“And I’ll always come to you.” Catherine’s throat tightened painfully as she hugged Juliette. So many years together, so much laughter, so many tears. “Go with God.”
Juliette laughed shakily as she stepped back. “I go with Jean Marc, who is not at all godlike, but I hopele bon Dieuwill be there with us too. And with you, Catherine.Au revoir.”She turned and walked quickly across the room and out the door leading to the back garden.
The huge black balloon was beginning to inflate and the wire brazier in the basket burned brightly as Juliette stepped out of the house. Jean Marc strode toward her across the clearing. “We should leave now.”His gaze searched her strained face. “It may not be forever, Juliette.”
“And, then again, it may.” She smiled tremulously as she took his hand. “One never knows, so we must make the most of every moment. Where’s Louis Charles?”
“He’s sitting on the bale of straw in the basket.” He smiled. “He can hardly wait to get under way.”
“Then we mustn’t disappoint him. I have to say good-bye to François. Where—Oh, I see him.” François was on the other side of the basket, waiting to release the lead ropes.
Juliette marched up to him and into his arms.“Au revoir.”She whispered fiercely, “You arenotto let either Catherine’s or your own head be cut off. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” He solemnly kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll endeavor to do all possible to obey you.”
She stepped back. “And you must do one other thing for me. Jean Marc was forced to give thatcanailleDupree the Wind Dancer to save my life, and we had no time to retrieve it from his mother’s home. I don’t want you to endanger yourself, but the statue has great value to Jean Marc.”
“I’ll find a way of getting it for him,” François said. “Though it may take time.”
She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.“Merci.”She turned and moved toward the straw basket in which Louis Charles stood, his hands clutching the edge, his eyes wide with eagerness. “We’re going now, Louis Charles. Did Jean Marc tell you what we’re going to do? He had Monsieur Radon, who was a pupil of Montgolfier, build this fine machine for us. This is a balloon like the one I saw at Versailles when I was a little girl. It’s black so that it can’t be seen easily against the night sky and we’ll soar up and up—”
“And over the barriers,” Louis Charles said. “And then when we’re safely out of the city we’ll come down to earth and Jean Marc has arranged to have a carriage with fast horses to speed us to the sea.” He frowned. “But what if we land in the wrong place?”
“We have lanterns to light after we cross the barriers. The carriage will see the lights and follow our passage until we reach a landing place,” Jean Marc said as he came to stand beside them. “Our ship’s docked at Dieppe, and Robespierre’s men are searching at Le Havre, which is over a hundred miles distant. So we should be well out to sea before they begin to consider other ports.”
“Won’t the fire that propels the balloon be seen from the ground?” Louis Charles asked.
“Possibly.” Jean Marc grinned. “But how often do soldiers on guard duty contemplate the heavens at one o’clock in the morning? If they do see it, they’ll probably think it’s a shooting star.”
“A shooting star,” Louis Charles repeated, his gaze on the night sky. “We’ll be a shooting star.”
Juliette saw Catherine come out of the house and walk toward François. The light from the lantern she carried lit Catherine’s face with a soft glow that made her look as young as the day Juliette had first met her at the inn at Versailles.
Juliette could feel the tears sting her eyes again and determinedly looked away from Catherine and down at Louis Charles. Those times at Versailles and the abbey were in the past; they must both think of the future.
Jean Marc lifted Juliette into the basket before climbing in after her. “Release the ropes, François.” He poured more straw and chopped wood on the flames in the brazier and the balloon billowed, tugging at the ropes even as François freed them.
Jean Marc turned to Juliette, a broad smile on his face. “The fog’s beginning to clear and there’s a strong west wind. Someone once told me that was a good sign.”
“That someone must have been very intelligent.” Juliette clutched desperately at Jean Marc’s hand as the balloon began to rise from the ground. She could see François and Catherine standing together, waving to them. Their images blurred and then became lost to view as the balloon soared high above the rooftops of Paris. “It’s a very good sign.”
TWENTY-SIX
The golden Pegasus shone in the candlelight, its beauty pure and terrible as virtue itself.
“This was found in the Dupree woman’s cottage?” Robespierre tried to smother the wild burst of eagerness exploding within him. The Wind Dancer. This statue had to be the Wind Dancer. All his life he’d heard tales of the Wind Dancer, and now it was before him.
The lieutenant nodded. “We searched but found no papers or information regarding the dauphin.” He glanced casually at the statue he’d set on the table before Robespierre. “But finding a statue so valuable appeared suspicious, so I brought it to you instead of taking it directly to the offices of the National Convention, as we usually do with confiscated property.”
“You behaved correctly. No doubt the traitors were given this prize to pay for theirperfidy.” Robespierre wished desperately to reach out and touch the statue, but he carefully restrained the impulse. The lieutenant clearly had no inkling of how great was the treasure he had brought. On no account must he find out. “Naturally, this discovery must remain as secret as every other aspect of tonight’s happenings. The safety of the republic depends on it.”
“Of course, Citizen Robespierre.” The lieutenant hesitated. “But should we not tell the convention that the child has escaped the Temple?”
“No!” Robespierre tried to temper the sharpness of his tone as he continued. “I’ve no doubt we’ll recapture the boy very soon, and it would do damage to the honor of the republic if it was learned the Capet boy couldn’t be held by the entire National Guard.”
The lieutenant frowned in puzzlement. “But everyone will know he’s no longer in the Temple.”
“I’ve already sent a delegation to the Temple supposedly to take over custody of the boy from the Simons. We’ll issue a statement that the boy’s now in solitary confinement and no one will be permitted to see him.”
