Free Elianne by Judy Nunn Page A

her. Now, upon hearing Pavi referred to in such a way, she was shocked.
    ‘Pavi is my best friend,’ she said after a pause, her expression bewildered, her tone disbelieving. ‘We grew up together. We shared the same tutor.’
    ‘Your mother’s idea.’ André nodded, thankful that he’d made an impact and finally gained her attention. ‘Beatrice and Michel were always as thick as thieves. I gave in to her whim and allowed the two of you to be tutored together, but I should never have let it happen. You can’t let cross-breeds mix with whites like that; it simply doesn’t work.’
    She was looking at him oddly: it was clear she didn’t understand. ‘You’re seventeen years old,
ma petite
,’ he explained, ‘you cannot mingle with the blacks the way you did as a child. They’re an inferior race, you must understand that,’ he smiled as if to soften the blow, ‘even one who is the son of a Frenchman.’
    ‘A Frenchman who is your friend,’ she said, still with an air of bewilderment.
    ‘That is so,’ he agreed, ‘but friendship does not alter the fact that his son is black.’
    André had never once considered Michel Salet his friend. He’d employed the man because of his expertise in the production of copra, and he’d allowed the semblance of a friendship to develop, but how could one claim as a friend a man who’d married a black? Michel had debased himself. Sleeping with native women was perfectly acceptable, even keeping a black mistress was not frowned upon, but one did not marry them and raise their children as white.
    ‘I have nothing against Pavi,’ he assured her. ‘My God, the boy has such a way with horses I don’t know what I’d do without him. He knows his place, what’s more. Despite his education, he’s made no attempt to rise above his station and of even greater importance he’s chosen to marry one of his own kind.’ André’s smile was magnanimous. ‘I hope he and Mela find great happiness in their union.’ André Desmarais very much approved of young Pavi’s engagement to his housemaid. It would prevent further cross-breeding.
    Interpreting his daughter’s silence as submission, and relieved their argument was over, he kissed her gently on the forehead. ‘Just think, Elianne, you will be eighteen in the New Year. In little more than one month,
ma petite
, you will be eighteen, and then you will be married. Just think of that. How your life will change.’
    ‘Yes, Papa, it will.’ Now more than ever, Elianne longed for that change.
    Upon leaving her father, she went directly to her room, where she donned a practical straw bonnet, tying the ribbon securely beneath her chin. She relied solely upon bonnets for protection from the sun, preferring to walk without the impediment of a parasol. Then exchanging her light satin slippers for her walking boots, she set off to find Pavi.
    She checked the stables first. Pavi’s natural way with animals had seen him recently promoted to stable manager and as such he was indispensable to her father. He wasn’t there, however, so she set off through the plantation, knowing where he was most likely to be.
    As she strode along one of the many avenues that led through the endless rows of coconut trees, the heavy cotton fabric of her ankle-length skirt swished busily against the undergrowth. For practical purposes she eschewed the bustle, which remained the fashion of the day, but the neatly nipped-in waist of her skirt and the fullness of her petticoats only served to accentuate the elegance of her figure.
    She kept up a comfortable pace; she enjoyed walking. High above her, the leaves of the palms billowed like green explosions against the clearest of blue skies, but she knew that the weather might well become unpredictable. The day was blisteringly hot and still now, but this was December and a tropical storm could sweep in with little warning.
    The processing area, towards the western perimeter of the plantation, was a twenty-minute