‘Jeanne, I have been told you are going away,’ she said.
‘It is true, Mademoiselle.’
‘But why? How can you leave me?’ Mistral asked.
Jeanne smiled.
‘You will not be forgotten, ma chére. You have a family now who are longing to look after you, to spoil you, to love you. You have come home, and I too am going home. I am going back to Brittany.’
‘You are glad of that?’ Mistral asked.
‘Glad indeed,’ Jeanne answered. ‘His Imperial Highness has been kindness itself. He has given me enough money to buy a cottage and to live there for the rest of my life without working. I shall be able to entertain my great-nephews and great nieces in my own house, and when I am gone, they will inherit all that I have to leave. Yes, I am glad to be going back, Mademoiselle. I never thought that such good fo
