Mon Tresor (My Treasure)

Claudine was always the one who got the attention. She had deep green eyes and red hair that was between ginger and deep red. She looked Irish and royal all at once especially because of her skin that had a lunar luminescence to it. That was why George, then William, noticed her.

I've never envied her that because I was at first painfully, then acceptingly, aware that I was a dull echo of my parents' beauty. I never lacked for sleep, but I always had bags under my eyes, especially when I was losing a tan because of my dull olive skin.

I will say this: I'm proud of all my mom taught me about being a maid. I tend to be a naturally wilful sort and keeping my head down and my mouth shut went against that, specially with a doctor whose dark and twisted sense of humor I disagreed with. Mom told me, "Every time you want to say something, think about losing your job. Your job is your survival and your independence. The next word out of your mouth could cost you that." She also taught me about being task-oriented and giving myself something to do. "An employee who's busy always looks better than one who isn't." There was the other gem: "An employee who asks for more to do always looks better than one who's busy with their personal interests." "A skilled employee is always better than an unskilled employee." "You never know what you'll be needed for."

I remember one night when the cook was sick; I had to do the cooking for the night. She had planned the dinner with the doctor, but I only knew basic cooking; I didn't have her technical skills. I asked the doctor what he was in the mood for. He told me Provencal or Italian cooking. I made pasta with a red mussel sauce with my own version of a Nicoise to start. I even selected a nirce red wine to go with the main course since I'd learned wine pairings from a friend of my father's who was a vintner. The doctor simply asked for a fruit cup for dessert. The butler was so grateful I'd taken over that he dried the dishes I washed after dinner.

As the butler was only trained to be a footman, the lady's maid/valet skills were left to me. If there were sous-chef duties, they went to me too since the butler had to be at the front door and acting as footman. I did all the laundry and all the cleaning. The butler and the cook would sometimes call me Cinderella in a spirit of kind joking and admiration.

For years, I would hear from Claudine in her captivity with the royal family. She hated it. It was even worse because the royals would complain about how bad things were.

She knew how to work for Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, but she didn't know how to work for Louis XVIII, so she was relieved when she got my better inviting her to partner with me in renting out.

Another idea Claudine had that she gave up on because it wouldn't make a profit was a soup kitchen for the soldiers returning from the war. I later told her, "I didn't say it wasn't worth doing, just that it wouldn't make you any money."

Since she'd dropped it, I later started one and named it Claudine's Soup Kitchen. I invited Martha to cook, but she saw no profit in it and she and Peter still had to pay rent.

I did it on my own, then wrote to Claudine to come to Marseille because I had a surprise for her. I'd bought a shop along the Canebiere and fitted it out as a soup kitchen. It was close enough to port when they were dropped off.

I took Claudine in a carriage with the window flaps closed and covered her eyes until William had opened the soup kitchen. She stood there, awed, then happy ears came down her cheeks and she smiled.

Once the aftermath of the war was over, I sold the soup kitchen and focused on my renting.

Claudine even made money by selling the herbs and vegetables form her garden to stores and restaurants.

To give myself something to do, I would buy fabrics and saw myself dresses. I would even sew petticoats. I even made a gift of one to Claudine.

I was finally able to afford my own carriage and coachman around the same time that Claudine bought hers.

I did sit her down when she was visiting my hosue without William seeing as someone had to stay and manage the tenants.

"He's not George, you know."

She looked like that thought hadn't occurred to her, then nodded. That was why they'd spent a year engaged to each other, so she could get to know him.

I guess I identify with cats in one major way. We're both bad lcuk on a ship, and we're both looked down upon by society. People have recognized men's importance and dogs' importance to hunting.

Claudine and William had the folly of trying to fix me up for a while; first to the tenants, then to some of William's friends. It never worked. I liked my freedom and as romantic a notion as marriage can be, it is still a quesiton of joining two sets of assets into one and of the woman taking the man's name and becoming invisible to society. I don't resent men in themselves, but I do resent losing a freedom I only got because there were no male heirs to take it from me.

I have my own house in which I have my own bedroom and my own office. I am the role proprietor and I don't want to have to look down and see a husband's last name instead of my own on a legal piece of paper.

I have a safe in which I keep the remainder of the treasure from the doctor, plus any money I've made. I figure that I deserve the money he left me so long as I am earning my own.

My favorite thing to do is to sit in a padded rocking hcair in my library, looking out of my window and petting Elise when she's hopped up on my lap.

I have all I need. I can pay for what I need. I hvae a good friend. I have a cat that I love as a daughter.