Read Doctor Raoul's Romance for Free Online Page B

to smile.
    “Blanche dear, you’re very young, you know. You’ve got plenty of time.”
    “That’s what everyone says,” Blanche wailed. “But it just isn’t true. You’ve got to start young. Oh, if we couldn’t afford dramatic school, I’d be willing to go into rep. But it isn’t a question of money. Daddy left me heaps, but I can’t touch it till I’m twenty-one. Nicholas has control of it. And he wants me to stay here and look after the children. And if—Gill dies ... Oh, Adrien, I shall be cooped up here forever. You won’t let that happen, will you? You won’t let that happen to me!”
    Sympathetically, Adrien said, “Even if you have to wait to start your career till you’re twenty-one, it will still be plenty of time. And you can do what you like then. Nicholas will have no control over you.”
    “Oh, but if Gillian dies ... I know you think I’m horrid, Adrien, but I can’t help it. If Gillian dies, I shall be trapped. I shan’t be able to leave the children. I shall have to marry Pierre and stay here forever. That is, unless you—”
    She broke off and put her hand to her mouth. But Adrien hadn’t noticed her last few words. She was concentrating on, “I shall have to marry Pierre.”
    “Would that be such a terrible fate?” she asked.
    “Oh, you don’t understand ... ” Blanche buried her face in her hands. “Somehow I thought you would.”
    “You don’t love Pierre?” queried Adrien.
    “I don’t know. I suppose, in a sort of way, I do. He’s rather a dear. But I don’t want to marry, Adrien. I can’t stand the thought of settling down as a provincial housewife. I just can’t.”
    “You’re being ridiculous, Blanche.” Adrien spoke coldly, to check the girl’s rising hysteria. “No one is going to force you to marry Pierre, or anyone else, if you don’t want to. You’re not living in Victorian times.”
    “But it’s different in France. Marriages are still arranged here.”
    “But you’re not French.”
    “Pierre is.”
    “Who is Pierre, Blanche? Does Nicholas approve of the idea of your marrying? Somehow I got the impression—” She stopped, sensing that one had to be careful with Blanche. But the younger girl guessed, what she had been going to say.
    “You have the impression that he doesn’t approve. I don’t think he does. He thinks I’m too young. But he’ll give way. Nicky always does?”
    The words struck Adrien like a shower of little sharp stones aimed at the shrine of her beloved. Was it true? Did Nicholas always give way? No, only to Gillian.
    She said, “You mean Gillian approves?”
    “Oh yes—she wants us to get married. It was her idea that Pierre should come here. He is the son of an old family friend. Our family, I mean, Gill’s and mine. He’s been ill and the doctors said he ought to have an easy outside job for a bit. He’s all right now, but he hangs on because of me. Gillian wants Nicky to find him a job in the firm.”
    “Why n ot? It sounds a good idea to me. He could still see you. But you wouldn’t be thrown together quite so much as you are now. It would give you both a better chance to judge your feelings.”
    “Yes, I suppose so. But Pierre doesn’t want a job like that.”
    “Oh—he has other plans? What are his ambitions, then?”
    “He wants to write popular songs. A musical show.”
    Adrien couldn’t help laughing.
    “Rather a castle in Spain, isn’t it? So you share theatrical ambitions. Seems to me you’re an ideal couple.”
    “Don’t tease, Adrien!” implored Blanche.
    “Dear, I’m not. But, honestly, so many young people have ambitions of this sort. And then they settle down into humdrum jobs, and happy marriages!”
    “Yes; and I’m afraid Pierre will do that.”
    “Then why don’t you marry him and try your luck together later on? It seems to me an ideal solution to your problems.”
    “Oh, Adrien! Because then I shall be trapped. Don’t you see? Pierre will do just as you say, he will take