DIPLOMATIC EFFECTS / CH. 9:REINTRODUCTIONS
ARIANNE'S HOME, 10.30AM, SATURDAY 18TH JAN 2278
There was a knock at the front door. Without thinking, Arianne went to open it.
“Bonjour, Mademoiselle,” King Hervé of Monaco said, “I heard my cousin was here and there might be some ice-cream available?”
“You heard right, your majesty, I am indeed making some,” Arianne said, then added, blushing, “but I'm afraid my mother refuses to allow me to serve it into your hands today.”
“Bonjour, Hervé,” Svetlana said, “I met Arianne at the Christian Union in Bern University last night, and decided I'd whisk her back here for some happy memories and to sort out some things here. Let me introduce Prince Rudolph of the Helvetic Confederation,”
“Your majesty,” Rudolph bowed.
“Your highness,” Hervé replied, “do you like titles?”
“Not particularly, your majesty.”
“Then might we dispense with them?”
“I am not at all opposed,” Rudolph agreed.
“Wonderful! Pray continue, the introductions, Claire.”
“This is Krista, my travelling companion, M. and Mme Dubois, my loyal tenants, and René their son.”
“And do I conclude the name of my benefactress is Arianne Dubois?” he asked her, and she imagined she saw a question in his eyes.
“Yes,” she said, conscious that she was wearing her mother's apron over her new clothes.
“Benefactress?” Mme Dubois asked.
“Madame, your generous daughter prepared for me a most delicious repast which I was able to continue enjoying for many hours! Not only that, but she taught me an important lesson about being careful what you ask for, because you might get it. I find it's a valuable lesson in dealing with politicians too. But they tend not to give what you asked for with such unbridled hilarity as your daughter did. See, three things she gave me! A taste of her sense of humour, delicious ice cream and a lesson from sticky fingers.”
“Hmm. I wonder what your mother thought.”
“My late mother asked me how old she was, Madame, and told me I'd better wait a few more years before inviting her to the palace for lunch, and now I find I've done so all unwittingly! What a delightful surprise! You said you were discussing business, Claire?”
“Yes, Hervé. I'm not misunderstanding my powers here by signing these am I?”
“Oooh, someone's been parking on your beach?”
“Yes, saying it's common property, too.”
“Why only two percent?”
“I didn't want it to be cheaper for them to buy their car back at auction than pay the fine. I can do this?”
“Of course, Claire. Traffic offenses and the like are often by-laws. How are you going to establish value, though?”
“René?” Claire asked.
“Look up the trade-in value?”
“Good plan,” Hervé said, “I'd write that into the law or you'll have lawyers all over you saying it ought to be what's left of the purchase price after depreciation, or something like that. What's the other one?”
“The neighbours still like loud parties. I thought I'd allow Arianne's family the chance to profit from their neighbours' preferences.”
“If you can't beat them, drown them out with louder music? Vengence is God's Claire.”
“I know, Hervé. But did you know the bureaucrats at the planning office told M. Dubois' father that he couldn't extend the ice-cream shack because it was here? They should have said talk to the princess, but no, they said he would have to seek special permission from your father.”
“Who probably would have assumed that your grandmother had said no.”
“Exactly. So, this is called allowing them to do what seems reasonable.”
“And this paid admission thing?”
“Why not allow the occasional open-air beach concert?” Svetlana asked, “The moonlight sonata with moonlight over the waves, for instance? I see it as an extra source of income and employment.”
“Good idea, OK.”
“I also want to allow occasional overnight camping. Back-packers and at Mme's discretion families desperate for somewhere to stay. I don't think it'll hit the hotel trade one bit.”
“Then you're forgetting something. Your beach parties will bring in a new segment of society. Give some of them somewhere to stay please, cousin, not least the musicians. I'd have no objection to a youth hostel or a motel, even. The last hostel on my patch got turned into yet more boutique apartments thanks to a legal loop-hole when I wasn't looking.
"Give your tenants some year-round custom for their restaurant, if you can afford to, or at least give them permission to run a proper campsite! But that's far more seasonal than a youth-hostel. I don't think I can help much without constitutional issues, but give them every bit help you can, please.
“Thank you, your majesty,” Arianne said, touched by his concern.
“Hervé, please, Arianne.” he said, then, noticing she'd shed the apron asked, “does your presence perhaps mean that the ice-cream is finished?” And added in a wheedling tone, “And that perhaps there's even a bowl that needs cleaning, for old time's sake?”
Laughing, she said, “Your sticky fingers start this way, Hervé. Or you could have a spoon.”
“Maybe I should. Changing the subject, while I enter into a little hedonistic nostalgia, may I ask about your relationship with God?”
“I became a Christian when I was twelve, I think it was,” she said, as she led him into the kitchen. The door, on a spring to keep cooking smells from the rest of the house, shut itself.
Svetlana glanced at the clock, it was ten forty. Into the surprised silence that marked their departure she said. “My cousin worships as part of a small fellowship which meets at the palace,” she shrugged and carried on, “Monsieur, Madame, I have my orders, let us talk business and construction and skills and time. I think in high summer, you will exhaust yourselves if you try to run an ice-cream stand and a restaurant-bar and a motel-campsite. And I do not actually know how much money you have set aside as rent.”
“Here is the account, your highness. Your grandmother told my father to put the money in a tin, but the tin became too full and too tempting, so he put it into a bank instead. I am sorry it is our name, when it is your money.”
“It makes things much easier, M. Dubois.” She said looking at the account total. “The account pays you interest, I see.”
“Pays you interest, Highness.”
“Please, if Hervé asks for no title, how can I? Call me Claire.”
“Claire,” Rudolph said, “I think there are only two real options.”
“Oui, mon cher?”
“You allow the family to invest what is here, in the way they see best, and leave all the tough decisions and anguish with them, or you say this is going to be too complex, and the Royal Estates of Basse-Monaco provide the building,Vthe Dubois family provide as much labour as they feel able, and other labour is hired by the Royal Estates. Actually, three options, you could hire the Dubois family members too.”
“Please no, Claire.” Mme Dubois said, “Do not make me an employee with hours I must work.”
“Would you like to be an employer, Madame, with staff to hire and fire? Remember, I have already given you an extra job of the campsite, which has by Hervé's decree grown enormously.”
“Claire, you said the rent would not go up, but surely, this has grown too big!”
“René, you plan to marry soon?”
“We would have nowhere to live, Claire.”
“Would you like to stay?”
“It has been my life, princess.”
“Your sister wants to leave its uncertainties, what about you?”
“I am happy with this life.”
“Bon. So, you and your wife will swear an oath of allegiance to me, and I will provide an apartment, probably that will be in the new building.”
“Non,” declared M. Dubois, “It is only right, the young family will have the house.”
“Papa!” René objected.
“You may argue later,” Svetlana said, “there will be a second home, whatever. Each house-holder will be charged rent based on what I deem to be the household's ability to pay. The hotel, restaurant and campsite will pay wages to temporary staff, and will pay off the cost of the building, and I will have half the profit from the hotel and the campsite. If you find you need more permanent staff, particularly as retirement grows more attractive, then as long as the finances will stand it then I will accept the oath of another tenant who has proven themselves a good trustworthy worker of sound faith.”
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“Are you allowed to make distinctions between employees based on faith?” Rudolph asked.
“This is not employment, mon cher, this is accepting them as vassals, or as business partners if you prefer, albeit without much of a vote.”
“Oh! OK.”
“They will actually cease to be employees, and will be granted the right to live here at modest rent and will work in exchange for a share of profits — that's what I meant about the finances standing it, you understand, René, Monsieur, Madame Dubois?”
“Yes, highness.”
“René, I still haven't heard you fiancée's name.”
“Odette.”
“And will she be in favour of staying here?”
“I hope so, your highness.”
“I will ask her. Now, I believe we will need to find someone to come up with some ideas, even if not architectural drawings.”
“Arianne is the one with ideas, Claire,” Mme Dubois said, glancing at the kitchen door, “But maybe his majesty also?”
“I'm sure they are only honourable, Madame. He has told me he does not like to visit other Churches when at home, and gets tongue-tied easily, so does not like to ask what few pretty girls he meets if they are Christians.”
“He did not seem tongue-tied.” M. Dubois said.
“Shared memories help, Dad,” René said. “And you can hardly blame Arianne if she's hopeful.”
Mme Dubois turned to Svetlana, “You planned this, highness?”
“I suggested that his Majesty my cousin come and taste your ice cream again, at a time that I knew my friend would be here. And I told her first thing this morning that I'd done that and he'd agreed, and then I took her shopping. I didn't plan they go and hide in the kitchen.”
“I just hope it doesn't end in tears,” Mme Dubois said. “I don't want them calling my Arianne the things they did the poor girl he last went out with.”
“If the press come, and once René has clamped their cars if they don't pay the parking fee, you may tell them that you're not very surprised they've met as adults, since Arianne has been my friend for most of my life, holds a title she probably has never used, and attends the same Christian union as my good friend prince Rudolph of Switzerland, and if my memory is right I've seen a picture of her being introduced to Hervé by my grandmother in this very room.”
“That was his Majesty? I had forgotten that!” Mme Dubois said, “Introduced might be putting it too strongly, though, she was only six weeks old.”
“But he held her very gently,” M. Dubois said, smiling at the memory. “So, they have known each other, on and off, all her life.”
“Exactly,” Svetlana said, and asked “Do you have the picture?”
“It's on the wall in the kitchen.”
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DUBOIS FAMILY KITCHEN, 10.40, SATURDAY 18TH JAN 2278
“I think your dress is new,” Hervé said as they entered the kitchen, “it suits you.”
“It is, Claire bought it for me this morning,” Arianne said.
“Claire is playing match-maker, isn't she?” Hervé asked. He'd strongly suspected it.
“Yes, Hervé,” Arianne agreed, embarrassed, “she told me as much.”
“What did you think of that?”
“I was shocked but ... flattered, I guess. But I told her I that poor girls who go chasing after kings get laughed at.”
“What did she reply?”
“That it would be up to you, of course, but it was perfectly socially acceptable if you chased me.”
“Always very practical, my cousin. Would it be acceptable to you?”
“Please, do not joke, your majesty, I'm a long way from rich, but I don't want to be an object of ridicule.”
He spotted a familiar photo and changed tactic, “Is that you in that picture?”
“Yes, and I recognise the princess, but not the child holding me.”
“My great-aunt told me I must hold you very gently, and not let your head fall off. I thought she meant totally, and was terrified I would accidentally kill you. Mama only explained she meant off my hand about a weak later.”
“It is you?”
“I remember the event most clearly. I did not want to hurt you then Arianne Dubois, I do not want to now. And I did not joke. If my seeking your company would offend you, please say.”
“Offend me? It would not offend me.”
“Would you, dare I ask, welcome it?”
“Your majesty,” she started.
“Hervé, please,” he corrected.
“Hervé, I am not used to press speculation and reporters demanding interviews, and all those things. They scare me. I have studies to complete, exams to study for. Dreams are nice, but I can see it turning into a nightmare.”
“You are telling me no, you would not like your name associated with mine,” he concluded.
“No, I am saying I don't understand how it can work. Personally? I have never had a boyfriend, but I did let Claire buy me this dress.”
“It is beautiful. You are beautiful. But the price tag is sticking out at your neck.”
Arianne gasped in embarrassment, and immediately tried to pull it off.
“Don't tear it! Will you permit me to cut it off?”
Blushing furiously, she found him some scissors.
“I do not meet many beautiful intelligent Christian ladies who speak French and are not romantically involved,” he said as he gently moved her hair aside and snipped off the label. “Let alone ones who have prior approval from Claire who I trust, who can make delicious treats and who I cradled in my arms when I was a child. I am sorry for pressing so, but I do not want to lose contact again. If you will permit me, I would very much like to try to win your heart, to overcome the obstacles and to see if we can turn our history of meeting on friendly terms into love.”
“I will permit you to do that Hervé Du Monaco, and gladly.”
“Merci, Mademoiselle Dubois, you make me a happy man. I must admit problem solving is not one of my strongest points, but I am determined to solve this one.”
“Alone, or with help?”
“It depends on who. I do not want to ask my normal panel of experts.”
“Claire?”
“Claire Du Basse-Monaco would be fine, but she has other more powerful names and titles... I would not wish to lean on her too greatly.”
“For the moment she hopes the press do not consider them. Claire is planning to go to university in St Petersburg, studying the same course as Rudolph.”
“Ah! If only I had more studies to do! But I do not think they would be sensible to let me take a masters with my grades, and I have my duty to our little country. How much longer are your studies?”
“One and a half years,”
“In terms of a government project, that is hardly any time at all, I am told. In this context, it seems like an eternity. A year and a half of intense press coverage would make your studies hard, I think.”
“I must agree, Hervé,” she said, sadly.
“Do not be sad, Arianne,” he said, taking her hands and looking into her eyes, “All it means is I must try to be patient before I tell too much of the world of my happiness. It is not so far to Berne, barely an hour with the hypersonic from Nice.”
“I have never traveled by hypersonic. And I was too nervous to enjoy travelling by space-submarine this morning.”
“Nervous? Of flying?”
“No, Hervé, of meeting you. If I had stopped to think I would have hidden rather than open the door to you.”
“I am glad you did not hide. Do you think Claire could be persuaded to invite me for a trip in her marvelous space-submarine before you leave tomorrow?”
“I do not think we are staying overnight.”
“Then I must be most persuasive, I had hoped to persuade you to come to our little fellowship tomorrow. But perhaps that would be misinterpreted as you chasing me, anyway. So, instead I hope to persuade you to stay, and if I succeed I will give my apologies to the fellowship and say I am worshipping at the congregation of the girl whose heart I am pursuing, if you would be so kind as to tell me where that is. Or perhaps I could meet you here?”
“I... I really don't know that Claire can be persuaded to stay, Hervé.”
“Then it would fall to me to convey you back to the university, wouldn't it? I have no objections. If you worry about propriety, perhaps your parents would like to accompany us?”
“Hervé, are you serious?”
“About taking you back to Berne? Absolutely.”
“And about me?”
“I should, perhaps admit what I now remember telling my mother, but I hesitate.”
“About why you were covered in ice cream?”
“Sort of.”
“And you hesitate because you are embarrassed?”
“No, because it was full of an eighteen year old's certainty and arrogance, and it turned out to be untrue.”
“Tell me please, Hervé.”
“I told my mother that I had just met the girl I wanted to marry, and I'd not look at another, no matter what she said.”
“I was barely fifteen!”
“I realise that now. Had I known, I would have visited sooner. I thought you five or six years my younger, not a mere three, and so you'd have only been seventeen now, and too young for such words. I have not been very faithful, dear Arianne, whose name I did not even remember. But I see how wrong I was to seek another's company. I will not make that mistake again now we have spoken, even if you tell me I must wait another two years before you will be seen with me.”
“You hardly know me, Hervé.”
“I know you love Christ, and are not arrogant, unwise, uninteligent or a flirt.”
“It is still too early to speak of marriage.”
“No, Mademoiselle. I do not seek to win your heart for a trophy, after all. I hope, over the coming months and years, that we can have enough time together that you see both me and the duty I do, and that you become convinced you are able to wholeheartedly dedicate your unique gifts to both. You cannot, after all, accept me without the crown, and the crown is too weighty a thing to accept lightly.”
“And yet you seem so keen to offer it, Hervé!”
“It is implicit in me seeking to win you, and I know at times I struggle to bear it alone. But you must first finish your studies.”
“What help I can offer is yours to command, your majesty,” Arianne said.
“Do not offer so much so soon, Arianne Dubois!” he laughed, “If I accept that offer we will have to call ourselves engaged after less than an hour's discussion, and so earn universal disapproval. Let me first show you my life and work, please.”
“Perhaps I merely demonstrated that I can flirt.”
“Be careful what you offer, Arianne, it might be accepted.”
“Are these not words for you to consider also, Hervé?”
“Such is the intoxicating effect of the sound of your laughter and the scent of your hair, I quite forget my own advice. So, let me do the washing up instead, I beg you. It seems safer.”
“Shouldn't that be a royal command, rather than begging?”
“No, for surely no one can command in this kitchen except your mother. I am merely begging you not to get dirty dishes near your beautiful new dress, especially not before it has graced the palace. I would actually be most appreciative if you would not just grace the palace for lunch, but stay for a little informal discussion with some of my ministers.”
“Just me?” she asked, terrified.
“If the entire party was present it would certainly liven things up. And it does touch on our little plans for Basse-Monaco, actually. Now, I see two sinks and would hate to break an established system, what should happen.where?”
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DUBOIS FAMILY KITCHEN
“Whatever are you knocking on the kitchen door for, René? Why not just open it?”
“We were assuming deep conversations, I didn't want to interrupt anything.”
“Ha! Some people! Have a tea towel. Hervé washes up like he's had practice in a restaurant.”
“Lots of practice,” Hervé agreed.
“Mama, Papa? Hervé wants me to introduce him at Church tomorrow, and invites you on a trip to Berne if you want to see the university.”
“And your home too?” Mme Dubois asked.
“I'd better call ahead and ask them to make sure it's tidy enough for parents.”
“Not royalty?” M. Dubois asked.
“Rudolph, did they ever tidy up when you came for Bible study?” Arianne asked.
“Not noticeably,” Rudolph said, laughing.
“Madame, mesdemoiselles, messieurs, I humbly ask that as well as coming for lunch, you also stay for a short meeting with some of my ministers. It does touch on the plans for Basse-Monaco, and I would appreciate your input, cousin.”
“Certainly!” Svetlana agreed, “And then, I believe cousin you have a private quay we could call the submarine to without much attention, do you not?”
“It comes when called?”
“Better than even the most obedient dog. My thought is that we could go some way out into the sea, and take a trip above the atmosphere. Assuming you've ever had any desire to go into space, cousin.”
“You know I have!” Hervé said, “and then you must leave?”
“You wish to attend Arianne's church, I am due to attend Rudolph's.”
“Do tell, cousin, are you two officially going out?”
“I don't know, Rudolph, what do you think?”
“I think we are being very careful and treading very slowly, and there is an understanding between us that we like each other, but I haven't actually invited you out anywhere.”
“No, but I did invite you here, mon cher.” Svetlana said, dropping a big hint.
“True, ma cheri. But we have hardly had time alone, have we?”
“No. My cousin gets ten out of ten for commandeering the kitchen.”
“Since we are on a famous beach, ma cheri, will you do me the honour of accompanying me for a walk along it?”
“Of course.”
“Just let me give you a some protection, cousin. Personally I find there are always reporters about.”
“How inconvenient.” Svetlana said, “But maybe not, actually, after all, this is my beach. Rudolph, do you mind being publicly linked to the publicity shy Claire du Basse-Monaco?”
“Publicity shy?”
“Mais oui. I do not want anyone from home comparing my eyes with the crown princess of Russia do I?”
“You do have the contact lenses, highness,” Krista reminded her.
“I do, I do. So be it, I suppose I'd better put them in.”
“Contact lenses?” Rudolph asked, surprised.
“Anti-iris scan ones. A security measure which I resolutely hate. But if I'm going to be able to be Claire, I'd better get used to wearing them, hadn't I? Can I borrow a mirror, Madame?”