Page 20 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
“You have saved my honour if not my life, madame,” she said. “Who knows where I would be now—maybe floating lifeless in the Rhône. He was clearly a violent man.”
“Yes, you had a lucky escape,” Ellie said. “So tell us, why did you have to leave your home so suddenly?”
Yvette studied her coffee cup, toying with the spoon. “It’s my father,” she said. “He is a horrible man. Unkind, critical. My mother died when I was young, and my father treats me as a servant. He expects me to do all the housework and take care of the animals ... and then ...” She broke off, blinked, and took a deep breath. “He wanted me to marry the son of the man who owned the next farm over, so that our lands could bejoined. Gaston was horrible—fat, ugly, rude. I refused. My father said he would force me. So I had to leave.”
Ellie covered Yvette’s hand with her own. “My dear girl, I’m so sorry. You are safe now. You travel with us to the South, and then you can find yourself a job and a place to live, and all will be well.”
Yvette gave a weak smile. “Thank you, madame. You are too good.”
Dora insisted on paying half the bill, and they walked back together to the hotel.
Ellie slept well that night, partly because of the wine, but also because she was exhausted. She awoke to narrow stripes of sunlight coming in through the closed blinds. When she opened them, the breeze that greeted her already had a hint of the South to it, perfumed and caressing. She felt her spirits rising. With any luck today, they’d be seeing the blue Mediterranean Sea, finding the perfect place to stay ...
Mavis appeared, dressed and ready, now wearing a cotton frock. Like all her clothes, it hung off her bony frame, and Ellie realized it was the first time she had seen Mavis not wearing her apron.
“I reckon it’s going to get ruddy hot, don’t you, missus?” she asked. “If it’s this warm already ...”
“So how are you enjoying your adventure so far?” Ellie asked, smiling as Mavis began packing her things into the suitcase without being asked.
“Blimey, I never thought, in a million years, that I’d be seeing things like this,” Mavis said. “You’ve opened my eyes, that’s what you’ve done, and I’m grateful. I expect I’ll miss home eventually, but right now I just want to take it all in.”
“That’s the spirit,” Ellie said. “You need time to become a person in your own right, just like I do. We need to find out who we are.”
“What about that French girl?” Mavis said. “She hasn’t scarpered with your jewellery, has she?”
“She’s in the bathroom,” Ellie said. “Poor little thing.”
“Well, I don’t trust her,” Mavis said.
“It’s because she’s foreign and doesn’t speak English, Mavis. But don’t worry. We’ll get her settled in Marseille before we go on to find the perfect spot for ourselves. It’s only another day you have to put up with her.”
Mavis didn’t reply but gave a little sniff.
After breakfast they stood as the hotel employee loaded their suitcases back into the Bentley. Dora drew Ellie aside, glancing at Yvette, who stood clutching a pathetically small cardboard suitcase, looking young and vulnerable.
“I really must insist that you stop rounding up strays, Mrs Endicott,” Dora said. “For one thing, there is no more room in the motor car.”
Ellie smiled. “But we’re all strays, don’t you see? I’m a stray. You’re a stray. We’ve nowhere to go, and everywhere to go.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Dora frowned. “Why are you so darned optimistic? Fate has dealt you a dirty hand, the same as it has for all of us. I’m being cheated out of time, Mavis out of a loving husband and enough money and Yvette out of a loving family. You’ve been cheated out of your nice, comfortable life and your lovely home and all the work you’ve put into it ...”
“I am on my way to the South of France where who knows what adventures we’ll have. What could I want more?” Ellie said. “And I have the whole world before me to do exactly what I want for the first time in my life. Do you realize, Dora, that I’ve spent my entire life trying to please other people: my parents, who never thought I was good enough, clever enough, pretty enough, holy enough, and then my husband, who took everything I did for granted, gave me no credit for any of his success and then tossed me aside without a second thought?”
She spread her hands wide. “It’s all possible, Dora. I can’t tell you how wonderfully free I feel. If my husband had had his way, I’d have been moved to a tiny flat in Knightsbridge, the flat where he had once kept his mistress, I suspect. I’d have mooched around Harrods once a week, looking at clothes and foodstuffs I could no longer afford, and then spent my evenings sitting alone, listening to the radio. Or I’d beliving in a grim little cottage—he suggested the one by the railway line, you know—doing good deeds with you at church and getting whispers and looks of pity whenever I went out.”
She exchanged a glance with Dora. “Instead we’re going to find a lovely place overlooking the sea and eat octopus and drink lots of wine.”
“Good gracious me.” Dora shook her head.
They set off, the Bentley’s nose pointed due south with the Rhône River flowing beside them. Boats going south moved swiftly with the current. Those going north struggled under full power. There were no bridges for a long while, meaning the people on both banks led quite different lives, Ellie surmised. Vineyards still covered the hillsides, their leaves starting to turn golden, and buildings were now solid stone rather than gracefully carved wood.
They came to the medieval city of Avignon.
“There is a way around the city which would save us some time,” Dora said, looking up from her map.
Ellie hesitated. “Have you ever seen Avignon?”
“I can’t say that I have. All I know is the song, ‘Sur le Pont.’”
