The next day, the Abbé and Madeleine found a way to at least try and distract themselves from the memory of their awkward encounter the previous day. In Charenton's large study, the young chambermaid, more taciturn than she had ever been in her life, sat at the table scratching at a piece of paper with a quill, as her dearest friend leaned over her shoulder, speaking softly. Try as they might, however, neither could concentrate on the arithmetic he was trying to teach her.
"You must be bored with me," she said, after a particularly long and uncomfortable silence. "What with Anne being so much cleverer than I am."
Coulmier sighed, exasperated. "You are every bit as intelligent as Anne. There are many things about Anne you cannot know, many secrets."
Maddie gazed up at him, her eyes brimming once more. "I know, and I am sorry. I don't mean to be so petulant, it's just that…well, I love you, Abbé."
He felt a catch at his heart, looking at the girl who had been his closest companion other than the Marquis since he had first taken his post at Charenton. "I love you too. You know I always have."
She stroked his hand as it lay on the table beside her own. "I do know. And I will always remember how kind you have been to me, after you and Annie make your way out into the world."
He frowned at her curiously confident expression. "I doubt we will ever do that. But…I should not be burdening you with our troubles."
Turning to look him squarely in the eye, Maddie said with determination, "Then think of it as unburdening yourself. Please, Abbé."
He exhaled, his breathing laboured. "I can hardly believe I am saying this out loud, but I'm ready to renounce my priesthood and be her husband. I want her forever, Maddie. Do you understand?" Despite the maturity she was now displaying before him, he could not help but continue to treat her as a child.
Madeleine could barely contain her sense of relief. For during the last fortnight, the stains she had found on Anne's bed sheets – the marks of the Abbé's greatest expression of love, had not worried her half as much as the stains she did not find. She had no idea yet, however, whether the young man knew that he was shortly to be a father, deigning to leave it up to Anne to tell him first.
"Tell me what you are thinking, Madeleine, my dear. I promise I will not do anything without your blessing first."
"I think you must take her as your wife, because if you do not...you'll end up with many regrets."
He bowed his fine head and crossed the room heavily, sitting down in the corner upon a gilt chair. "There is no way."
"Perhaps there is. I could help you."
Wide eyed, he opened his mouth to challenge her, but unable to once she cut him short.
"Abbé, you will get out of this place, and I know how. I've been in Charenton as long as I can remember – I know it like the back of my hand. I've already told Annie I will help. Discuss it with her when you see her."
With that, Maddie scurried out of the room, leaving Coulmier sitting open-mouthed with astonishment, but also with the first rays of hope in these strange days.
The time had come to bid Charenton farewell for good. The young former Abbé folded his cassock and other priestly garments and abandoned them inside his quarters, wiping away tears of sadness that, if all went well tonight, he would never return again.
Madeleine
had assured him, time and again since they had first discussed this plan of
escape, that it was infallible. He had neglected to ask her why she was so
confident, but trusted her nevertheless. She had always been plucky, guarding
her own reputation expertly when she slipped into his quarters sometimes to say
goodnight, or escaping punishment so many times when sneaking into the larder
to retrieve a
He would miss her terribly, he knew, every day of his life to come, even when he was able to spend every waking moment with his Anne.
* * *
Maddie shivered in the chill air of the winter's night, pulling her shawl tighter around herself, hoping that the dark cloth she had tied around her head would conceal her identity should she be seen. She had successfully stolen the keys to the asylum's main doors as well as those to the front gates, thanks to Coulmier lending her his access to the main office containing these precious items. She would return them later that night, after she had said her final goodbyes to him and Anne.
Her rubber-soled slippers allowed her to creep through the hallways to Anne's room in almost complete silence. She had agreed for Maddie to lead her away at this time to meet with her beloved, so that then they might take their last leave of Charenton, perhaps then to hide in some obscure little village until such a time as they were able to leave France and begin new lives altogether. That was their ultimate dream, as Anne had imparted to her.
Approaching Anne's room, she tried not to picture all the times her beloved young priest had moved this very same way, to join her inside her bed when Madeleine had so dearly wished that he would transfer his affections to her. Now was too late to feel any regrets; she had a duty to perform.
It seemed that their success would be delayed, however, because as Maddie peered through the partition in Anne's door, she saw that the other girl was not there.
Coulmier's panic flashed through his lovely green eyes as Maddie told him of Anne's disappearance.
"Where can she be?" he demanded, pacing back and forth, oblivious to the fact that even now, Madeleine was admiring how handsome he looked in the clothes of an ordinary young man, and not one bound to the service of the church.
"I don't know. Her door was left unlocked for some reason. All I can think of is that she has already attempted to leave."
"I shall go and look for her. If you see her, tell her to wait for me near the front gates, and beg her not to get caught." He brandished his set of spare keys, the only souvenir of Charenton he would take with him.
"I will. Now, go, please!"
He smiled, despite his anxiety, and took her in his arms, giving her the warmest, most unrestrained hug he ever had. "For as long as I live, Madeleine LeClerc, I will never, ever forget you or what you have done for us tonight."
She gazed at him, when at last he let her go, longing for him to kiss her, just once. A real, loving kiss, the kind of which she had never experienced.
"I love you," she said, her voice a strained whisper.
"I love you too," he replied, and then, as if he had read her mind, he pressed his lips to hers, giving her one full kiss, and then pulling away just as quickly. He smiled reassuringly, stroking her hair gently.
"Go!" she ordered him, giggling to belie her devastation that he was leaving her. She stared at him as he turned, running down the darkened corridor, turning occasionally to smile at her again. Only when he was completely out of sight did she let the tears come, flowing freely down to her lips still numb from the touch of his.
Her steps slow and lethargic, she scouted around for Anne, not daring to shout out her name for fear of waking all of the building. Coming near to the door of the Marquis's quarters, she thought she heard a woman's voice coming from nearby, but dismissed the sound as her grief playing tricks on her.
She thought she might jump out of her skin when, seconds later, Anne's short, slender figure appeared from the darkness as she walked the opposite way, a broad smile cutting her face in two.
"Annie! Where have you been? Surely not to the Marquis…"
The other girl took a few steps towards her before speaking in a low, conspiratorial tone. "Yes, to the Marquis. I couldn't very well leave without saying goodbye to my father. Anyway, I had a gift for him."
Dumbstruck, all Madeleine could do was gawp for a moment before croaking, "Your father? The Marquis?"
Anne nodded once, matter-of-factly. Maddie could not, however, deny that it made perfect sense: her short, slim stature, her sharp blue eyes, her perceptiveness and penchant for writing, even her love for the Abbé. The old aristocrat must have shared with her that story he had written about her, and told her then. So that had been his plan all along.
Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly as Anne gave her a sisterly hug, kissing her cheek. "Thank you so much, Madeleine. You are truly an angel. We will write to you, when our firstborn arrives."
"Erm…well, your firstborn's father is waiting for you at the gates. Goodbye, Annie. I will miss you."
Winking at her friend, Anne turned and walked quickly away, her long hair catching the shafts of candlelight emanating from the stick Maddie carried.
On the pretence of delivering extra linens to the Marquis, she visited him first thing the next morning, her mind afire with questions even through the headache her sleepless night had afforded.
As far as she knew so far, their plan had gone perfectly, and Anne and the former Abbé of Charenton were now far away from this place, beginning a blissful new life together as husband and wife, and soon-to-be parents. All that was left to happen was for Dr Royer-Collard to discover the young lovers' letter, storm around for a little while, and then find a replacement for Coulmier so that their lives could go on as normally as was possible in the circumstances. Madeleine was confident that she had covered her own tracks well enough.
She smiled, hearing the Marquis turning the pages of a makeshift book in his hands and laughing at his daughter's writings. Knocking quietly at the door, she waited for him to invite her inside and share in his pride.
"Come in, my coquette, come in, and sit down."
"I take it she's a chip off the old block, then!" Maddie laughed, sitting on a low stool and staring at Anne's peaky handwriting, so much like her father's, on the pages as the Marquis dropped them before him, one by one.
"Ah, indeed. I had a terrible feeling she would turn into a nervous, idiotic wench like her mother, but it seems fate was on our side. This is wondrous – I dare say she puts even her papa's exquisite prose to shame."
The laundress let a moment or two pass before asking the crucial question. "Were you as pleased with her choice of mate?"
The Marquis looked up from the pages of his child's literary debut, a wistful but contented look on his haggard face. "I was absolutely delighted that she chose my beautiful dumpling." He grinned impishly. "And even more delighted that he found his sexual awakening in her precious arms."
End