Jeanne of the Marshes

  CHAPTER III

  The Princess was enjoying a few minutes of well-earned repose. She hadlunched with Jeanne at Ranelagh, where they had been the guests of alady who certainly had the right to call herself one of the leaders ofSociety. The newspapers and the Princess' confidences to a few of herfriends had done all that was really necessary. Jeanne was accepted,and the Princess passed in her wake through those innermost portalswhich at one time had come perilously near being closed upon her. Shewas lying on a sofa in a white negligee gown. Jeanne had just broughtin a pile of letters, mostly invitations. The Princess glanced themthrough, and smiled as she tossed them on one side.

  "How these people amuse one!" she exclaimed. "Eighteen months ago I wasin London alone, and not a soul came near me. To-day, because I am theguardian of a young lady whom the world believes to be a great heiress,people tumble over one another with their invitations and theircourtesies."

  Jeanne looked up.

  "Why do you say 'believes to be?'" she asked quickly. "I am a greatheiress, am I not?"

  The Princess smiled, a slow, enigmatic smile, which might have meantanything, but which to Jeanne meant nothing at all.

  "My dear child," she said, "of course you are. The papers have said so,Society has believed them. If I were to go out and declare right andleft that you had nothing but a beggarly twenty thousand pounds or so,I should not find a soul to believe me. Every one would believe that Iwas trying to scare them off, to keep you for myself, or some one of myown choice. Really it is a very odd world!"

  Jeanne was looking a little pensive. Her stepmother sometimescompletely puzzled her.

  "Who are the trustees of my money?" she asked, a little abruptly.

  The Princess raised her eyebrows.

  "Bless the child!" she exclaimed. "What do you know about trustees?"

  "When I am of age," Jeanne said calmly, "which will happen sometime orother, I suppose, it will interest me to know exactly how much money Ihave and how it is invested."

  The Princess looked a little startled.

  "My dear Jeanne," she exclaimed, "pray don't talk like that until afteryou are married. Your money is being very well looked after. What Ishould like you to understand is this. You are going to meet to-nightat dinner the man whom I intend you to marry."

  Jeanne raised her eyebrows.

  "I had some idea," she murmured, "of choosing a husband for myself."

  "Impossible!" the Princess declared. "You have had no experience, andyou are far too important a person to be allowed to think of such athing. To-night at dinner you will meet the Count de Brensault. He is aBelgian of excellent family, quite rich, and very much attracted byyou. I consider him entirely suitable, and I have advised him to speakto you seriously."

  "Thank you," Jeanne said, "but I don't like Belgians, and I do not meanto marry one."

  The Princess laughed, a little unpleasantly.

  "My dear child," she said, "you may make a fuss about it, buteventually you will have to marry whom I say. You must remember thatyou are French, not English, and that I am your guardian. If you wantto choose for yourself, you will have to wait three or four yearsbefore the law allows you to do so."

  "Then I will wait three or four years," Jeanne answered quietly. "Ihave no idea of marrying the Count de Brensault."

  The Princess raised herself a little on her couch.

  "Child," she said, "you would try any one's patience. Only a month orso ago you told me that you were quite indifferent as to whom you mightmarry. You were content to allow me to select some one suitable."

  "A few months," Jeanne answered, "are sometimes a very long time. Myviews have changed since then."

  "You mean," the Princess said, "that you have met some one whom youwish to marry?"

  "Perhaps so," Jeanne answered. "At any rate I will not marry the Countde Brensault."

  The Princess' face had darkened.

  "I do not wish to quarrel with you, Jeanne," she said, "but I thinkthat you will. Whom else is it that you are thinking of? Is it ourisland fisherman who has taken your fancy?"

  "Does that matter?" Jeanne answered calmly. "Is it not sufficient if Isay that I will not marry the Count de Brensault."

  "No, it is not quite sufficient," the Princess remarked coldly. "Youwill either marry the man whom I have chosen, or give me some definiteand clear reason for your refusal."

  "One very definite and clear reason," Jeanne remarked, "is that I donot like the Count de Brensault. I think that he is a noisy, forward,and offensive young man."

  "His income is nearly fifty thousand a year," the Princess remarked,"so he must be forgiven a few eccentricities of manner."

  "His income," Jeanne said, "scarcely matters, does it? If my money isever to do anything for me, it should at least enable me to choose ahusband for myself."

  "That's where you girls always make such absurd mistakes," the Princessremarked. "You get an idea or a liking into your mind, and you hold onto it like wax. You forget that the times may change, new people maycome, the old order of things may pass altogether away. Suppose, forinstance, you were to lose your money?"

  "I should not be sorry," Jeanne answered calmly. "I should at least besure that I was not any longer an article of merchandise. I could leadmy own life, and marry whom I pleased."

  The Princess laughed scornfully.

  "Men do not take to themselves penniless brides nowadays," she remarked.

  "Some men--" Jeanne began.

  The Princess interrupted her.

  "Bah!" she said. "You are thinking of your island fisherman again. Isee by the papers that he has gone away. He is very wise. He may be avery excellent person, but the whole world could not hold a lesssuitable husband for you."

  Jeanne smiled.

  "Well," she said, "we shall see. I certainly do not think that he willever ask me to marry him. He is one of those whom my gold does not seemto attract."

  "He is clumsy," the Princess remarked. "A word of encouragement wouldhave brought him to your feet."

  "If I had thought so," Jeanne remarked, "I would have spoken it."

  The Princess looked across at her stepdaughter searchingly.

  "Tell me the truth, Jeanne," she said. "Have you been idiot enough toreally care for this man?"

  "That," Jeanne answered, "is a subject which I cannot discuss with anyone, not even you."

  "It is all very well," the Princess answered, "but whatever happens, Imust see that you do not make an idiot of yourself. It is veryimportant indeed, for more reasons than you know of."

  Jeanne looked up.

  "Such as--?" she asked.

  The Princess hesitated. There were two evils before her. It was notpossible to escape from both. She found herself weighing the chances ofeach of them, their nearness to disaster.

  "Well," she said, "great fortunes even like yours are not above thechances of the money-markets. Your fortune, or a great part of it,might go. What would happen to you then? You would be a pauper."

  Jeanne smiled.

  "I can see nothing terrifying in that," she answered, "but at the sametime I do not think that a fortune such as mine is a very fluctuatingaffair."

  "You are right, of course," the Princess said. "You will be one of therichest young women in the country. There is nothing to prevent it. Itis a good thing that you have me to look after you."

  Jeanne leaned a little forward in her chair, and looked steadfastly ather stepmother.

  "I suppose," she said, "that you are right. You know the world, at anyrate, and you are clever. But often you puzzle me. Why at first did youwant me to marry Major Forrest?"

  The Princess' face seemed suddenly to harden.

  "I never wished you to," she said coldly. "However, we will not talkabout that. For certain reasons I think that it would be well for youto be married before you actually come of age. That is why I haveinvited the Count de Brensault here to-night."

  Jeanne's dark eyes were fixed curiously upon the Princess.

  "Some
times," she said, "I do not altogether understand you. Why shouldthere be all this nervous haste about my marriage? Do you know that itwould trouble me a great deal more, only that I have absolutely made upmy mind that nothing will induce me to marry any one whom I do notreally care for."

  The Princess raised her head, and for a moment the woman and the girllooked at one another. It was almost a duel--the Princess' intense,almost threatening regard, and Jeanne's set face and steadfast eyes.

  "My father left me all this money," Jeanne said, "that I might behappy, not miserable. I am quite determined that I will not ruin mylife before it has commenced. I do not wish to marry at all for severalyears. I think that you have brought me into what you call Society agood deal too soon. I would rather study for a little time, and try andlearn what the best things are that one may get out of life. I amafraid, from your point of view, that I am going to be a failure. I donot care particularly about dances, or the people we have met at them.I think that in another few weeks I shall be as bored as the mostfashionable person in London."

  A servant knocked at the door announcing Major Forrest. Jeanne rose toher feet and passed out by another door. The Princess made no attemptto stop her.