She said: "Are you awake, Madame? We had orders to let you sleep until you awoke."

"I have slept for a long time, I think."

"You were exhausted. The other lady is still sleeping. And the little boy."

I nodded and said: "And the Baron?"

"He was up this morning. He sent me to see if you needed anything. A meal will be served in half an hour if you would like to take it.

Kendal, hearing voices, had awakened. He sat up and I saw the slow smile spread across his face as he looked round the room.

I said: "I should like to wash if that is possible."

"But of course, Madame. Hot water shall be brought."

"Thank you."

Kendal watched her, wide-eyed, as she went out.

"Are we going to stay here ... always? This is the Baron's castle. I want to see it... all of it.

"I dare say you will," I told him.

"We'll wash and then we'll go down and see what happens next."

When we were washed we still looked somewhat bedraggled, for we had only the clothes we had travelled in and naturally had been unable to bring anything with us.

I took Kendal's hand and we went down together.

"You know the way," he whispered in awe, looking round at the thick stone walls with their tapestries of battle scenes.

I gripped his hand tightly, feeling that we were walking into the unknown.

We came down into the great hall where the Baron was waiting . with a woman. I recognized her at once, although she had changed a great deal from that young girl whom I had painted in the Rue du Fauborg Saint-Honore.

"Kate," said the Baron coming towards me, 'you are rested? And you, Kendal? "

I said we were, and Kendal just gazed at the Baron, his eyes round with wonder and admiration.

"You have, of course, met the Princesse."

I stepped forward and Marie-Claude held out her hand. I took it.

"Mademoiselle Collison," she said, 'it seems a long time since we knew each other. And you have been through a terrible ordeal. The Baron has been telling me of it. "

I said: "We are fortunate to have come through it alive."

"And this is your son?" She was looking at Kendal and I could not guess what she was thinking.

"Yes, my son Kendal," I said.

Kendal came forward and took her hand. He kissed it in the French manner.

"Charming," she said, then she turned to me: "The siege must have been terrifying."

"We will go into the dining-room," said the Baron.

She hesitated.

"The boy ... should he eat with William?"

"Not today," said the Baron.

"We will see later."

"There is another woman ..." began the Princesse.

"I gather she is still sleeping. Something can be sent to her r. om when she wakes." He spoke authoritatively, and his voice was distinctly cool when he addressed her. Knowing him now, I thought, quite well, and also knowing a little of her, I tried to picture what their life together was like. I imagined that normally they saw very little of each other.

Kendal had gone to the Baron and was smiling at him, and I noticed how the Baron's face softened as he looked at him.

"I like your castle," said Kendal.

"I want to see all of it."

"You shall," the Baron promised.

"When?"

"Some time."

The Princesse led the way into the small dining-room where I had eaten before, so it was familiar to me. The Baron sat at one end of the table, the Princesse at the other. Kendal and I were opposite each other, and as it was a large table we seemed very far apart.

There was soup first. It seemed easier to eat and the most satisfactory food, for after almost four months of deprivation one had to adjust oneself to eating normally. There was an impulse to overeat at the sight of so much delicious food and we all knew even Kendal that we had to restrain that impulse.

The Princesse said: "You must tell me all about your terrible ordeal.

We knew that the Baron was in Paris, of course, and we thought we might never see him again. "

"It must have been a shock when I turned up," said the Baron coldly.

The corners other mouth lifted nervously and she smiled as though he was joking. She said: "We waited every day for news. We did not know what would become of us all. These fearful Germans ..."

"The French will admit defeat," said the Baron.

"There'll be treaties, unpleasant consequences for us, and then I suppose the French will begin rebuilding."

"The Baron does not consider himself to be French," said the Princesse to me.

"He dissociates himself from their defeat."

"It was mistaken tactics from the first. Folly which resulted in the only possible outcome."

Kendal said: "Are there dungeons?"

"Yes," the Baron told him.

"I will show them to you."

"Is anybody in them?" asked Kendal in a low voice.

"I don't think so. We'll have a look tomorrow."

I said: "It's very good of you, Princesse, to be so hospitable."

"We are honoured, Mademoiselle Collison." She stressed the Mademoiselle . "The great artist to stay under our roof!

Remember "Men can make kings but only God can make an artist."

Mademoiselle told me that on our first meeting. Do you remember, Mademoiselle? "

There was something defiant about her, I detected. She was frightened of him. She hadn't changed very much from the girl who had come to my bedroom on that very first night and pretended to be a maid.

"I remember very well," I said, 'and I repeat, it is very good of you to have me and my son here. "

She spread her hands.

"It is natural that you should come here. You have been with my husband. , . suffered with him ... acted as nurse to him, I hear .. and now you have escaped with him. You must try this fish. It was caught only this afternoon and is very lightly cooked without sauces as after your ordeal you will have to eat very carefully at first, it has been explained to me."

"Thank you. You are indeed very good. You understand that the Baron has very kindly offered us the Loge until I can get back to Paris.

"I know. It has to be made ready as it has not been used for a long time. For a few days you must stay here. I hear your studio in Paris was a great success ... before the siege."

"I had many clients."

"It is a long time since we last met. Six years ... or more. My little William must be about the same age as your boy."

"Yes, I dare say."

The Baron had said little. He was watching us intently.

He talked mostly to Kendal, who wanted to know if they would defend the castle if the Germans came here.

"To the last man," the Baron told him.

"Are there battlements?"

"There are indeed."

"Shall we pour boiling oil down on the invaders when they use their battering rams?"

"Boiling oil and tar," said the Baron solemnly.

The Princesse smiled at me and lifted her shoulders.

"War, war ..." she said.

"Talk of war. I'm tired of war.

Mademoiselle Collison, after we have finished I will come to your room and talk to you. You need clothes. You must need many things. "

"We did leave in a great hurry," I explained, 'and so brought nothing with us. "

"I am sure we can help."

"Perhaps," I suggested, 'there is some seamstress who could make something for us. I hope soon to be working again. I do have money.

Money was not the problem in Paris. "

"I am sure we can arrange something," she said.

There was a little chicken after the fish. The menu had been carefully chosen. It was the first real meal I had had for months and I felt revitalized. There was a faint colour in Kendal's cheeks. I could see he was thoroughly enjoying this adventure.

The Baron took him off after the meal and the Princesse came to my room with me.

When the door of my room shut on us, she seemed to change. She dropped the pose of chat elaine and became the young girl I had known.

"Life is odd," she said.

"Fancy seeing you again. I've thought of you every time I've looked at the miniatures, and of course I heard about your salon in Paris. You really became well known, didn't you? It seems such a long time ago."

"It is."

"Kate," she said.

"I called you Kate, didn't I? I liked you ... from the start I liked you. You had an air of independence about you.

"Take it or leave it. If you don't like me, employ another artist." You have a child now. Bertrand de Mortemer's, I suppose. Yet you didn't marry him . even though there was a child. "

"No," I said, "I didn't marry him."

"And you had a child ... and you were not married!"

"That's right."

"You were brave."

"I didn't want to marry. We ... er ... didn't want to marry each other."