Dark Remains: A Maggie Power Adventure (Maggie Power #1)

Chapter 16 - Stories

Chapter 16 – Stories

"I do not ask out of disrespect or because I am in anyway ungrateful, my lady, but may I ask why you have taken us into your home and treated us so wonderfully well?" asked Maggie.

"There is indeed a reason for everything. And, if you do not mind Margaret, allow me to answer your question by telling you all a little story," replied the Countess.

The children's silence indicated they were in agreement with her wishes.

"Bear with me then children and indulge a lonely old woman; for it is a remarkable but, nonetheless, a true story. It concerns a woman called Marie Antoinette. Have you ever heard of this woman, children?"

They all shook their heads, Maggie thought she had a vague recollection, but did not want to embarrass herself in case she was wrong.

"No matter. Marie Antoinette was the Queen of France when I was a child and when I lived in that once, great country. I met her on a number of occasions and I played with her own children numerous times when I was invited to the palace. She always treated me as if I were one of her own. But then, Marie Antoinette was a great lover of children, and a devoted mother too. However, before she became a mother, there was a period in her life when it all but seemed she would never bear her husband, King Louis, a child. Or, more importantly, an heir to the throne."

"Then one day the Queen was out in her carriage driving through the countryside, on route back to the palace. Suddenly a small boy ran out onto the road and was caught under the wheels of her carriage. Marie leapt from the carriage on hearing the child's cries and thrust him into her arms to comfort him. She then announced to her entourage that she was taking the poor child home to her palace. He is mine now, she is reported to have called out."

"On hearing the commotion, the child's grandmother ran from inside her small cottage to be confronted with an image of the beautiful Queen holding her grandson to her bosom. The Queen asked after the child's mother. The grandmother answered that her daughter had died the previous winter, and left five small children for her to tend to. Then it is destiny, announced the Queen. I shall take him and provide for the rest of the children who have been left upon you. Do you consent? She asked. The grandmother agreed and the Queen took the child, whose name was also Jacques," she said looking towards Jack, who smiled, pleased with himself that someone in such a story should share the same name as he.

"The grandmother warned the Queen that Jacques was a badly behaved boy." She again looked toward Jack. "And may be the cause of much trouble. Indeed on the way back to the palace, little Jacques bawled and kicked at the Queen and her attendants, crying for his grandmother and his siblings."

"Once home at the palace, the Queen dressed him in the finest clothes. He looked like a Prince and he sat with the Queen at breakfast. In time he was put to learning and proved himself a smart and intelligent young man. Regrettably, when Our Lord blessed the Queen with children of her own, Jacques was sometimes, maybe understandably, forgotten. Although her own children always treated him as an equal."

She paused and looked at the faces around the table, hanging on her every word. "When you ran from out of that London passageway last night - and straight in front of my carriage - I felt fate had once again intruded into my life. I felt once more like dear Marie Antoinette, one of two great women whose lives and examples I try to follow." She coughed and took a sip of water, wiped her mouth and spoke to Maggie. "Does that answer your question?" She asked. "Yes it does," answered Maggie now feeling a somewhat embarrassed. "I'm sorry, my lady, for sounding so doubtful or ungrateful for all you have -"

"Do not for one moment think I believe that of you, Margaret. It is the most sensible question of all to ask. Why would you not be wary? I'm sure the boys have the same misgivings too, but," she winked playfully to Maggie, "perhaps they are a little afraid to ask."

Jack, still seemingly in a world of his own, turned to the Countess and said, "I like the sound of this boy Jack in your story. What came of him and the Queen? Are they still alive?"

"Unfortunately, Jack, a terrible tragedy befell all of the people involved in this particular story. History happened, I'm afraid. The bloody revolution came to pass. The guillotine took the head of Marie Antoinette. And the poor boy, Jacques? He, I am afraid, had his head turned against his dear Queen. He joined the revolutionaries and was killed during a great battle, a year before his adoptive mother was finally executed - after all those terrible years she suffered in torment and imprisonment."

Her voice faltered as if the events she was recalling happened a mere week before rather than fifty years in the past. Before they were allowed to leave the table to explore their new home, the Countess' manner became serious once again, as it had previously when she warned them of the folly. She asked if the children could endure another of her stories.

They agreed it would not be too much of her to ask of them. "I'm sorry but I am not in the best of health at present. Yet before you enjoy the rest of the day and I go for a rest, I must speak further to you all."

She took a small sip of water again, before continuing. "This is the most important thing I will say to you during your stay here. And it is this. Your stay here is dependent upon obeying one main rule. But before I tell you this rule, I wish to tell you the history of all the servants I have acquired, and have working and living here. All the servants were once like you - living in great misfortune on the streets. They too were beggars, vagabonds and scavengers - call them what you wish. So many of the meanest and poorest individuals have been through this house. I may not be Marie Antoinette, but I believe I have a great social conscience and feel the pain of those most abused and mistreated in this world."

"Many of the children I took from the streets once stayed at a charitable home I set up for orphans and street children near London. Some of these children were so responsive to goodness and charity that I took them on here as servants. Some have stayed for many years and some have moved on to better things. Others grew tired of country life and ran away or vanished. Some had to be sent away. And then there are those who completely failed and abused my good nature. Those who failed were all defective in one way or another. Yet, they all shared one distinctive flaw: they were all thieves."