Page 60 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
“So what are you saying, Mavis?” Ellie asked.
“I’m saying she ain’t—isn’t—what she says she is. I don’t know who she is or what she’s doing here, but I get a feeling she’s up to no good.”
Ellie shook her head. “I don’t see how she could be up to no good here, Mavis. She’s clearly expecting a baby soon, and she hasn’t received any communication from the father as far as we know. We’ve taken her in, and where else would she have gone?”
Mavis shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t think she’s telling us the truth. I think she’s pulling the wool over our eyes somehow.”
Ellie collected eggs, then walked back with Mavis. She found Yvette lying in her room. Yvette sat up guiltily when Ellie knocked. “Oh madame, you startled me,” she said. “I was just resting. My back. It hurts me, you know. I carry much weight.”
“I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. I think your time will be quite soon now.” She sat down on the bed beside Yvette. “Have you decided what you want to do when the baby comes? Obviously you don’t have to make any decision in a hurry, but it is good to think through how you want your future to be. Do you plan to keep the child? I am sure we can help you find a good home for it so that you can get on with your life.”
Yvette gave a big sigh. “I don’t know what to think, madame,” she said.
“You have still heard nothing from your young man? He doesn’t know about the baby?”
“I have written to him,” Yvette said. “I still have hope.”
“You have heard from him?”
“Not exactly. But I still keep hoping ...”
“Yvette,” Ellie said, her voice solemn for once, “I don’t understand you. You haven’t seemed happy here with us. You don’t want to help around the house or to work.”
“Oh madame, I am grateful. Most truly I am.” Yvette clutched Ellie’s hand. “But everything has been so hard. And I worry so much.”
“I understand that. It is hard for you. But now we must make plans for the future. You must tell me what your wishes are, and I will do my best for you.”
“My wish is that Gaston returns and I marry him,” she said. “But one cannot always have one’s wishes.”
“But Yvette, you say you have written to him, but he has not written back to you. Do you really think he will want to accept this child?”
“I hope so,” she said. She looked away, averting her eyes from Ellie’s scrutiny.
“Yvette,” Ellie said, “Mavis has always been suspicious of you.”
“She doesn’t like me,” Yvette said. “Because I am foreign.”
“No, that’s not true. She likes everyone else here.”
“She likes that Louis,” Yvette said, giving a sneaky smile. “I saw them together. He put his arm around her.”
“I’m glad. She deserves to be happy,” Ellie said. “But Mavis thinks you have not been telling us the truth. You were not from a farm, were you? You know nothing about chickens. You don’t want to work hard. I don’t even know if you have a young man in the army.”
Yvette’s face turned red.
“We have taken you in and fed you and looked after you,” Ellie continued. “I think we have the right to know the truth. So who are you and where do you come from?”
Yvette went to reply angrily, then she seemed to deflate and sank back against the pillows. “Very well. I suppose you have a right to know. I am not from a farm. I’m from the city of Lyon. My lover is not Gaston. He is not in the army. He is Pierre Lupin, and he is in prison.”
“In prison. What for?”
“A robbery. A stupid robbery,” she said. “He wanted money for us to marry. When he was arrested, I ran away because I thought they would come for me, too.”
“You were involved?”
“He hid things he stole at our apartment. I did not realize they were stolen.”
“Then you are better off without him,” Ellie said. “How long is his prison term?”
