Belle - Lesley Pearse [155]
Suddenly Belle felt uneasy. She didn’t know whether it was just because she was tired, cold and anxious, but it sounded like his apparent kindness was just a ruse to make her indebted to him.
She was only too aware that there was just one sure way she could make money quickly in Marseille, and she was resigned to that. She’d already decided to use the hotel plan, an idea she’d got from a couple of girls at Martha’s. But while she would be happy to slip a hotel doorman a few francs for assisting her to find the right client, she certainly didn’t want to have Arnaud or any other man taking what she earned.
She couldn’t speak out, however. He might have been genuinely trying to reassure her everything would turn out fine. If she said something sharp he might turn her out of the cab and she wouldn’t have the first idea of where to go.
In the end she said nothing; it seemed the safest thing to do.
Madame Albertine, the red-headed owner of the guest house, fired a volley of French at Arnaud, and judging by the excitement in her voice and her wide smile, they were really good friends.
But all at once she clapped her hand over her mouth and turned to Belle. ‘I should not be speaking French to Arnaud when you don’t understand it,’ she said in perfect English. ‘I am so sorry. Please forgive me?’
Belle smiled and said she hadn’t expected anything other than French to be spoken here in France, and that she would try to learn some while she was here.
Arnaud said he had to go, and that Belle wasn’t to worry about the bill as he would like to settle it as a thank you for taking care of Avril. Belle felt ashamed she had been suspicious of his motives earlier and thanked him, kissed his cheek and wished him a Merry Christmas.
‘Until we meet again,’ he said, taking her hand and kissing it. ‘I will send a carriage for you.’
Madame Albertine was around forty, very attractive with her red hair, green eyes and voluptuous figure. She wore a beautiful silvery brocade gown which Belle admired.
‘I am going out to supper tonight,’ she said. ‘Any other day you would find me in very dull clothes, but it is Christmas, so I made an effort.’
As she led Belle up the stairs she said she hoped she wouldn’t feel too lonely. ‘I had a full house but my guests have gone home to their families now. In the next few days though I shall introduce you to some of my friends.’
The room she showed Belle into was small, with plain white walls and shutters on the window, but there was a vivid-coloured quilt on the brass bed and Madame Albertine put a match to a fire which was already laid in the hearth.
‘It will soon be warm,’ she said. ‘If I’d known I was going to have a guest I would have lit it an hour or two ago.’
‘It feels warm enough anyway,’ Belle said gratefully. ‘I was scared when I got off the boat. I’m just so happy Monsieur Germaine brought me here.’
Madame Albertine smiled warmly. ‘It will be good to have some female company over Christmas. Now, I’ll leave you out some bread and cheese for supper. You can find your own way down to the kitchen, I’m sure, it’s just off the hall. Make yourself at home, won’t you? And I’ll see you in the morning. Perhaps you’d like to come to the market with me for the Christmas food?’
The last thing the older woman said before she left was that there was plenty of hot water for a bath if Belle wanted one. Back in New Orleans, she had to boil up pans of water to fill a tin bath, and on the ship she hadn’t been able to have anything more than a strip wash, so to be told that there was a bath here was like being given an early Christmas present.
Belle slept like a log that night. She only woke as the shutters were opened and sunshine came into the room. Madame Albertine was there with a large cup of coffee in her hand.
‘If you are to come to the market with me, we must go now,’ she said with a broad smile. ‘Up you get and put on your clothes.’
Belle was enchanted by the narrow winding lanes which led down to the market near the harbour. The houses were mostly rather dilapidated, with paint peeling