Book #1: Suzy's Dream (Chapter 6 - Part 4)

 Chapter 6 continued...

Then Lady Graham leaned over to Madame Arnay and in a lower voice asked, “Do you think that Mademoiselle Douvry would change her mind concerning her refusal? I find her so charming that I am very willing to go and plead my case to her myself. I’m sure I could not find more pleasant company. And since she’s your niece, well…Will you allow me to attempt to persuade her?”

“Oh, certainly. You would be doing Suzy a great service by convincing her otherwise.”

Suzy anxiously followed the young woman's movements, instinctively understanding that the two women were talking about her. When she saw Lady Graham approaching, nervousness consumed her.

“Mademoiselle, although I am a stranger to you, will you do me the favor of granting me a moment with you?” Lady Graham asked when she reached Suzy.

There was something cordial in the young woman’s smile that attracted Suzy.

“My attention is all yours, Madame,” she said, following Lady Graham and coming to stand a little apart from the others under the shelter of a huge palm tree.

Lady Graham seemed to hesitate, as if wondering how she should address her request. But it was neither in her nature nor in her habit to practice indecision.

“Is it true, Mademoiselle, that you do not wish to come with me to Cannes?” she asked in her frank manner. “If you would allow me, I would like to ask why, that we might see together whether it is truly impossible for me to have the pleasure of taking you? Because you’re going to find me, well…” She searched for the word. “Very bold. No, presumptuous... this is what one says? Yes, very presumptuous, that it seems to me we would both get on very well together. Don't you think so?”

Suzy's face lit up a little.

“I think so,” she said, her voice trembling, understanding that the hour had come for a final decision. “But I don't know how I could live away from home,” Suzy continued. “That is why, Madame, I had rejected any idea of being presented to you.”

Lady Graham unexpectedly grasped Suzy's small hand in her larger, beautiful hand.

“I love my home very much and I understand how hard it would be for you to be away from yours. But a few months will go by quickly and I'm sure you won’t be bored. Besides, I would do my best to soften your regret over leaving your family. Don't you think that with a little courage you could decide to come along?”

Yes, courage…Poor Suzy gathered all her energy, for she felt that she must not reject Lady Graham. She would have liked the support of others on this matter, but she knew neither Germaine, nor her friends, nor Madame Arnay thought of her in that moment.

Georges de Flers, for his part, looked at Suzy and thought that she would furnish him as the subject of a pretty, themed painting, posed as she was now with her slender silhouette cut out against the pale gold of the open door.

But Suzy didn't know what Georges was thinking. She only saw an expression of interest on his face, making her feel not so isolated.

Close by her, Lady Graham awaited her answer with commendable patience, considering Suzy’s habits as a woman of Lady Graham’s stature would and whose slightest whim was always satisfied.

Suzy understood that she needed to say something. 

“Before I’d made your acquaintance, Madame, it seemed impossible for me to go away with you,” she said in her crystalline voice, her tone resolute and slow. She fluttered her eyelashes. “But now I’m less scared of this journey, and…and I am willing to go with you.”

“Oh, Mademoiselle! What a good answer! You cannot believe how this delights me! You will be such a friend, please be sure of that, one whom I shall have with me all winter.”

Suzy scarcely heard Lady Graham, dazed by the thought that a decisive step had been taken. Beneath her lowered eyelids, great tears welled up. She suddenly wanted to run away from this indifferent environment, to find herself in the dear home she was soon to leave.

Georges's voice reached her.

“I didn’t wish to go, Mademoiselle, without paying you my respects,” he said, bowing respectfully to her.

As he raised his head, their eyes met, and those of the young girl, who had laughed a few moments before, assumed such an expression of sorrow that an unintentional gasp came from Georges.

“What’s the matter? Why are you sad, Mademoiselle Suzanne?”

His voice resounded very softly with the same intonation Suzy had heard during that one evening at Le Castel, when she was so downcast. And, as then, an irresistible rush of gratitude carried her towards him.

“Why are you sad?” he asked again

“Because Lady Graham has persuaded me to accompany her to Cannes. And it seems so terrible to me to go away on my own, without any of my family,” she said mournfully.

She spoke in a childish tone, full of distress, and a real compassion seized Georges. He would have liked to be able to console her.

“You mustn’t feel so regretful, Mademoiselle Suzanne,” he said, with a tone of profound sympathy. “The stay in Cannes will, I am sure, be much less painful for you than you think. Lady Graham will know how to make you love being with her and, after all, we will all be happy to help her while you’re in her care.”

“‘We will be…’” Suzy said, quickly raising her head towards him and, with a beating heart, repeated his words. “Will you also go to Cannes this winter?”

“Yes, I infinitely love this region in the South, and I intend to stay there to paint for six weeks or two months…maybe more.”

He had imperceptibly detached the last two words that came to Suzy as an understated idea. 

“And I hope,” he concluded, “that if I can ever be of any use to you, you will treat me as an old acquaintance, and count on my complete devotion.”

A trembling “thank you” rose to Suzy's lips, and suddenly the bitterness of her impending exile no longer gripped her in such a distressing manner.

End of Chapter 6

Le rêve de Suzy is in the public domain. All original additions, including translations, illustrations and chapter summaries, are copyright © 2025 by Marriah K. Nissen and may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. All rights reserved.