The Caged Countess. Joanna Fulford

shut behind her.

      ‘Who is it, Raoul?’ The voice came from the staircase opposite. It was followed by a soft laugh. ‘Well, well. Who’d have thought it?’

      The speaker was a woman who stood on the upper landing surveying the scene below. Gown and coiffeur were elegant and the face carefully made up. In the subtle lighting that softened the hard lines about her mouth Madame Renaud passed for less than her forty-two years. However, despite the dulcet tone of voice, there was nothing soft about the eyes surveying her visitor. Even more disconcerting was the glint of private amusement visible there.

      Claudine ignored it. ‘I am here on business, Madame.’

      ‘Aren’t we all, my dear?’ Madame Renaud jerked her head towards the landing. ‘You’d better come up.’

      Claudine joined her a few moments later. Appraising eyes took in every detail of her attire from the fine cloak to the gown just visible beneath it, estimating their value to the last centime. The total was quietly impressive, a fact which only served to increase Madame Renaud’s curiosity.

      ‘I thought maybe you’d reconsidered my offer,’ she said.

      ‘I told you, I’m here on other business.’

      ‘Pity. With your looks you’d earn a fortune.’ Madame glanced through the doorway into the room behind them where half a dozen girls in gauzy and semi-transparent gowns were laughing and talking among themselves. However, it was early yet: the clock on the mantel showed ten minutes to eight.

      ‘You mean I’d earn you a fortune,’ replied Claudine. The words were spoken without rancour and merely stated as a matter of fact.

      Madame nodded. ‘You’d get a fair share of the profits, I swear it.’

      ‘If ever I decide to go down that road you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime I suggest we stick to the present arrangement.’ Claudine handed over the purse concealed in the pocket of her gown. ‘Is he here yet?’

      Madame palmed the purse, mentally weighing the contents, and then smiled faintly. ‘This way.’

      They passed along the landing and down a passageway with doors on either side. From behind some of them Claudine could hear muffled voices, male and female, and other more disturbing sounds too, sounds that sent an unwonted shiver along her skin. She had often wondered what it must be like to lie with a man but, hitherto, her imagination had always explored that thought in the context of marriage. Her governess had left her in no doubt of a woman’s duty in that regard, and, being a widow, Mrs Failsworth was qualified to speak.

      ‘Intimacy is an unavoidable aspect of matrimony, my dear, and while no woman of good breeding could possibly find pleasure in it, she must be obedient to her husband’s will in all things.’ She proceeded to explain, with as much delicacy as she could, what that obedience involved. ‘The procreation of children is the entire point of matrimony, and it is the duty of a wife to give her husband heirs to continue his line. Of course, childbirth is a painful and hazardous business. Many women die in travail or else suffer a fatal haemorrhage. Others die of childbed fever afterwards …’

      Claudine listened wide-eyed and with increasing disquiet. She had sometimes wondered what happened after marriage but her imagination had never gone further than holding hands and kissing and then, after an interval, the birth of a child. Never in a million years could she have envisaged the awful possibilities that Mrs Failsworth had described, yet it seemed to be an inescapable fate.

      Society regarded marriage as the only career open to women, or women of good birth at any rate. It was essentially a business arrangement, as Claudine knew very well, and one that took no heed of personal inclination or feelings.

      Certainly she’d been given no say in the matter. In her father’s house his will was absolute. She’d only been informed of her forthcoming marriage when everything had been signed and sealed. Of course it was a long time ago and she had been a mere child then. In any case the marriage was dead—in all but name. In the years since, she had seen married women who seemed content enough with their lot, some even happy. Were they happy or were they pretending to be and putting a brave face on things?

      That a woman might actually choose to yield herself nightly to the will of different men was something Claudine had never considered until circumstances had confronted her with the reality. Did Madame Renaud’s girls find pleasure in what they did or were they driven by economic necessity? Claudine knew about the unsuspecting country girls who came to the city to seek their fortunes and whose innocence made them easy prey for the unscrupulous. Yet that didn’t quite seem to fit here. Mrs Failsworth said that only women of a certain kind enjoyed intimacy with men. Was it possible to enjoy carnal union at all, never mind outside of marriage? Could any woman enjoy it, knowing she might conceive a child? Surely no woman wanted to endure childbirth, especially not an unmarried woman for whom the consequences were shame and disgrace. All the social conventions said not. It was confusing.

      Madame Renaud’s sphere of operations was a world completely removed from anything Claudine had ever experienced before. She hadn’t known what manner of premises she was visiting that first time; all she had been given was the address and the name of the person she was to meet. It wasn’t until she was inside that she realised the truth. While she hadn’t baulked at being sent to seedy inns and gaming houses or masked balls held in distinctly disreputable surroundings, this was beyond all bounds. She had expressed her indignation to her employer when next they met.

      Paul Genet had surveyed her with amused surprise. ‘I did not think you squeamish, Claudine.’

      ‘I’m not squeamish. I merely thought you might have told me beforehand what to expect.’

      ‘Perhaps I should have. At all events you’ll be prepared next time.’

      ‘Next time!’

      ‘Yes.’ Seeing her expression he hurried on. ‘You need not let it concern you, my dear. You will be there for a few minutes only; just long enough to meet your contact and retrieve the information we need.’

      ‘Why there when there must be a dozen other places?’

      ‘Because Madame Renaud can be relied upon to keep her mouth shut.’

      ‘Even so, I cannot like it.’

      ‘You are not required to like it.’

      ‘Just as well, isn’t it?’

      He sighed. ‘All right, I admit it’s not the most reputable establishment in Paris, but it’s safe and the information that we obtain is vital to the British war effort. Besides, you’re an experienced and trusted operative.’

      She shook her head. ‘Save your flattery for someone who will appreciate it.’

      ‘It wasn’t flattery. I employ you because you’re good at what you do.’

      Claudine eyed her companion steadily. She guessed him to be in his mid-forties. Soberly clad, he was a short man with a form tending towards corpulence and a head that was almost bald. What hair remained was light brown and close-cropped. The round, clean-shaven face was unremarkable save for those small and piercing grey eyes. In a crowd of people he would have gone unnoticed. Yet she knew he had originally been recruited and trained by William Wickham, and the old spymaster had only ever chosen the best. The fact that Genet held her in regard was flattering whether she cared to admit it or not.

      ‘All right, I’ll go.’

      ‘I knew you wouldn’t let me down.’

      ‘I have never let you down.’

      ‘That’s why I employ you,’ he replied.

      A series of ecstatic male cries recalled her attention abruptly. Claudine darted a glance towards the closed room that was the source of the sounds and then looked quickly away. Madame Renaud smiled.

      ‘Estelle always knows how to please a man,’ she observed. Then, seeing the look of embarrassment on her companion’s face, the older