Paragon Walk - Anne Perry [77]
Emily shook her head.
“I wish I understood,” she said slowly. “Perhaps I’m mean-spirited, but I really don’t think it’s just courage. I’ve never seen Selena in that way. Maybe it’s my fault, but I don’t know. That’s not defiance; she’s pleased with herself. I swear it. You know she’s set her cap at Monsieur Alaric?”
Charlotte gave her a withering look.
“Of course I know it! Do you think I’m blind and deaf, too?”
Emily ignored the barb.
“Promise you won’t tell Thomas, or I shan’t tell you!”
Charlotte promised immediately. She could not possibly forego the secret, whatever conflicts followed afterward.
Emily pulled a face.
“On the night it happened I was the first person there, as you know—”
Charlotte nodded.
“Well, I asked her straightaway who it was. Do you know what she told me?”
“Of course, I don’t!”
“She made me swear not to accuse him, but she said it was Paul Alaric!” She stood back and waited for Charlotte’s amazement.
Charlotte’s first feeling was one of disgust, not for Selena, but for Alaric. Then she rejected the whole idea, thrusting it away.
“That’s ridiculous! Why on earth should he attack her? She is chasing him so hard, all he would need to do is stop running away, and he would have her for the asking!” She knew she was being cruel, and she intended it.
“Exactly,” Emily agreed. “Which only makes the mystery greater! And why does Jessamyn not care? If Monsieur Alaric is really so passionate about Selena that he ravished her in the Walk, surely Jessamyn would be beside herself with rage—wouldn’t she? But she isn’t; she is laughing, I can see it in her eyes every time she looks at Selena.”
“So she doesn’t know,” Charlotte reasoned. Then she thought more deeply. “But rape is not a matter of love, Emily. It is violence, possession. A strong man, a man who is capable of caring, does not force a woman. He takes love as it is offered, knowing that that which is demanded has no meaning. The essence of strength is not in overpowering others, but in mastering oneself. Love is giving, as well as receiving, and when one has once known love, one sees conquest as the act of a weak and selfish person, the momentary satisfaction of an appetite. And then it is no longer attractive, merely rather sad.”
Emily frowned, and her eyes were clouded.
“You are talking about love, Charlotte. I was only thinking of physical things. They can be quite different, without any love at all. Perhaps there is even a little hate in them. Maybe Selena did secretly rather enjoy it. To have lain with Monsieur Alaric willingly would be a sin. And even if Society did not particularly care, her friends and family would. But to be the victim excuses her, at least in her own mind. But if it was not so dreadful, and she was excited by it when she knew she should have been revolted, then she has had it both ways! She is innocent of the guilt, and yet she has had the pleasure!”
Charlotte thought about it for a few moments, then discarded it, perhaps not with reason but because she did not wish it to be true.
“I don’t think it can be a pleasure. And why is Jessamyn so amused then?”
“I don’t know,” Emily gave up. “But it is not as simple as it seems.” She moved away, going over toward George, who was trying unsuccessfully to reassure Phoebe, muttering something soothing to her and obviously highly embarrassed. Phoebe had taken to speaking much about religion and was never without a crucifix. He had no idea what to say to her and was overwhelmed with relief when Emily took over, determined to turn the conversation away from salvation to something more trivial, such as how to train a good parlormaid. Charlotte watched in admiration at the skill with which it was done. Emily had learned a lot since Cater Street.
“The play amuses you?” It was a soft voice, very beautiful, just behind her.
Charlotte spun round a little too quickly for grace. Paul Alaric raised his eyebrows very slightly.
“It hovers between tragedy and farce, doesn’t it?” he said with a slow smile. “I fear