Love, Again

and that did seem to be essential for a high- class tart. She was offered a job as a chanteuse in a nightclub in Marseilles, but she said it would be too emotionally demanding, she would have no time for her music and her painting. Anyway, she hated provincial towns. She did actually have the chance of going to Paris in a touring company as a singer. But this was nothing like her dreams of Paris. She said in her journal,If Remy asked me to go to Paris and live with him there… we could live quietly, we could have real friends… The underline there says everything, I think. She goes on. Of course it is out of the question, though I saw him with his wife at the fete. It is clear they do not love each other. She was invited to go as governess in a lawyer's household in Avignon: he was a widower. Several men wanted to set her up in Nice or Marseilles as a mistress. These offers were merely recorded, as she might have written, It was hot today, or, It was cold.

'We could easily present Julie in terms of what she refused. And what did she actually choose? A little stone house in the forest. 'The cow-byre', as the citizens contemptuously called it. She chose to live alone, paint and draw and compose her music and, every night of her life, write a commentary on it.

'Yes, I agree it is not easy to make of this a riveting drama. Not easy even if we keep the form you have chosen. Act One: Paul. Act Two: Remy. Act Three: Philippe. Yes, you could argue that she did write, I don't think I could bear to move away from my little house where everything speaks to me of love. As George Sand might have written. But don't forget she went on, I live here exactly as my mother did in her house. The difference is that she has been kept all her life. By one man — myfather. She always loved him and never had choice. She could not leave his estate because if she did she could have earned her living only as a brothel-keeper (like her mother and her grandmother, or so she hinted). Or as an ordinary prostitute, or perhaps as a housekeeper. What were her accomplishments? She could cook. She could dress. She knew about plants and herbs. Presumably she knew about love but we never discussed love, that is, the making of it, because she destined me to be a young lady and she didn't want to raise thoughts in my mind about her, about what she is really like (and that is in itself so touching it could almost break my heart, because how else could I have defined myself, what I am, if not by understanding her?). But I am very much afraid, if we sat alone and talked like women, I would hear her say, I live here in this house because everything in it and near it reminds me of love. And included in this love would be memories of shadows of great trees on her walls, and in the mirror of her sitting room and on the ceilings of her bedroom, and the damp, the everlasting humidity, and the heavy smell of flowers and of wet vegetation, and a smell something like the wet fur of animals that filled the house when it rained. But the fact is, my mother could not have left her house and her life even if she wanted to, but I can leave here at any time.

'Where in all this do we see the victim?'

It was not that she was afraid of any financial consequences of refusing his play, because he had written, 'I am sure it goes without saying that my support for the play will not be in any way affected if you all decide my little attempt is not good enough.'

He was already at a table in a restaurant she was relieved to find was not one of the currently fashionable ones. A large, rather dark, old-fashioned room, and quiet. He was at first glance a country gentleman. As she advanced towards him she reflected that it was surely remarkable that when she returned to the office and answered Mary Ford's query, 'What's he like?' with 'He's a country gentleman, old style' — then Mary would at once know what she meant. Her parents, or Mary Ford's, her grandparents or Mary's, would not at once be able to 'place' many people in today's Britain, but they would know Stephen Ellington-Smith at a glance. He was a man of about fifty, large but not fat. He was big- framed and, authoritatively but casually, seemed to take up a lot of space. His face was blond and open: green-eyed, sandy-lashed; and his hair, once fair, was greying. His clothes were as you'd expect: but Sarah found herself automatically making notes for the next time they needed to fit out such a character in a play. Their essence, she decided, was that they would be unnoticeable if he was stalking a deer. His mildly checked brownish-yellow jacket was like a zebra's coat in that it was designed to merge.

He watched her come towards him, rose, pulled out a chair. His inspection, she knew, was acute, but not defensive. She felt he liked her, but then, people on the whole tended to.

'There you are,' said he. 'I must say you are a relief. I don't know quite what I expected, though.' Then, before they had even settled themselves, he said, 'I really do have to make it clear that I'm not going to mind if you people have decided against my play. I'm not a playwright. It was a labour of love.'

He was saying this as one does to clear the ground before another — the real problem is faced. And she was thinking of a conversation in the office. Mary had remarked, 'All the same, it's a funny business. He's been involved with Julie Vairon for a good ten years one way or another. What's in it for him?' Quite so. Why should this man, 'A regular amateur of the arts, old style, you know' — so he had been described by the Arts Council official who had suggested approaching him as a patron — have been involved with that problematical Frenchwoman for a decade or more? The reason was almost certainly the irrational and quirky thing that is so often the real force behind people and events, and often not mentioned, or even noticed. This was what Mary Ford had been hinting at. More than hinting. She had said, 'If we're going to have problems with him, let's have them out in the open right from the beginning.' 'What sort of problems do you expect?' Sarah had asked, for she respected Mary's intuition. 'I don't know.' Then she sang, to the tune of 'Who Is Sylvia', 'Who is Julie, what is she… '

They began by talking practicalities. There was the difficulty that began Julie Vairon's career. The play was to have gone on in London at The Green Bird, one of three planned for the summer season. By chance, Jean-Pierre le Brun, an official from Belles Rivieres, heard from the Rostand family, which had been very co-operative, that a play was imminent, and he flew to London to protest. How was it that Belles Rivieres had not been consulted? The truth was, the Founding Four had not thought of it, but that was because they had not seen the piece as ambitious enough to involve the French. Besides, Belles Rivieres did not have a theatre. And, as well, Julie Vairon was in English. Jean-Pierre had accepted that the English had been quicker to see the possibilities of Julie, and no one wanted to deny them that honour. There was no question of taking Julie Vairon away from The Green Bird. That was hardly possible, at this stage. But he was genuinely and bitterly hurt that Belles Rivieres had been excluded. What was to be done? Very well, the English version could be used for a run in France. Yes, unfortunately it had to be admitted that if tourists were attracted, then they would be more likely to speak English than French. And besides, so many of the English themselves were settled in the area… he shrugged, leaving them to decide what he thought of this state of affairs.

So it was decided. And what about the money? For The Green Bird could not finance the French run. No problem, cried Jean-Pierre; the town would provide the site, using Julie's own little house in the woods — or what was left of it. But Belles Rivieres did not have the resources to pay for the whole company for a run of two weeks. It was at this point that an American patron came in, to add his support. How had he heard of this, after all, pretty dicey proposition? Someone in the Arts Council had recommended it and this was because of Stephen's reputation.

At this point, mutual support and helpfulness was being expressed mostly in photographs back and forth, London to Belles Rivieres, London to California, Belles Rivieres to California. It turned out that there was already a Musee Julie Vairon in Belles Rivieres. Her house was visited by pilgrims.

Stephen was disturbed. 'I wonder what she'd think of so many people in her forest. Her house.'

'Didn't we tell you we were going to use her house for the French run? Didn't you see the promotional material?'

'I suppose I hadn't really taken it in.' He seemed to be debating whether to trust her. 'I even felt bad about writing that play — invading her privacy, you know.' Then, as she found herself unable to reply to this, for it was a new note, and unexpected, he added abruptly, thrusting out his chin small-boy style, 'You have understood, I am sure, that I am hopelessly in love with Julie?' Then gave a helpless, painful grimace, flung himself back in his chair, pushed away his plate, and looked at her, awaiting a verdict.

She attempted a quizzical look, but his gesture was impatient. 'Yes, I am besotted with her. I have been since I first heard her music at that festival. In Belles Rivieres, you know. She's the woman for me. I knew that at once.'

He was trying to sound whimsical but was failing.

'I see,' she said.