Chapter 13
"what are you doing here…why…here?…" the nun was scared. Oscar had found their secrets…This was bad. Oscar had thought that she could snoop around without getting caught, by avoiding anyone who´d come across her, but now she had to figure another plan and she had to act quickly before the nun could call help, so she attacked her…
Oscar put a cloth into her mouth so that she could still breath, but not yell for help, then she undressed her and tight her up. With this nun´s dress Oscar could snoop around easily, so she put the dress on her own clothing …then she stepped into the hallway…
Meanwhile André had waited for the perfect moment to jump on to the other side of the wall and when he heard the bells rang, he saw the opportunity and jumped into the garden. He hit himself into the nearby pushes, when he saw two men carrying a valuable-looking chest. He waited for them to go inside, and then ran to the chest they had left near the entrance. When he opened it, he saw it was full of jewelries, art pieces and other valuable belongings. He didn´t have much time, when he heard them return, so he quickly ran into the pushes, again. The two men took the chest and carried it inside. André waited for awhile, but when he thought the men wouldn´t return, he came out and started to search the yard. It was then, when he saw Loulou lying on the ground…
"Loulou" he called her name and ran to her…
Meanwhile Oscar wandered around in the convent, but she was soon approached by two nuns…She covered her wedding ring with her other hand as the nuns came near. They called her by ´her´ name; they were obviously tricked by believing Oscar was the woman, she had just tight up…"Please, will you hurry…the divine service has already begun…" They asked her, and Oscar had no other choice but to follow them into the chapel…
She walked into the front of the chapel and saw that every young lady that had been chosen to study there-except for Loulou- was waiting for her to start… She looked at the book that was placed on the table in front of her. "Thank goodness it´s Latin" she thought. She had nothing to worry; after all she was excellent in the language. So she started to read…
At the same time André had gone to Loulou."Loulou, are you alright?" André whispered to her. "André!" she yelled. He told her to lower her voice and then he asked her what she had been doing. She said there´s no time for explanations, because there was going to be an explosion soon…
"Explosion?!"
"Oscar!" André yelled, took Loulou into his arms and ran into the convent…
Meanwhile in the convent…
As Oscar was reading, two men ran into the chapel. She knew they had found out the truth and was ready to fight, but all of a sudden she heard an explosion, and everybody panicked. "André! Loulou!" she thought. They were somewhere near, and she needed to find them. She ran into the corridor and saw how everyone was leaving the building. Then she saw her husband and Loulou and ran towards them.
"André!" she yelled.
The voice was familiar, but…the outfit? Could it be…"Oscar?!" André stopped, and let go off Loulou, who ran outside. "Oscar?" he thought he was seen things, but that woman in the nun´s dress was really his wife…He was stunned for awhile, but then smiled. "Am I so lousy in bed that you´ve decided to become a nun?" he joked.
"heh heh" Oscar answered "very funny" as she took the outfit off of her.
"Let´s get out of here" he said and took her hand. When they reached the garden, they saw that the men were about to leave, but André ran to stop them. He hit one of them, but the man hit him harder back and he fell. Oscar ran to help André, but the men had already gone into their carriage.
"André! Are you alright?!" she asked him as she kneeled down to him.
"I´m fine" right at that moment they witnessed the breaking down of the carriage, quickly ran towards it, attacked the men, and tight them up. "What a peculiar moment for the carriage to break down, don´t you think?" they asked Loulou. "And the explosion. We assume it was your doing?"
"Well, what else should I have supposed to do?" she asked them holding her favorite doll. A bald doll…"Bald doll?" Where her hair had gone? "Loulou!" you have a lot to explain!" Oscar was angry. Loulou had put herself in danger when she had gone into a place like that. Thank God she was alright.
They saw the whole convent was in flames. With the fire, the treasures were destroyed, too. The young women, who had been kept logged up in a basement, were released and safe. They approached the three, and when they explained what had happened, both Oscar and André were shocked by the horrors they had been through, and thanked God that Loulou had been clever enough to safe them.
After they took care of the men and the nun´s that had ran the convent, Oscar, André and Loulou returned to their room in the nearby inn. Loulou explained, how she was caught, when she was snooping around in the convent in the middle of the night. She had found out that they were carrying expensive things there during that night. She had then been thrown into a basement, where she had met the young women. They had told her that the people, who ran the convent, had been selling them with huge profits.
"So that´s why all the art pieces and stuff…" Oscar got angry "How dare they…" she wanted to swear, but Loulou was there, so she let out every bad word she knew, in Latin.
"I'm glad that´s all over now. The culprits are behind bars and the poor women are now free." André said "Oscar" he said to his wife "I´d like to help them to get decent jobs"
Oscar nodded "let´s do that, my André"
"This is what we fight against" she told him. The more Oscar saw the world, the more convinced she was that something needed to be changed. Completely and forever. She felt sorry for these poor women. How can people sell human beings?! How terrible. How wrong. Luckily, Loulou was not harmed.
Loulou then continued her story by telling, how she had managed to get out of the basement. She had used the hair of her doll as a rope she climbed up to the window. The hair, of course, had made of sturdy stuff. She was indeed the niece of Oscar; she was brave and clever when it came to rescuing herself and others in the tight situations.
"I believe this is yours" André said to Loulou and gave her her corkscrew back. Loulou had all sorts of things stuffed into her doll. She was prepared for everything. She even had the gunpowder there, with which she used to explode the convent.
"You two are probably hungry from all the excitement today…" André said and went to get some food for them.
Loulou stared at her aunt for a while.
"why didn´t you invite me to your wedding?!" Loulou asked her aunt as they were left alone.
"It all happened so fast" Oscar explained…"if we had known, we would have invited you, and Maurizt, and everyone…"
"Did you know that he finally found his father?" Loulou said.
"Yes, mother wrote to me…"
"He has finally started to get use to his new home…and family; his stepmother and his step sisters and brothers…"
"That´s good." Oscar smiled. At least someone had a happy ending.
"Are you happy now?" Loulou asked her aunt "with André?"
"Yes, I am" Oscar smiled."Very happy" She was the luckiest woman on Earth to have such a gentle man, who loved her unconditionally and stood by her side, always.
"Let me see your ring" Loulou asked with excitement. But when she saw it, she sighed "it´s so…tiny and…old-fashioned." she looked disappointed.
"Well, that´s because it belonged to André´s mother and his father didn´t have much money to buy an expensive ring…" Oscar had never met his mother, but she thought she must have been very kind and lovely person…Oscar said…"you know, Loulou, André´s mother married her husband, André´s father, for love. And they said to be very happy…They loved each other, and they loved André." she smiled "So, compared to all the expensive rings in world, this one is the most valuable, because it has such a lovely history and the wearer was a very close to us. A very special person."
"Wow!" Loulou was amazed…"I want to get married for love, too!" she was excited.
"Someday…but in the meanwhile…" Oscar was about to continue, when Loulou interrupted her. "So it´s a family heirloom! Does that mean that someday your son will give this ring to his beloved one?" Oscar was surprised by that question. She really haven´t thought of children, at least not that seriously…
"I hope so…" André smiled. He had come back with the food. "Now, let´s eat." After they had eaten, the couple took their niece to her own room, where she fell in sleep right away. And no wonder; it had been a very exciting day. After that, Oscar and André went back into their room…
André took Oscar into his arms "I love, my Oscar" he whispered into her ear.
"I love you, too… My André" she answered and then she kissed him…
"About that son…"André started…"our son…"
"How do you know? It could be a daughter…" Oscar blushed…"I mean…someday…"
"Yeah…someday. A boy…or a girl…" he smiled…
On the next day they went to say goodbye to the young woman, who had become a friend of Loulou´s. They had arranged her a job at a dressmaker´s, and they were walking her there while talking.
She was full of hope about the future. She said that there was a young man, who had been talking to the people, convincing them that one day they would all become equal. That women didn´t have to suffer. They would all have the same rights, and that there would be bread for everyone…
"Is his name, by any chance; Bernard Chatelet?" Oscar asked the young woman.
"How did you know?" she answered "Yes, he´s…"
"Here" they heard a voice saying. It was none other than their old acquaintance Bernard…
"Bernard?!"