Book #1: Suzy's Dream (Chapter 7 - Part 4)

Chapter 7 continued...

André hadn’t noticed Madame Douvry’s approach. The outside world no longer existed for him. He saw only Suzy’s brunette head, her gaze turned away from his own. He was seized with an irresistible desire to know his fate.

“Mademoiselle Suzy,” he said, summoning all his courage. “You haven’t answered me. Is it because my request was absurd and foolish?”

“No, but I beg you, let me think about this.”

She wrapped him with a cautious glance. In that moment, she saw his stern face with its strongly defined features, now contracted by emotion, and his tall figure badly cut by his inelegant clothes. Without knowing why, suddenly there arose in her mind the image of a slender man, of extreme distinction, whose fair beard lighted up his refined face. And this man yielded to Suzy; he spoke to her in a respectful tone; he enveloped her in his gentlemanly courtesy, and he showed her affectionate sympathy in the hours when she was sad.

An intense warmth flushed through Suzy. Still further, she hid her face in the shadow of the fireplace.

André, in an imploring voice, questioned her once more.

“Mademoiselle Suzy, don't you think you could find a little affection for me?”

“But I assure you that I have a great deal of—fondness for you…”

“As if for a friend?” he said despite himself.

She did not answer, for he spoke the truth.

“And…Will it ever be possible for you to give me more?”

“I don't know, I just don't know! Oh, you distress me! I have no time to explore it,” she said in an aching tone, without weighing her words. “I'm leaving in five days!”

“And if you don't go?”

Don’t leave! She clasped her hands together. Don't leave and stay in the softness of home. Not to see herself taken away, among strangers. Yes, but also to push away from the devotion she’d already accepted…Stay! And to become André Vilbert's fiancée, then his wife.

“No. No, I don't want to. I can't! It’s a promising request, but…but I prefer to wait,” she repeated in a low, shaky voice.

Wait for what? Suzy didn't know. But a strange anguish gripped her at the idea of this marriage, as if it were too close to her future when her youth was yet to open up to her.

Yes, she wanted to wait when it came to André’s proposal. No doubt it was a heartbreak for her to be separated from all those who were dear to her, but one would have said that a mysterious connection drew her to Cannes. And once again, the image of Georges de Flers flitted through her mind like a fleeting vision.

Suzy raised her head and saw André standing in front of her, anxious. She was conscious of the grief she was going to cause him. A certain compassion seized her, for he was not someone inconsequential in her eyes, but a friend, as he had said.

She leaned a little towards him and, with a very soft voice, as though speaking a prayer, she said, “Don't blame me, please. Your request is too sudden. I don't have time to figure out what I need to do. And then, for Maman’s sake, for everyone's sake here, I have to go, to be useful to them. Right now, I cannot think of my own future.”

“Of all you’ve spoken, Mademoiselle Suzy, I wish to retain one word. You said that now it was not possible for you to think of yourself. Perhaps it was out of kindness that you expressed yourself in this way. But this now, let me keep it as some sort of hope. Let me, I ask of you, keep a little hope until you return.”

A sharply drawn breath escaped Suzy.

“Oh, I can’t commit myself in this way,” she said. “I don't want to.”

But he struggled with the persistence of a desperate man.

“You will not be engaged, I swear to you. You will be as free as you were before I let you know my…folly. Free to spend your life according to your desire…”

André's voice changed a little at these words. He was terrified by these months of absolute separation between them. He nevertheless managed to control himself and finished by saying, “If on your return, as now, you cannot consent to entrust me with the care of making you happy, then we shall only remain friends, as we have always been. Shouldn’t we? And at any time, you can count on me.”

With a fast-beating heart, she listened to him, really moved this time to feel that he loved her like this. The thought crossed her mind that she should have pronounced the desired “yes,” and given her life to this sincere and devoted man. But the word could not leave her lips.

“I don’t know what the future will be,” she replied with a trembling voice, “and I don’t wish you to think yourself more engaged to me than I am to you. But whatever happens, I will never forget that you sought to take a great sadness from me.”

She held out her hand to him with a gesture of confident surrender. He understood that her words were a farewell, that he could not stay any longer. He stood up.

However, he was not resigned to the thought of not seeing her again before she left for Cannes.

“Will you allow me to come and bid you a last farewell before you leave Paris?” he asked with a pleading tone. “I promise not to speak to you again about… my dream.”

With a slight nod, she agreed, suffering from the harm she had caused him— and yet not understanding the depth of it.

“Thank you,” he replied, with a sad seriousness. “Goodbye, then.”

“Goodbye.”

On the threshold of the drawing room, he stopped again, hoping, despite all evidence, that she would call him back. But she no longer seemed to acknowledge his presence and remained motionless, her face hidden in her hands.

End of Chapter 7

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.