The Duchess

'What the hell is going on down here?' Reynaud d'Aumont stood at the top of the staircase. He was half-dressed. He stomped down to face them. 'Who the devil are you?'

'You are Monsieur Reynaud of the Committee for Public Safety in St. Jean Baptiste?' the woman with the eye patch demanded authoritatively.

'I am,' he replied.

'I am Citizeness Honneur Dupont. These citizens and 1 have been sent from Harfleur to take Citizeness d'Aumont and her offspring into custody. We have been given our authority by the Committee for Public Safety in Harfleur. Charges have been made against this woman.'

'What charges?' demanded Reynaud.

'I do not know,' Honor replied surlily. 'I am not made privy to such things. It is my duty to collect those people the committee wishes to see. Was this woman not already under arrest?'

'Yes,' he said slowly.

'Then why are you standing there arguing with me, Citizen Reynaud? If you have any questions or complaints to make, I suggest you come to Harfleur with us. If, however, you defy the wishes of the Harfleur Committee for Public Safety, 1 can only imagine what your fate will be.' She made a chopping motion with her hand. 'This citizeness and her children have been asked to tea by Madame la Guillotine. I am certain you do not object to enemies of France being exterminated.' She glared at him, hands upon her hips. 'Well, Citizen?' she growled.

'No. No,' Reynaud said. Then he thought, what a fortunate coincidence that Anne-Marie and her children should be taken away now. While he would have enjoyed having her about to torture for a while longer, it did not matter really. Le Verger would now be his without any questions. 'Where are the children?' he asked Anne-Marie.

'With Pere Andre,' she said low. 'They are your blood, Reynaud. Do not let them be killed! Keep them here with you. I beg you!' She fell to her knees before him, and he thought of when she had done the same thing yesterday. The memory of it made his rod tingle.

'Get on your feet, Citizeness,' he snapped at her roughly, yanking her up. 'The committee in Harfleur outranks me. You will go with these citizens.' He turned to Therese. 'Go and fetch the brats, old woman.'

She glared up at him.

He stepped forward and shouted down into her face. 'Did you not hear me, you old bitch? Or are you too stupid to understand?'

'I understand very well, Citizen Reynaud,' Therese said softly, and then she plunged her carving knife directly into his heart. 'I understand everything, but you will not have Le Verger. It belongs to the true heir, and not some bastard. Do you hear me? Or are you too stupid to understand?' Therese stepped back from him as he collapsed to the floor. Then drawing the knife from her victim's chest she wiped it off on her skirt.

'Good God,' the Earl of Aston exclaimed in English.

'Be silent, Citizen Pierre,' Honor said in a hard voice.

'1 will go to fetch Celine and the children now, Madame la Comtesse,' Therese said quietly. Turning, she walked from the house.

'Who was he?' the Duke of Sedgwick asked the stunned Anne- Marie.

'My husband's half brother,' she replied. 'He was his father's bastard, and was raised to be my husband's servant. Jean-Claude loved him as he would any brother. I always thought they were friends, but then yesterday I learned that it was Reynaud who had betrayed my husband when they were in Paris last year.'

'Is that why the old woman killed him?' the duke continued to query. 'It was, if I may say so, quite nicely, and neatly done.'

Anne-Marie d'Aumont crossed herself, but said nothing.

'My lord,' Allegra murmured softly to her husband, 'it is obvious the old woman killed the villain because he has abused the comtesse. It is unlikely she will want to speak about it, for it will have been a terrible and shameful experience for such a virtuous and gentle woman. Let it be, and let us concentrate on leaving here as quickly as possible.' She turned to the countess. 'Madame, gather any jewelry or monies that you have secreted away, and hide them well on your person and those of your children. We can allow you to take nothing else. Remember, we are supposed to be bringing you to Harfleur to face revolutionary justice. If we are stopped on the road that is the story we will tell, and that is what must he believed.'

'Who are you?' the Comtesse d'Aumont asked softly.

'I am madame la Duchesse de Sedgwick. This gentleman is my husband, monsieur le duc, and these are our friends. The woman with the eye patch is my maid, Honneur.'

'Why?' the comtesse asked.

'Your uncle has been very distressed, as has your aunt, when you did not come to England immediately after your husband was killed. My brother, too, died in Paris, refusing to leave his affianced, although he was offered his freedom because he was English. This is our way of avenging him, and helping our friends, the Bellinghams.'

'So you have come to rescue me and my children in his memory, eh, madame? You are mad, but then all the English are mad my papa used to say. How can I ever thank you?'

'We are not safe yet,' Allegra reminded her. 'Now go, and letch your valuables.'

'One thing,' the comtessa said. She looked to the duke. 'I cannot leave my two servants behind. They will come with me.'

The duke laughed ruefully. 'In for a penny, in for a pound,' he remarked. 'It won't make any difference if we are caught helping three people or five to escape France. Yes, madame, of course your servants may come. I do not think I should attempt to argue with that fierce old woman who killed Monsieur Reynaud.'

The countess bit her lip, and then she laughed softly, too.

Therese returned with her granddaughter, Celine, and the two children in tow. Their mother, coming back down the stairs to the foyer, explained all to them. Then she secreted her valuables among the five of them, explaining that it was all they would have to live on once they arrived in England.

'Oh, no, madame,' Caroline burst out. 'I am your cousin. You will come and live with my husband and me.'

'You are my kin?' the comtesse said, and then she began to weep. 'Ahh, to think that the little family I have left in England would care for me and for my children, that they would endanger themselves to come and rescue us.' She embraced Caroline. 'Merci! Merci!'

'It is time we were going,' the duke said to them.

'What is to be done with that?' Allegra asked, pushing at the body of Reynaud d'Aumont with her wooden shoe.

'It will be taken care of, madame,' Therese said grimly. 'I have told the priest, and he will see to it. Reynaud le batard was not well loved among us. His body will be buried deep in the woods where it is unlikely anyone will ever find it.'

'It will take us longer to return to the coast than it took us to get here,' Allegra noted. 'We shall have to walk most of the way back, I fear. The comtesse must ride in the cart with her servants and children. Two of us at a time will ride with her. The rest of us walk.'

'Forgive us, madame,' the duke spoke, 'but we must march you from