Chapter Four
“OH, LADY KATHERINE, it is beautiful!” Mildred remarked as the carriage came into view of the château.
Built in the early 18th century and laced with a baroque cornice, the structure had three stories with two pointed towers serving as bookends of the perfectly symmetrical façade. The steep hip roofs of zinc contrasted with the ivory stones. One would have thought the château plucked straight from the French countryside. It stood nestled among mighty oak trees and low verdant hills.
Her ladyship looked out the carriage window with a wistful sigh. “I have not set eyes upon it in many years. Not since Richard passed.”
Mildred turned to Lady Katherine. “I cannot thank you enough, my lady, for asking me to join you.”
“Careful you do not express too much gratitude or you will sound very much like your betrothed.”
Mildred gave a wan smile before sighing. “Yes, though I shall be Mrs. Haversham soon enough.”
Her ladyship shuddered. “If you were my child, and I do regard you as such since I have none of my own, I would not permit this marriage to happen. I advised your parents that Mr. Haversham would not suit you, but it appears he is entailed some property, and they feel you will be taken good care of by him. Nonetheless, I had hoped they esteemed me enough to take my recommendation.”
“They regard you highly, my lady! But on this, they believe they have the approval of Alastair.”
“Hm. And Andre refused your request?’
“He has no wish to concern himself with my troubles.”
“Not even for his favorite cousin?”
“I hardly qualify as his favorite cousin. I am merely the one whovexes him the least.”
“That is no small accomplishment with Andre.”
Mildred returned to looking at the château. When Lady Katherine had suggested she take Mildred to Bath with her, Mildred could not have been more thrilled. She did not often travel with her family and had not been to Bath since she was a child. Besides the springs and bath houses, she recalled streets lined with shops, treats of all sorts, and brightly clothed men selling tonics that healed everything from fatigue to warts. But first they would stop to stay a night at Château Follet.
“There is something you should know about the château and its proprietress, Madame Follet,” said Lady Katherine.
Mildred gave her ladyship her full attention. There was a peculiar gleam in the woman’s eyes.
“It is also known as the ‘Château Debauchery.’”
“The Château Debauchery?” Mildred echoed, amused and intrigued.
“The late Monsieur Follet was once imprisoned with the Marquis de Sade and the Comte de Mirabeau.”
Mildred’s eyes widened. “How wicked.”
“Yes, wicked indeed.”
“But you say you met Uncle Richard here?”
“I did, but Château Follet is no place for love. It is a place where men and women indulge their most prurient desires, their most naughty and wanton predilections.”
Mildred looked carefully at her ladyship to ensure she did not jest, though it did not surprise her that Lady Katherine would speak of such things. The two women had formed an unexpected bond after her ladyship had come across Mildred and a groom in a compromising way in the greenhouse. Mildred had been bent over a table while the groom paddled her backside. Mildred could not have been more mortified, certain she had ruined herself and her family. But, to her great astonishment, Lady Katherine had not castigated her. Instead, she had allowed Mildred to take her into her confidence.
“I shall not commit so dreadful and shameful an act again,” Mildred had promised.
“Nonsense, child. You cannot quell the natural desires of your body,” Lady Katherine had replied.
Mildred had never been so stunned in her life. Thus began an unusual rapport. Lady Katherine spoke to her of unmentionables, of subjects no proper woman would ever speak, not even to a sister. But Mildred, eager to learn and relieved that her carnal cravings might not be so odd and reprehensible if a woman like Lady Katherine shared in them, drank in every word.
“Is it still known as the Château Debauchery?” Mildred inquired.
“More than ever, I think,” her ladyship replied. “I hear the activities have grown darker, more erotic since last I was here.”