Chapter 6: Following Eloise

I have to think quickly. The street is quiet and Vichy looks the sort of man desperate enough to commit murder in the open, and worry about disposal of the bodies later. Eloise stands there looking at me as though she expects me to do something.

“Yes, I have a beau. Don’t look so surprised. And as for my mother, then why don’t you ask her?” I challenge, knowing full well Eloise wouldn’t dare.

My words seem enough to calm Vichy who sheaths his knife. But he doesn’t seem totally convinced. Eloise may be doing the talking, but it is Vichy who is pulling her strings.

“You don’t seem to believe me,” I say to Eloise, although for Vichy’s benefit.

I turn to face Richard and wrap my arms round his neck and give him a passionate kiss. He plays along, and his hands wander down to my derrière. Mmmm ... nice ... but inappropriate in public! But I started it, and despite our perilous situation I’m enjoying it a bit. Well, actually, a lot. After what I hope is a convincing performance of our devotion to each other, we break and look at Eloise. Our ploy has worked, and Eloise looks relieved as she returns to Vichy.

Richard and I walk on, arm in arm. We only briefly look back and see Vichy and Eloise walking in the same direction as us on the opposite side of the street. Richard escorts me back to the house. For the second day running I have to confess that I can’t simply walk in through the front door. Much amused, Richard escorts me around to the tree, and after a very polite kiss farewell gives me a leg up into the tree. He’s not so polite as to turn away as I scramble onto the roof, displaying plenty of thigh in the process. I make it into the reception room and wave him goodbye. Fortunately Vichy and Eloise are some distance behind us so they haven’t seen my unusual entrance into the house. Had they done so, it would have revealed my story to be the sham that it was.

Unfortunately for me, my entrance through the window has been observed by someone. I’m not alone in the reception room.

“Well, well, well. Look who has been a naughty young lady.”

Shit! Charity. Fortunately she’s on her own in the room.

“Hello Charity. Are you looking for Randolph? He’s staying with his uncle on the plantation at the moment.”

I try walking around her as though my entrance through an upstairs window is perfectly normal behaviour for a young lady. But Charity isn’t going to let me get away that easily. She walks up to me and backs me against the wall. She’s obviously intent on causing trouble. Her face is inches away from mine as we stare eye to eye.

“I saw you with that man down by the kitchen. He kissed you! What would Mistress Brigitte say if she knew?”

That little peck on the cheek? Not nearly as much as what Mama would say if she knew about the earlier kiss, or his hands on my arse.