This state of great excitation didn't last much longer.
My father, who had locked himself into his study to write a great number of letters, was also receiving a great number of missives.
His mood deteriorated on a daily basis.
'They haven't paid yet!' he exclaimed one day that week, as we were sitting at the dinner table.
I believed he had wanted to keep the matter secret, but he could no longer hold that secret in, and the news burst out with great force.
'What do you mean?' Mother said, going very pale.
'Those knaves have not paid. They had assured me the money would be deposited within a day. I had made representations… People had expected…'
His speech became broken and confused in his great agitation.
He hit the table with his fist and, having stood up, he began pacing the room.
'What does this mean?' my mother cried out.
My brothers and I watched this scene with great apprehension, without saying a word.
'People from the bank are coming tomorrow,' he replied.
'What does this mean?' she cried out again.
He looked at her, then, lowering his eyes, he said:
'It means we are ruined.'
My mother began to tremble.
My brothers then spoke, both at once:
'Surely, we can do…'
'Why don't we try…?'
Father turned towards us and gave us a stern look, then he said:
'My sons, you will have to seek some employment. You are young, and you may have enough strength to bear the great effort that is required of you.
'My dear daughter, you can only hope a man of some means will marry you, even though, without means of your own, I doubt you can aspire to more than a school master or an inn keeper. I can only wish you to be happy, if you cannot be wealthy.
'And you, my wife, you will be in the position you were in when I met you.
'I have tried, and I can only blame myself for this turn of events. I hope you can see and value what I have been able to give you for these twenty years. I was raised in a workhouse, and you, my wife, although noble had no prospect when I met you: I believe we were all destined to destitution. I was only able to stave off this destiny but not vanquish it.
'I seek your forgiveness.'
Having uttered these words with a terrible look on his face, he stormed off.
Our mother, my brothers and I stood still, unable to move or to act, such was our fear for the future and indecision over how to proceed. Then, we heard a terrible deflagration.
We all understood its meaning, and we rushed out of the room.
When we reached Father's study, Armand, being the elder, demanded that we stayed outside. He walked in, taking care of closing the door behind him, so that we couldn't survey the scene.
He presently walked outside and said:
'A doctor is not needed.'
Mother dropped as if dead.
*
The next day, Armand had all the servants and the dependants gathering in the salon. He spoke with a firm voice:
'I regret to announce you that your services are no longer needed.'
There was a great murmur. I believe they thought it was one of Armand's jokes. Seeing that his demeanour was not changing, they began to search the room for Mother, but she had not yet come down from her room.
'You will now have to pack, as I expect we will need to vacate the premises very shortly. I am not able to offer you any severance for your service. You see,' here, he began laughing uncontrollably, 'we own nothing anymore!'
Everyone regarded him with some alarm. They looked at each other.
The only person who showed no incredulity was Father Briac.
By then, I had realised that this man was my natural father. We had the same red hair, and there was much in his figure that resembled mine. I am certain he too had known this to be so, and for many years, but he had never shown any tenderness towards me.
He contracted his face, showing great pride. At once, he left the room without a word.
Meanwhile, Blaise was consoling Armand, who was in a state of great agitation. His laughter had turned into tears, and he was unable to speak to those people who were demanding an explanation for this sudden a change.
'We are truly sorry,' Blaise said, speaking for his brother. 'There is nothing more we can say. Our father has lost it all. He died last night, and my mother is grieving in her room. I understand that the bank we owe a great debt to will be sending people to evaluate and take possession of the property.'
Margot came to me and held my hands:
'Miss, what will you do?'
Even in this situation, she thought of me before she thought of herself.
'My dear Margot,' I replied, 'I will seek accommodation somewhere. I will look for work, if I can find any.'
Margot held me and said:
'I will visit some relatives. You can join me, if you want. If you don't find this impertinent, we can look for work together.'
I thanked her and said:
'I will take care of Mother. But I will write to you and hope we will meet again.'
I shook many hands. I embraced. I cried.
All those people I had known for many years, and it vexed me that I had to say goodbye to them in such an abrupt manner. But life was not fair: for many years, I had lived in the most lavish style, without having earned it; then, in one day, I lost two fathers, my natural one, whom I believe despises me, and the man who had raised me and always showed me great kindness. I also lost the life as I knew it, and I couldn't see what my future had in store for me.
Mother descended later in the morning. Her eyes were red.
'Where is Briac?' she asked me.
'He is gone,' I said.
She looked away, having received another deep wound to her spirit. She now knew that he had never cared for her, and, once she served him no purpose, he was now leaving her without even a word.
Still keeping her face turned and without being able to meet our eyes, she said:
'Eloise, please find your brothers and meet me in my room.'
I searched for them and found them in the kitchen in a deplorable state. Various bottles of wine stood empty before them.
'Mother wants to see us,' I said.
They looked at me with vitreous eyes.
'What does she want?' Armand asked with an insolent air.
I don't know what possessed me to say such words, but I was incensed by Armand's tone:
'If you blame her for our misfortune, of which she is much more innocent that you can imagine, I urge you to keep your own council. She has much suffered. You are men, and you'd better behave as such.'
My brothers looked at me and, seeing that I was not embarrassed but emboldened by what I had said, asked:
'What are we to do?'
'Mother wants to talk to us in her chambers. We will listen to what she proposes, and we shall see.'
Blaise and Armand followed me upstairs and into Mother's room.
She appeared now calmer. She was dressed in a simple white dress, and I could see that she had begun packing some trunks.
'I have thought about asking whoever is coming to take possession of our property for a short reprieve so that we can put our affairs in order, but I don't believe I would be able to do anymore than your father has already done, if I had a whole year at my disposal.
'I have thought about it, and I believe there are a few things to do, at the present time.
'I am much ignorant of your father's religion. Father Briac has left, so we will not be able to give your father a proper burial, be it in the Christian manner. There is a small plot of land behind the property, near a stream, which your father much admired. I desire to have a small burial made there to honour his memory.'
My brothers and I looked at each other. Father was truly gone, and we couldn't dwell on that fact for much longer.
Armand then said he would have it arranged.
My mother seemed pleased. Then, she continued:
'I believe we will not sleep in our beds tonight,' she said. 'You will presently pack your possessions. We will ask one of the renters to take us to town. From there, we will find our way to Rennes.'
We asked her many questions: why that city, where we will stay, how we would pay for our journey, what her plan was. But, whether she knew the answer to them, she said nothing.
*
It was the early afternoon when we were all packed. We had asked some farmers to help us to bury our father.
It had been a rushed ceremony of our own invention.
The renters who had come stayed at a distance out of respect. Many of them shed tears, which made me understand that my father had been good to them.
The body, which had been dressed elegantly, was wrapped in a white sheet and then lowered into the earth.
I read a passage from the sacred book, which I knew was also read by the Israelites:
'Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.'
I looked around, and everyone was nodding in assent. Then, I continued:
'There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.'
This passage touched me, as I was now hoping that, once day, I could see again that man I accepted in my heart as my true father, if not in the flesh, at least in spirit. And such was my emotion that I dropped that sacred book to the ground.
When I picked it up again, having lost track of the page I was reading, I opened the volume and read what I could find:
'…And I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.'
Having read these words, I looked upon my brothers and my own mother, and saw that this second passage had moved them, as they hoped they would one day return to this house we were being chased away from, and we could relive the happier days that extended behind us.
We then heard the sound of a carriage, and we knew that they were coming to put the seals to the doors of our house and to command us to leave at once.
*
It took some convincing to get one of the farmers to help with our journey.
We asked the men we knew had horses and little carts, but everyone seemed fearful of the gentlemen from the bank.
These were four men, dressed in dark suits that appeared old and in poor state. Their faces betrayed no emotion, but they appeared quite grim. I marvelled at their shabbiness and their countenance. They reminded me of vultures pecking on a carcass.
We walked them through the house, answered their mundane questions around the size of the property and the size of the rent we drew, and finally introduced them to each farmer.
The renters were shaking in their boots. Some asked what design the bank might have for those lands. They worried about increased rents or even evictions.
But the four grim gentlemen said they didn't know or couldn't say.
When they inquired after my father, we informed them he was dead. They nodded, not changing their expression or not extending their condolences, and proceeded to ask whether the vineyards were growing red or wine grapes.
I disliked them immensely.
Meanwhile, as we visited each farm, my mother always took aside the head of the household to explain her desire to move to Rennes and ask whether they would assist us by taking us there.
Everyone was too fearful of those four men and, begging forgiveness, told her they wouldn't be able to help us.
Finally, we arrived at the farm of a man called Big Jean. This was a farm surrounded by weedy fields, that had more stones in them than earth. It was a plot that could grow very little. The renter was a large man, very tall, with a resentful look in his eyes.
I don't believe he liked my family very much. But, as the men from the bank spoke to him and queried him over the condition of his land, I saw him developing a great antipathy for these gentlemen, which prompted him to agree to my mother's request.
When all was settled and we were allowed to leave the property, we loaded our trunks on a large cart that Big Jean used to deliver whatever produce he might have to town on market days.
Mother asked me and my brother to sit in the back amidst the trunks, while she sat on the front.
The noise of the wheels on the gravelly road was so loud that we could hardly hear each other very well, but, as I was sitting closer to the front, I could hear some of my mother and Big Jean were telling each other.
'I hear your husband is dead,' Jean said.
My mother replied:
'Yes. Last night.'
We now got to a part of the road that was full of rocks, and I missed some of the conversation.
'We agreed on some payment,' Jean was saying.
'I have no money left,' Mother said.
'This is not fair,' he said.
'But I can still repay your kindness, if you accept what I have to offer.'
The trunks had been arranged so that they would provide a screen between me and my brother on the back, and Jean and Mother on the front, but, as the cart jerked about, a small gap formed between two of the suitcases. I could therefore get a glimpse of the scene.
My mother had moved very close to this man, who was so much taller and larger than her.
I watched her lower her head onto his crotch.
'Oh,' she said, 'this is why they call you Big Jean!'
He possessed a very large dick. Its circumference was such, that my mother couldn't fully wrap her fingers around it.
'Keep your horses steady,' she said, and then she put her lips onto its tip.
My mother moved her hand up and down along the shaft, while sucking that glans which was as big as a small apple, and, once it was unhooded, just as red.
Now and then, the cart jumped so that my mother gulped down a bit more of it, which made her cough greatly.
Meanwhile, Jean was guffawing:
'Oh, oh! If it isn't my lucky day today: getting sucked by a lady!'
'Do you like what I'm doing with my tongue?' my mother asked.
Big Jean laughed:
'Tongue, lips, throat… It's all good fun!'
Finally, my mother lifted her head and looked into Jean's eyes with great passion.
'Are you ready?' she asked.
He hesitated a bit, then said:
'If you don't mind, can you fit a finger up my bum?'
'You're a great hog. I know what you like, and I'm going to make you come very hard,' she said.
I then heard him moan greatly:
'Oooh, fuck!'
Then, always stroking his large cock with one hand, while using the other into that other very sensitive part, she made him ejaculate.
A large spurt of come rose to the sky.
'Ah, but it's a great fountain!' my mother exclaimed jovially.
She kept shaking the dick, and with each stroke more come was jerking out, sending droplets everywhere.
Jean must have liked this form of payment so that he took us all the way to our destination. He dropped us off before a large building in a city square that it was nearly dark.
My mother led us to an apartment on the third floor. It had four rooms, elegantly furnished.
While my brothers carried out trunks up the stairs, I asked Mother whose house this was.
'Mine,' she said.
I must have looked surprised because she said:
'Over the years, I've accumulated something for myself. A woman should always be prudent enough never to trust a man for her happiness, or her safety.'
I understood she was now talking about Briac as well as Father, who had let her down on both counts.
'Now, I wish to lie down. Go unpack in your room. We have much work to do in the morning.'