Free The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon

fast?' said Pierre, indicating Marie with a jerk of the head.
    `To hell with it! Bad seed's always solidly sown,' replied the elder, as if he hoped wickedly for an accident.
    But his hopes were disappointed. Marie was a strong girl and made for motherhood. She rode the twenty-five miles from Neauphle to Paris without showing any signs of weakness. She was bruised and suffocating with heat, but did not complain. From under her hood she saw nothing of Paris but the surface of the streets, the bottoms of the houses and headless people. What legs! What shoes! She would have liked to raise her hood but dared not. What surprised her most was the noise, the imme nse rum bling of the city, the voices of the street hawkers selling every kind of ware, the noises made by the various trades; in certain alleys the crowd was so dense that the horses could hardly force their way through. Passers-by jostled Marie's legs; b ut at length the horses came to a halt. She dismounted, feeling tired and dusty; she was allowed to raise her hood.
    `Where are we?' she asked, gazing in surprise at the courtyard of a fine house.
    `At your Lombard's uncle's house,' replied Jean de Cressay.
    A few moments later Messer Tolomei, one, eye shut and the other open, gazed at the three children of the late Sire de Cressay as they sat in a row before him, Jean bearded, Pierre clean - shaven, and their sister beside them, a little withdrawn, her head bowed.
    `You understand, Messer Tolomei,' said Jean, `that you made us a promise.'
    `Of course, of course,' replied Tolomei, `and I'm going to keep it, my friends, have no fear.'
    `You understand that it must be kept quickly. You understand that after all the gossip there has been about her shame, our sister can no longer live with us. You understand that we no longer dare appear in our neighbours' houses, that even our serfs mock us as we go by, and that it will be worse still when our sister's sin becomes more apparent.'
    Tolomei had a reply on the tip of his tongue: 'But, my lads, it's you who have caused all the scandal! No one compelled you to pursue Guccio like madmen, rousing the whole town of Neauphle and announcing the mishap more publicly than if it had been cried by the town - crier.'-'And our mother is not recovering from our misfortune; she has cursed her daughter, and seeing Marie near renews her anger until we fear she may die of it. You understand. .
    `This idiot, like everyone who asks you to understand, can't have much sense in his head. When he has had his say he'll stop. But what I do very well understand,' the banker said to himself, `is why Guccio is mad about this pretty girl. Till now I thought he was wrong, but I've changed my opinion since she came into the room; and if my age would still let me, I've no doubt that I should behave more foolishly than he has done. Beautiful eyes, beautiful hair, beautiful skin - a true spring flower. And how bravely she bears her misfortunes; really, they both make such a fuss you might think it was they who had been ravished. But, poor child, her suffering is greater than theirs. She must surely have a nice nature. What bad luck to have been born under the same roof as these two oafs, and how I should like Guccio to be able to marry her openly so she could live here and rejoice my old age with the sight of her.'
    He did not stop looking at her. Marie raised her eyes to him, lowered them at once, then raised them again, troubled at what he might be thinking of her and by his insistent gaze.
    `You understand, Messer, that your nephew. ..,
    'Oh, I disown him. I've disinherited him! If he had not fled to Italy, I think I'd have killed him with my own hands. If I could only find out where he's hiding ...' said Tolomei, taking his forehead in his hands with an air of dejection:'
    But through the little chink between his hands, allowing no one but the girl to see, he twice raised the heavy eyelid which normally he kept closed. Marie realized that she had an ally and