Warning: This chapter contains a brief description of sexual harassment.
Chapter 6: Mimi Paillon
The members of Richelieu's family and household really should have known they would end up being punished for making him find new homes for some of the kittens.
He did not punish them by disownment, firing, docking wages, sending them to the Bastille, having Milady de Winter make their lives difficult, or any of his other normal punishments. No, he punished them by taking in another cat!
The new cat was a present from the writer, Marie de Gournay. Her own cat had had a litter of kittens and when they were old enough, she selected one as a present for His Eminence.
"Her name is Mimi Paillon," declared Richelieu proudly, as he stroked his newest pet. "It was very thoughtful of Mademoiselle de Gournay to think of me."
"Very thoughtful, but also very unnecessary," Marie Madeleine avoided looking at the cat, knowing if she stared at that little face she would start getting attached. "You do not need another cat, Uncle Armand! You have six at the moment. And you will have more once Ludoviska gives birth!"
"It is partly for the sake of Ludoviska and Rubis that I accepted the gift. Since I was forced to give away Jeanne-"
"No need to act so put upon about it. We both know Captain Treville has been very accommodating about letting you visit her."
"Since I was forced to give away Jeanne, Ludoviska and Rubis have been the only two she cats and they're outnumbered by the four Toms. They've probably gotten sick of this boys' club. I thought they would appreciate another female feline companion."
"Ludoviska and Rubis have been very content and you know it! Stop trying to make excuses. Did Mademoiselle de Gournay know you already had six cats and a litter on the way before she gave you this one?"
"Well, no, but she'd heard that I'm fond of cats."
"Then I will write to her and let her know that you cannot keep this one because you already have too many cats. She's a very reasonable woman. She'll understand."
"You will do no such thing! Mademoiselle de Gournay is old. I will not upset her by returning her gift."
"You've been willing to upset many people, young and old, in the past. You're just making an excuse because you want to keep the cat!"
"Well, this past week I've had to deal with six fits of temper from His Majesty, eight demanding noblemen, two condescending ambassadors, and four stubborn Huguenots! I've earned a reward and if it's going to be a new cat, so be it!"
"I hope you don't think you can get a new cat every time you have a bad week!"
"No, but this has been an extremely bad week, and I deserve some compensation. Besides, Mimi Paillon won't give us much trouble, will you, my dear?" he addressed the cat. "I can tell just by looking at you that you are a well-behaved little lady."
Mimi Paillon certainly seemed ladylike.
She was an extremely beautiful white angora cat. She had big forget-me-not blue eyes, a tiny pink nose, and a long fluffy white tail. Her temperament seemed docile and demure, like a well-bred lady.
Her movements were graceful and elegant. She was fastidious about grooming herself with her tongue. Her eating habits were dainty and tidy. Whenever anyone played the harpsichord, she would sit close by, listening intently. Richelieu claimed to anyone who would listen that Mimi had refined taste in music. She had the dignity of a duchess, more dignity in fact than some duchesses Richelieu could name.
Richelieu never saw her scratch the furniture. She never seemed to fight or roughhouse with the other cats, so far as he could tell. Perhaps he had been right in saying Ludoviska and Rubis would appreciate more female companionship because, once they'd both had time to get used to Mimi, they seemed to get on well with her.
Marie Madeleine, for all her initial protests, quickly became fond of Mimi and sewed a cushion for her in forget-me-not blue to match her eyes, and trimmed it with white Alencon lace.
As he stroked Mimi's soft white fur while she sat meekly on his lap, Richelieu proudly declared, "You, Mimi Paillon, are like a beautiful, little angel; you are so well-behaved!"
One day, Milady de Winter came to receive her latest assignment from the cardinal. Richelieu wanted her to attend an upcoming funeral as a guest. She would be able to look respectable doing this. She would also have the opportunity to listen to any gossip at the funeral and reception, and perhaps gain some useful information about the deceased man's family and report back to Richelieu. Milady would spend the night in one of the cardinal's guest rooms before leaving for the funeral the next day. Once in the guest room, she went to sleep.
The next morning Milady stalked into Richelieu's study, wearing a dressing gown and carrying some clothing over her arm.
"What does your Eminence have to say about this?" she held up a black dress with innumerable white hairs clinging to it. The white hairs contrasted sharply with the black of the dress and looked thoroughly unseemly. "I was planning to wear this to the funeral."
Richelieu stared at the dress. "Oh, that is unfortunate."
"And that's not all," Milady then held up a white chemise, which was covered in black hairs. "It must have been the black cat, or the black-and-white cat that got on this."
"Well, it wasn't Soumise. He slept on the bed with me all night."
"So, it was the all-black cat?"
Richelieu knew she was right, but he still wanted to be contrary. "His name is Lucifer."
"Lucifer?" Milady raised her perfectly arched eyebrows. "No wonder he causes such trouble with a name like that."
Richelieu's nostrils flared. "Be careful how you talk about my cats."
"My apologies, your Eminence. But this is the only black dress I packed, and I simply can't go to the funeral covered in cat hair."
Richelieu sighed. "I need you at that funeral. There isn't enough time for the dress to be washed and dry beforehand. But I'll have Eponine see if she can brush off some of the cat hair."
"Thank you, your Eminence. Might I ask if your Eminence will punish the cats?"
"Certainly not! They're cats; it's perfectly natural for them to shed hair."
"Your Eminence won't even punish the white cat?"
"Her name is Mimi Paillon and why exactly should I punish her?"
"Well, your Eminence, it must have been her who shed on my dress. She's your only cat with any white fur except for Soumise, who you claim was in your bedchamber. Given how much hair got on my dress, it almost looks as if the cat did it on purpose."
"Don't be absurd, Milady! Cats don't plan to do things maliciously. That's why I'm so fond of them; they don't plot against me. Mimi, certainly, would never make a mess out of spite. She bore you no ill will when she shed on the gown. She's far too good and innocent for that!"
Eponine, the maid, was given the thankless task of trying to brush the cat hair off Milady's clothes. While she did it, Mimi Paillon sat nearby and stared with huge, forget-me-not blue eyes, as if trying to understand what the human was doing. Finally, Eponine couldn't take it anymore.
"If you insist on watching me, then you should know that you have given me even more work to do, when I already have quite enough to be getting on with," she informed the cat. "When you shed on clothing, it makes more work for Corinne and me. Don't be such a troublesome cat. Please try not to do it so much in the future."
Mimi blinked her big, blue eyes. Eponine had no idea if this meant yes or no.
Eponine managed to get the worst of the cat hair off Milady de Winter's clothing before she had to dress to leave for the funeral. This pleased Milady. It did not please Mimi Paillon.
Mimi had seen Milady visit Richelieu on several previous occasions. She had watched the woman carefully. She had decided that she neither liked nor trusted Milady. She also didn't appreciate how the woman constantly smelled of absurdly strong jasmine perfume, which greatly irritated Mimi's sensitive pink nose. It pleased her to cause the human female some embarrassment and inconvenience.
Out of all the clothing in Milady's room, Mimi had deliberately chosen the black dress because she knew her white fur would stand out on that the most. She knew from experience that the more visible cat hair was on clothing, the more dismay it caused the humans. Then Lucifer had volunteered to help. He did not like Milady any more than Mimi did. Mimi was grateful for the help, but when Lucifer attempted to lie on the black dress as she had done, she had to redirect him. He was to lie on Milady's white chemise, which would better showcase his black fur.
It was a pity the human female Eponine was good at removing cat hair, but at least they had managed to cause Milady some temporary stress and annoyance.
Milady's clothing was not the only thing on which Mimi shed.
To be fair, all the cats shed to some extent. But Mimi seemed to shed a bit more than the others, perhaps because she was so fluffy. When she shed, her white hair stood out sharply on surfaces. She shed on clothing, furniture, rugs, and bed linens. It made more work for Eponine. Corinne was in charge of the laundry and washed cat hair off clothing (unless they were short on time as had been the case with Milady's dress), but Eponine had to brush the cat hair off the furniture.
"Really, Mimi Paillon," Eponine declared one day as she brushed cat hair off the cardinal's divan. "You are such a messy cat!" Mimi made no reply.
One day Richelieu was in his study, going over paperwork about the products France was exporting, when he heard a crash. He hurried out of the room to investigate the noise.
He found Mimi on the floor, crouched beside the remains of a fine blue and white China vase. Water and lilies Marie Madeleine had gathered were spilled across the floor. "Mimi Paillon, what have you done?"
Mimi gazed up at him, eyes big, blue, and innocent.
Richelieu promptly felt guilty for even trying to scold her! "There, there, mon petite. I can see you had an accident. I know you would never make such a mess on purpose." He scooped her up and looked her over to see if she'd hurt herself during the accident. When he was satisfied that Mimi was unharmed, he summoned Eponine to clean up the mess.
Later, after she'd swept bits of China and lilies into the dustpan and mopped up the water, Eponine stood over Mimi, hands on her hips and declared. "You are the most inconvenient cat!"
It was Eponine's day off. It was evening, and she was going home after visiting her Aunt Lucette. As she walked, she caught sight of Adrien on the other side of the street.
Eponine and Adrien had danced together at a party. Then they had gone out to a cabaret a couple of times together. Eponine had decided not to pursue things when it became clear that Adrien was unwilling to respect certain boundaries or keep his hands to himself when he ought to do so.
Trying to control her panic, Eponine walked faster and hoped that Adrien hadn't seen her. Her hopes were in vain. Adrien crossed the street to join her. "Eponine! Where are you going?"
"Leave me alone, Adrien! I told you before, it's over!"
"I just want to talk!"
"We both know that's not true! You made it very clear before what you want. And I made it very clear to you I'm not interested in that!"
"You led me on!"
"Just go away!"
"No! We're going to talk!" He reached out and grabbed her arm.
Just as he grabbed her arm, a white, blurry thing shot down from the roof of the house next to them and landed right on Adrien's head!
Adrien howled in pain. The white thing howled too.
Adrien lost his grip on Eponine's arm. Eponine ran.
When she was far enough away that she thought it safe, she stopped to catch her breath. She couldn't quite believe what had happened.
Just then, a small, white creature scampered up to her. It was Mimi Paillon! When Eponine looked closely, she could see a small amount of blood on the cat's front paws.
Eponine scooped Mimi up and showered her with kisses. "You are the most amazing cat!"
Mimi purred.
Richelieu was trying to finish reading a report on taxation, but it was difficult to concentrate when Ludoviska was "playing" the harpsichord, walking across the keys. The melody she produced was,,,interesting.
When Ludoviska finally finished playing her piece of "music," Richelieu heard another noise. A hissing noise. He looked over and saw that Mounard and Lucifer were roughhousing. As they tussled, they both ended up falling over on Ludovic le Cruel's orange cushion, which made Ludovic hiss in indignation.
Richelieu was forced to get up and separate the cats. Once he had done so, he noticed that Rubis Sur l'Ongle had torn the curtains again and Soumise was coughing up a hairball. The cardinal sighed.
He looked over at Mimi Paillon, who was curled demurely up on her forget-me-not blue cushion with her paws folded daintily. "At least you know how to behave," he commented. "You're a proper lady. You never get into mischief or give trouble to anyone, do you?"
Mimi Paillon smiled, blinked her blue eyes, and let out a long, very satisfied purr.
Notes:
Eponine is an OC. Yes, I admit I got her name from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. However, it is not meant to be the same character; I just thought the name was very pretty and really wanted to use it.
Adrien is an OC.
If my research is correct, Cardinal Richelieu did have a cat named Mimi Paillon, who was an angora.
Marie de Gournay was a French writer and poet. Among other topics in her writing, she argued that women had a right to an education. She also had a cat of her own. Cardinal Richelieu eventually granted her a pension. One source I read suggested that Mimi Paillon might have been a kitten born to Gournay's cat and a gift to the cardinal from her. I can't verify for certain if this is true or not, but I decided to use the idea for this story.
To any readers who are fans of Milady, you have my apologies. If it's of any consolation, she may get more sympathetic moments in later chapters.
"She also didn't appreciate how the woman constantly smelled of absurdly strong jasmine perfume, which greatly irritated Mimi's sensitive pink nose." In case anyone is wondering about this line, I decided to give Milady strong jasmine perfume because of the episode "Knight Takes Queen" in the TV series, The Musketeers. In that episode, there is a scene when Milady is hiding and D'Artagnan cannot see her, but he says he can smell jasmine, which makes him correctly suspect that she's nearby.