The beautiful foreigner E-Book

Max du Veuzit

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 338

Beschreibung

Alain d'Arlevé, leaving for Sylvania, shaken by a revolution, wishes to review the settings of his childhood. There he met the heiress of the ruling family, Wanda de Zunski, his cousin, and took her back to France. Between an aunt who loves her little and Gisèle, a frivolous cousin who hates her, Wanda grows up while Alain travels the world with his violin. He left her as a child, he found her as a young girl and she became his wife, to the great displeasure of Gisèle, in love with Alain. While Wanda was expecting their first child, Alain left with her for Sylvania where he was to give a series of recitals. How Gisèle manages to separate the couple, how Alain finds his wife completely amnesic three years later, this is the theme on which Max du Veuzit has built this fascinating novel where drama meets love.

Leseprobe

The beautiful foreigner

Pages de titreIIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIXXXIXIIXIIIXIVXVXVIXVIIXVIIIXIXXXCopyright

The beautiful Foreigner

Max du Veuzit

I

The man moved cautiously, yet he hastened.

In the dawn paled the sky, the tops of the pines swayed nonchalantly. Here and there, pale leaves of a birch trembled.

Along the steep slopes, the water flowed, joyful and pressed, taking with it round pebbles and dried flowers, torn from the earth by the north wind.

The man walked ...

He was a boy of about twenty-five, tall and slender. The decision on his face, stretched by the double effort of attention constantly on the alert and difficult journey. Difficult, not the ground or the undergrowth were particularly painful to go, but all that could occur there surprises or unwanted encounters.

For man walking in the mountains, by this spring morning, obviously hiding.

Though the grass was wet with dew, he avoided the stony ground and stood on the side paths traced through the woods, always ready to throw in the thickets at the slightest alarm.

If he happened to cut some forest road, he slowed his march, threw long anxious glances around him and quickly passed.

Under the short peak of his hair, his blue eyes struck by the energy of their eyes and thin lips of her mouth, nice and big, were both spiritual and farms. He carried on his back a rucksack dark green cloth, the color of barely contrasted with his sport suit, sober and comfortable. His shoes with strong soles, on which were turned big wool socks, trod the earth with a quick and safe.

The man continued to advance.

There were three days, three endless days he was going alone through the dark mountain range that separates the Sylvania Montballero. He walked tirelessly, with short stops for a quick meal and drink with ice and tasty sources.

Once again, the evening descended on the forest and the time came for him to win a refuge for the night.

Silence, in this twilight hour, seemed even denser.

In the incipient darkness, the man walked over to a pile of gray rocks; armed with the stick rail on which it is supported, it cleared a passage through the brambles were entangled at his feet. He thus came to a deep and narrow opening into which he sank.

He discovered a kind of cave and lay with satisfaction on the floor covered with foam, having made a pillow of the blanket he was wrapped outside his rucksack.

The traveler could not really more. Physical fatigue, combined with nervous tension, made him undergo a severe test. Triumph of the one and the other required a strong will and a body driven to the sporting exercises.

But human strength has limits. Without further resist sleep that filled, he closed his eyes and fell asleep instantly.

He did not wake until morning. The sun already gilded the entrance of the cave; the man jumped up, angry for having been late: his watch showed eight. After a brief toilet, he reloaded his bag on his shoulder. Full of new ardor, he started walking.

Soon the forest stopped. Before him, fields of lavender and broom flower stretched on a long journey. At their southern end, firs lined again.

Before embarking on this ground, he inspected the horizon, even more carefully than he did normally, using binoculars. He would not be seen by anyone.

With a slight smile, he glove and began to crawl, dragging sometimes on the floor, giving the impression of a bear sway. Although his mind was busy with the gravity of the moment, and even more by the hour that followed, he could not help but evoke laughter with crazy interior bewilderment scandalized dear Baroness Serdan, aunt if she had seen him in this situation both tragic and grotesque, her terror if she had known the dangers he ran.

The space of a flash, he had before his eyes the dining peaceful Arlevé, with its high carved chests and Louis XIII chairs.

But this vision faded suddenly jostled by these requirements that forbade any respite. His attention tensed again.

Finally, he found himself under the cover of trees. He was able to recover and resume a normal pace.

The goal was approaching ...

A great relief came to him. The longest, the most difficult was accomplished. Now, there was not a trail, a clearing, he had traveled in the past. Already, he recognized every bush, almost every tree. In their heavy and weary branches sagged limply, he had once jumped and laughed, built imaginary fortunes and slept in hammocks fancy, gently swaying in the wind.

There were six then ... Six vigorous and noisy boys ...

Where were the other five today? What remained of their slender and robust bodies, their round and voluntary heads covered with unruly hair coming out in straight locks of their fur hats?

What remained of it which had held so much space in his childhood? What remained of the frame which took place so much of his adolescence? Where were the precious affections of old?

But the ground was changing again. The slope that man descended at this time resulted in a deep valley. The trees became less frequent. Soon, a few hundred meters to his right, he saw the charred ruins of a village.

A deep emotion tightened her features. He had known each house that stood there, and the name of every person they housed. Often, he pushed the door of an enclosure planted with apple trees, he had drunk deeply of the fresh milk offered him a rustic and welcoming hospitality.

The hatred nor envy existed then. For them it was only a turbulent boy, full of health, whose outstretched hand was tight by all with friendship. And joy reigned in the village. Happiness seemed to always live.

But the hard times, the folly of men, wars were all swept away, burned homes, destroyed homes ...

And murdered the beautiful memories of childhood!

He stopped along a wall, before a sort of square place where once stood still, crumbling and gutted the church. Formerly the pope will speak of God and heaven, movingly and simply, to the youth of the village.

He remembered Sunday services, wide skirts of girls, their costs and their white faces and thick mats wise dancing on their thin shoulders. He remembered the conquering air of boys with puffed sleeves of their embroidered shirts and soft leather of their shiny boots.

This was a bygone era, that of happiness ... A time when he and his cousins ​​were not orphans and grew up in happy families.

He made a sign of the cross and prayed.

"Here I am alone in the world, God. Let my life serve a purpose. Help me to fulfill the mission you entrust me. "

It was still late afternoon. A new day ended. The loneliness, the heart of the destroyed village seemed heavier. The atmosphere thickened.

He tore the sad memories evoked these cracked walls and these weeds. In stride, he walked away.

He did so one kilometer; then suddenly round a sunken road, he saw in the emerging fog a squat house, pierced with small windows.

His heart pounded in his chest. He was a young and sensitive heart that life had already roughed up, but kept his youthful ardor. The sight of this humble abode upset him. Its walls, its thatched roof were still there, almost intact, this amounted to a kind of miracle. A house still existed! His presence in this immensity sorry, sounded a message of hope.

Now he was close. Only a meadow planted with fruit trees separated him. All around the pines formed a dark and fragrant circle. The trunks of some birch trees whose bark was peeling slowly left, from place to place, bright spots.

The man jumped.

A dog probably feeling a strange presence, began to bark suddenly.

A dog ! Life...

At the same time, automatically looking up, he thought he saw a thin black shape in one of the highest fir trees whose lower branches almost swept the land.

For an unconscious reflex, he hid behind a tree and watched. Nothing was stirring ...

Yet he was sure he saw something in the tree and, in all likelihood, this was a human being!

Undecided, he knew what to do. Someone was watching her movements ... Was it a friend or foe? The dog barked furiously still.

Suddenly the door of the cottage opened. An old woman appeared at the door, but it was immediately rushed by the dog that darted outside, a large wolfhound, with teeth bared, growling dangerously like an animal preparing to attack. He rushed in the direction of the unknown.

Still, the heart capsized, the man saw the dog leap towards him, but he did not care. Fixed eyes, he saw the old woman who seemed terrified at the threshold of the house.

Then the dog was close to him. He raised his hand and said gently:

- All beautiful ! All beautiful ! Shhh ...

The dog stopped and growled even a moment. Suddenly, with deaf yelps, he crawled to the one he was about to address the previous second.

The fears of the poor woman does not subsided when she saw the animal back to the house with joyful leaps, followed by a tall young man whose tall figure suddenly startled.

The hand canopy over his eyes as age extinguished slowly, she watched, bewildered, who came to her and suddenly started running.

Even before she could pronounce the name that was trying to pass his throat knotted with emotion, he had joined her, grasped between his strong arms and held her against him, tears in her eyes.

- Maroussia! Maroussia! Is it possible ? My old Maroussia! You are alive !

She whispered in a choked voice:

- Alain, is it really you?

- Yes, dear, it's me. Blessed be God, which allows me to find you!

- May He be blessed to bring you to me, count.

She pulled away, bent back his old crippled with rheumatism, took the long, elegant and gentle hand, but firm, who tended to her and, stammering incoherently, in a trembling voice, many times, she kissed crying.

A little embarrassed, because his French education had made him forget the manners he had known in his childhood, the man looked slanted shape in front of him and took his hand.

- You recognized me, Maroussia! he said affectionately. Yet I have changed a lot.

The old woman smiled through her tears.

- When we saw the mother of Count, we can not ignore that Count is his son ... The same features, the same race. Even an old hag like me is unable not to notice.

He protested gently:

- An old witch? What an idea !

He remembered the vast embroidered skirts worn, like a princess, a woman in the prime of life. His dark hair was raised in a ring around his head. What remained, alas! This serene and strong woman who looked after the children, held authority over the nurses, the French teachers themselves? What remained of that high, firm breasts that had nursed such beautiful babies?

No, nothing in this old woman twisted in pain, trembling, dressed in rags without color and shape, not remember the imposing housekeeper past days.

In those days, what was left, if not bloody ruins and dead faces? By what miracle this unfortunate she had escaped the disaster? To see her alive, but so miserable, so obviously abandoned all human aid, negated the vague hope, yet tenacious, who had led until then and that his view was reinforced now.

However, Maroussia had seized a broom made of branches of dried broom, roughly bound together, and went to lean against the door, her head in the air.

- What are you doing ?

- It's a signal, she said.

He was worried:

- A signal ? For who ?

Without answering, she called out:

- Min Min ... ...

- For that, this signal? He repeated, worried. You know, I'm here fraud. You have neighbors?

- Yes, a neighbor, she admitted.

- I know her ?

- Count the very familiar.

- Who is it ?

She smiles.

- A little patience, my master ... A little bit of patience. He must wait joy, it becomes more valuable.

A glimmer of hope lit the male face. Could it be that another had survived the massacre?

He looked at the old woman until the retina. Any questioning his face with passion. She shook her head with a smile full of goodwill, but had forever forgotten gaiety.

- Maroussia, he murmured, I must know exactly ... what happened.

- That Count enters and starts to ease. Then we'll talk.

Behind her, he entered a room with walls and ceiling blackened by the smoke let out a tiled stove, broken and repaired by unskilled hands. The room looked like a raped place to which we gave back somehow, and rather harm than good, civilized air.

The last time he had come to this place, which served as a rendezvous hunting, cushioned sofas that ran along the walls were ripped open, high ice was not split, the stove was good condition and the big copper suspension does not hung miserable, half demolished, above a table almost unusable, surrounded by rickety chairs.

- They came here as she said in a hushed voice, full of pain and anger. They did not burn the hut because they were confined for a few hours and then they had to forget ... I had great difficulty to mend things and to run the stove.

- I see, he replied in the same tone saddened after a long look around.

She helped him get rid of her bag and pushed him near a smashed chair. He sat.

- Do you want something ? Tea ?...

At the time, he did not think to wonder at this offer.

- Later, later. I beg you, says.

She stayed in front of him, standing, hands crossed on his faded apron.

The dog was gone.

- I think their newspapers told this all along, she began shaking her gray head bitterly. It was a victory for them of massacring an entire family defenseless. A magnificent victory! Wipe out innocent women and children ...

His words were full of painful grudges and his voice trembled with hatred by completing the atrocious accusation.

- It's not every day that one has the opportunity to destroy a ruling family and burn an entire province! They could be proud of them!

- I know about how things happened, he said softly, from what our newspapers said. But there must have details, facts which they have not spoken, or have ignored. Nothing could give me that I would find you here, Maroussia, he added, with affection, moved by her face tragically tense towards a past which she alone knew the terrible course.

- They certainly do not say everything, 'replied the old woman with sudden force.

- Speak, I beg you. I want so much to know ... everything. Whether I can still do anything for anybody ... Maybe avenge the dead!

- Alas! Revenge will not resurrect the past. Do something ... You put a long time to come. How did you get here? Do you therefore not forgotten?

She was not making any reproach, she complained only with a kind of resignation.

- I could not come sooner, he said. Shortly after these tragic events, I lost my beloved mother. I was in France, my aunt Serdan became my guardian. I was only sixteen. Almost immediately the war began.

- The war ?

The surprise and incomprehension were visible on the old face. Alain Arlevé suddenly realized that this corner, lost in the heart of Europe, had ignored the course of the conflict. And what would have known of this cataclysm this forgotten woman, buried in the forest, and had certainly lost all contact with the outside world?

In a few words, he summed up the past few years. Maroussia listened with attention which denoted more politeness than interest.

For her, the world stopped his life during a bloody afternoon of a certain summer.

- Come here, concludes Alain was not today a thin adventure. You will understand that my relationship with the missing Grand Duchess prevented me from getting a visa from the government of Sylvania.

He ignored the flash of hatred that crossed the look of the old woman.

- So I had to make a discreet trip, he continued. For reasons I'll explain later, I had to go through the Montballero not by the Daymonia, which however was much closer ...

- Holy Virgin! The Montballero is horribly far!

- So I walked for three full days to meet you finally.

- Walk three days! Maroussia repeated, terrified. My God, what a time!

- Yes, he admitted, it is quite upset, but not that happening horrors.

She stared at him with obvious disbelief.

- It also requires them things very well, 'he said with a smile when pondering his youth. You will see.

- I see myself? Our Lady of the Hawthorn! how can I see something in this hovel I can leave?

- Do you imagine seriously that I'll leave you to rot in the desert, so wooded be it? When you are finally decided you to tell me what you know, and I'll be found out of the situation, you're going to run the adventures and highways, as a fearless girl bravely ... You'll spend the border, fraud, in my company.

She seemed amazed and believed she was going to protest, but as if a sudden thought came to her, she nodded in assent.

Alain, had become serious.

- I understand how it is painful to you, he said, but now I need to know what exactly happened to Zunski.

The old tanned face turned pale again, but it was a firm voice that rose in the room that night invaded:

- It was very hot ... We had a beautiful summer sky. Their Highnesses had settled in the billiard room ... remember? She was facing north. The young princes were there too; Wanda had gone to the kennel with the French teacher, because Dinga had to have small ... Dinga finally the dog-wolf. The little princess wanted to choose a puppy he was promised.

Maroussia looked up Alain.

- Does Count remembers the old Piotr and his pavilion, in the bottom of Zunski park?

- Very well.

- Piotr was sick. I was going to treat every day and that is what saved my life. I had just finished my work when I heard screams and gunshots. There were several months that the unrest simmering and Their Royal Highnesses were concerned. It was as if the air was charged with electricity and that everyone would have felt. Monseigneur the Grand Duke wanted to send his wife to Paris with the children but the Grand Duchess did not want to part with it, especially in a time like this.

For a moment, his memory stopped at the admirable mistress she had lost.

- What woman ! She whispered. We will not see anytime soon reciprocate! For children, me and the teachers, the English and the French, our departure was decided, but misfortune was faster to come from us. When I heard these cries and these shots, I realized that something serious was going on at the castle. Alas! I never imagined possible what it was, though! What was! She repeated slowly, his eyes fixed on the images of a horrible past.

- So what ? Alain said softly, as she stopped talking.

She shook her head as if to dispel the awful vision.

- So I left home Piotr running. After a few minutes, I met Jivan, the master gardener. Do you remember ?

- Yeah, yeah, I know...

- He also ran, but the other way. Seeing me, he stopped. He looked terrified. "Do not go, he shouted, they will kill you! They kill everyone! "He told me, very quickly, a fanatical band invaded Zunski. The Grand Duke and his son had tried to drive them ...

Maroussia hid his face in his hands.

- The miserable killed them, she moaned. All. Parents, children, servants ... all dead. "I'd better, said Jivan, wait at Piotr these maniacs are gone ... because finally, once their dirty work done, they go back well from which they came! "But I did was not so sure. And you imagine my state. Without me, without listening to that idiot, I started running.

"Suddenly, I saw a great light rise. It was Zunski burning. Within minutes, the castle was no longer an inferno. I could do nothing more for him or for its inhabitants ... It became necessary that I hide. The bandits were like drunken carnage and destruction, they were running from all sides, they were killing, they burned ... Jivan and greenhouses, the old Piotr and his house, the village, the church ... There ' is nothing left.

Quivering, Maroussia repeated in a mournful voice:

- Nothing. It was horrible, horrible! For three days, I was holed up in the forest ... And then the fourth morning, I could not help but go in hiding. I had to know ...

Lower still, she continued:

- Everything was destroyed ... everything ... and all were dead. There were only ruins and corpses.

His voice was harsh and fierce:

- Everywhere corpses ... In the billiard room, the terrace, to the office, the kitchen, the stables ... ... corpses everywhere. However...

- Yet ... Alain repeated, dry throat.

- Yet the kennel where the pack had been exterminated also because the dogs howled and threatened intruders, there was still a living being. From his niche Dinga arises. She dragged herself towards me moaning, she pulled me by my skirt ... And then ... then ... a little scary face like a ghost appeared at the opening of the niche and ...

- And ...? Alain Arlevé almost screamed.

- And the little Wanda went on all fours. With difficulty. She was dying of hunger and terror. The French teacher had the idea to hide there, and Dinga remained lying before it, protecting it with her puppies. Who can know the intelligence of animals? Dinga must have sensed the danger, that she had to be quiet. She had not moved. We had done nothing to him ... Maybe we had not seen.

Alain Arlevé had risen. He came to the old woman and shook her by the shoulder.

- Is she really alive? He shouted. Where is she ?

- She was very ill, but she stood firm, poor ... poor girl!

Maroussia was sobbing, her head in her apron.

- Where is she ? Alain asked again.

Like answer, the door opened slowly ... then opened completely.

On the threshold appeared a thin, brown girl, strangely dressed in dark fabrics without form. An old square of fabric similar to the one that covered ottomans, stood on his head and tied under the chin.

Behind it was the dog.

Alain rushed with outstretched arms ...

But at the sight of the stranger, the child, terrified, screamed and before Maroussia or visitor could have said a word, she ran away and disappeared into the trees.

With one bound the dog joined her.

II

- Holy Madonna! moaned the old woman. She got scared! We will not meet again!

But Alain did not listen. In turn, he came in the door and ran toward the woods. In the dark now almost complete, though he saw hail form meant the dog tied to his feet. He caught her and grabbed her black rags that served him dress.

He felt her shudder like a trapped animal. She struggled frantically. He saw it as clear oval of her face pale.

- Wanda, he whispered, do not you recognize me?

She was still in vain to escape. In response, she called breathlessly his friend and defender.

- Dinga!

Dinga but refused to attack. Instead, it was party to the assailant with joyful leaps.

- Dinga! repeated the girl in a tone of reproach and frightened surprise.

Alain managed to take the little hand twitched at her touch.

- Dinga will do me no harm, believe me. It has better memory than you and she knows I'm a friend ... it is true that when I came to Zunski you were still small.

On behalf of Zunski, the girl shivered, but little fingers that the young man was holding prisoners relaxed slightly.

- I'm Alain Arlevé, he added slowly. The godson of your mom. My mother was his first cousin. You did remember not your Aunt Elizabeth?

Slowly, as he spoke, he dragged her to the cottage. He felt that she trembled, and resistance became less obstinate.

- This is why Dinga does not hurt me. You see, she did not forget it ...

Then a small voice asked anxiously:

- How did you told me your name was?

- Alain. Alain Arlevé. I'm your cousin, your brother almost ... since your dear mother was my spiritual mother: my godmother.

It was Wanda, now, that drew to the house, she shook his hand as if she was afraid to let go. She went quickly and ran to Maroussia.

- Light the fire ! She commanded a deliberate tone. I want to see him.

- Right away, my little lamb. In five minutes it will be done.

Amused, Alain thought that relations between them stood the feudal system. The child ordered the woman blindly obeyed. The roles were reversed a little bit.

Another struck him in his evidence: Wanda had a strong personality. She certainly inherited from his mother, but without courtly gentleness of it. The incredible life she led for several years had to be at the origin of its authoritarian character.

Soon the snoring stove and of course smoked. One hand still clinging to that of Alain, Wanda opened the fire door and discovered a glowing brazier.

She seriously commanded:

- Approach to the flame you light.

Obediently, Alain leaned his face toward the light. The child came forward and he could detail its features, she had long, gray eyes, pale and sullen face, a graceful mouth, but voluntary.

Smiling, he asked:

- Do you like me?

But she did not answer his smile. She straightened up and said only:

- You came to take revenge?

There was a wild look in his eyes. He realized that revenge was his first concern.

- I came to get you, he said. What happened to Zunski beyond you and beyond me. Revolutions are like wars, one is forced to suffer ... We can not stop them or change them. You better understand that when you have learned everything that happened, everything that is happening in Europe.

He tangled a little in his sentences. It was not easy explaining to these half-wild, one was too young and the other too old, one man even resolved, can not intervene in the destiny of a people that revenge, most often strikes the innocent and becomes criminal ... we do not fix it by killing other murders.

- Europe! Wanda repeated contemptuously.

A silence fell.

- I came to love you too, 'said Alain after a while, with grave sweetness.

He wrapped the girl in his arms and held her against him. In this action happening all the emotion that communicated him this child, by itself first, then by all she evoked. She must have felt that emotion, guess she was the cause. His present loneliness, memories of the past, went up to her heart. Forgetting disappointment that the reserve Alain had aroused in her, she sobbed on the shoulder which she suddenly realized all the fraternal affection.

Large, heavy tears rolled slowly withered cheeks of the old woman.

For a moment let Alain grief Wanda spill, and then, still holding her against him, he turned his head and addressed Maroussia:

- If you gave us some light?

The old woman looked up at the sky.

- Fire and moonbeams are our only lights at night, she explained.

- But how, and what do you live?

Alain suddenly wondered curiously. Despite the thinness of the little girl and the arched back of the woman, it was clear that they did not suffer from hunger.

- It is not without difficulty, but I draw, Maroussia said proudly. I thank you input in good condition despite all she's been through ... We became real wild to live ever alone, but Wanda is well. We eat fruits, vegetables ... I can take rabbits collar. Wood does not lack in the forest, and then ... there's the underground.

- Underground? Alain repeated, surprised.

But Wanda strongly intervened:

- And in the underground, there is still electricity, just imagine! But of course we have not been able to bring far. That's a shame.

She took the tone of a competent busy housewife. Alain smiled and put his hand on the young tousled head.

- How old are you exactly?

- Thirteen years. Soon fourteen.

- She's petite but strong, assured the old woman. Thanks to Our Lady of Kazan, it has not been a single day of illness, except, of course, after ...

She paused to wrap the girl with a tender look, then finished in a low voice:

- Well ... except for his brain fever, she finished.

But Wanda had understood what she meant. She raised her face tense and upset.

- I had seen it all! She whispered. All !

She leaned over and put his arms around the intelligent head of Dinga.

- Without it, they would have killed me too.

She shivered.

- She is so brave, Dinga! Miss had pushed me into his kennel ... She's lying to me. She remained there all the time.

She kissed the dog and whispered:

- You say you came to get me, Alain? You want to take me with you? It is true ?

- Of course it's true!

- Roussia and Dinga too?

- Roussia and Dinga also.

- Where shall we go?

- At home in France,

A shadow of fear and anguish passed into the gray eyes.

- You think it's possible?

- Nothing is impossible, said the young man gravely, when you have the faith and courage. Look, Maroussia you well saved and higher ... It is not difficult to arrive home. But, in fact, you were talking just now of the underground? Has he not been destroyed, or discovered?

- No, said Maroussia. As I have already explained to Count, Their Highnesses felt coming serious troubles ...

She mingled and most familiar and the most formal respect.

- Our masters have thought to build up reserves in the vast underground gallery and organize there a secret shelter with arms, provisions. Do not we had talked about?

Alain remembered the day her uncle, the Grand Duke, unveiled his son and his nephew secret tunnel that linked Zunski this cottage, located right outside the park. In the private chapel of the Grand Duchess, they had sworn they would reveal to a living soul what they would see.

The sovereign, with the help of a man sure had installed electricity in the secret place: the current was produced by a small dynamo driven by the fall of a river passing nearby and that they were able to capture.

- I helped transport supplies, continued Maroussia. Preserves of all kinds, there was something for more than a year. So, being careful, you can imagine that the small and I could draw it out longer. But fortunately you are, because in the long reserves will be exhausted, and I was worried. Not only for us ...

- For whom? Alain asked.

- These provisions then, Count, had to refuel one day supporters of Their Highnesses! And they will come, is not it? They overthrow "their" new government! ...

Alain did not reply to it, not wanting to add a disappointment and sorrow to all those that had already supported the poor woman. He went to his rucksack on the rickety table and opened it. He took out the bread, cheese and chocolate.

- Look, he says, that to complete the dinner menu; I'm sure that's a long time you have eaten it!

Maroussia and Wanda leaned together on these incredible things available to them.

- Chocolate ! whispered the little girl. It was so good! I remember ... Is it that I can take a little bit right now?

- I think, noticed his cousin, that we had better dinner first. Then eat your chocolate, then we will see underground.

With the bread, cheese, and chocolate, the meal turned to Maroussia and child in a festive banquet.

- And now, Wanda said when they had finished, give me your hand, Alain, and let you drive.

She led him to the back of the room and there she rested her hand against the wall, near the stove, behind a bench. Under pressure, a piece of wall toppled. A dark opening appeared.

- Let me pass, said Maroussia. Count not used. I'll lead the way.

- It's dark, 'said the little girl joyfully introduced her cousin in this mysterious place, but soon we will see clear, with electricity.

- How did you know to operate the facility? wondered the young man.

- It's not difficult. In carrying provisions, I had commissioned a hundred times, explained Maroussia.

- Do you not have done better to sit in the underground?

The old woman shook her head.

- The small had fear in there ... and after all, it's only a cellar, no windows, no air: this is not healthy. And it reminded too much. And winter, how could we live there?

- Yes of course...

They moved in single file. They walked for a few minutes and then suddenly they followed the corridor widens. Alain heard Maroussia hurry on while the hand of Wanda him motionless.

- Wait, she said. Roussia will enlighten us.

Indeed, the light flashed, rather weak and uncertain. The young man saw that they were at the entrance to a large room with walls whitewashed seemed healthy and clear. It was furnished with benches, rattan armchairs and sofas few narrow. Shelves were running all around, up and down the walls, loaded with canned funds, weapons or clothing. A huge table stretched between two benches, as if waiting for hundreds of guests.

- How my uncle and aunt have they not won this gallery? murmured Alain Arlevé. We never would have discovered them there!

- The attack was too sudden, said Maroussia. Even if they had had time to get out of the pool room where they were, as I have explained, they would not gain entry to the underground without being followed. At first, when we sought refuge in the cottage, I was shaking someone might discover this entry, the one from Zunski. Then I realized that the castle burned, had barred the passage collapsing and we could be very quiet.

While the old woman spoke, her cousin Wanda led to his voluntary and silent way towards a small wood furniture. She opened it and took out a photograph and handed it to him.

- Look, she said. That's all I have left. I found in a book that had been left in the cottage. Maroussia said that mom had forgotten there.

Alain looked at the picture, that of a beautiful young woman with quiet eyes, surrounded by her son five, five handsome boys, and a very little girl with long hair. Heavy heart, he turned to the trembling child whose eyes seemed to reflect that despair.

- You've got another brother, little Wanda, he said tenderly. You know, is not it, that you can count on my affection?

In response, she threw herself impetuously into his open arms.

- Oh ! love me ! Love me ! She shouted. It's so sad to have more than mom, dad ... more

He no longer thought that his haste to tear this country, its tragic memories, to build him a normal life that would flow finally in serenity.

But he did not conceal, strip the horrible past of this child poisoned his power would be an arduous and lengthy task. All his tenderness, all his vigilance, coupled with the remoteness, not easily effaced images buried deep in a little soul devastated.

She succeed never forget the terrible visions that had clouded his youth and whose memory, so obviously, haunted?

Blessed are those who can evoke childhood without a heavy heart ...

But he had to return to the present and its needs.

- Maroussia, Alain said the old woman, could we not, in all these clothes, find something you equip, both for our trip?

- These clothes ? replied the old woman Zunski confidence. But ... these are men's clothes!

- Well ... it seems to me that they would perfectly do. Thus dressed, you will attract less attention.

- You can not dress the little Highness guy with clothes from the mountain! exclaimed the old woman. Me, still going on, although I do not see me ...

- Maroussia, said the young man impatiently, do what I tell you and do not argue. Wanda cross the border disguised as a boy and it will not be disgraced for it. Search in its packets and selected what it takes.

He spoke with authority. Maroussia, silenced by this tone, rummaged through the packages. Wanda, distracted from his sad thoughts, compared with its thin person accoutrements for formerly supporters of his parents: bloomers, rough cloth jackets, thick shoes.

- That is great! she says.

Maroussia managed to discover midsize facilities that could suit them roughly; then all three returned to the cottage.

- And now, rest for everyone! Alain decreed. Tomorrow we leave early.

The old woman and the child lay down on the battered sofa. Himself wrapped in the blanket he had brought and lay down on a wooden bench.

Although he was tired, it was long before he fell asleep. This trip, he would begin the next day, worried.

To come he had made a long detour, crossing the border of Sylvania in a relatively deserted spot. But he could not require its companions a walk as painful and prolonged.

The small republic of Daymonia was not very far from Zunski, peace and order reigned; but precisely because of it, there were many refugees who flocked there, and the border, to reach it, was closely monitored.

Fortunately, Alain has traveled over again the region with his cousins, in her teens, was perfectly remembered. Landscapes change unless human beings; it can guide her companions. But bad meetings were to be feared. What would happen if someone guessed the ties between Wanda with her missing family?

However, there could be no question of being stopped by the difficulties of the road. Whatever the cost, it was necessary to spend Daymonia. There they would be saved. Everything would be fine, then.

Alain Arlevé had not yet thought to predict complications, different, but some that would arise in its existence the presence of his cousin. This concern was not coming to him with the idea. His most pressing duty commanded him to watch over the child and its future, having simple solidarity, but also need affection and gratitude to those who formerly had always considered a son.

Having had the misfortune of losing his father when he was very young, Alain had found with his uncle, the Grand Duke, a sure guide and constant support. He spent part of his holidays every year with her mother in this magnificent house of Zunski where young princes were like brothers to him.

The rumors of war, and also the intention of the Grand Duke to send his children to France, had alone prevented from Ms. Arlevé and his son to go to Sylvania, as usual, in this summer tragic.

The terrible news of the savage massacre of his beloved cousin and all his family were then shaken Health Countess Arlevé. She had not called. Alain had the pain of losing his mother at a time when the war began in Europe bloodshed.

Yes, Wanda was much more to him than a young cousin. It belonged to him, and him alone, to look at his distress, to save her.

" At the grace of God ! he says to him. God help us. "

Finally, he fell asleep.

III

Dawn was breaking when Alain woke Maroussia and child were still sleeping deeply. Extended to the stove off, Dinga, snout between his front paws, also paid tribute to sleep.

The young man threw his blanket, put on his shoes and stood up. There was no time to lose: the road would be rough, it had to address as soon as possible. It was time to wake her companions.

At the touch of his hand, Maroussia opened his eyes.

Alain glanced at Wanda head crowned his long black hair, she lay still.

- We need to wake too, he said. Lunch will quickly and we will leave right after. Get ready, Maroussia. Called small.

The old woman bent over the child, who opened one eye, then the other. She looked for her cousin's gaze and smiled affectionately.

- Hello everyone ! She said. Slept well, Alain?

- Slept very well, thank you. Now you're going to get up and get dressed quickly. I'm going to do during that time, a little toilet.

While Maroussia lit the fire and would heat water for tea, he went out.

A few meters from the house ran a small mountain stream. The young man approached, stretched his arms by drawing air fresh and lively and, kneeling on the grass, he made a quick wash. Dinga was jumping around, licking his hands, showed her in his own way his joy to see him there.

When he returned to the cottage, tea was ready. Maroussia and Wanda were dressed male suits reported the day before the secret gallery. They were too large for the one as for the other, but were still more practical and had more than their female form rags.

- At table ! Alain said. Hurry up: it is already late.

- It is understood, Count, said Maroussia, but he will have still a little time to prepare our business!

The young man took a quick glance at the desolate room where they were.