Page 23 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure

“Rent it?” Dora froze on the bottom step, staring at Ellie. “Are you out of your mind? Oh, it was interesting enough to see, as a curiosity, but the place is falling down. There’s a hole in the roof. Pigeons flapping around. We couldn’t live here. How could we ever make it habitable again?”

“But I think we could,” Ellie said. She lingered, staring back up the curve of those marble stairs. “It’s mostly cosmetic—taking down old wallpaper, repainting—and we could have someone in to patch the leaks, mend the shutters.”

“That would cost a great deal of money, I expect,” Dora said.

“Not as much as staying in Nice or Antibes,” Ellie replied.

“Look, Dora, I can quite understand that you don’t want to do this.

Maybe it’s just a silly fancy of mine, a fantasy if you like.

But the moment I heard about this place, I knew I had to visit it.

And the moment I stepped inside, I felt it calling me to make it whole again.

Something sad happened here, and I think I should make it right, somehow. ”

Dora was staring at her as if she had never seen her before. “This can’t be the same Mrs Endicott who was in charge of the jam sale at the Women’s Institute,” she said. “Always so sensible and reasonable.”

“Maybe that was because I had to be,” Ellie said.

“All my life I’ve been sensible and reasonable.

I’ve done the right thing, tried to please everybody, when nobody ever tried to find out what I wanted.

I had dreams once, just like you did, Dora.

Those dreams were always stifled until now.

” She put a hand on the older woman’s shoulder.

“Come on. What have we got to lose? We have no plans, no destination. We could stay on at the pension until some of the rooms at the villa are properly habitable again. Oh, and I wouldn’t expect you to do any hard work.

I don’t mind funding it myself if you don’t agree, but couldn’t we at least give it a try? ”

Dora glanced at the others. “I think you’re quite mad,” she said. “Talk sense to her, Mavis.”

Mavis was staring, trying to make sense of a conversation that had gone on in two languages. “You want to rent this place? Stay here, you mean, and fix it up? But that’s going to take months, isn’t it? It’s not like a bit of whitewash would make it all right again.”

“You’re right. I expect it will take quite a while.”

“So you want to be away from England for ... months? I hadn’t realized. I thought it was just a holiday, really. You know, how people take trips to the Continent to get some sunshine?”

“I hadn’t realized myself how long I meant to be away,” Ellie said.

“But that means I can never go home again,” Mavis said, a bleak look on her face. “If I went on holiday with you, he might understand, but if I was away for months, I don’t know what he’d do.”

“Mavis, I thought we’d talked about this,” Dora said. “You really don’t want to go back to him, do you? In your heart you’re glad to be free of him?”

“Yeah, I suppose I am. But I’m still scared, Miss Smith-Humphries. I’m scared he’d come after me when I get home. Make me pay for leaving him.”

“You have us, Mavis,” Ellie said. “We’ll look after you, I promise. And if you’re away for a few months, you can write and tell him you’re never coming back. And you’re filing for divorce.”

“God strewth,” Mavis said. “That makes it sound so final. I don’t know if I could do that.”

“But it’s what you want, isn’t it? You can’t tell me that you’d go back to him.”

Mavis paused, looking around her. “I like it here,” she said.

“I like this place and the people, even if I can’t understand them.

Better than cleaning houses and being knocked about by a drunken husband.

So I suppose you’re right. I’m willing to give it a go.

I ain’t afraid of a bit of hard work. And Yvette here, I bet she’s used to working hard on her farm.

I reckon we could scrub and paint and that sort of thing if your heart is set on this, Mrs E. ”

“I can see I’m outnumbered,” Dora said huffily.

“Oh no, Dora,” Ellie said gently. “If you are completely against it, then we’ll forget all about it. We’ll get the motor car fixed and be on our way to Hyères or Saint-Tropez. Wherever you want.”

“You don’t even know that the owners will agree to our taking it over,” Dora said. “And if they do, then I propose that you tell them we pay no rent until the house is fully restored. We are doing them a great favour. They will end up with a viable property, so it’s in their best interests.”

“So you’re willing to give it a try?” Ellie asked.

Dora gave a little sigh. “I also must be quite mad, but I suppose so.”

Ellie gave her an impulsive hug. “It’s going to be fun,” she said.

“How long do you think it will be before you might hear back from the owners?” Ellie asked Monsieur Danton as they made their way down the steps again. He had waited patiently, not fully understanding, while this dialogue had gone on.

He shrugged. “Who can say? I will have no problem in contacting the owner through his representative, but he may want to think this over. He has shown no interest in the villa until now, but he may be reluctant to let anybody else use it. One never knows.”

“He? So it’s a man, is it?” Dora asked.

“The one who represents the interests of the inheritors is the notaire. I will put your proposition to him, and then we wait.”

“If we did want to do this, are there any men around here who would be willing to do the heavy work, do you think?”

“The fishermen are always glad to pick up extra work during the stormy winter months,” Monsieur Danton said.

“And of course Louis. He is the man who can mend anything. He will help you, I’m sure.

And Madame Gauchet’s son, Bruno. He is, how do you say it .

.. simple. He has the mentality of a small child.

But he is strong and willing and eager to please.

If you show him how to do something and speak to him patiently, then he will work most diligently at any task.

And the extra money would certainly help his mother, who is a widow. ”

They continued down the next flight of steps. “So tell me,” Ellie said. “Have you lived in this place all your life?”

“For most of it,” he said. “I had to do military service in the Great War, and of course I went away to study law. I thought I might live in the big city, but in the end my mother was frail and alone, and I came home.”

“So did you ever know the opera singer? The one who owned the villa?”

“Jeannette Hétreau? I believe I spotted her once when I was a young boy, passing in her big motor car. But she was very private. You can see how the villa is built. Completely cut off from the rest of us. She could enter up that driveway without anyone seeing her, and she brought her own servants. She did have produce and groceries delivered, but the servants took care of that. So no, she never mixed with ordinary people like us. Although sometimes ...” He paused, considering.

“Sometimes we would hear the music. Someone would play the piano, and she would sing. That sound, floating out over the waters ... it was enchanting. Magical.”

“And you have no idea why she abandoned this place?”

“No idea at all. We never knew when she came and went. But apparently one day she just didn’t come any more.

I was a small child in the early days of the century when I heard she had not returned.

But it was much later when we read that she had died.

During the Great War, I believe, although I’m not sure how and why she died. ”

“But then you were contacted by her next of kin?”

“Their lawyers, of course, and we were asked to take care of taxes for the building.”

“But not to keep it up? That’s strange, isn’t it?”

“I thought so. But the new owner expressed no interest in ever wanting to use it. There may have been a clause in the will that he couldn’t sell it. I don’t know.”

They reached the bottom of the steps and came out into the alleyway. Monsieur Danton gave a nodding bow. “I shall take my leave of you, dear mesdames, and relay your request at the earliest moment.”

“Thank you so much,” Ellie said. “And thank you for taking the time to visit the villa with us. You have made us very excited. You will tell the owners that, won’t you? That we are keen to restore the villa to its former glory. Villa Gloriosa can live again.”

“I will tell them,” Monsieur Danton said. He turned and walked away, leaving them standing with bougainvillea spilling over the wall around them.