Chapter Eighteen
James threw Alice behind him, not minding at that moment if he was hurting her or not. The uniformed policemen made their way through the crowd, pushing the finely dressed guests out of their way. People were frozen where they stood. Never had the law interrupted one of their many society parties, let alone have someone arrested for murder.
The charge was an out and out lie. Alice had never killed anyone. She told him herself that she’d shot a soldier in the arm and the fright of it all had caused her to hide for the rest of the battle.
The first of the policeman was swinging a pair of metal shackles in his hand, ready to drag Alice to a cold and damp cell.
“She has never killed anyone,” James growled at the police officer as he met them.
“Stand aside, sir,” he said formally.
James caught the eye of each one of his family members. Looks of shock and sympathy crossed each one of their faces.
“It is alright,” Alice said quietly, stepping out from behind him. She held her wrists out to the policeman and he secured the shackles around them. Her little wrists meant that she could easily slip her hands out of them but Alice was too level headed to do anything so foolish.
“No, Alice!” James cried.
Alice just shook her head, telling him to stop.
“Miss …” the second policeman began but he didn’t know Alice’s surname.
“Devereaux,” Alice replied quietly.
“Miss Alice Devereaux, we are placing you under arrest for murder. As a French citizen, you will stand trial before a jury of your peers in your own country and you will be aboard the next ship.”
James knew Alice would not get a trial. As soon as she stepped foot on French soil she would either be shot or have her head shoved into a guillotine. Alice turned her head back to see him. She smiled meekly and have him an encouraging nod before allowing herself to be taken from the church.
The policeman closed the doors behind them and the room was silent. All eyes turned back to James while he concentrated on Sarah and the smug smile appearing on her face.
“What on earth …?” Joseph asked quietly from behind James. “Lydia!” he called over to the red haired woman on the pianoforte. “Play something for us.”
Lydia began to immediately play an upbeat jig and slowly, but surely, the dancing resumed and conversations started once more. All but his family were participating once more in the festivities as they made their way over to him.
“Let’s take this in my office, shall we?” Joseph suggested, gesturing to the back door behind the altar of the church. The group were silent until the door was closed behind them.
“Who the hell is Alice?” Sebastian said angrily, grabbing James by the shoulder and spinning him around roughly. “And for exactly how long have you been lying to your mother and me?” His dark blue eyes were virtually black with rage.
James had better things to do than apologise for lying. The love of his life had just been carted away on murder charges!
“Do not say such profanity in God’s house, Sebastian,” Joseph said impatiently. It was odd to hear such a tone coming from the humble clergyman’s mouth, especially directed at his father-in-law. But he had every right to forbid such language.
“I apologise,” Sebastian muttered.
“James, we demand an explanation!” his mother exclaimed.
His sisters, brother and brothers-in-law were all staring at him expectantly in Joseph’s little office. He leant against his small desk and allowed his shoulders to slump. “‘Alice Devereaux’ is her real name. ‘Jacqueline’ was just a pseudonym. She was a part of the revolution three years ago. She was young, naïve and afraid, and she’s been terrified ever since. But she never killed anyone. That charge was a blatant lie.”
They all stared at him in utter shock. Not one of them spoke for several moments.
“She’s innocent!” he reiterated.
“She’s been hiding this for three years?” Annie asked quietly, shaking her head and looking to the floor.
“With good reason,” James snapped. “Look what happened. Sarah is just being an evil witch. Sarah was blackmailing Alice – that was why she wouldn’t see me all this time.”
“This certainly explains a lot,” Joseph said finally. “It is why she was so reluctant to talk about her past.”
“Are you positive she never killed anyone?” Emilia asked.
James glared at his mother. “Alice would never,” he growled. “She was just an impressionable child in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she will be paying for crimes she never committed. She won’t get a fair trial in France. All the rebels were executed on the spot – Alice will be given to the guillotine.” The vile images were imprinting themselves on their mind. He could see the crowds gathering in his mind as the blade dropped and Alice died. He could hear their cheers. No. It wouldn’t happen. He would rather it be him than her. “You were a solicitor once,” he said to his father. Sebastian had practiced property and family law before receiving the news that he was an Earl. Of course he’d never defended a person on trial, but he still had the knowledge. “What do we do?”
Sebastian pursed his lips. “I don’t think there is much we can do.”
“She’s already been arrested, James, it is in the hands of the police,” Kitty added.
James threw an exasperated look at his sister for stating the obvious. “Quiet, Kitty,” he snapped.
“Kitty is right. There is nothing we can do now,” Sebastian replied. “I’m not sure how French inquisitorial systems work, but she is in their hands, I’m afraid. All we must for is pray for a fair trial.”
James let out a frustrated cry. “I’ll bribe them. Papa, how much will you allow me to have? Surely a few hundred pounds slipped to the charging officers should quash these charges.”
“No, I will not have you getting into trouble as well. You will be arrested for trying to cheat the system.”
“What system? They’ve arrested an innocent girl!”
“I’m sorry, James,” Sebastian replied sadly. “But there is nothing we can do.”
James buried his head in his hands. His mother wrapped her arms around him and tried to comfort him but it wouldn’t work. The only thing he could think to do would be to travel to France and help her escape once there. He wouldn’t care if he never inherited Ethridge. Henry would do just as fine a job. So long as Alice was alive, he didn’t care if they lived like paupers.
“I’m going to the Met,” he decided. “That’s where they would have taken her, yes?” The Metropolitan Police Service was responsible for keeping order in all of London. Little did they care, however, that they had an innocent young woman in a cell.
“I suppose so,” Emilia agreed.
Without another word he left Joseph’s office and walked back into the main hall of the church. It was as if nothing had ever happened. Sarah was happily chatting to another one of the society ladies. They were no doubt discussing wedding plans. He would sooner die than marry her. Making a beeline for her, he startled Sarah when he appeared before her, looking down at her murderously.
“You’ve sentenced an innocent girl to die, Sarah,” he said darkly. “Her blood will always be on your hands and her death will remain on your conscience until the day you die. You will go to hell for this.”
His words frightened Sarah as the blood drained from her face. She looked afraid, and seemed to believe his words. “But … she’s not innocent,” Sarah stammered.
“She never killed anyone, Sarah. She’s purer than you or I put together, and now she will die because of you.”
Without another word, James left the church and climbed into the stationary Ethridge carriage that was waiting down the street for the family once they had concluded their evening. He gave the driver his destination and they immediately took off.
Alice didn’t know how long she’d been sitting in her small jail cell. It seemed like a lot longer than it probably had been. The cell was nothing more than a small, damp, square space with a little cot for her to sleep on and a pot for her to relieve herself. It was very dark with only the barred window providing light from the moon. It smelled of liquor and men.
She sat in the middle of the cot and wrapped herself in the itchy, woollen blanket even though it was much too warm for it. But she felt cold, as if her body was slowly giving up.
Three years was a long time to be hiding. Perhaps she’d had her time. It was now time to pay for the consequences of her actions. She’d never killed anyone, but the sanction would be the same regardless of the fact – execution. Madame Guillotine was about to claim another victim. She wondered what would happen to her body after she died. Would she be buried? Or would her body be disposed of in an unmarked grave?
The manacles had been removed from her wrists even though her hands were much too small and thin to be contained by them anyway. They’d allowed her to keep her rosary, which she was grateful for, but they’d taken her ribbons so that she did not create a makeshift noose. Her hair was hanging loosely down her back.
A flickering glow caught her attention as candlelight illuminated the long hallway that contained all the cells. She was alone in the end cell as there were several men down the hall from her. She was glad that they had separated her from the men as she did not want to be anywhere near where they could reach out between the bars and touch her.
“Five minutes,” a rough voice grumbled.
Suddenly, James appeared before holding a candle in a dish. Setting it on the ground he knelt down in front of the cell and held onto the bars.
Alice scrambled to get off her cot so that she could meet him at the locked door. “James!” she cried. She grabbed onto the bars and his warm hands captured hers in his. She could see the turmoil on his face. He was suffering from guilt.
“Alice,” he managed to croak. He looked behind her at the shabby cell and looked even more distraught. “Have they mistreated you? It took me over an hour to get them to allow me to see you.”
“No, they ‘aven’t mistreated me,” she replied truthfully.
“I don’t know what to do,” he whispered, his voice cracking. She could see the tears forming in his eyes. He gripped her hands tightly. “I don’t know how to get you out of here.”
“You can’t. Do not worry about me. I may not ‘ave committed the crime, but I was still a part of the revolution. This is what I deserve.”
James’ dark blue eyes widened as he shook his head adamantly. “It is not. You will not die. I won’t allow it.”
She smiled at him, and reached out her hand to touch his cheek. Never had she had someone, besides Jacques, care about her wellbeing so much. “The letter you wrote to me was the most wonderful thing I ‘ave ever received,” she told him. “I will be forever grateful that I met you, James. You ‘ave changed my life.”
James shook his head as he grabbed a hold of her hand that lay on his cheek. “Don’t you dare say goodbye to me,” he warned.
“There is nothing you can do,” Alice replied quietly. “You must forget me. You can do much better than an urchin from the streets of Paris.”
James looked as though he had just sucked on a lemon. “I can’t forget you, Alice.”
“Why not?”
“Because … Je t’aime, Alice,” James said honestly. She could tell by the sincere look in his eyes that he was completely truthful.
He loved her? He’d just told her that he loved her. He’d learnt the phrase in French just for her. No-one had ever said that to her before. She felt a sense of fulfilment and completion knowing that he loved her. Knowing that she’d been loved for who she was and not who she pretended to be made her feel as though she could go back to France without fear.
Though she wanted to, she would not say it back to him. She knew it would be easier for him to move on if he did not know how she felt about him.
She pulled his hand through the bar and she pressed her lips down onto it, lingering for a moment and the first intimate moment that they had shared. The first and the last. “Just knowing that makes this easier,” she said, putting a smile on her face. “Thank you. I wish you the greatest of luck in your future. You will be ‘appy, I know it.”
“Alice,” he whispered, shaking his head.
“My fate is in ‘is ‘ands now,” she said, gripping her rosary with her free hand. “And I’m perfectly content with that.” She wasn’t ‘perfectly’ content, but she had accepted it. “You should go now. They will come to collect you any moment now.”
“This isn’t over,” he promised her. “If I have to I will come to France and break you out of prison there. I’ve always heard that the south of France is beautiful – we shall live there.”
Alice shook her head sternly. “Promise me you won’t. You will be caught too. Promise me.”
James bit his lip as he stared at her with a pained expression.
“Promise me,” she repeated firmly.
“I promise,” he conceded.
“Go now,” she instructed. “I won’t ever forget the kindness you ‘ave shown me, James. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel as though you don’t deserve good fortune.”
James closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the bars on her cell. “I’m so sorry, Alice,” he whispered.
“Will you do something for me?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied without looking up.
“Thank your family for me. I know I deceived them but they were nothing but kind to me. And please thank Father Walker for me. Father Walker is the priest at Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory. Ask ‘im to tell you about Jacques. I would like one other to know what a ‘ero ‘e was.” If she could not tell the story of her brother, then she wanted Father Walker to. She wanted James to know everything.
“Who is Jacques?”
“Jacques was my brother,” she replied. “And ‘e deserves to ‘ave one person living knowing that ‘e was not just a rebel. One thing that ‘e always used to say was that ‘we are all equal when dead’. I never understood that until now. I’m not afraid to die.”
James nodded, looking quite afraid at her acceptance of death. “I’ll ask him. I don’t know what to say now. I don’t know how to say ‘goodbye’ to you.”
Alice smiled at him warmly. “Then let us not say ‘goodbye’, but simply bon voyage. We will both pray for safe journeys in our lives, will we not?”
James nodded. “Bon voyage, Alice,” he said quietly.
“Bon voyage,” she replied.
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French translations:
Je t'aime: I love you
Bon voyage: Safe journey/trip
I hope you liked this chapter :) I know it got a bit morbid in the end but the fight isn't over yet ... ;)
I just want to say a huge thank you to every single person who replied to my rant on the last chapter and supported me. I was so humbled by how many of you understood and said that you were patient and loyal readers. I wanted to dedicate this chapter to the person who wrote the nicest message but I simply couldn't choose. They were all so unbelievably nice and I am so grateful to have all of you as readers. You know who you are, and I want you to know you have a friend down in Australia :)
So instead, this chapter is dedicated to the people who commented and sent me private messages on the last chapter. You are all incredible and it's people like you that keep me motivated to write these stories.
Love always, Laura xxx