The Flying Cavalier Read online

  Lance suddenly grinned and wanted to reach out and tweak her nose. He resisted this impulse but shook his head. “Not a one. Not yet, anyway.”

  “How is she, Pierre?” Katherine Laurent was standing beside her husband, anxiety etched on her face.

  “It isn’t broken, Katherine, but it is a very bad sprain.” Turning his eyes toward his older daughter, Pierre Laurent said, “You’re going to have to stay off this foot for several days. No weight at all on it, and I’m going to put cold compresses on it.”

  “Cold compresses! I’m freezing now!”

  Doctor Laurent laughed. “Then I’ll put on hot compresses.” He stood to his feet and said, “Katherine, please fix our guest something. Hot tea and some of that cake you made.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” the lieutenant insisted.

  “Oh, you must stay, Lieutenant!” Danielle brightened up. “Mother, may I fix tea for the lieutenant?”

  “Certainly. Go along with Danielle, Lieutenant Winslow,” Katherine smiled. “Pay your driver, and as soon as we get this clumsy daughter of mine patched up, perhaps we can all have a little time to visit and get acquainted.”

  Lieutenant Lance Winslow was exceedingly glad for the invitation. He had nothing to look forward to but a small lonely room in a hotel. He had made few friends since he had come to Paris, and now he willingly said, “I wouldn’t want to leave until after I find out how Miss Noelle is.” At that Winslow excused himself to go outside to pull Noelle’s packages from the cab and pay the waiting cabdriver. Upon returning to the foyer, Winslow shook the snow from his boots, then handed the packages to Danielle.

  “Come along,” Danielle said quickly. She left the room and Winslow followed her into a large and well-furnished kitchen. “We can make your tea here,” Danielle said firmly, “and then we can take it into the parlor.”

  “That would be very nice. How old are you, Miss Danielle?”

  “Almost fifteen.”

  “Almost? How long until your birthday?”

  Danielle looked startled and then giggled. “Nine months,” she said.

  “Well, I remember when I was your age I did the same thing. I wanted to grow up so fast, I suppose the day after I was thirteen, I was claiming to be almost fourteen, too.”

  “I’m very mature for my age,” Danielle said as she busied herself pulling together the tea set and putting a kettle of water on the stove to boil. “Everyone says that. I don’t feel at all comfortable with young people of my own age. All my friends are older.”

  “What are you going to be when you grow up?”

  “A scientist or, perhaps, a doctor like my father.”

  “A noble ambition.” Lance Winslow sat back. He took off his overcoat now and his hat, placed them on a chair, then leaned back to enjoy the warmth of the kitchen. He carried on a light conversation with Danielle and discovered that she was, indeed, a precocious young woman. If he had been blind and had not been able to see her, he would have assumed from her conversation that she was at least seventeen or eighteen. “Do you have any young admirers, Danielle?” he asked mischievously.

  “Pouf! They are camels!”

  “Camels?”

  “They are silly! As I told you, Lieutenant, people of my own chronological age bore me.” The kettle was boiling now, and with considerable aplomb, Danielle poured the tea, then asked, “Sugar or cream?”

  “Both, I’m afraid. Everyone says I just ruin the tea.”

  “You should drink it as you like. I’m afraid this is not the English tea that you are accustomed to.”

  Lance smiled. “I’m sure it will be excellent.”

  Indeed it did prove to be excellent tea, and he enjoyed himself a great deal sitting back and talking with the young girl. She had a lively expression and her mind was very quick. He was on his second cup when Katherine Laurent came into the kitchen.

  “Now I think we can all have tea,” she said.

  “Is Noelle going to bed?” Danielle asked.

  “Not right away. She’ll have tea with us in the parlor. Ah, you’ve already prepared it. Will you bring the tray in, Danielle?”

  “Certainly, Mama.”

  Following his hostess down the short hallway and turning back into the parlor, Winslow saw that Noelle’s ankle was now thickly bandaged. She was sitting still with her back at the end of the settee, and she gave him a wan smile when he entered.

  “I’m bandaged up so tightly I won’t be able to move for a week.”

  “You’ll have to have a wheelchair, I’m afraid, for a day or two, and then a cane for at least a week or more.” Doctor Laurent turned to Winslow and smiled. He shrugged his shoulders, saying, “She is headstrong, I’m afraid.”

  “That’s the kind way he has of putting it. He usually says I’m as stubborn as a mule.”

  Noelle’s face, Winslow saw, was made rosy by the heat of the fireplace. For the first time he had a chance to examine her at leisure. Her hair was still damp from the snow that had now melted, but it was luxurious and had a pronounced curl to it. Her eyes were rich, dark brown and wide spaced. Somehow he knew those eyes could laugh, and yet they had a pride in them he liked to see in a woman. Her spirit glowed in her, somewhat as if live coals were behind her eyes. She was a beautiful woman, and he found himself unable to look away from her for more than a few seconds.

  Over the tea and cakes that Danielle served, Lance found himself telling them about his life in England and telling them more about himself.

  “I left the university to join the army,” he said. “My father was a soldier,” he added. “He was killed in action.”

  “And you always wanted to be a soldier like your father?” Noelle asked, her eyes fixed on him.

  “I suppose so. I never really thought of doing anything else.”

  “What is it you do in the army?” Danielle asked.

  “Well, at the moment I’m one of the few in our army who believe in airplanes as a military weapon.”

  “Ah, the airplane! A very interesting invention,” Doctor Laurent murmured. He sipped his tea and then said, “But how could they serve as a military weapon? They are up in the air and not very far at that, from what I read.”

  “Right now they can’t go very high or stay up long, but I believe they’re going to change the nature of warfare. Can you imagine”—Lance leaned forward and his eyes seemed to glow—“what it would mean to a general to know exactly what the enemy was doing and to know it within twenty minutes? As it is now, an officer has to send a message by a courier on a horse. The courier must travel over all kinds of territory. He may get shot and killed, and the message may never arrive. But in an airplane it’s a different story.”

  “Are you a flier yourself, monsieur?” Katherine asked with interest.

  “Oh yes. That’s how I became interested. In any case, I think the French fliers are the best in the world, so I persuaded my commanding officer to send me over on a mission to pick the brains of some of your aviators.”

  “Pick the brains?” Danielle leaned forward at once. “What does that mean, ‘to pick the brain’?”

  A laugh went up and Lance grinned. “It means to find out all they know, Miss Danielle. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”

  “And have you been successful?”

  “Well, I’ve met some of the best fliers and pilots in France. Unfortunately, some of them don’t speak English, and I don’t speak French, so it’s been a little bit difficult to communicate.”

  “Perhaps I could go as your interpreter, Lieutenant,” Danielle piped up, her eyes bright. “I speak very good English!”

  “You certainly do, Miss Danielle. I wish I could speak French as well.”

  “What about your family?” Noelle asked.

  “I have very little. I have no brothers or sisters, and my mother remarried a solicitor named Briggs. They live in Scotland, so I don’t see them too often.”

  “Oh, that’s so sad!” Noelle said impulsively. “And to be away
from your own country among strangers on Christmas Eve.”

  “Why don’t you have Christmas dinner with us tomorrow?” Danielle piped up.

  “Danielle, don’t be impertinent!” her mother exclaimed.

  “I’m not impertinent! You’d like to, wouldn’t you, Lieutenant Winslow?”

  Winslow suddenly found himself wishing very much that he could do exactly what this young woman suggested. He hesitated, saying, “Well . . . I’m not at all sure . . .”

  Doctor Laurent, seeing the loneliness in the young man, said, “We would be most happy if you would join us for Christmas dinner tomorrow, Lieutenant, if you have no other plans.”

  “My only plan was to eat a bowl of soup in a restaurant somewhere. I’d be most grateful to be in your home, Doctor.”

  At that Winslow rose, and said, “And now I must be going.”

  As soon as Lance Winslow had left, Danielle came and sat down flat on the floor before her sister. “And now. Tell me all about it. Everything!”

  “I twisted my ankle and he helped me get home,” Noelle smiled.

  “That’s not the way it was!” Danielle’s eyes were dreamy. “Isn’t he the handsomest thing you ever saw?”

  “Very fine looking indeed,” Noelle said. She reached out and pinched her sister’s arm sharply. “Danielle, I don’t want you to become infatuated with the lieutenant.”

  “I never get infatuated! That’s for children!”

  “Never infatuated! Why, you’ve gone off into fits of it ever since you were ten years old!”

  Danielle got to her feet and said huffily, “Infatuation is for children!”

  As Danielle walked off with her back straight, Noelle shrugged her shoulders and smiled toward her mother who had taken all this in. “She’s incurable, isn’t she, Mother?”

  “She’s just young.”

  “Was I like that when I was fourteen?”

  “No. You were much more sensible.” A worried look came into Katherine Laurent’s eyes. “Danielle is very impressionable, though.” Then she laughed. “But she has some reason this time. Lieutenant Winslow is extremely handsome and so tall!”

  “He was very nice,” Noelle said thoughtfully. She was silent for a moment and then shook her head. “He’s so alone in the world.”

  Katherine suddenly came over and leaned down. She put her arm around her older daughter, Noelle, and said, “Now don’t you go getting infatuated!”

  “Me? Don’t be silly, Mother!”

  “That’s not being silly. That’s being realistic. A man in uniform does have a certain attraction for a woman. I remember when I was your age, I couldn’t help looking at a handsome soldier.”

  “Well, I’m glad you married Father instead of a soldier. He’s always home, not off fighting in some war.”

  At that moment Doctor Laurent came back and said, “Now, we’ve got to get you into bed. I should have had the lieutenant put you there. But I’ll have to do.” He picked her up with a grunt and said, “You’ve got to go on a diet. You’re getting too big. . . .”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Romance Above the Clouds

  “Dani, you’re going to wear all of your clothes out changing them so much!” Noelle leaned against the back of the settee, her foot propped up, and gave an amused glance at her younger sister, adding, “That dress is too old for you. I told you so when you bought it.”

  Dani gave Noelle an indignant glance. “It is not too old for me!”

  “Yes, it is. Mother said so when you tried it on at the store. You just pressured her into it.”

  The dress in question was definitely too old for a fourteen-year-old, even one as mature as Danielle Laurent. It was a day dress with a loosely cut, high-waisted bodice and a high neckline with a collar of small frills. It was a bright yellow color, except for a panel of rose-colored silk set in just under the bosom. Craning her head to look at herself, Danielle said defiantly, “It’s just right for me!”

  Noelle made a gesture of helplessness and smiled toward her mother, who had entered to watch the scene. “I was just telling Dani that dress was too old for her, but she doesn’t agree.”

  “Well,” Katherine said, studying the dress carefully, “it probably is, but by the time she’s sixteen, it will be just right. How’s your ankle?”

  “It hurts.”

  “Perhaps you ought to take some more laudanum.”

  “No, that stuff makes me sick!”

  “Then perhaps I’d better put a cold press on it.”

  “Oh no, Mother, it’s fine. Now that I’m propped up, it’ll be better soon.” Noelle was wearing a simple green dress cut close to the figure with a high décolletage and a neck encircled with a muslin collar. Her hair was carefully done, for her mother had worked hard at it earlier that day. Noelle had slept little the night before, and her father had finally medicated her until she had fallen almost into a stupor. Now faint dark circles shadowed her eyes, and lines of pain etched the corners of her mouth. She had set her foot down about using a wheelchair and had managed to get to the parlor by holding on to the shoulders of her mother and sister.

  “I’m going to change dresses,” Danielle said abruptly. “I’m going to wear my pink silk.”

  “Well, please make up your mind!” Katherine Laurent said with some irritation. “You are doing it again, Dani! You’re infatuated with Lieutenant Winslow.”

  “I never have infatuations!”

  This statement caused Noelle to laugh aloud. “What a thing to say! Why, you’ve had infatuations on actors, policemen, and artists. Not to mention Charles Stratton, the soccer player who lives down the street.”

  Danielle gave her sister a withering look and then flounced off. They heard her footsteps on the stairs, and Noelle said thoughtfully, “She’s very impressionable. I worry about her sometimes.”

  “Oh, I was the same way when I was her age, but she’ll outgrow it. Young girls are always that way.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “No, that’s right. You weren’t. But you were always more steady than Dani.” At that moment there was a knock at the door, and the women heard Danielle’s steps come flying downstairs. Noelle smiled and said, “She’ll never wait for Marie to open the door.”

  Danielle was at the door very quickly. She opened it and smiled, saying, “Good morning, Lieutenant.”

  “Good morning, Miss Danielle.” Lance stepped inside and pulled his overcoat off, handing it to the maid who had appeared. He thanked her and then gave Danielle a more critical look. “What a beautiful dress. Is it new?”

  “Well, yes, it is. I purchased it to wear to a ball, but I thought I’d wear it for Christmas instead.”

  “You look very nice in it.”

  Danielle flushed rosily and then smiled. “You look nice, too.”

  She looked with admiration at his uniform, which consisted of a dark khaki tunic with brass buttons set off by an extra-wide leather belt with a smaller one going over the right shoulder. The uniform was completed with light tan jodhpurs and brown boots that came almost up to the knee.

  “Well, I don’t have a chance to wear a dress uniform very often,” Lance said. “Besides,” he grinned, “I knew you’d look pretty, so I wanted to come up to your standards.”

  Danielle’s flush grew even more rosy, then her mother suddenly appeared, saying, “Don’t keep the lieutenant standing outside, Dani! Bring him in!”

  Lance moved down the beautifully decorated foyer, turned to his left, and went at once to Noelle, who was sitting on the settee. She put out her hand and he took it, and in a gesture he had never thought himself capable of, he bent over and kissed it. He had read somewhere that men kissed the inside of a woman’s wrist, but he was not sure about this. He felt rather awkward and unsure of himself, but he saw the warm approval in Noelle’s eyes.

  “So good to see you, Lieutenant,” she murmured.

  “It’s good to be here. Thank you for your kind invitation to spend Christmas with your family.”
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  “It is our pleasure. You got here just in time. Marie tells me that the meal got done earlier than she thought, so we can go right into the dining room.”

  At that moment Doctor Laurent entered the parlor. He wore a single-breasted morning coat fastened in the front with two buttons. It had a narrow collar and a striped tie. “Good morning, Lieutenant,” he said cheerfully. “Or it’s almost afternoon.”

  “I hope I didn’t come too early.”

  “Not at all. I’m starved,” the doctor smiled. “Smelling the aroma of roasted goose always brings hunger pangs.”

  At that moment Marie appeared at the door. She was a tall woman with an austere look and ran the household with an iron hand. “The food is on the table. Will you please come now.”

  “Our master’s voice,” Katherine smiled. She looked over with some consternation at Noelle, asking, “Pierre, how are we going to get Noelle to the table?”

  “Oh, I can hobble along.”

  “You don’t need to put any more weight on that foot!” Doctor Laurent said sternly. “Lieutenant, perhaps you would be so kind.”

  “Why, of course!” Lance moved over and said, “If you’re ready, Miss Noelle.”

  A rich pink suffused the face of the young woman, but she nodded. “I hate to be such a bother.”

  “No trouble at all. I broke both my arms once when I was a young man. I was all kinds of bother.” Leaning over, he slipped his arms around her and lifted her easily. He carried her into the dining room and set her carefully down in one of the chairs. “There you are,” he said cheerfully. “Perhaps you could hire me to be your personal porter until your ankle heals.”

  They all sat down, and, as Marie had said, the food was on the table. Glancing around, Lance said, “This is a lovely room.” The room was a large area of about sixteen by sixteen with a high white ceiling, cream-and-blue wallpapered walls, and a large Persian carpet covering almost all the floor. The mahogany furniture was all large, massively carved, and polished to a high gloss. Two large floor-length windows were covered with dark blue curtains and tied back with a gold brocade rope that hung down into a large tassel. A small white marble fireplace sent out an ample amount of heat. The table was covered with a white embroidered tablecloth and was set with fine china and crystal side pieces. Lance Winslow thought, This room is like the family—warm and graceful.