Charlotte was cousin to King Louis VI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Her mother, Victoire, was the King’s father’s sister. Charlotte was set to marry the Duc de Sonnier when she was eighteen, thus making her the Duchess de Sonnier. Charlotte was fifteen, and her sixteenth birthday was eight months away.
Her appearance was considered gorgeous. She was approximately five feet, ten inches tall, with dark brown hair. She had deep brown eyes. Her skin was fair. She sun burnt easily. She had a full figure with all the normal accents of a female body. Men often stared when she walked past, and occasionally women did, too. Charlotte did not know about her beauty, however. She knew people stared, yes, but she assumed they did that to everyone. She never used her beauty to influence anyone, or to seduce them into getting her something. She didn’t know the powerful things she could easily do with it. She was ignorant to it.
Apart from being the Queen’s closest family member, Charlotte was also her fashion and hair consultant. She always knew what was popular, and the Queen couldn’t be seen without the latest styles. Charlotte got to have her hair done, she picked out dresses, tried on shoes, and attended operas right by the Queen’s side. The only person Queen Marie kept closer was the Duchess de Polingac, her lady-in-waiting and best friend.
It was the year 1776. The King and Queen had been reigning for two years. Life was good. Well, life at the palace was, anyway. Life for the common people was growing harsher as the national debt grew larger. The people at the palace were spending France away.
On that day, Charlotte was dressed in a light blue dress with a pale pink stomacher and petticoat. Her dark brown hair was piled high atop her head with ringlets hanging down and a single pink butterfly pinned on the side of her head. She was walking on the left side of the queen; the Duchess de Polingac was on the queen’s right. It was ten o’clock at night and they were walking back from dinner with the king.
“Well, I’m off. My dear Dimitri will want to spend one more night alone with me before he’s off to Russia again,” said the duchess. She giggled.
The queen sighed. “I think I’ll retire now, too. I’m supposed to see Louis tonight. I shall see you tomorrow, my dear!”
The duchess left, and Marie and Charlotte continued on to the queen’s chambers. Charlotte sometimes worried about the queen’s health. She drank and partied late into the night very often. To hear that she was going to rest was relieving. (Charlotte supposed this was influenced by a recent visit from queen Marie’s brother, Josef, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He had lectured about not spending enough time with her husband.)
When they got there, they gossiped a few moments before Charlotte decided to retire also. As she was leaving, one of the King’s servants approached her in the hall outside the queen’s chambers.
“Ma’am, the king sends me to inform the queen that a thief has been caught in the vegetable gardens. His majesty is indecisive about what to do.” The servant bowed when he was done.
Charlotte thought a moment before responding. “The queen is preparing to retire. I will ask her for her opinion and report it to the king. You are dismissed.” She wasn’t too tired, and some fresh air sounded like a good idea amongst all the stink in the halls.
“Yes, ma’am.” The servant bowed once more and left.
Charlotte turned and re-entered the room from which she had just came.
“What is it, Charlotte?” the queen asked upon her entrance. Charlotte re-told the situation and waited for a response.
The queen sighed. “Louis is always unsure about what to do when the problem is looking him in the eyes. Tell him to let the poor man go. Let him have some vegetables. We have plenty to share. But he mustn’t tell anyone or else there’ll be peasants here left and right trying to get free food.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Charlotte turned and left the room.
She went on her way through the many halls and corridors of the palace. If she hadn’t have lived here since birth it would be incredibly hard to stay here and not get lost. Versailles was definitely one of the largest palaces in Europe.
Charlotte finally made her way to the gardens. She weaved through the fountains, shrubs and rosebushes until she came to the staff gate led to the gardens where vegetables and other foods were grown to be used in the kitchens. She opened the gate and saw the king standing before her, along with a young man bound in irons, or handcuffs. The young man was being held by a guard. The king looked extremely tired and like he truly wished he was elsewhere.
Charlotte bowed. “Your majesty. Her grace the queen asks that you let the man go free. She says we have plenty to share and to let him have some vegetables. She also says that word must not get out, however. Or else there will be peasants here all the time trying to get free food.”
The king thought for a moment. “Very well,” he finally said. “Charlotte, see to it that he gets what he needs. I’m retiring for the night.” The king left.
Charlotte walked over the then man in irons. “Give me the key,” she told the guard. “You are dismissed.” He handed her the keys, bowed, and then left.
She turned the man in irons around, unlocked them, and dropped the irons and the keys on the ground. Someone could pick them up tomorrow. The peasant turned back around and bowed to the princess. When he rose, he kept his eyes to the ground. Charlotte handed him a sack from the ground near the gate.
“Fill this sack with what you need,” she said. “Speak of this to no one, though. If more people than usual show up trying to get food, we’ll know who to blame.”
He bent down and began to pick peas off of a bush. The man was tall; he had blonde hair and deep crystal blue eyes. His skin was tanned, and he looked to be about seventeen. He was quite handsome.
“What is your name?” she asked out of curiosity. She was half sure he wouldn’t answer out of fear for punishment for rank violation. You were not allowed to speak to anyone above you without permission to.
She was right. The man didn’t answer; he just paused his picking for a second then resumed.
“You know, you don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not going to have you arrested. Think of me as your equal and I will not think of you as my lesser.”
He paused for a moment. “I am Jaques,” he said. Then he resumed his picking. By now he had moved on to potatoes that were next to the peas.
“Jaques…?”
“Jaques Auguste.”
“Auguste.” She repeated him. “Like the king’s name?” King Louis’ full name was Louis Auguste Bourbon.
“Yes,” he said.
“So…where do you live? Who with? What do you do for a living?” Charlotte had no idea why she was being rude with so many questions.
Jaques paused, sighed, and stood up. He no longer looked at the ground when he spoke to her. “I live a half mile away from the farthest grounds of the palace on its east side. I live with my mother and two younger sisters. My father died three years ago and I am left to support the family. I have no profession, that’s why I was caught stealing from your gardens. I do sell art at the market downtown occasionally. I hardly have the time or supplies to do so anymore, however.”
Charlotte nodded, taking it all in. “So you’re an artist?” she asked.
“Hardly. I have nothing but scraps of old paper to work with.”
“Ah. Are you done?” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.” Jaques said to her.
“Alright, follow me then.”
Charlotte led him back through the gardens, and to Jaques’ surprise into the palace. They kept going, up flights of stairs and down long hallways. Jaques stared around at the walls of the grand palace, taking in all of the elaborate decorations. Finally, they stopped outside a large pale blue set of doors.
“Come in here. These are my rooms,” Charlotte said.
Jaques entered behind her. The entire room was bursting with yellow. Cherry, bright, happy, pastel yellow. The molding on the walls was painted white. The furniture was elaborate, too. Jaques knew from what he’d heard on the streets that this was only the receiving room. Beyond this room was a card playing and reading room, then the bed chamber, then the closet where the princess’s many clothes were stored.
“Wow,” he whispered. “This is far more extraordinary than I could have possibly imagined.”
“Ha. You should see the queen’s rooms. They are simply magnificent. Anyways…” Charlotte began to cross the greeting room and head towards the doors on the far side that led to the next room. She reached it and opened the doors.
The next room was painted pale blue with white molding again. It had furniture just as elaborate as the first room. There was a pink harpsichord in one corner. The floors were gray marble. Charlotte strode over to a table facing a window that was over looking the gardens from which they had just came. There were containers of colored paints and an easel on it. Charlotte picked up some sketch paper lying off to the side and handed it to Jaques.
“Here. A gift from the Princess de Charlotte herself.“ She laughed. “That’s very high quality paper; imported straight from Africa.”
“Thank-you, miss. You’ve no idea how grateful I am for your kindness,” Jaques said. “It has been an honor to be in your presence.”
Charlotte smiled. “Maid, show Jaques out of the palace,” she said. “It was a pleasure meeting you, sir Auguste.”
“As with you, miss.” Jaques turned and followed the maid out.
Charlotte then went on to her bedchamber. There, she undressed, put on her nightgown, and climbed into bed.
As she lay there, she thought about the eventful day. There was something about this peasant. Charlotte didn’t know what it was, but she couldn’t stop thinking of him. Oh how the other ladies at the palace would cringe to know her thoughts stayed on a peasant. They would cringe just to know that she brought him into her rooms. The other people here at the palace were so dull and narrow-minded. She tired so easily of their pointless behaviors.
Jaques was the last thing she thought of before she fell asleep. Even then, he managed to make his way into her dreams. She dreamt that the two of them were riding through a meadow on horseback. A hawk flew through the sky and landed on the head of Jaques’ horse.
“Goodbye,” Jaques said.
“Where are you…?” Charlotte began. But Jaques was already riding through the meadow away from her. “No!” she pleaded. “Please, come back!”
Anguish ripped through her insides as tears began to pour out of her eyes…
Charlotte woke up with a start, panting hard and in a cold sweat. She didn’t know what time it was, and she didn’t know what she was going to wear or what she originally supposed to do the next day. All she knew was that she wanted to see Jaques.
*****
“And then I ran to you, and now here we are.” Charlotte said to Aimee. “Aimee, I think I’m in love with him. I mean, he’s a peasant, for Christ’s sake! And I’m already betrothed!”
Aimee was quiet for a long moment. Charlotte wondered if she was going to say anything. Finally, she did, however.
“Your grace, do you think that you truly love him?” she said.
Charlotte thought for a moment. “Yes,” she said.
“Well, you need to see him then. Come, I’ll help you sneak out.”
*****
Jaques arrived back at his house at eleven in the evening. He opened the door to his family’s small cabin. His mother was still awake and waiting for him at the table.
“Thank goodness you’re finally home. I was beginning to worry about you,” she said.
“The meeting with the head gardener took longer than I thought,” Jaques replied. He walked to the table and dumped the sack full of vegetables onto it. His mother looked amazed.
“W-where did you get all this?” she stammered.
“From a very kind princess in the gardens.” She didn’t need to know all the details.
“Wow. This will feed us for a very long time. So did you get the job?”
“No, I didn’t. But I spoke to a merchant on my way there, and he said he might have a job for me,” Jaques told her.
“Well, that’s good. I hope to get some money in here soon. I worry so about the younger children. Danielle has a fever again,” she said.
Jaques sighed. How could he ever make enough money to support his family? He hoped dearly that the merchant would have a job for him, no matter how bad, as long as he got paid.
He was going to meet the head gardener at Versailles earlier that day about a job. The gardener had turned him down, however, saying that the king and queen would be appalled to see someone dressed like him tending their gardens.
It was so unfair! The reason he dressed as poorly as he did was because he didn’t have a job or any money in the first place. So how was he supposed to get better clothes if he had no money? He got angry, and in his fury, he decided to steal from the king him self’s gardens. It was not something he would do normally. Unfortunately, he was caught.
Or maybe it was fortunate. When he thought about it, he had left with a lot more than he had originally intended to. And he had gotten some excellent sketch paper. How long had it been since he could draw something worth selling? He had also got to meet the Princess de Charlotte herself…argh! He kept coming back to her. His thoughts had drifted to her involuntarily several times on his way home. It was like everything was linked to her somehow. He absolutely could not stop thinking of her, and, subconsciously, he wanted to see her again...
