"How unhappy you must have been!"

"More frightened than anything else. Believe me, at one time I thought it would be easier to do that than to go on."

"Poor Marie-Claude, how you must have suffered!"

"He must have suspected then, I was so frightened. If that had happened before ... I don't think I should have started withArmand."

I sat staring ahead thinking of that terrifying ride across Paris in the cab.

"You see he suspected me ... even then."

I hesitated, but I could not tell her that it was for a different reason that I had been nearly abducted.

"And yet," she went on, 'he pretended to be surprised. I shall never forget my wedding day . I mean the horror of it. I suppose nobody ever forgets a wedding day. but other people's would be remembered differently. I don't know how I lived through it. And he knew, of course. I don't think he minded so much about that. It was when the child was to be born too soon that he was mad with rage. I tried to get rid of it. It didn't work. Who would have thought to look at William that he could have been so obstinate! Rollo had a way of finding out things, then he made me tell him . everything. He was to have a child which was not his! You can understand how furious he was.

"Yes, I can," I said.

"You think he had reason to be. But I didn't want to marry him in the first place. If I had seen your example then I might have stood out against him. I might have been free... as you were. Why didn't you marry Bertrand? You were betrothed. You were in love. And there was to be a child and yet... you didn't marry him. That seems very strange."

"I did what I felt was best."

"It was brave of you. And you set up that studio in Paris and you didn't care... And nobody seemed to mind."

"I lived in a bohemian society, and as I told you, conventions are not considered to be of such importance there as they are in Court circles."

"I wish I had lived in such a society. Nothing was right for me. I was married to a man I was afraid of.-.I was going to have a child which was not his. Sometimes I wished I could just die and leave it to other people to sort out."

"You must never feel like that."

"But I do... now and then. You see, the fact that I tried to get rid of William did something to me. It didn't stop his coming but ... there was some damage. I can't have any more children. That's another reason why Rollo hates me."

"He can't hate you."

"Now you are talking as so many people talk. Why can't he hate me, pray? Of course he hates anyone who stands in the way of what he wants. He would like to get rid of me and marry someone who could give him children ... sons just like himself."

"We all have to adjust ourselves to life. Even he has to do that."

"Sometimes it doesn't seem worth the effort. Imagine how it was. I was going to have the child who was going to appear too soon. I was sick and wretched ... desperately frightened of childbirth and even more frightened of him. I used to come up here and sit down and think. I'd look over there. That's where Paris is ... In that direction ... if only there wasn't so much in between. I longed to be back there.

Sometimes I thought of climbing a little higher to the Peak. That's a spot where the land stops suddenly and there is a big drop down.

Someone fell over not long ago. It was in the mist. It was a farmer who had lost his way and couldn't find his bearings. He stepped out . into nothing. I'll show you before we leave. It's just up there. I used to think how easy it would be to take that step. That would end it. No one could blame me for anything then. And how pleased Rollo would be. He could wipe me out of his life and start again. "

"How unhappy you must have been!"

"More frightened than anything else. Believe me, at one time I thought it would be easier to do that than to go on."

"Poor Marie-Claude, how you must have suffered!"

"Even now ... sometimes I think, is it worth while going on?"

"You have your little boy."

"William! He's the cause of all the trouble. But for him I should probably have had more children. I might have grown less scared of Rollo. Who knows, I might have been able to give him what he wanted."

I was feeling vaguely apprehensive. I guessed that later she might regret having told me so much. She turned to me impulsively.

"Mine is such a wretched story. Don't let's talk of it any more. How different it must have been for you. Tell me about it." "You know a great deal of it. I had my child and I set up in a salon and painted. Clients came to me, and it was all going very well until the war came."

"The war!" She mused.

"It seemed rather remote to us here in the chateau. Isn't it strange that Rollo should be able to keep himself aloof from it? It is almost as though he had magical powers. Sometimes I think he is more than a man ... a demon perhaps. Someone who has come on earth from some other place. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"I thought you did. He's always been against this war. He said it was folly and the Emperor was a fool. He thinks of himself after all these centuries as a Norman. He's powerful ... more powerful than any one man should be. He owns a great deal of property ... not only here but in England and Italy. It is because he is so rich and powerful that my family wanted the marriage, and it was because of my descent from the Royal Houses of France and Austria that he wanted me. How can people expect a good marriage to be based on such reasons? You are very fortunate, Kate."

"I know I am fortunate in some ways."

"Your little boy is beautiful."

"I think so. And so is yours."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Rollo seems to like your son." She looked sideways at me and I felt the colour begin to rise from my neck to my forehead.

"He is generally popular," I said, trying to speak lightly.

"He was pale and thin when he arrived with you and Rollo and jeanne "Who wouldn't have been after that ordeal."

"Yes, you were all showing signs of what you had been through. But you have recovered wonderfully now."

"That's something I'm thankful for."

"Rollo has never taken the least interest in any child before. It is remarkable how much attention he bestows on yours. I never quite understood how Rollo came to be there at the precise moment when all that masonry was about to fall on your child."

"You would have had to be in Paris to understand how things happen."

"I know people died. What I meant was that it was an odd coincidence that he happened to be there at the precise moment."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"He saved the boy's life," I said.

"There is no doubt of that."

"Do you think that could be the reason why he is so fond of him?"

"I think one would be rather fond of someone whose life one had saved.

It's getting chilly," I went on.

"Do you think we ought to sit here?"

' I helped her up.

"It was such an interesting talk," she said, 'that I forgot I was cold. Before you go I want to show you my spot. The Peak, remember. "

"Oh yes. It's not far from here, you say."

"Just over there. Come on." She took my arm. She seemed a little breathless.

We walked across the grass and there it was before us a wonderful panorama of little hills and woods far away to the horizon.

She pointed.

"Over there would be Paris... if it were near enough for you to see."

I looked down at the river below. I could see rocks and boulders protruding from the water and yellow coltsfoot growing on the bank.

"Are you scared of heights, Kate?" she asked.

"No."

"Then why do you hang back?" She had released my arm and stepped nearer to the brink.

"Come on," she commanded, and I approached the edge.

"Look down," she said.

I did so. My first thought was that if she had thrown herself over as she had contemplated doing, she would have had little chance of survival.

She was close to me . standing behind me now. She whispered: "Imagine falling ... falling ... You wouldn't know much about it, just that quick gasp ... a sort of wild thrill and then down... down . You'd be dead in a matter of seconds."

I was seized with sudden fear. Why had she brought me here? Why had she talked or she had? What was she implying?

She knows that Kendal is Rollo's son, I thought. She must believe that we were lovers in Paris and perhaps still are.

She hated him. But would that prevent her resenting the fact that he might love me? That he made it so clear that he loved my child?

I had always known that the Princesse Marie-Claude was impulsive, inclined to be hysterical. I was sure that the ordeal of marriage to Rollo when she was to bear another man's child had been too much for her. Had it unbalanced her mind?

In those next seconds I was sure that she had brought me here for a purpose and that purpose might well be revenge.

Revenge on me? More likely on him. If she thought he loved me, how could she hurt him more than by destroying me.

It would be so easy. An accident, they would say. The ground crumbled.

She slipped. She went too near the edge.

I felt sure that she was about to push me over the edge . into oblivion.

I turned sharply and stepped away from the edge.

She was looking at me enigmatically, almost resignedly, I thought.

"You were standing very near the edge," she said, as though admonishing me. She gave a little laugh.

"For a few moments you frightened me. I had a vision of your falling over. Let's get back to the horses. I'm shivering... with the cold. This is not the time of year to sit about chattering."

The Way Out I felt very shaken after that experience. I did convince myself that I had imagined I was in danger, but I tried to remember in detail everything we had said and what had actually happened while we had stood there on the edge of the Peak. She had asked pertinent questions about Kendal; but then I supposed others were asking similar questions. It was true that Rollo did show great interest in Kendal, while at the same time he did not attempt to hide his indifference to the boy who was supposed to be his own.

I felt I was moving towards a climax, and one part of me warned urgently that I ought to get away while another posed the continual question of How and Where?

The miniature of William was progressing. Rollo used to come to the studio as I had asked him to, and it was touching to see William's delight in having him there showing such an interest in the portrait.

He would look at William kitently and then comment on the miniature.

"You've caught the expression in his face," he would say. Or: "The colour of his skin is not easy to get, I should imagine."

William sat basking in the unusual interest he was arousing and while I worked I was able to dismiss all my fears and be happy. It was wonderful. Kendal insisted on being there. He was doing a portrait of William too.

"I like a big picture," he said; and indeed, in spite of his immaturity, he was producing something which had a look of William So there were the four of us together, and as I painted a serenity crept over me and I wished that we need never break away from those magical moments. Even the children felt it, the deep contentment in that room. Rollo seemed to have forgotten his desire and was ready to settle down in what I can only call an atmosphere of peace.

It could not last, of course. Soon the miniature would be finished.

But it had done what I had wanted it to. It had given something to William which he might never have had. The boy had changed perceptibly. Between us, I thought, Jeanne and I have given him confidence-with a little help from Kendal.

The news was bad. There were dissenting factions all over France. The government was republican but there were strong partisans of monarchy in it. Fighting continued in strife-torn Paris and the rioting of those who were more concerned with making trouble than setting the country right was bringing complete disorder to the capital.

What could I do? Where could I go? I thought again of trying to get to England. I could go to Collison House and live there with Clare. I had had no reply to my letter so I wondered if it had reached her. I was sure that she would give me a warm welcome.

When I suggested to Kendal that we might leave the castle he was overcome with horror. He loved the castle. He had been extremely happy ever since he had come.

"Don't let's go, Maman," he said.

"Let's stay here. What would the Baron do if we went?"

I did not answer. The question in my mind for a long time had been: What will the Baron do if we stay?

The picture of William was finished and the Princesse admired it.

"Your work is so good," she said.

"I often look at those you did of the Baron and me. The one of him is particularly interesting."