Chapter 42
CHAPTER 42
P aris - 1793
In a room in Paris, screams and angry shouts could be heard outside the door. “ Jeanne! They are coming! ” A lovely woman wearing the gown of a lady in waiting said in French as she entered the room.
“ I cannot believe it has come to this, ” said Jeanne du Barry. “ Why would they arrest me, only for helping to save the lives of others? I have done nothing! ”
“ You must hide! ” said her lady in waiting. The two women looked strangely alike, their colouring and the shape of their face making their similarity uncanny. Madeleine Auclair? 1 was Jeanne du Barry’s illegitimate half sister, and the two ladies were exceptionally close.
Madeleine pulled Jeanne into a dressing room, dragged the dressing table and the rug from a trap door, and opened it.
“ I cannot, they will take you in my place, I know it! ” Jeanne cried.
“ You must, or they will kill you! ” Madeleine insisted. There was a pounding from the outer door, as Madeleine pushed her half sister down the hole, and uttered the last words Jeanne would ever hear her speak, “ You will be safe. ”
Suddenly the trap door closed, and Jeanne could hear the dressing table being dragged over it again. She cried out and pounded upon it , until a strange green light came from a curious jewel a few feet away. She saw a man hiding in the passage she occupied, and as he approached her, she recognised him. “ It is you, ” Jeanne said. “ You must help me! We must save Madeleine! ”
The stomping of boots and angry shouts of men were heard above, drowning out her tears, as the apartment was invaded and the men arrested Madeleine. The Comte St Germain shook his head, putting his finger to his lips. The pair waited silently until the pounding boots disappeared into the distance as Madeleine was dragged from the apartment.
“ How could you! ” she turned on the comte . “ How could you let them take her! ”
“ It was requested that I save you, and so I shall. For the memory of our dear friend. We cannot save her. You must come, or it will be for nothing. ”
Jeanne followed St Germain through a series of tunnels, grieving for her sister, and all the others that had been lost to the guillotine.
1 ? Madeleine Auclair is a fictional character created for the purposes of this story.