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.”Rose-Marie gave a cry of delight and sped down the stairs while Melita took off her bonnet and smoothed her hair.For the moment she felt shy of moving into the other room where Eugénie was already carrying her clothes.She had never seen where the Comte slept, but she knew it was what Eugénie and the maids called ‘The Master’s Room’.She was aware that it consisted of two bedchambers and a sitting room with windows overlooking the garden at the back and the orchards sloping down to the forest where the Comte had kissed her.Melita could not bear to think about Madame Boisset and what would happen to her.To not be in control of your own faculties – her mind shied away from dwelling on the horror of it.If it was not for the evil things that she had done to her vulnerable cousin and the trouble and anguish she had cause Étienne, not to mention her cruelty to the plantation slaves, she could almost feel it in her heart to feel sorry for the poor demented woman.At the same time she was thankful with a feeling of inexpressible relief that there would not be the anger and recriminations she had expected on their return to Vesonne.Now the Comte would not even have to explain that the will Madame Boisset forced Cécile to write was no longer valid, nor would he be obliged to accuse her of having caused her death.The family would not have to go through the legal process of prosecution and trial and all that it might entail.It was as if the sunshine had swept away all the shadows and now there was not a single cloud in the sky.It was not surprising that the slaves had cheered from sheer happiness because the Comte was once again in control and their Master, as he had been before.Melita walked slowly down the stairs.She did not intend to go into the salon where she thought the Comte and the doctor might still be talking, but into a smaller room next door to it and onto the veranda to find Rose-Marie.But the door of the salon was open and the doctor had gone.Rose-Marie, alone with the Comte, was drawing from the box the huge doll with eyes that opened and shut which they had bought for her in St.Pierre.“She is sp pretty, Papa!” Rose-Marie was saying.“The prettiest doll I have ever seen! But I still love Philippe’s even though they don’t last for long.”“I think Philippe made you a doll this morning, did he not?” Melita asked, stepping into the salon.She saw the Comte’s eyes light up at the sight of her and she smiled at him as she waited for his daughter’s reply.“Yes,” Rose-Marie answered.“He gave me a doll that he had nearly ready for me when I went to see him.He said it was to be a surprise for me and for you.Shall I fetch it to show you?”“Yes, of course, dearest,” Melita said.“I left it on the veranda when I came back to the house,” Rose-Marie explained.“I was frightened of dropping it as I ran up the stairs.”She went from the salon onto the veranda and the Comte held out his arms to Melita.She moved towards him feeling secure and safe in a way that she had never felt before.Now she had come like a ship into harbour and the sea was no longer rough, nor was there any threat of a storm.He held her close as if he understood what she was feeling.Then Rose-Marie came back with her doll.“Look, Papa,” she said.“Philippe has made me a bride!”The doll was exquisite, all in the white leaves from a special shrub that Melita had seen in the garden.The face was white too and the hair was golden,Melita’s fingers tightened on the Comte’s.They said nothing in front of Rose-Marie and there were so many things to do during the day and so many things to see to that it was not until the evening after dinner that they had a chance to talk quietly together.It was then that the Comte drew Melita across the lawn and she knew that he was taking her to the Pomme d’amour where he had first told her of his love for her.She was wearing her white wedding gown and, in the light from the moon which was rising in the sky above them, she looked ethereal and yet somehow intrinsically a part of the flowers and the fragrance of the night.Without speaking they moved downhill over the soft grass until they reached the tree where he had found her looking up into the blossom.“So much has happened since we were here,” Melita said, speaking for the first time since they had left the house.“My dreams have come true,” the Comte said.“You are my wife, Vesonne is mine again and we seem to be enveloped, my darling, in an aura of happiness.”“That is what I feel too,” Melita said looking up at him.It was possible in the moonlight for them to see each other’s faces and the Comte felt that the stars were reflected in Melita’s eyes.“I am so grateful, I am afraid to question anything that has happened and yet so much remains unanswered,” she said.“So many things are strange and mysterious and for which there appears to be no explanation.”“Does it matter?” the Comte asked.“We are together.You are mine and I love you beyond words!”Melita gave a deep sigh and then she said,“It is all wonderful, quite perfect, and yet perhaps I am a little – afraid.”Once again he knew what she was thinking.“Of Voodoo?” he asked.“Forget it, my precious.If, as the slaves believe, they can bring back the spirits of the dead, then the spirits they bring are those we deserve.”He knew that Melita was listening intently and he went on,“A good person will evoke good spirits and a bad person evil.Therefore Voodoo need not concern you, my darling, because you are good and there is no evil of any sort in your mind or soul.”“It is – still – magic,” Melita murmured.He laughed softly and turned her face up to his.“The only magic we need concern ourselves with,” he said, “is the magic of love, the magic you have brought me and, because of it, I am bound to you by a spell that has captured me and made me your prisoner from now to eternity.”Melita would have answered him, but his lips came down on hers and it was impossible to think of anything but the wonder of his touch and the thrill that ran through her like a fire.She knew that she excited him and felt an excitement to equal his rising within her.He drew her closer and still closer and now it seemed to Melita as if the whole world and the Heavens themselves disappeared.There was no forest, no stars and no moon.There was only the wild ecstatic rapture of the Comte’s lips, the beat of their hearts and the need of their bodies and their minds for each other.This was love.This was the magic beyond all other magic – the love that casts out evil [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]