An Introduction To The Eternal Collection Jubilee Edition (79 page)

When the concert ended, Mistral sat for a moment in silence as the applause broke out around her, and the face she turned to Emilie was alive with emotion.

‘It was so lovely, Aunt Emilie,’ she said, ‘I feel as if I could cry and laugh both at the same time. I never knew that music could make one feel like this.’

Emilie glanced at her sharply. She had not expected that Mistral would be so temperamental. There was no doubt from her shining eyes and parted lips that the music had excited her. She had thought that Mistral would be subdued and passionless after the long years in the Convent, but it seemed that her feelings were easily aroused. In that way lay danger.

Deliberately Emilie stifled a yawn.

‘Concerts are usually somewhat fatiguing,’ she said, ‘as you will doubtless find out in time. You have a lot to learn, dear child.’

Her tone was crushing, and a little of the ecstasy died from Mistral’s face.

The audience were leaving their seats. Emilie rose, but deliberately took a long time to arrange her lace scarf around her shoulders so that she and Mistral were almost the last to leave the Concert Hall.

‘I think we will look in at the gaming rooms,’ she said as they came out into the wide corridor.

‘Oh, Aunt Emilie, I did hope you would suggest it. For a moment I was terribly afraid that we were going back to the Hotel.’

‘We will not stay long,’ Emilie said crushingly.

She led the way to where an attendant in uniform was admitting people through a glass door.

Almost on tiptoe with excitement Mistral followed her and then at last they were in the gambling rooms. She had a first impression of hundreds of lighted chandeliers, of massive pillars with capitals of gold, of paintings which upon a golden background depicted enormous groups of Goddesses and Cupids, of mosaics and carvings, statues and palms. It was all so overwhelming that she was dazzled and bewildered.

There was little noise – only the low murmur of voices, the clink of gold and silver, the click clack of a small hall whizzing round a huge wheel of polished brass. There were seven gaming tables, Mistral saw, covered in green cloth. Those for roulette were quite flat, their edges protected with leather. At these the Croupiers with their long rakes spoke in level, unemotional tones,

‘Messieurs et Mesdames, faites vos jeux’

‘Rien ne va plus!’

Each table had attracted a little crowd, the majority of the players watching the play with immobile faces so that it was difficult to tell whether they were winning or losing, or whether indeed they were playing at all.

Emilie passed by several tables and came at last to one at the far end of the room. She watched the play for some minutes and then suddenly a woman who had been seated rose and, gathering up what remained of a pile of gold louis, left the table. The Croupier glanced at Emilie who was standing just behind the empty chair. For a moment she hesitated, but almost as if she were hypnotised against her will she sat down at the table.

She passed a bank note, for what seemed to Mistral a large sum, towards the Croupier and changed it for gold.

With fascinated eyes Mistral watched her Aunt place several Louis on
impair.
Emilie lost her first stake and the second, the third time she won. Mistral wanted to give a little cry of joy, but she was too frightened of being snubbed and could only stand silent with wide, excited eyes behind her aunt’s chair.

A woman on the other side of Emilie rose. She was small and very old and she seemed to stumble a little so that instinctively Mistral put out a hand to help her.

Thank you, my dear, you are very kind,’ she said, speaking French with a foreign accent. ‘Let me take your arm – I would be grateful if you will help me to the door. It is difficult for me to see.’

Mistral offered her arm and, as she did so, she was aware that the little woman was almost blinded by the tears in her eyes.

‘Oh, you are unhappy!’ Mistral exclaimed.

‘Yes, I am unhappy,’ the woman answered, ‘because I have lost! I have lost all my money! Always it is the same, I lose, yes, lose everything.’

But that is terrible,’ Mistral said. ‘What will you do?’ ‘I will go home, my dear. You are kind to help me.’

The tone of the old lady’s voice was piteous and Mistral felt her heart contract at so much suffering.

Slowly, with the blue veined, withered hand trembling on Mistral’s arm, they reached the outside door. By now the tears were running down the wrinkled cheeks, though the old lady made no attempt to wipe them away.

But I cannot let you go like this, Madame,’ Mistral said. ‘It is so terrible for you to lose everything. What will you do?’

But before she was answered, a liveried footman who was waiting outside the open door of the Casino came forward.

‘The carriage is here,
Madame
,’ he said.

There is someone to take you home then?’ Mistral said in relief.

She had half expected that, having no money, the poor old lady would have to walk destitute in the street.

‘Yes, but I have to go home,’ the old lady said. ‘I have lost everything! How unhappy I am!’

‘Please do not cry!’ Mistral pleaded, wondering if she dared wipe the tears from the old woman’s face.

But before she could do so, there was the sound of horses’ hoofs outside, a carriage drew up at the door, a footman hurried forward to offer the old lady his arm.

‘Thank you, my dear, thank you,’ she said to Mistral. ‘You have been very kind.’

She let the footman help her down the steps, the tears still filling her eyes, and then, as she watched her go, Mistral was startled by a voice from behind her.

‘Surely you are not leaving?’ someone asked.

Mistral turned swiftly to find Sir Robert at her side.

‘No, I am not leaving, but that poor old woman, she has lost everything. What can one do to help her?’

Sir Robert smiled.

‘You need not distress yourself unduly. That is Countess Kisselev. She is an habitué here. She comes regularly for the winter months. She gambles so unrestrainedly that her grandsons allow her only so many louis a day and when she has lost them she has to go home.’

But she was crying,’ Mistral said in astonishment.

‘She always cries when she loses,’ Sir Robert said, ‘I assure you she is a very wealthy woman, but she cannot resist the lure of the Casino.’

Mistral laughed.

‘She deceived me completely. She looked so miserable that if I had any money I would have given it to her. It is lucky that I am penniless.’

‘Have you lost it already?’ Sir Robert asked.

As he spoke, a carriage drove up at the doorway. He put his hand on Mistral’s arm.

‘Come this way quickly,’ he said insistently.

She let him lead her a little way down a passage into a small reading room which was deserted.

‘Why have you brought me here?’ she asked.

‘I was afraid someone might come and interrupt us,’ he said. ‘I want to talk to you.’

‘But I must not stay,’ Mistral said quickly. ‘I must go back to my aunt. She is playing at one of the tables.’

‘Then she won’t miss you for a moment or two.’

‘If she saw us talking together, she might ask how we met,’ Mistral said anxiously.

‘She won’t see us,’ Robert said reassuringly. ‘I will keep you but a moment. Tell me how you are enjoying yourself.’

‘I saw you at dinner,’ Mistral replied. ‘You had friends with you. Everyone in the dining room seemed to be with friends. It made me feel a little lonely.’

‘I don’t think you need have felt envious of anyone tonight,’ Sir Robert said, ‘for everyone was envying you.’

‘Envying me?’ Mistral asked in astonishment. ‘But why?’ ‘For your youth and beauty,’ Sir Robert answered, ‘and the women were of course all envying you your necklace.’

Mistral’s fingers went up to the peals round her neck. They were grey, Sir Robert noticed, a strange filmy grey like the inside of an oyster shell.

He had never seen pearls like them, they were astounding.

They were my mother’s,’ Mistral said quietly. ‘Aunt Emilie gave them to me tonight and said I might wear them. I have never had anything of my mother’s before, but – I wish they weren’t grey.’

“They are unique, magnificent,’ Sir Robert said. ‘I should not think there is another necklace like it in the whole world. Your mother must have been a very wealthy woman to possess such wonderful jewels.’

‘No, she was – ’ Mistral began impulsively, then stopped, seeming to bite back the very words from her lips. ‘You must not ask me questions. Aunt Emilie would be very angry! And now – I must go.’

‘Don’t go,’ Sir Robert said. ‘I have told you that the women were envying you tonight, but wouldn’t you like to know what the men were thinking?’

‘About me?’ Mistral enquired innocently.

‘But of course! Everyone was talking about you, and they were both thinking and saying that you were the most beautiful person they had ever seen in the whole of their lives.’

Mistral’s long lashes veiled her eyes and swept her cheeks, then she turned away.

‘But you are not going,’ Sir Robert said desperately when he saw that was her intention. ‘Have I said something to offend you?

‘I think you are laughing at me,’ Mistral said in a very small voice.

‘I promise I was doing nothing of the sort,’ Sir Robert answered. ‘I was speaking the truth. Don’t you realise, you ridiculous child, how lovely you are?’

She looked up at him then and he saw the colour rise in her cheeks.

‘Nobody has ever told me so,’ she said after a moment.

‘But they must have done,’ Sir Robert protested. ‘You must have met men sometimes – even in your Convent.’

Mistral smiled, and there was a hint of mischief in her eyes.

‘Yes, indeed, I have met men before, but they were either the Priests, who came to perform the services at the Convent, or the parents of the other pupils, who visited us once a year on prize giving day.’

‘And they did not tell you, you were beautiful?’ Sir Robert enquired.

‘They did not, and therefore I think you must be mistaken.’

‘On the contrary, I am merely in a better position to judge than they. Shall I tell you how beautiful you are?’

His voice was low and unexpectedly deep.

Mistral’s eyes dropped before his and once again she turned towards the door.

‘I must go,’ she said. ‘Please, please do not keep me.’

There was no mistaking her determination this time to escape him, but he reached out and caught her hand, drawing her flying feet to a standstill and holding her fingers in his.

‘Promise me one thing before you go – that I may see you again?’

‘I can promise nothing,’ Mistral replied. ‘You do not understand. Aunt Emilie would be very angry indeed if she found out that I had spoken to anyone.’

‘Don’t let her bully you,’ Sir Robert said.

‘But I must do what she wants,’ Mistral protested. ‘She is my aunt, besides I am – a little frightened of her, I think.’

‘If you want me, you know where to find me,’ Sir Robert said.

He bent his head and kissed her hand. The skin was soft and cool. Then he had a quick impression of surprise in her eyes, of the colour rising once again in her cheeks, before with a sudden flurry and rustle of the flounces of her gown she was gone. Sir Robert made no attempt to follow her. Instead, for several moments he walked up and down the little reading room.

When he looked up, it was to see Lord Drayton standing in the doorway.

‘What on earth are you doing here, Robert?’ he asked. ‘I have been looking for you everywhere. Come and have a drink. I have lost a packet. I shall try my luck again later.’

‘A drink is what I need,’ Sir Robert answered.

‘Has Violet gone home?’ Lord Drayton enquired.

Sir Robert nodded.

‘She would listen to that damned opera singer and music always gives her a headache.’

‘It would be cheaper to have a headache than to lose what I have lost in the meantime,’ Lord Drayton remarked.

He led the way across the gambling room to the bar.

Mistral, standing beside Emilie’s chair, saw them go. She thought how tall Sir Robert looked, how he stood out amongst the other men in the Casino, then with a feeling of guilt she turned her attention to the pile of louis growing steadily bigger in front of Emilie.

A man strolled up to the other side of the table. He stood watching the play.

He was young, dark and exceedingly handsome, with eyes which seemed to be permanently amused at what they saw. After a moment he placed a pile of louis on number twenty one.

‘Rien ne va plus!’
the Croupier intoned.

The ball spun round and round. There was no other sound.
‘Vingt-et-un, rouge et impair!’

The young man laughed as his very considerable winnings were pushed towards him, then he flung down five louis for the Croupier.

‘
Merci, Monsieur. Vous avez de la chance!’

‘J’ai toujours de la bonne fortune
.’

There was something irresistibly gay both in his bearing and his voice.

He strolled away and Mistral suddenly realised that she was not the only person who had been watching the lucky stranger. Emilie’s eyes were on him, too.

Suddenly she pushed back her chair a little and called an attendant.

Who is the gentleman who won just now?’ she asked.

‘That is His Serene Highness Prince Nikolai,
Madame
.’

‘Prince Nikolai!’ Emilie repeated softly.

‘
Oui, Madame
.

Emilie pushed the pile of louis she had won into her reticule and got to her feet.

‘Come along, Mistral,’ she said impatiently, and Mistral, wondering at her aunt’s air of determination and hurry, followed her.

5

A covered passageway had been added this year from the Villa Shalimar to the Villa Mimosa. Shalimar had been built three years previously and sold, as soon as it was finished, to the Rajah of Jehangar.

It was an enormous, pretentious building, dazzling white, which commanded from its position high up on the hill above Monte Carlo a magnificent view of the town below and the sea beyond.