Part 43 (1/2)
La Voisin was right. The next week was full of hopefuls, and of their mothers, their brothers, their fathers, and even husbands, all seeking information from the gla.s.s. For those who wished a more active form of intervention, I sent them to La Voisin for poudres d'amour and whatever else they thought might improve their chances. The witches of Paris did a ferocious business in wax manikins and spells in those weeks. Bold new hats and silk-lined mantles were in evidence on Sundays at Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle, one could hear women's voices singing raucously from the back rooms of certain taverns in less savory neighborhoods, and the black market price of abandoned infants rose to two ecus. Myself, I bought several curious old books I had long coveted and an Italian painting of Susanna and the Elders for my reception room, but I had not a moment left in the day to enjoy them. I felt as if I were in the very center of a storm of greed, my work at the gla.s.s by far the most honest undertaking in a society h.e.l.lbent on sucking away the resources of the crown through the King's philanderings. Just as the storm would abate, some new piece of news would set it off. Now the Prince de Soubise was rumored to be planning a new town residence built with the King's gifts to his wife, setting the court ablaze with envy. I glimpsed it once briefly, s.h.i.+ning in the depths of the water vase, an immense palace in the heart of the city. Not bad payment for the uncomplaining loan of a wife for a few nights' adultery.
It was at the very height of this frenzy that I encountered d'Urbec again, purely by chance, in the public rooms of an inn on the way to Versailles. As usual, I made a tremendous stir as I alighted from my carriage and made my way through the crowded room to the fireplace. Only a group of card players, hard at it, did not look up. I had barely settled myself by the fire when one of the players, with a cry of despair, stood up and threw his hat on the ground.
”What will you have of me, Monsieur, the coat off my back?”
”Your note of hand is sufficient,” said a familiar voice in cool, even tones. The transaction accomplished, d'Urbec stood and turned from the table around which the players were gathered.
”Good day, Madame de Morville. I regret that we have not met on the Cours-la-Reine after all,” he said.
”He knows the fortune-teller...yes, that is his secret...the Devil a.s.sists him...” The room was abuzz.
”My condolences on the death of your si-ah, Marie-Angelique,” he said. He must have seen Lamotte, then. Did he know everything? He must. Yet even so, he hadn't betrayed my ident.i.ty. Why did seeing him again disturb me so?
”I tried, but I couldn't save her,” I said, trying to hide my discomfort.
”People often cannot be saved from themselves,” he answered, and turned on his heel, leaving without another word. Cut dead, I thought, and looked into the fire so that no one could see my eyes.
”To what do I owe this honor, Madame?” Once again, La Voisin had invaded my house. The sorceress handed her wet cloak to Sylvie to dry before the fire and then seated herself in my best armchair to warm her red boots on my hearth. It must be important, I thought, to bring her out in this weather.
”Do you still see Monsieur d'Urbec?” she asked abruptly.
”No, Madame,” I answered, still trying to antic.i.p.ate what she was doing here. She disliked d'Urbec and knew that I knew it.
”Well, I wish you to take up his acquaintance again,” she announced, her face firm.
”Madame, I cannot. I believe he hates me.”
”After you saved his life and fed his relatives into the bargain? I hope you are not deceiving me.”
”About what, Madame?” I must have looked innocent of whatever plot she suspected me of. Her face relaxed.
”Little Marquise, that no-account galerien is everywhere these days. I've made inquiries, but whatever he is up to, he's kept it well hidden. All I know is that he bought a vial of quick-acting poison from La Trianon and that he has traveled twice to Le Havre. But what is more important, he wins at cards as if he had made a pact with the Devil himself. I have had nearly a dozen clients come to me for the 'secret of d'Urbec.' What is this secret? As far as I know, he has bought no glory hand. He has visited no one I know to have a spell cast. I believe he may have developed a new way of marking the deck. Either that or he has purchased some secret abroad. I must have that secret, little Marquise, if I am to keep my reputation long in this town. I want you to get it for me.”
”Madame, the man will not speak to me. He cut me in public the last time we met.”
”I think, perhaps, you still do not appreciate my powers. The man confides in no one. That means he is lonely. I will cause him to fall in love with you. He will be able to deny you nothing. Not even his secret of the cards. Tell me, do you have anything he left in the house, anything he used? I will need that, and a lock of your hair.” The memory of d'Urbec's public insult made up my mind for me. I'll get back at him, I thought. With La Voisin's sorcery, I'll flaunt Lamotte in his face. That will show him.
”I think I do-Sylvie, go upstairs and get the handkerchief that is folded in my dressing-table drawer.” Sylvie returned with Lamotte's handkerchief, all folded and perfumed.
”A handkerchief? My goodness, fussy manners for a galerien,” she said, turning it over and inspecting it. Fortunately, it had no monogram.
”Well, he was a law student before,” I said.
”Then that accounts for it,” she said, as she wrapped the lock Sylvie had cut off in the handkerchief and rose to depart. As she left with Lamotte's handkerchief, I felt as if I should begin a new notebook. Trial no. 1: Can La Voisin's sorcery make Lamotte love me back? We shall see.
”That ragbag! That piece of garbage! How dare she think she can threaten me!” La Montespan's shrieks of rage could be heard even through the half-opened doors of her vast twenty-room apartment on the ground floor at Versailles. I had cleared my schedule and traveled at full speed in her own heavy carriage over icy roads to wait like a lackey while she gave vent to her spleen. Oh well, I thought, better outside the room than inside it, as I heard a piece of china crash against the wall. I peered in to watch her pace the length of the blue-and-gold Savonnerie carpet like a tigress, kicking her train out of the way as she doubled back to advance toward the window. ”I swear, she'll never have him,” she shouted, raising her fist to the window. ”Never!” Even the gla.s.s panes seemed to shudder at her wrath. Her stays looked looser to me. Her latest pregnancy was beginning to show. The brief reconciliation was over, and the King was on the prowl once more. ”I'll not lose everything for that mealy-faced, conniving, simpering canoness!”