Free Marrying the Musketeer by Kate Silver Page A

possibilities.   “My chamber window looks out on to the courtyard.   I could throw you over a rope and you could climb up it.”
    He shook his head.   “Too noisy by half.   I would be caught for sure before I had gotten half way.”
    “You could pretend you were a tradesman delivering fish from the market and sneak past the cook and hide in a cupboard until the servants had gone to bed.”
    “I do not think that would be wise.   I would be sure to be discovered.   Your father would be extra vigilant after that and I would never be able to see you.”
    “You could hide in the garden and come in at night when the servants have gone to bed.”
    He tapped his finger on his chin as he thought over her latest suggestion.   “How would I get in?   Don’t they lock the house?”
    She thought for a moment, her brow creased with the effort.   “I suppose I could leave a window open and hope they didn’t see it.”   It was hardly a great plan – there were too many things that could go wrong.   Moths were bound to come fluttering in, attracted by the light.   A servant would notice the moths and close the window.   It would look too suspicious if she were to open it again.
    She racked her brains, searching for another way.   Suddenly she saw it.   “Of course – how stupid I am.   Why did I not think of it before?   All you need is a key and then you can come and go as you please.”
    “A key?”   His face lit up with excitement.   “But how could I get one?”
    “My father keeps the keys in his study.   If I bring them to you tomorrow, can you have one copied?   One that would fit the door to the house?”
    “A key to the house?   My love, you are a genius - that would solve all our problems.   I could come and visit you every evening and not fear discovery.”
    How to get the key to him?   She could not bring it to him at her father’s warehouse – she never visited there at all.   Her father said it was no place for women.   “Can you meet me one last time?   Feign an illness maybe to give you an hour’s grace?”
    “To spend my evenings with you, I would brave more than my commander’s displeasure.   I would brave the King of France and fires of hell itself.”
    She leaned up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek.   “You are a brave man, my darling soldier.   I must go now or Suzanne will be worried, but do not fear - I shall bring you the key on the morrow.”

Chapter 3
     
    Stealing the key from her father’s study was easier than she had thought it would be.   She merely waited until her father had left the house to go to his warehouse, wandered into his study under the pretext of searching for a book she had mislaid, and rifled through the drawers until she had located his ring of keys.   She knew which one was the front door key – the large iron one with the scuffed top – but she did not want to spare the time to detach it from the rest.   Besides, it would look less suspicious if the whole ring were to go missing for a few hours, not just a single key.   Were her father to come home unexpectedly and notice they were gone, he would assume the housekeeper had taken them for oiling.
    She wrapped the keys in a scrap of cloth to dull their jangle and placed them carefully in the pocket she had hung at her waist, inside her skirt.   She was sure that anyone she passed would be able to tell that she was concealing something, but the one housemaid she passed on the way out the door did not even glance at her.   With a guilty feeling in her heart, she hurried on to the churchyard.
    Monsieur de Tournay was waiting for her as he had promised.   He barely stopped to kiss her briefly on the lips before he asked with a slight tremor in his voice.   “You have the keys?”
    She drew the ring of keys out of her pocket and picked out the house key.   “This is the one you must copy.”
    He took the bunch in his hand and looked around him with what seemed like anxiety.