve their sentence.”
Lisette considered banishment. Criminals who received this punishment were sent away from France, never to return. If he was banished, he would be gone forever.
“But how?” Lisette asked her.
“First you need to find Madame Gervais and enlist her help.”
“I tried that. She wanted nothing to do with me. She ran away when I tried to talk to her.”
“She was scared…scared of Le Sèvre. You need to find her and make sure she listens to you. If you can allay her fears and make it clear that if she works with you, Le Sèvre will be sent away forever, I think she will be agreeable.”
“And then?” Lisette asked.
“You leave that up to me, my dear.” Marguerite touched Lisette on the shoulder. “You won’t have to become a nun.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
November 12, 1774
The next morning, Lisette slipped out of Le Sèvre’s house just after dawn. She wanted to find Madame Gervais at her own home before she left for the day. Lisette had stayed late at Marguerite’s the night before, learning every detail and nuance of Marguerite’s plan. The first step was to talk to Madame Gervais.
The streets of Paris were practically empty at this early hour, so it took her no time to reach the neighborhood of Les Halles, which claimed Paris’ largest food market and the Gervais’ apartment. Lisette remembered her papa talking about where the Gervais family lived. He had been to their home on the Rue Saint-Denis for suppers.
Lisette walked east down the Rue Saint-Honoré and then headed north on the Rue Saint-Denis. Her papa had also mentioned that they lived above a bric-a-brac shop named Les Arnaults, after the Arnaults family that owned it.
Once on the Rue Saint-Denis, she searched for the shop sign. Not knowing exactly where on the Rue Saint-Denis the shop was located, Lisette had to move slower than she would have liked. An hour after she had left Le Sèvre’s house, she spotted a dark blue shop sign with the words Les Arnaults written in bright gold lettering. She had arrived at the Gervais’ apartment building.
Lisette didn’t have to wait long before someone came out of the building, leaving the door open so that Lisette could enter. She asked the woman which apartment belonged to Monsieur and Madame Gervais and the woman pointed up to the first door on the second floor. Lisette went up and knocked.
Madame Gervais answered the door. “I told you, I have nothing to say to you. You shouldn’t have come here,” she said as she started to close the door.
“But Madame Gervais, we can help each other. Please hear me out,” Lisette pleaded with her.
Before Madame Gervais was able to close the door, her husband came over and stood next to her. “Mademoiselle Vigée. What do you want with my wife?” Monsieur Gervais had immediately recognized Lisette. He looked confused. “You know the Guild council has spoken. Membership was not granted.”
Lisette heard a young child babbling in the background.
“I understand, Monsieur. I have other business with your wife. May I come in?” Lisette asked. “It concerns her safety. I know how she received that black eye.” Lisette pointed to Madame Gervais’ face. Her right eye was swollen and purple from when Le Sèvre had hit her two days before.
Madame Gervais quickly spoke up, “Husband, I am going to take a walk with Mademoiselle Vigée. I will return shortly. The coffee and rolls are on the table.” Before her husband could protest, Madame Gervais darted into the hall, shutting the door behind her.
“Let’s go outside,” Madame Gervais told Lisette.
When they had reached the street, Madame Gervais motioned for them to walk away from the building. They headed down the Rue Saint-Denis.
“Your husband doesn’t know that you work for Le Sèvre,” Lisette said to her.
“And he will never know,” Madame Gervais said, looking straight ahead.
Wasting no time, Lisette said, “I am certain that you want to be free of Le Sèvre as much as I do.”
Madame Gervais stopped and stared at Lisette. “But there is nothing that can be done. I don’t know why you came here this morning.” Madame Gervais’ eyes looked dull, as if any bit of hope had been stolen from her long ago.
“Because I have a way that we can both be rid of him.”
“I’ll never truly be free of him. Neither will you…your mother is married to him.”
“Yes, but some bonds can be broken.”
“Not the bonds of blood.” Madame Gervais focused on Lisette. “My son…he is not my husband’s. He belongs to Le Sèvre. Years ago, we were together. He promised me so many things…and I believed him.”
Lisette was not expecting to hear that Madame Gervais had borne Le Sèvre’s child, but as Lisette let her words sink in, Madame Gervais’ arrangement with Le Sèvre began to make sense. “Is that why you work for him?”
“Yes, because he has threatened to tell my husband about our tryst. I cannot risk my son living a life of illegitimacy.” Madame Gervais had a look of desperation on her face.
Lisette saw that she would do anything to keep her secret safe. “If we turn him over to the authorities, that won’t happen.”
“But they will never believe two women.” Madame Gervais’ face was tense. Her eyes constricted as she spoke to Lisette.
“If they can catch him in the act, they will believe it.”
“But how?”
“I have a good friend who is close to the Duchesse de Chartres. She will make sure that Le Sèvre is invited to supper at the Duchesse's house. You and I will do the rest.”
As she carefully listened to Lisette, the tension in Madame Gervais’ face gradually dissipated. She looked skeptical, but also open to considering Lisette’s plan.
“Tell me, but hurry. I don’t have much time before I need to get back to my son,” Madame Gervais said.
Lisette saw hope creeping back into Madame Gervais’ eyes. For the first time in a long time, Lisette felt hopeful too.
After Lisette left Madame Gervais, she went directly home. Lisette needed to execute the next step of her plan immediately.
Once back inside Le Sèvre’s house, she went quietly up to her room. Lisette didn’t want to be spotted by her mother. It was better that her mother not know anything. Lisette was sure that her mother would try to stop her.
Safely in her room, Lisette was careful to lock the door. After prying up the loose floorboards, she reached down and removed several canvases that she had been storing. Having run out of space at her studio weeks ago, Lisette had moved her most important canvases to her room. At the time, Lisette had bemoaned the burden of not having enough storage at her studio, but now, she felt fortunate that they had been transferred before the seizure. Lisette then retrieved her money bag. After spending much of it on her release from jail, there was not much money that remained, maybe 20 livres.
What can I use to transport the paintings? she asked herself. Lisette wanted to remove them from Le Sèvre’s house for safe-keeping. She searched through her armoire and found a large satchel. This will work, she thought.
She placed her money in the satchel first and then her paintings. There were nearly half a dozen rolled-up canvases. She carefully arranged their placement in the bag so that they would avoid damage in transit. Lisette didn’t want any of her works ruined, but she also couldn’t take the risk of leaving them at Le Sèvre’s house. If her plan failed, he would certainly destroy all of them. I will make them fit, she thought.
Lisette replaced the floor boards and the carpet. Then she searched her room. She wanted to be sure she wasn’t forgetting anything else.
She went to the commode against the far wall and opened each one of its drawers. Lisette removed a hand painted snuffbox and a small portrait of her brother, both gifts from her papa. She placed the keepsakes in the satchel. Once she was satisfied that she had g
athered her most important belongings, she left the room. As Lisette turned to shut the door, she heard someone come up behind her.
“Lisette, where you are going?”
Lisette spun around. It was her mother.
“For a walk in the Tuileries gardens.”
“With that large satchel? I know that isn’t true. What is going on? Is something wrong?”
“Mother, I’m well…or I will be soon. Now, I need to leave.”
Jeanne put her arm around Lisette. “My daughter, you must not cross him. You must accept that you are leaving for the convent in a few days. It is too dangerous to disobey him. He is only becoming more violent toward you.”
Lisette looked her mother directly in the eye. “And you too.” Lisette pointed to new bruises on her mother’s neck. Had he tried to strangle her? she wondered. Lisette swallowed hard pushing down the lump that had formed in her throat as she inspected her mother’s injuries. I must make this plan work, she thought.
“Lisette, it’s you that I’m worried about.” Jeanne hugged Lisette tightly.
“I’ll be safe, Mother.” Lisette squeezed her mother. “We both will,” Lisette said. She withdrew from the embrace, ran down the stairs and out the front door.
Once outside and on the street, she paused for a deep breath. I hope Mother will be safe until this business is finished, she thought. Lisette stood up straight and traversed the Rue Saint-Honoré.
Lisette noticed that everyone on the street was gaping at her. She must have been a spectacle trying to carry such a large, heavy satchel herself without the help of a servant or male companion. Lisette didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to herself by struggling with the satchel on foot. She decided to hail a carriage. One pulled up almost immediately. “The Pont Notre-Dame,” she told the driver.
When the carriage stopped, she paid the driver and descended slowly, carefully balancing the great size of the satchel. She lumbered toward the front door of Le Brun’s shop. Marguerite had been the one to suggest that Lisette trust Le Brun with her paintings. Lisette had protested, but had eventually agreed that Le Brun was the best choice.
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