“It will do no good. She won’t want me.”
“Your arrival may prove inconvenient, but I don’t doubt she’ll take you in.”
“You’re wrong. She doesn’t—” She stopped as she saw his closed expression. He wouldn’t listen. He was eager to be rid of them. She leaned back and wearily closed her eyes. “You’ll see.”
“Where does she live?”
“Fourteen rue de Richelieu.”
“One of the finest addresses in Paris. I should expect nothing less of a marquise.” François leaned forward and drew the heavy velvet curtains over the windows. “However, there’s no longer a rue de Richelieu. The government’s changed the name to the rue de la Loi. There are many such changes in Paris.”
Juliette was too weary to give the scathing comment that occurred to her regarding those changes. She would save her strength for what awaited her arrival at her mother’s house.
The coach was challenged only once as they passed Dupree’s sentries. Danton met the challenge with boisterous good humor and a ribald remark about his distaste for the carnal talents of the nuns and his eagerness to get back to his wife in Paris. They were allowed to pass.
It was only a few hours before dawn when they arrived at 14 rue de la Loi. The elegant three-story town house sat imposingly among other equally impressive houses on the tree-lined street. However, the other houses were dark, as befitted the lateness of the hour, while Number 14 was ablaze with light.
“Trouble?” Danton smiled mockingly down at François as he lifted Juliette from the coach.
“We’ve had nothing else. Why should this be different? Are you coming?”
Danton shook his head. “I’ll stay here. I have no desire to be connected by anyone with this endeavor. Besides, we may have need of a hurried departure.”
Without question and despite his words Danton was enjoying the situation, François thought. He did not wait for Juliette but strode up the six stone steps and knocked on the elaborately carved door.
There was no answer.
He knocked again. Louder.
No answer.
The thunder of the third knock could be heard halfway down the street.
The door was thrown open by a tall, lean woman in a black gown. “Stop,” she hissed. “Do you want to wake the neighborhood. Go away.”
“I must see the Marquise de Clement.”
“In the middle of the night?” The woman was outraged. “This is no time for calls.”
“Let us see my mother, Marguerite.” Juliette pushed in front of him into the light. “Where is she?”
“In her bedchamber, but you can’t—”
Juliette brushed her aside and entered the elegant, venetian-tiled foyer. “Upstairs?”
“Yes, but you’re not to disturb her. The poor lamb has enough to worry about without you coming to torment her.” Marguerite’s disdainful gaze traveled over the torn, bloodstained ruin of Juliette’s gray gown. “I see those nuns haven’t been able to make a gentlewoman out of you in all these years. What trouble are you in now?”
“This is Marguerite, my mother’s servant,” Juliette said to François as she moved toward the stairs. “Come along, you won’t be satisfied until you see for yourself.”
She quickly climbed the stairs, her back very straight.
“She has no time for you,” Marguerite called from the bottom of the stairs. “She’s sent a footman to hire a carriage to take her away from this horrible city and it will be here any moment.”
A door at the head of the stairs flew open. “Marguerite, what is that—” Celeste de Clement stopped in mid-sentence as she caught sight of Juliette. “Good God, what are you doing here?”
Juliette had not seen her mother since she had entered the abbey but there appeared to be little change in her. She might be even more beautiful. Celeste’s sea-green velvet gown flattered her tiny waist and a cream-colored lace fichu framed the smooth olive skin of her shoulders. Her shining dark hair was unpowdered and fell in fashionable ringlets about her heart-shaped face. “I’ve come to throw myself on your lovingprotection.” Juliette’s tone was threaded with irony. “The Abbaye de la Reine was attacked by a mob tonight, and my friend, Catherine, and I need a place to hide.”
“They’re killing everyone in the prisons.” Celeste shuddered. “I didn’t know they’d attacked the abbey too. No one told me.”
