***
Madame Necker and Sophie stayed up late the first evening talking before the fire over coffee and biscuits.
“Madame, are you at all concerned about France?” Sophie asked tentatively.
She never spoke of such issues with her grandmother and rarely with her father. Much of her discussions had been at the salon and this open discussion was new to her, though she understood that Madame Necker was of the same mind.
“Concerned?” She pondered the question. “Yes, I see. Concerned. No, my dear Sophie, I’m not concerned. I’m frightened.” Madame Necker moved away from the fire to pour them both another cup of coffee and handed her guest back the cup and saucer.
“Frightened?” Sophie asked. That was such a strong word, she thought. Surely Madame Necker was not frightened.
“Oh yes. You see, my dear Sophie, I have watched my husband for many years. He may not think it, but I have made my own opinions of what has occurred and is occurring still.”
“What has occurred?” she asked.
“We have a weak king.” She sipped her coffee. “There is great animosity between the classes.”
“But surely a king, whether he is weak or not, does not matter. He is king. He will always be king,” Sophie argued.
Madame Necker shook her head. “Oh, my dear. History is filled with kings being overthrown and executed because someone else feels entitled to the throne and has the money and men to do so.”
“But surely we are living in a civilized time—”
“Our queen is not liked and not even French, and I’m afraid this, along with our financial crisis, is leading up to a very uncertain future,” Madame Necker said.
“Financial crisis?” Sophie asked.
“Peasants pay taxes to land owners to grow crops but the taxes are steep and these people barely make a living from their harvests. The king’s court at Versailles is extremely costly and decadent and the king’s support of the war in America, though admirable, was an immense burden financially.” Madame Necker ticked off several grave issues affecting France’s purse.
Sophie shook her head. “I didn’t know.”
Madame Necker shook her head and felt suddenly very world-weary. “Of course you didn’t. You study classics written by dead men. You know several languages, and yet we are on the edge of something here. Right now.”
“Yes, I see that.”
Madame Necker suddenly snapped out of her brooding thoughts. “I’m sorry, Sophie. I am prattling away about such serious issues and I am not behaving as a good hostess should.”
“No, that’s not true. I am grateful to you. I don’t want to be ignorant. I want to be included even if, as you say, the ending is frightening. I want to know.” Sophie spoke with concern, their eyes meeting.
Madame Necker stood up and together they walked through the large marble foyer and upstairs to the wing where Sophie’s room was situated. “Tomorrow Messieurs Marmontel and La Harpe will arrive, so there will be many discussions in the evenings. And you will be included, have no fear.” They stopped outside her bedroom. “And if I’m not mistaken, Germaine is to arrive as well.”
“I shall look forward to it.” Sophie smiled.
She touched the younger woman’s cheek fondly. “This is the garden room and my favorite room. I love the view. Many guests have enjoyed it as well. Good night, my dear.”
“Good night, madame.”
***
Eugenie always slept in late in the mornings and would never rise before her cup of chocolate. Sophie wore a simple white gaulle dress with a lavender sash and went downstairs for breakfast. She was alone.
In the dining room, she helped herself to tea, bread and butter and a handful of strawberries from the sideboard before she decided to explore the grounds. She went upstairs for her parasol and quietly left the chateau by the large French doors adjacent to the dining hall.
As she walked onto the green lawns she turned back to look at the chateau. It was a magnificent building with three floors of rooms, and she had heard Madame Necker say there were sixteen bedrooms as well as a billiards room, library, formal dining room and sitting room on the ground floor. Red bricks dotted the outside of the building, creating a lovely contrast with the white ones.
It was a grand building and Sophie felt quite dwarfed by its size. The morning was just beginning and the smell of dew on the grass was heavy in the air. She picked up her hem and held on to her parasol as she walked beyond the green expansive lawns and into a lane with deep grooves from the carriages passing.
The trees created a pretty effect of covering the lane as she walked. From her room she had watched the river wind through the property and she wanted to follow it to see where it led. She veered off the large lane and walked near the river’s edge, following it as it snaked along.