The following morning, Leo met his traveling companions in the hotel lobby, where they were waiting for their coach to be brought up. He was dressed in a rust-colored riding coat, breeches and high boots—an appropriate outfit for a circus, he thought.
Gabrielle frowned when she saw him. “Those clothes are all right for dress-up,” she said, “but you can’t dress like that around the circus.”
He was dumbfounded. He had thought he was dressed down. “What do you suggest I wear?” he asked a trifle acerbically.
“Trousers, low boots, a shirt—without the tie—and I suppose you can wear that jacket to keep warm. We’ll stop in a town along the way and do some shopping. I have a feeling that nothing you have with you is appropriate.”
Leo looked at his portmanteau and said sarcastically, “Can I at least keep my underwear?”
He would never in a million years have mentioned underwear to an English lady.
But Gabrielle didn’t blink. “Yes, you can keep your underwear. But I will pick your outerwear. It’s important that you don’t raise any suspicions. We can’t do anything that may call attention to ourselves.”
She was right, and he was annoyed that she was right. He was also annoyed that she looked so pretty, standing there with the chandelier light shining off her beautiful silky brown hair.
“Where’s your bonnet?” he asked abruptly.
“In the hatbox,” she replied. “I hate wearing bonnets. They are so confining.”
Emma, who was wearing a bonnet, said, “Nevertheless you should wear it, chérie.”
“I made my impression coming into the hotel. Now that I am leaving I can do as I like.”
Emma rolled her eyes. Gabrielle patted the circle of braids that crowned her head. “Besides, I can’t fit a bonnet over these braids.”
Leo said, “I was under the impression that short hair was in vogue for women.”
“It’s not in vogue for circus performers,” Gabrielle informed him haughtily.
Leo was conscious of a fleeting feeling of approval. It would be a shame to cut off all that lovely hair. He found himself looking forward to seeing it down.
Good God, he thought in horror as he realized what he was thinking. I can’t become attracted to this circus girl. That would be disastrous.
“Here is the carriage,” he said crisply, grateful for the distraction. “Are you ready, ladies?”
Gerard stopped the carriage in front of the hotel door and the three of them went out to meet it.
Gabrielle’s attempt to buy clothing for Leo was not very successful; he was too tall for any of the trousers they looked at, although they did manage to buy some plain white cotton shirts that were more appropriate than his own custom-tailored ones.
“I can make him some trousers,” Emma finally said to Gabrielle, and so they bought material instead.
Leo found himself alternating between indignation and amusement at the way the two women treated him. You would think I was five years old, he thought, as Gabrielle held a shirt up in front of him and nodded that it would be all right. They made their purchases and returned to the carriage for the final leg of the journey into Lille.
The circus was gathered on the outskirts of the city, on the farm that Gabrielle’s family had rented for the winter months. As they drove in, Leo saw a collection of a dozen or so wagons parked in a big field. Gerard drove past the wagons, however, and went directly to the farmhouse, where his passengers alighted.
A slender young man, who looked like a masculine copy of Gabrielle, came out to meet the carriage.
“Leo, this is my brother, Mathieu,” Gabrielle said. “Mathieu, this is my new husband, Leo Standish.”
“How do you do, Mathieu,” Leo said.
Mathieu looked from Leo to Gabrielle. “He’s going to be very hard to hide. He’s so big—and he certainly doesn’t look French.”
“I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Gabrielle said. “He’s what Monsieur Rothschild sent us.”
“What if we said he was Swedish?” Mathieu asked. “Would people know that his accent was English and not Swedish?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Leo said flatly. He did not at all appreciate being talked about as if he wasn’t there. “If someone does recognize my English accent they will wonder why you are attempting to disguise me.”
Mathieu frowned, clearly not liking having his idea so summarily rejected.
“All circuses are international,” Gabrielle said briskly. “The Maronis are Italian, after all, Mathieu, and the Cirque Barent has an English clown. It will be all right. Now, can we go into the house instead of standing here in the front yard?”
Leo had to duck his head as he went through the front door. The room that he found himself in was the main living room of the farmhouse. It was furnished with heavy oak furniture and on the walls were a series of rural landscapes. As if on cue, a fawn-colored greyhound came racing up to Gabrielle. She bent to caress the beautiful, deerlike head. “Colette, my darling. How are you? Did you miss me?”
The dog sniffed her clothes and her hands.
“She was a lost soul without you,” Mathieu said. “You have her so spoiled, Gabrielle, that she just pines away when you are gone.”
“Poor little girl,” Gabrielle crooned. “I missed you, too.”
Leo loved dogs. “What a beautiful animal,” he said. The dog turned her head as if she had understood him. He snapped his fingers and she came to him, allowing him to caress her with royal grace. Then she returned to Gabrielle.
There was a rush at the door and more dogs came dashing in. “Mes enfants!” Emma cried. “Here you are!”
Leo looked at the six small terriers that were leaping around Emma. “Good heavens,” he said.
Emma smiled at him. “These are my trained dogs. You will see them in action when we perform.”
The room was very crowded with dogs. Emma said to Gabrielle, “I will take them outside and then upstairs to my room.” She held the door open and the dogs scampered out, followed by Emma.
Gabrielle turned to her brother. “Where is Albert?”
“He went down to the barn to check on the horses. He’ll be back soon,” Mathieu said.
“Albert is your other brother?” Leo asked.
“Yes. He is two years younger than Mathieu.”
“And how old are you, Mathieu?” Leo asked.
“Nineteen,” the boy replied.
Leo’s eyes went to Gabrielle, who was standing with one hand resting on her dog’s head. “Who owns the circus?” he asked. “I thought it was you.”
“My brothers and I own it together,” she replied, “but Papa put me in charge because I am the eldest.”
“How old are you?” Leo asked curiously.
“Twenty-two,” she replied.
Emma said, “Here is Albert now.”
A young boy who looked like Mathieu, but whose hair was several shades lighter, came into the room.
“Gabrielle!” He went to hug her. “Everything went all right?”
“Yes. Albert, this is Leo, my new husband.”
The brown eyes that fixed themselves on Leo’s face were a lighter shade than Mathieu’s and Gabrielle’s. “Hello,” he said. “You are the English colonel?”
“That’s right.” Leo held out his hand. “I am pleased to meet you, Albert. But call me Leo.”
“The horses are all right?” Gabrielle said.
Albert nodded.
“Good. Now, is there any food in the kitchen? We pushed on to make it here this evening and we missed dinner.”
“I think there’s some cold meat and bread,” Mathieu said.
“I’ll go and fix something,” Gabrielle said. “In the meanwhile, you boys can show Leo to his room.”
Both boys looked at her. Albert said, “Which room is his? There is no extra room.”
“He’s going to stay in my room,” Gabrielle said. “It would look distinctly odd if he did not.”
Both boys frowned and looked at Leo.
“Your sister will be perfectly safe,” Leo said. “The only consequence she might suffer from this masquerade is a little embarrassment.”
“I am never embarrassed,” Gabrielle said. “Go along now and take him upstairs.”
The two boys and Leo, who was carrying his portmanteau, went up the stairs with obedient alacrity.
Gabrielle fixed a plate of cold roast beef and sliced bread, which she set on the kitchen table. Emma was already sitting at the table when the boys and Leo joined them. Mathieu and Albert had already eaten, but they sat at the table, anyway, clearly wanting to hear whatever the conversation was going to be.
Gabrielle sat down and put some meat on her plate. She looked at her two brothers, then she looked at Leo. He was piling roast beef on his plain, slightly chipped white plate.
He looks down on us, she thought. He is an English colonel and we are just circus folk. I foresee an uncomfortable four weeks ahead.
Leo looked up from his meal. “Has the gold been loaded?”
Gabrielle looked at Mathieu. “Yes,” he said. “Monsieur Rothschild’s men came three days ago and transferred it into our wagons. No one saw them. The rest of the wagons only came yesterday.”
“I would like to see the gold myself,” Leo said.
Gabrielle was insulted. “Do you think we would lie to you?”
“Not at all. But since I have been charged with getting it safely to Portugal, I must see it.”
He doesn’t trust us, she thought. She said coolly, “Better to look tomorrow morning, when we are loading up to go. It will look strange to the rest of them if you start poking around the wagons now.”
He looked annoyed. “Of course,” he said in a clipped voice.
She pressed on. “As I believe I told you, my family, Emma and Gerard are the only ones who know about the gold. We don’t want to do anything to raise suspicion in the others.”
“I said I agreed with you.” His annoyance showed in his voice. “I’ll wait until tomorrow to check it.”
Gabrielle was pleased. She had gotten under his guard. She rewarded him with a smile.
He stared back, his face impassive. He was the first man she had ever met who did not respond to her smile. The smile died away from her lips and she regarded him thoughtfully. Did he never smile himself? She could not remember seeing him smile once during that long dull ride from Brussels to Lille—he had not even smiled when they were buying clothes and he had looked so funny in the jacket he had tried on.
Was he always like this, or was it just because he was with people he thought were beneath him?
Don’t brood about it, Gabrielle, she told herself. You only have to put up with him for four weeks and then your duty will be done and he will go back to his regiment. Let him be as sour as he pleases. It can’t bother you.
“Everything is ready,” Albert said. “Do you want to leave tomorrow?”
“Is everyone else ready?”
“Yes, we were just waiting for you,” Mathieu said.
“There’s no point in waiting, then,” Gabrielle replied. “The sooner we leave the sooner we will get our cargo to its destination.”
“What is your agenda?” Leo asked abruptly.
“Our first stop is Amiens,” she said. “We will spend one day traveling and then two days in Amiens, where we will give four performances—one in the afternoons and one in the evenings. Vincent, our advance man, has gone ahead to Amiens to procure a field for us and to book lodgings.”
He frowned. “You didn’t mention Vincent.”
She lifted a delicate eyebrow. “Didn’t I? I suppose I forgot because he’s our advance man, he doesn’t travel with us, he travels ahead of us. We meet him at a designated spot and he takes us to the field he has rented and gives us directions to the lodgings he has procured.”
“He puts our bills up all around town, too,” Albert said eagerly. “Here, I’ll show you one.” He jumped up and went into the living room, coming back with a paper in his hand. Leo took it.
ROBICHON CIRQUE EQUESTRE
A GRAND EQUESTRIAN DISPLAY
STARRING
MLLE GABRIELLE ROBICHON
DANCING HORSES!
HORSES AT LIBERTY!
JUGGLING!
TIGHTROPE DANCING!
DARING FEATS OF HORSEMANSHIP!
M. LUC BALZAC!
M. SULLY, the Clown!
TUMBLING!
TRAINED DOGS!
THE COURIER OF ST. PETERSBURG!
Performances
12:00 and 4:00
“Very nice,” Leo said, looking up from the circus bill. “But there is no direction.”
“Vincent will write the direction on each bill before he posts it,” Emma explained. “He’ll also write the days of the week we will be performing.”
Leo nodded and handed the bill back to Albert.
Emma stood abruptly. “There is a trundle bed in my room, Gabrielle. Shall I have one of the boys bring it into your room for Leo?”
Everyone stared at Leo as the thought of their sleeping arrangements was introduced.
Gabrielle suppressed the urge to laugh. “I own I would like to see the sight of Leo trying to sleep on a trundle bed.”
“You forget I have been in the army for five years,” he said imperturbably. “A trundle bed will look good compared to some of the places I have slept.”
“Good,” Emma said briskly. “Mathieu, come upstairs with me and we will move that bed.”
Mathieu got to his feet. He looked at Leo suspiciously. “Where are you going to sleep when we are on the road? There will only be one bed in the room Vincent rents for you.”
“If I have to sleep on the floor, I will,” Leo said a little impatiently. “I’ve done it before.”
Mathieu’s brown eyes searched his face and seemed to be satisfied with what he saw there. He nodded and turned to follow Emma out of the room.
“I’m going to walk down to the barn to see the horses,” Gabrielle said. “Would you like to come, Leo?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Come along, then,” she said. “Albert, if you will put the dishes in the sink, I will wash them when I get back.”
Gabrielle picked up a lantern from beside the kitchen door and lighted it from a candle, her greyhound going immediately to her side. Gabrielle turned to Leo and gave him what she hoped was a superior look. “We can go out this way,” she said. “Do try to keep up.”