Despite the Angels - By Madeline A Stringer Page 0,57
and she was enjoying letting her mind roam, still very aware of her good fortune at having married into a wealthy family. The best bit, she thought, of having money, was not having to work. She thought of the village and of what she might be doing now if she had not married Daniel. Helping her mother to make food for all seven of them. Having to stoke the fire, and then struggling with that big pot over it. Brushing the hair away from her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand, trying not to let her greasy fingers touch it. Instead, here she was, with clean hands, dabbling them in her jewellery box. The late sunshine was coming in the window and lighting up a corner of her dressing table. Eloise plunged her hands into the box, scooped out her necklaces, bracelets and rings, and spread them in the triangle of sunlight. The little pile gleamed. Eloise gazed and touched. There was the string of pearls, glowing softly in the reddish light, which had been her betrothal gift, reluctantly passed on by her mother-in-law, who had told Daniel privately that Eloise’s coarse peasant skin would ruin them. Daniel, in the first flush of excited love and made bolder by his surprising choice of bride, had passed this opinion on to Eloise, along with the assurance that her skin was as smooth as mother-of-pearl. He told her that the pearls had been bought by his great-grandfather, a year after he had won the land around Merillac and with it the chance of respectability. Eloise had been pleased to receive them and often wished she could have met him, a stevedore who was lucky enough to be challenged by a passing Duke. “I’ll bet you my land in the Médoc against your sweaty shirt that you cannot get my luggage aboard before the noon bells ring,” had been the wager, and great-grandfather, who liked to test his strength, had bent to the loads and done the job in the four minutes remaining, to the chagrin and amusement of the Duke, who had reached into his pocket and thrust some papers towards the bewildered but triumphant man. “I have not seen it,” the Duke had said, “it is new land, not good for much. A tiny island until recently, when the Dutch engineers drained the marshes. But if you can work as hard as you have shown me today, you will get more good of it than I would.” And he had walked aboard the ship bound for the Indies, leaving great-grandfather a small landowner.
“But do not tell Madame deVrac you know this. She is embarrassed to think she married into such a family,” Daniel had warned her.
“I am proud to be part of such a family. He must have been a remarkable man, to build this château and become so rich.”
“Not rich enough for Maman. And no title. It is a great grief to her to be plain Madame, a new name too, there were no deVracs before great-grandpapa made it up. To keep us humble, he said.”
A remarkable man indeed, thought Eloise, not one to be ashamed of. I wish my brother Luc could win such a wager and buy his wife pearls. And his grand-daughter could have diamonds like these. She picked up her diamond bracelet, which was glittering and seemed to be shouting out you have real money now, you lucky woman. And there were rings, with different stones, all beautiful. But best of all, there was her gold filigree necklace. She picked it up, feeling a reverence towards the man who had made it. She had often watched Etienne as he worked the iron for horseshoes and knew the skill needed. Had she been a boy, she would have asked him to take her on as an apprentice. It was so satisfying, watching the raw lump of metal turn into something with a planned shape and a real use. But this necklace was on a different level. The man who had worked this metal had used fine skills and delicate care, to create these tiny flowers and birds, interlocking and held by the finest wires. Eloise looked at the beautiful piece lying there in the sun, glowing with a rich colour and felt a happiness fill her as she traced her finger around the gold.
“I watched him make one like it,” Daniel had come into the room behind her. “I wondered why you did not hear