RENEE IS ANGRY
I went back to the dressing-room and listened. I wondered if the mother was now sleeping having got
peace of mind from the mysterious packet which I had given to Charlotte, or if she was still sitting
in pain in her chair. Was sister Blanche kneeling and praying? I went along the passage and down the
stairs. I turned the handle of the door through which I had first come into the house. Then I heard
a footstep on the stair behind me. I looked up and saw Renee, with her hair loose on her shoulders.
"Where are you doing?" she whispered.
"Outside for some air. I couldn't sleep."
"What's the matter? I knew that you weren't really tired. You just said that because of Francoise. I
heard you come down from Maman and I waited for you, leaving my door open. Didn't you notice it?"
"No," I said.
"But you must have known that I made Paul go out to dinner on purpose as soon as I knew that you
would be home. Now the evening's wasted. He'll be back at any moment now."
"I'm sorry," I said. "Maman had a lot to say to me. I couldn't get away. Surely we can talk tomorrow
?"
"Tomorrow? Tomorrow is soon enough after ten days in Paris?"
"I'm sorry," I answered. "I hadn't understood that you wanted to see me specially. Why didn't you
send someone to call me when I was with Maman, and I would have come down?"
"Are you trying to be funny? Or are you drunk?" She was very angry.
"You'll catch cold," I said. "Why didn't you go to bed?"
She looked at me. "My God, how I hate you at times!"
She turned her back on me and went upstairs.
I opened the door and stepped outside. Just as I turned to the right, towards the garage, I saw the
lights of a car coming towards the chateau. That would be Paul coming back. I hid behind a tree. I
heard him open the garage doors, drive in, and shut them.
I went on and was near an archway when I heard an angry sound from a big dog in a cage there. He was
barking at me. I spoke to him, but it was useless; my voice only made him bark more angrily. I went
on and stood looking out over the field where I had seen the cows. Something fell close by. I
thought that it might be a fruit falling from a tree, but there was not tree near me. Then again,
something fell and hit me on the head. I looked up and saw a small window in a room above the
dressing-room. Someone was kneeling in the window. Another thing hit my face as I looked up. I saw
that it was a child, about ten years old. She was standing up in the open window. It looked very
dangerous.
"Go back!" I said. "Go back into the room."
Then the child spoke. "If you don't come to me by the time I count a hundred I shall throw myself
out of the window ... One! two! three! ..."
There was a small door into the tower in which the room was. I threw myself against it and broke it
open. I ran up the narrow stairs and at last came to a door behind which I heard a voice counting,
"Eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven ..." I ran in, seized the child from the window and threw her
onto the bed.
She looked up at me. Marie-Noel had big eyes and close-cut hair. She was very like Jean de Gue.
"Why didn't you come and say good night to me, Papa?"