TEMPORAL AGENT by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 3 – JEANNE DE BRISSAC

15:39 (Guadeloupe Time)

Monday, May 18, 1846

Anse des Grandes Salines

French colony of the Guadeloupe, Caribbean

Knight Pierre Alphonse d’Orléans, wearing a simple shirt and short trousers, was supervising his black employees who were busy extracting blocks of sea salt from the salt flats bordering the beach, on which he stood barefoot. Pierre took a moment to admire the sea and sky of the l’Anse des Grandes Salines, situated at the southeastern tip of the island of Grande-Terre, the second largest of the archipelago of the Guadeloupe. His parents, like many aristocrats, had fled France after the start of the French Revolution and its bloody period called ‘The Terror’ in 1789, when thousands of nobles had been summarily executed by resentful mobs of impoverished peasants and common workers. After much hard times, his family, a minor branch of the House of Orléans, had managed to successfully establish itself in the Americas. Born and raised

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in New Orleans, Pierre had eventually decided to go live in the Guadeloupe, with its flourishing commerce of sugar and rum. Now, at the age of 36, he was the owner of a large sugar cane plantation, which included a sugar refinery and a small rum distillery, enough for him to live very comfortably. He had also created large salt flats on the coast near his plantation, with the salt produced there providing him with a substantial extra income. Despite the restoration of the monarchy in France at the start of this century, Pierre felt no urge to return to his country of origin, which he had never seen in his life. France’s economy was still fragile, while the social climate there was downright poisonous, if he could believe the captains and passengers of the ships which regularly docked in the ports of Pointe-à-Pitre and Saint-François. He would be perfectly happy if not for the fact that he was without a wife. That didn’t mean that he went without sex though, since more than one young black woman among his freed ex-slaves were quite willing and eager to sleep with him. However, young European women of noble or respectable birth were rare in the Guadeloupe and were all married already…or were as ugly as frogs.

As he was looking at the Island of La Désirade on the horizon, his eyes caught on a number of floating objects on the surface of the waves, about 600 meters off the beach he was on. Focusing on the objects, he was soon able to recognize them as debris from a wrecked ship. He was not surprised by that, as more than a few ships sank every year around the Guadeloupe because of tropical storms or collisions with reefs. Calling his foreman and telling him to continue to supervise the work of salt extraction alone, Pierre got closer to the edge of the water in order to better see. The currents and winds actually seemed to be pushing the debris towards the beach of fine white sand he was standing on. Pierre’s heart accelerated when he saw some movement near one of the floating objects. After looking for a moment, he was ready to swear that someone was clinging to that piece of debris. He however hesitated to enter the water to swim towards the debris: the waves were strong and the currents dangerous along this coast. He finally took a decision when he was able to clearly distinguish a human head and heard a female voice.

‘’Help! Help me!’’

‘’FERNAND, COME HERE WITH TWO MEN AND THE ROLL OF ROPE WE HAVE IN OUR CART, QUICKLY!’’ shouted Pierre to his foreman while starting to take

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off his shirt. Keeping only his short trousers on, he then tied around his waist one end of the rope Fernand brought to him at a run.

‘’Hold on tight to the other end of this rope with your two men, so that the currents won’t wash me away. I’m going to get that girl.’’

‘’Understood, monsieur.’’ replied the foreman, who then tied the other end of the rope around his own waist and walked into the water with his employer. While Fernand and the two black workers with him stopped once water came to their upper legs, Pierre started swimming resolutely towards the girl in distress. The latter, seeing him approach, let go the piece of floating debris she had been clinging to and started swimming to join up with him. Twice the surf threw her back away from the beach, cancelling her efforts. With an ultimate surge of energy, the girl finally managed to link up with Pierre, who firmly grabbed her in his arms at once and shouted towards the beach.

‘’I HAVE HER, MEN! PULL!’’

Fernand and the two black workers immediately started pulling on the rope with all their strength, towing Pierre and the shipwrecked girl towards the beach. Pierre was finally able to walk on the bottom but had to drag the young woman, who was apparently exhausted, out of the water and onto the sand. Gently putting her down on her back once on dry sand, he examined her while untying the rope around his waist and catching his breath. He quickly had to revise his first impression of the girl, who only wore a wet night shirt that was now clinging to her body. While very tall, her face was that of a teenager, not that of an adult woman. She was also beautiful, with long dark hair and a sensual and athletic body. The foreman smiled while admiring the appetizing curves of the girl, whose nipples were visible through her wet shirt.

‘’Well, monsieur, it seems that you have caught quite a nice fish today.’’

‘’It seems so, my good Fernand. Pass me your water bottle, please.’’ Taking the tin flask offered by his foreman, Pierre knelt beside the teenager and gently raised her head while offering her the opened flask. The girl avidly gulped three long pulls of the water before looking up at Pierre, who could now see that her eyes were green.

‘’Thank you very much, monsieur. You are a most brave and kind man.’’

‘’You are welcome, mademoiselle. I am Pierre Alphonse d’Orléans, owner of a nearby plantation. And what is your name?’’

‘’I am Jeanne Marie Céleste de Brissac, but call me simply Jeanne. Where am I?’’

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‘’On the southeastern tip of the Island of Grande-Terre, in the Guadeloupe. Do you know if there were other survivors from your ship, Jeanne?’’

‘’I…I don’t know. I don’t think so. I didn’t see a single person during the day following the sinking. The ship sank at night, without a warning sign. All that I heard was a terrifying crack just before water filled the under decks. I barely had time to leave by a skylight.’’

‘’And your parents, Jeanne? You were traveling with your parents, weren’t you?’’ The teenager closed her eyes for a moment, as if reliving a nightmare, before answering in a weak voice.

‘’They had been dead for four weeks already, killed by the pirates who boarded our ship. I was then put on the pirates’ ship, while my original ship went south with a boarding crew.’’

Pierre nodded his head, not surprised by her story. Even in this century there were still a few pirates around the Caribbean Sea, most of them coming from the coasts of South America. The French Navy, which was only a shadow of its past Napoleonic glory, rarely patrolled the waters of the Caribbean, something pirates used to their advantage. The teenager was however awakening a particular interest inside Pierre’s brain, even without her story about pirates.

‘’You have an aristocratic name, am I right, Jeanne?’’

‘’I am of modest lineage, monsieur. Why do you ask?’’

‘’Oh, just simple curiosity. Do you feel strong enough to get up now?’’

‘’I think so.’’

Pierre helped her get up on her feet, finding out then that she was clearly taller than him. She was in fact taller than most men. Her wet shirt also revealed a muscular body…and a very appetizing chest.

‘’Come with me to my cart: I will bring you to my plantation, so that you could bathe and change. FERNAND, TELL THE MEN TO STOP WORKING: WE WILL CONTINUE THE EXTRACTION TOMORROW.’’

‘’YES, MONSIEUR!’’

Jeanne looked at the two black men who started following the foreman, as well as at the dozen other black men visible further away.

‘’Are these black men slaves?’’

‘’No! I freed all of my slaves a year ago. They now get a part of the profits from my plantation as their pay, plus a number of benefits.’’

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Pierre thought that he saw an approving look in the teenager’s eyes then before she followed him to the cart. Making her sit on the driver’s bench, he waited for the blocks of salt already extracted from the flats to be loaded in the back before grabbing the reins and urging his two mules forward.

With his foreman sitting in the back of the cart and with the black workers walking behind, Pierre waited a moment before trying to start a conversation with the teenager, wanting to leave her time to recuperate some of her strength.

‘’So, Jeanne, how old are you, if I may ask?’’

‘’Sixteen, monsieur.’’ lied Nancy Laplante ‘B’, who had just attained the age of fourteen. Her body was however a lot more developed for her age than a typical 19th Century girl’s body would be.

‘’Please, simply call me ‘Pierre’. And why were your parents bringing you to the Guadeloupe, Jeanne?’’

‘’My parents were practically broke following some disastrous financial speculations in France, and were hoping to build back their fortune here. Pirates then intercepted and seized our ship, killing my parents in the process, along with the whole crew.’’

‘’And what was the name of your ship? I will need to warn the authorities in Basse-Terre about this.’’

‘’It was called the GROS GAILLARD. We were the only passengers aboard. It was captured a month ago.’’

‘’So, it is the original pirate ship which sank near here, right, Jeanne?’’

‘’That’s exact, Pierre.’’

Something in her tone and attitude, which denoted unease, told Pierre that she was not telling him everything, but he didn’t insist and stayed silent during the four kilometer trip to his plantation. Finally arriving at the limits of his property, Pierre proudly showed with a sweep of one arm the vast sugar cane fields, the sugar extraction plant, the rum distillery, the small workers’ village and his own house.

‘’This is my plantation, ‘Sweet Dreams’.’’

Jeanne smiled with amusement on hearing that and looked at him.

‘’I like that name. Was it your wife who gave it that name?’’

‘’I am an old single guy, Jeanne. I am also a bit of a poet.’’

‘’Not married, a strong and handsome man like you?’’

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The compliment made Pierre smile in turn.

‘’Let’s say that well-born girls are rare in the Guadeloupe, Jeanne. I am also in rather poor terms with most of my white neighbors, who think that I am way too soft on my black workers. I was even accused a few times of sheltering and protecting running slaves.’’

‘’From what I have heard during my trip about the living conditions of those slaves, I can’t blame them at all for wanting to run away. Such cruel conditions could not possibly be condoned by God.’’

‘’Very well said, my dear Jeanne. However, too many people here worship gold rather than God.’’

‘’The same is true in France.’’ replied the teenager, her expression hardening a bit.

‘’Well, enough about this! We will go to my house right away, so that you could wash and then rest.’’

Jumping down on the ground with Jeanne once in front of his residence, Pierre let the cart in the hands of Fernand and showed the wooden façade of his house, which seemed to have been damaged and then repaired summarily.

‘’You will excuse the appearance of my house, Jeanne, but a terrible earthquake struck this island three years ago. My house actually resisted much better to it than many other houses. Just in Pointe-à-Pitre, the main port in the island, there were over 3,000 dead from that earthquake.’’

Jeanne nodded her head while inspecting the façade.

‘’A wooden house normally resists earthquakes better than stone houses do. The repairs you did seem adequate to me.’’

She then followed Pierre inside. The latter shouted once inside a large lounge.

‘’MARTHE! MARTHE! I NEED YOU!’’

A stoutly-built black woman with a sympathetic face came in at once from the kitchen, to open wide eyes on seeing Jeanne, who was still only wearing her half-dried shirt.

‘’Dear Lord, monsieur, what happened to this poor girl?’’

‘’She was shipwrecked off the coast and I saved her on the Grandes Salines beach, Marthe. Can you prepare a good hot bath for Jeanne and also wash her hair. Use some of my clothes to dress her up afterwards: I am afraid that she is way too tall to fit any dress in this plantation.’’

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‘’Right away, monsieur.’’ said Marthe before walking to Jeanne and bow to her with a warm smile. ‘’If mademoiselle will follow me.’’

With Jeanne following the servant, Pierre then ended alone in his living room. Going briefly to the kitchen, he advised his cook that there would be a guest for supper and then returned to the living room, where he poured himself a glass of rum before sitting down in his favorite sofa. Barely twenty minutes later, Marthe entered the lounge at a near run, looking and sounding troubled.

‘’Monsieur, the girl is now in the bathtub.’’

‘’Yes, and?’’ said Pierre, not understanding her excitement.

‘’She was flogged and also branded repeatedly with red hot irons, monsieur! Her torso and buttocks are covered with scars.’’

Pierre got up at once from his sofa, shocked by this.

‘’WHAT? Did she tell you how she ended up with these scars?’’

‘’I didn’t dare ask her, monsieur. What do I do now?’’

Pierre thought for a moment before looking again at Marthe.

‘’The branding marks, are they shaped like fleurs-de-lis?’’ Marthe shook her head at that, understanding what he was alluding to. Prostitutes often were branded by the royal justice, which used irons shaped like a fleur-de-lis.

‘’No, monsieur. I believe that she was tortured, severely. Her scars seem to date from a few weeks at the least.

‘’Those pirate bastards!’’ swore Pierre, suddenly understanding what could have happened to Jeanne. ‘’Very well, Marthe. Continue to help her wash up and don’t mention her scars with her. I will talk with Jeanne afterwards.’’

‘’Understood, monsieur.’’ replied Marthe before walking away, leaving Pierre alone with his thoughts.

Marthe returned with Jeanne a bit less than one hour later, as another servant was preparing the covers on the dining table, situated at one end of the lounge. Pierre smiled to Jeanne, who was now wearing a male set of clothes that ill fitted her.

‘’I believe that my first priority tomorrow will be to go in town with you to find some proper clothes for you, my friend.’’

Jeanne, who seemed to be still disoriented, returned his smile.

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‘’You already did a lot for me, monsieur. I don’t know how to properly thank you for saving me and now caring for me.’’

‘’You can start by sharing this supper with me, Jeanne.’’ replied Pierre while pointing at the dining table. Getting up from his sofa, Pierre led Jeanne to the table and gallantly helped her sit down before taking the chair facing her. Filling Jeanne’s cup with wine, then filling his own cup, Pierre raised it and smiled to the beautiful teenager.

‘’To your health, Jeanne.’’

‘’And to yours, Pierre.’’ replied Jeanne while raising her own cup and making it touch that of Pierre. They each drank a short pull of wine before putting back down their cups, looking at each other in silence while a servant brought in two plates of soup. Jeanne waited for the servant to be back in the kitchen before speaking, her eyes lowered and with embarrassment on her face.

‘’I noticed the reaction of Marthe, your maid, when she saw my scars. I suppose that she told you about them?’’

‘’Yes, but if you don’t want to talk about them now…’’

‘’You have the right to know about them, Pierre. That is the least I owe you for saving me. When pirates attacked my ship over a month ago, killing my parents and the whole crew, I defended myself and managed to kill two pirates and to wound another one before being overpowered. The pirates, enraged, punished me by flogging me. When I resisted again as the pirate captain was trying to rape me, he had me tortured with red hot irons to break my resistance, then took me by force. The next few weeks were like Hell for me, with the captain beating me when I was not cooperating. On top of killing my parents and taking all that we owed, those bastards also took away my dignity and sullied me in an unspeakable way. I am afraid that I am not worthy of your hospitality, Pierre.’’

‘’Nonsense, Jeanne!’’ said softly Pierre while putting his left hand over her right hand. ‘’You have nothing to be ashamed of in all this. You were helpless and a prisoner. As for those pirates, they have now paid for their crimes and will not abuse anyone anymore.’’

‘’But what will people think of me now? I am not even sure yet if those pirates didn’t make me pregnant or not. I also can’t prove who I am: all my family documents are now at the bottom of the sea and the pirates took away my family ring.’’

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‘’Don’t worry about that, Jeanne. Just rest for the next few days and get over your misadventure. You are my guest here and you will always be respected at ‘Sweet Dreams’.’’

Jeanne lowered her head, tears in her eyes.

‘’You are too good, Pierre. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.’’ Moved, Pierre quickly got up and went around the table to go gently grab her shoulders and to speak softly in her ears.

‘’Forget about all this, my dear. You are a noble and will be treated as such here. Tomorrow, we will go together to Saint-François, the main town in this area, to buy some clothes worthy of you. Now, just eat and relax.’’

Going back to his place, Pierre sat back and ate in silence, respecting her obvious embarrassment. He was however thinking furiously as he kept looking discreetly from time to time at Jeanne, who was eating slowly. The news that she had been tortured and raped by the pirates was saddening him for more than one reason. The idea of eventually marrying this beautiful girl he had saved from the sea was already in his head, but he would have to wait a few months to make sure that she was not pregnant before proposing marriage to her. If not, the busybodies around Saint-François would not hesitate to call a baby born too quickly from Jeanne a bastard. He would thus have to temper his temptations towards her for a few months before courting her favors. Somehow, Pierre knew that this was not going to be easy.

On her part, Nancy Laplante ‘B’ eyed discreetly Pierre, a handsome and solidly built man who wore black hair cut at the neck and who shaved his face. He was muscular and stood at about 175 centimeters, with gray eyes and a square jaw that reinforced his apparent strength of character. She had not needed to simulate her embarrassment when she had told him about her scars. Even though she had successfully resisted the tortures inflicted to her in the Bastille in 1651, that experience had deeply traumatized her and had marked her mentally as well as physically. She could have had her scars treated via the highly advanced medical science of the 34th Century and have made them disappear completely, but she had decided to receive only basic medical care. That decision had greatly pained her parents, but she had insisted on that in order to keep her cover identity in 1651 plausible. A recovery that would prove too ‘miraculous’ would have attracted many questions and nasty rumors at the King’s court. As a consequence, she had been forced to modify slightly her original cover story

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for her role as Jeanne de Brissac in 1846. Thankfully for her, Pierre Alphonse d’Orléans seemed to be the kind of man who she could truly appreciate and love. The knowledge that Pierre had less than one year to live according to history then came back to her mind, attracting tears on her cheeks. Pierre, misunderstanding the cause for her tears, hurried up again to go comfort her.

‘’Do not cry, Jeanne: your misfortunes are over, I promise you that.’’

‘’Excuse me, Pierre.’’ said Nancy between two sobs. ‘’So many things happened to me lately. I don’t know what to expect anymore from life.’’

‘’Maybe some rest will do you good, Jeanne. Would you like to go to bed after supper?’’

She nodded her head at that. Returning to his place, Pierre let her finish her supper, then escorted her to the guest room of his house, showing her the bed covered by a mosquito net.

‘’Marthe will bring you a night gown and some underwear. If you need anything, just ask.’’

‘’Thank you again, Pierre. You are too good.’’

‘’Not at all: I am only doing what a good Christian is supposed to do. Sleep now and forget about those pirates, Jeanne.’’

He then left the bedroom and returned to the lounge, where he poured himself some more wine, drinking it while dreaming about the girl he had saved from the sea.

Next morning, Pierre had his cart readied and left with Jeanne for the small town of Saint-François, situated a few kilometers to the southwest of his plantation. Keeping to small talk on the way, Pierre did his best to relax Jeanne by chatting about the town and the local life. The dresses and other clothes he found for her in Saint-François, while of decent quality, were not however what a noble would expect to wear. Despite the fact that Jeanne seemed more than satisfied by his acquisitions, Pierre promised himself to one day bring her to Pointe-à-Pitre, the main port of the Guadeloupe and a place where he knew that he would find some gowns worthy of an aristocrat girl. On the other hand, Jeanne, with her uncommon height and athletic body, was well noticed in Saint-François, where the coming of new French settlers was fairly rare these days. Some of Pierre’s French neighbors were also in town with their wives that day and didn’t miss the tall and beautiful teenager going around with Pierre. Most of them being in rather poor terms with Pierre d’Orléans, the ideas that came to their mind then and the

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comments they made about the couple were not exactly charitable. Jeanne’s origin in particular attracted many questions in the heads of those neighbors. One plantation owner, intrigued by Jeanne, visited a tailor shop after Pierre and Jeanne and spoke with the tailor, who told him in turn about the scars on Jeanne’s torso. That made the plantation owner and his wife think about all kinds of hypothesis, which they of course diligently shared with other people around them.

Returning to the plantation by the end of the afternoon with a Jeanne apparently happy about their acquisitions, Pierre took one hour to go inspect the various works in progress in his fields and in his sugar extraction plant. As he was about to reenter his house just before supper, Pierre suddenly slowed down his pace and stopped in front of his door, perplex: somebody was playing the piano he had in his lounge. He was supposed to be the only one able to play the piano in ‘Sweet Dreams’. The answer that came to his mind then made him smile and he resolutely entered his house, walking quietly to his lounge. He found Jeanne there, wearing one of her new dresses and playing with brio a piece of music unknown to Pierre. Seeing him approach, Jeanne gave him a big smile while continuing to play.

‘’You didn’t tell me that you had a square piano, Pierre. Do you have other musical instruments, by chance?’’

‘’Uh, I have a guitar, plus a banjo that I bought in New-Orleans. You didn’t tell me that you knew how to play the piano. I must say that you seem to be quite good at it.’’

‘’Thank you! In truth, the guitar is my favorite musical instrument, but I am also well practiced with the piano and the harpsichord. I also like to sing.’’

‘’Really?’’ said Pierre, ecstatic. ‘’Could I then ask you to sing something for me?’’

‘’But, with pleasure, my handsome knight.’’ replied Jeanne in a playful tone before changing her tune on the piano. Concentrating for a moment, she then started singing a song in French that Pierre had never heard before but that he found beautiful. He also found that she had a very pretty voice and that she seemed to have a clear talent for singing. His heart warmed up as he watched Jeanne sing and play, radiant with beauty and talent. He applauded her at the end of the song, truly impressed.

‘’Bravo, Jeanne! That was beautiful! Do you know many other songs?’’

‘’I do, but many of them are in English, with a few more in Spanish and in German.’’

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Pierre looked at her with big surprised eyes.

‘’You can speak four languages?’’

‘’Seven, actually.’’ replied Jeanne, who didn’t seem to be bragging. ‘’I also know Gaelic, Greek and Latin. I do have a special talent for languages.’’ What Nancy didn’t tell him was that her I.Q. of 153 made her a certified genius and that she already held a diploma in robotics engineering, a discipline marrying mechanical science, electronics and computer programming. On his part, Pierre then felt immense relief wash over him. The multiple talents just shown by Jeanne basically ruled out a possibility that had worried him since yesterday: that Jeanne had lied to him and was in reality a pirate herself, a thought brought by her tall and strong body and her torture marks. However, the chances that a girl raised among pirates could speak seven languages, play the piano like a virtuoso and sing the way she just did were about nil, her talents denoting instead the education of a true aristocrat.

Pierre listened to two more songs by Jeanne, who played the guitar for her last song. She then proved to be really good with a guitar, playing as well as anyone he had seen before, including in New Orleans. Now truly hooked on, Pierre shared an agreeable supper with Jeanne, whose morale seemed to have improved a lot since yesterday. After the meal, the two of them sat in a comfortable sofa of the lounge with glasses of rum, spending a good two hours conversing together. That time with Jeanne finished convincing Pierre that she had received a quality education that only a true aristocrat could get. The only point that detracted from that was when she told him that she liked to practice combat sports, including fencing. Her explanation that she had been fascinated since her tender youth about the girls of the ancient Greek city of Sparta however reassured him somewhat. In truth, Pierre wanted to believe her, conquered by her personality and her beauty. When the time came to go to bed, it took him all of his strength of will not to follow her into her bedroom. Sleep came with difficulty for him that night, with images of Jeanne filling his mind.

During the following days, Jeanne revealed herself to be a girl with a heart of gold and with liberal, progressive ideas, treating with respect and kindness the ex-slaves of the plantation and their families and showing interest in their welfare. Pierre, who was in bad terms with his white neighbors because of his so-called ‘softness’ towards his black workers, much appreciated that side of Jeanne, while she gained quickly the

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affection of the plantation’s workers. Jeanne also proved to be singularly useful to Pierre around the plantation. On the third day at ‘Sweet Dreams’, she told Pierre that she was going to go fishing at a nearby beach, leaving with a young black boy carrying a harpoon, a fishing net and a large haversack containing only a water bottle and a loaf of bread, plus a knife. She returned in the evening with her haversack full of shellfish and with nine big fish carried inside her fishing net, enough to provide a well-received extra for the supper of the workers of the plantation and their families. From then on, she went to swim and fish nearly every day, telling Pierre that the swimming helped her keep in shape and invariably returning with an impressive number of fish and shellfish. She often returned as well with quantities of mussels harvested from the sea bottom, sometimes from impressive depths, proving herself to be a first class swimmer with impressive lung capacity. Pierre quickly realized how useful her fishing was to him when he saw the substantial savings he made in terms of food supplies for his workers and to the cost of his own table. Leaving early each morning with her young black assistant, Jeanne would return by noon hour with her catches, then would wash and change into simple work clothes to help Pierre run and maintain his plantation. She further surprised Pierre in that respect, proving to be incredibly knowledgeable about mechanical sciences and also being highly skilled at mechanical repairs, diagnosing and then repairing a problem with the gear mechanism of the crushing rollers used to crush the sugar canes cut down by Pierre’s workers. When Jeanne casually told him how she had done those repairs, Pierre could only look at her with his jaw wide opened in disbelief. After washing a second time before supper, Jeanne would put on a gown and become again an aristocratic girl, entertaining Pierre’s evenings by singing, playing music and conversing with him. She also often went out to the small village housing the plantation’s workers and would play her guitar and sing, to the enjoyment of the black workers and their families. Even though she was still officially only a guest at the plantation and had not had sexual relations yet with Pierre, the latter nearly felt like he was married and was now happier than he had ever been since his youth in New Orleans.

Two weeks after her arrival at the plantation, Jeanne went to see Pierre, a big smile on her face.

‘’I have a very good news, Pierre: my menstruations showed up last night. I don’t have to worry anymore about becoming pregnant from those damn pirates.’’

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‘’But, that’s great news indeed!’’ said Pierre, also smiling, before taking her in his arms and kissing her passionately. She returned his kiss with equal passion, letting his hands roam over her body. Now fully fired up, Pierre looked at her with utmost love.

‘’Jeanne, you are the most fascinating and precious girl I ever met. Would you accept to marry me once there could be no more possible doubts about the origin of a pregnancy in the eyes of the authorities?’’

Jeanne’s eyes became moist at those words as she eyed him in silence for a moment before replying in a very soft tone.

‘’Pierre, I would be most happy to be the wife of a man such as you.’’ She then exchanged a long kiss with Pierre before looking at him again.

‘’I realize that it will take another couple of months at the least before it is evident to all that I was not made pregnant by those pirates. We should normally abstain from full sexual relations in the meantime, but I do not wish to make you suffer by frustrating your passion for me this long. I hope that you are not the type who believes that there should be no sex before marriage?’’

That made Pierre smile in amusement.

‘’You are kidding, right? We are both French, thus from a country where sex is celebrated through our whole history and where half of the men are cuckold. You also must have noticed by now that I am not a very religious man.’’

‘’And neither am I, Pierre. I may be quite young still but I did play around boys before leaving France. I know ways to please you without risking a pregnancy. Come!’’ She then led him by one hand towards her bedroom while smiling warmly to him. Even if he would have wanted to resist her offer, Pierre knew that he would have lacked the willpower for that.

14:28 (Guadeloupe Time)

Wednesday, June 3, 1846

‘Sweet Dreams’ plantation

Island of Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe

Barely a day later, a cart carrying a functionary and escorted by an officer and six mounted soldiers showed up at the plantation. Pierre saw them coming at the last minute, being busy at the time inspecting the big vats used to distill rum. A bad feeling growing in him at the sight of the soldiers, he returned in hurried steps to his house, in

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front of which the cart and its escort had stopped. The officer commanding the escort, still perched on his horse, asked him a question on a neutral tone.

‘’Are you Sire Pierre d’Orléans, monsieur?’’

‘’That’s me!’’

The officer then saluted him with his hat.

‘’I am Lieutenant Dupré, sent by Governor Layrle with Monsieur De Mézières, the crown assistant-prosecutor in Basse-Terre. We were sent to inquire about a Jeanne de Brissac. Is she still in this plantation?’’

‘’Uh, yes! I however do not understand why the Governor wanted Monsieur de Mézières to be escorted by soldiers for this.’’

‘’We could discuss this inside, monsieur. Could you tell the lady in question that we would like to speak with her?’’

Despite the polite tone used by the officer, Pierre didn’t like at all the way things were looking. He however hid his anxiety as best he could and walked quickly around his house, going to its vegetable garden, which Jeanne was helping to maintain. He did not miss the fact that the officer followed him with two of his soldiers, still on their horses. Jeanne, busy plucking out wild grass, only saw Pierre and the soldiers once they were only a few meters from her. Getting up slowly from her knees and hands, she gave a suspicious look at the soldiers before looking at Pierre.

‘’To what do we owe the visit of these gentlemen, Pierre?’’

‘’They came from Basse-Terre with an assistant-prosecutor to see you, Jeanne.’’ Jeanne then detailed the officer, who was in exchange noting her height and athletic built.

‘’Very well! Just let me some time to make myself presentable, gentlemen.’’

‘’Of course, mademoiselle.’’ replied the officer, who however followed her to the rear door of the house and entered behind her, followed by Pierre. The latter then led the young lieutenant and the assistant-prosecutor to his lounge, offering them to sit in a sofa.

‘’Please sit down, gentlemen.’’

‘’Thank you, Sir Pierre.’’ said De Mézières, sighing with relief after sitting for hours on the hard wooden bench of his cart. Pierre sat facing him in his favorite easy chair and examined the expression of the graying royal functionary.

‘’So, Monsieur De Mézières, you came to find out about my unfortunate guest? My letter thus got promptly enough to the Governor?’’

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‘’Yes, along with other pieces of information about Mademoiselle de Brissac that we found a bit alarming.’’

‘’Her correct title would be Lady Jeanne, Monsieur de Mézières.’’ replied Pierre in a rather irritated tone. The assistant-prosecutor looked at him with some skepticism.

‘’If she is indeed who she pretends to be, Sir Pierre. Understand that the disappearance of the GROS GAILLARD, supposedly at the hand of pirates, has worried the authorities in Basse-Terre. Why don’t you tell us now how you first met this girl?’’

‘’As you wish, monsieur.’’ said Pierre before telling him in a few minutes how he had saved Jeanne from the sea and had then brought her to his plantation. At the end of it, Lieutenant Dupré whispered into the ear of the assistant-prosecutor, who nodded his head before speaking again to Pierre.

‘’Sir Pierre, have you seen the scars on this Jeanne de Brissac?’’

‘’Yes, I did. She told me herself that she was flogged and branded by the pirates who captured her, for having resisted them.’’

‘’And you didn’t think about the possibility that those scars could have been caused in different circumstances, monsieur?’’

Pierre stiffened at once in his easy chair, indignant.

‘’Are you insinuating that Jeanne is not a true aristocrat, monsieur?’’

‘’That possibility came to the mind of the Governor, monsieur. That is why he sent me with an escort to come question your guest. Lieutenant Dupré just told me that your Jeanne happens to be very tall and quite muscular…for a sixteen year-old aristocrat.’’

‘’She effectively is, but that does not make a liar out of her, monsieur.’’

‘’Sire Pierre, please put yourself in our place for a moment. Here is a tall, strong girl who arrived here by the sea following a shipwreck. She wears torture scars and has no paper or jewel that could prove who she is. One could be excused to think that she could be a pirate herself, a pirate girl that could have been tortured in the past by a rival band.’’

‘’A pirate girl who speaks seven languages, plays the piano and the guitar with brio and can talk about the history of France for hours?’’ shot back Pierre. ‘’She may look to you physically like an Amazon, but I can assure you that she has the education of a true noble girl.’’

‘’Seven languages?’’ asked De Mézières, suddenly less sure of himself.

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‘’Yes monsieur! On top of French, she can speak and sing in English, Spanish, German, Gaelic, Greek and Latin. I can also certify to you that Jeanne has advanced notions in mathematics, geometry, astronomy and many other things.’’ De Mézières exchanged a surprised look with Lieutenant Dupré.

‘’Uh, Sir Pierre, your Jeanne de Brissac seems nearly too good to be true.’’

‘’It is true that men keep thinking that women are inferior to them, gentlemen, in which they are sorely mistaken.’’ said a female voice, making the three men snap their heads towards the entrance of the lounge. Jeanne was now wearing a gown, while her hair was carefully combed and gathered in a horse’s tail at the back of her head. She then walked up to them and bow politely in front of the assistant-prosecutor.

‘’Jeanne Marie Céleste de Brissac, at your service, Monsieur De Mézières. I am ready to do my best to prove to you who I am.’’

‘’Uh, well, I was actually planning to bring you to Basse-Terre, where the official registers which could help verify your declarations are, mademoiselle. It is also quite possible that I could have to send an official request to France to have the passenger registry of the GROS GAILLARD checked to see if you and your parents were indeed recorded as having left on that ship.’’

‘’But such a procedure would take months!’’ objected Pierre, frustrated. ‘’Know that me and Jeanne were planning to marry in a month or so.’’ De Mézières gave him a cold look at those words.

‘’More the reason to be careful, Sir Pierre. Would you be ready to risk associating the name of your illustrious family, which is connected to the Crown, with a possible impostor? I believe anyway that the Governor will oppose such a marriage as long as he will not be certain about the identity of your guest.’’ Seeing that Pierre was suddenly struck by discouragement, Jeanne went to sit by his side to console him, one arm around his shoulders.

‘’Don’t worry, Pierre. The doubts about me will vanish soon enough. The important thing is that I am here with you and will stay by your side.’’

‘’If you say so, Jeanne.’’ replied Pierre with little conviction. Jeanne then looked up resolutely at De Mézières and Dupré.

‘’Gentlemen, if you still want to bring me to Basse-Terre in order to complete your inquiry about me, I am ready to follow you willingly…as long as I am treated with respect. I know that your inquiry, if conducted competently, will eventually prove that I am who I say I am. Thus, think twice before making me travel while wearing shackles.’’

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De Mézières made a forced smile, realizing fully the consequences if he made a mistake and dishonored an authentic aristocrat.

‘’Do not worry, mademoiselle: you will be treated with respect, unless the inquiry exposes you as an impostor, in which case your punishment will be harsh indeed.’’

‘’Fair deal!’’ said Jeanne before looking at Pierre, who was staring at his two ‘guests’ with little sympathy. ‘’I am sure that we could accommodate our visitors for the night, right, Pierre?’’

‘’Effectively, Jeanne. The escort of Monsieur De Mézières can go establish itself in the barn. I will leave my own bedroom to Monsieur De Mézières and Lieutenant Dupré.’’

‘’But, where will you sleep then, monsieur?’’ Asked Dupré.

‘’With Jeanne, of course!’’ replied Pierre with a malicious smirk, making Jeanne giggle. ‘’You are of course welcome to have supper with me and Jeanne, you and your soldiers.’’

16:49 (Guadeloupe Time)

Saturday, June 6, 1846

Fort Saint-Charles, town of Basse-Terre

Guadeloupe

Jeanne looked around her with curiosity as the cart transporting her entered a stone fortress through a guarded gate. The fortress had been built according to the principles dear to Vauban, the famous French military engineer who had served King Louis XIV. The walls were low but thick and the octagonal star pattern included a series of sunken bastions situated behind wide and deep trenches. Cannons also were visible at the crenellations, especially on the side facing the nearby sea. Nancy ‘B’ knew that this fortress had seen many battles during the last two centuries, especially against the British, who had occupied the Guadeloupe a number of times in the past, the last time being from 1810 to 1816. The cart soon stopped in front of a long, single story house made of wood and stone and situated in the center of the fortress. Pierre, who had made the trip atop of his horse, set foot on the ground with Jeanne, De Mézières and Lieutenant Dupré, letting the soldiers of the escort bring the cart and the horses to the stables. Jeanne, carrying in her hands a canvas bag and a guitar which she had used to provide some entertainment during the trip, was invited to follow De Mézières inside the

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house, which turned out to be the residence of the governor of the Guadeloupe, Monsieur de Layrle. The latter, alerted to their arrival by a servant, greeted them in a large but modestly furnished lounge. De Layrle was a thin, rather small man with long sideburns joining with his moustache and who wore a pair of round spectacles. He wore a frock coat and a pair of gray stripped pants despite the heavy heat of the Summer. He examined Jeanne a moment, surprised by her height, before bowing politely to her and Pierre.

‘’Welcome to Basse-Terre, lady and gentleman. I am Governor Henry de Layrle.’’

‘’Sire Pierre Alphonse d’Orléans, at your service, Governor.’’ said Pierre while bowing himself, while Jeanne made a curtsy. ‘’This is Lady Jeanne Marie Céleste de Brissac, whom I saved from the sea three weeks ago.’’

‘’And how old are you, mademoiselle?’’ asked the governor.

‘’Sixteen, Your Excellency. As I already said to Monsieur De Mézières, I am ready to do my best to prove to you who I am.’’

‘’Let’s not talk about this yet, Lady Jeanne.’’ replied de Layrle with a polite smile. ‘’Please take the time to install yourself after your hot and dusty trip. My wife Louise will show you to your room.’’

A small woman in her forties with a distinguished appearance then stepped from behind the governor and smiled to Jeanne.

‘’If you will follow me, my dear.’’

‘’With pleasure, madame.’’

With the Governor taking care of Pierre, Jeanne followed Louise de Layrle to a small but clean and comfortable guest room. Louise however closed the door of the room behind Jeanne and spoke to her in a guarded tone.

‘’Mademoiselle, my husband asked me to examine you in private, so that your modesty would not be hurt. I will thus ask you to undress completely.’’ Having expected that, Jeanne obeyed without fuss and soon stood fully naked in front of the wife of the governor, who asked her to slowly turn around on the spot. Louise seemed genuinely shocked by the sight of the scars left by whip strokes and red hot irons on her torso and buttocks.

‘’Decidedly, those who did this to you were quite cruel, my poor girl.’’

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‘’I dared resist the pirates who boarded my ship, killing two of them and injuring a third one. They also punished me a second time after I resisted their captain, who wanted to rape me.’’

Louise de Layrle then stepped close to her to examine in detail her scars, touching them before feeling the muscles in her legs and arms and also noting her wide shoulders.

‘’And…did they rape you?’’

‘’Many times, madame.’’

Louise next made her lie on her back on the bed with her legs opened. A few seconds were enough for her to see that Jeanne was not a virgin anymore.

‘’You may now wash yourself before dressing back if you wish so, mademoiselle. There is a wash basin full of water and a sponge near the window, plus a towel. Once dressed, please return to the lounge, where my husband will speak with you.’’

‘’I will only need ten minutes, madame.’’

‘’Perfect!’’ said Louise before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. She then went to the lounge, where her husband was discussing with Pierre d’Orléans, and whispered in the ear of her husband.

‘’She was effectively cruelly tortured, but not by the royal justice, on top of being raped. She is also the most athletic and strong girl I ever saw.’’

‘’Thank you, my dear Louise. We will speak further after supper.’’

As promised, Jeanne showed up in the lounge ten minutes later, cleaned up and with her dress dusted off. The governor greeted her with a smile and pointed the sofa in which Pierre was already sitting.

‘’Ah, here you are, my dear! Please, take place besides Sire Pierre. Would you like a cup of wine to refresh yourself?’’

‘’With pleasure, Your Excellency.’’

Once Jeanne was sitting, a servant brought her a cup of wine on top of a silver tray, with Jeanne taking the cup with good grace. De Layrle watched her closely, knowing that De Mézières was listening through the wall from an adjacent room, various reference books in front of him.

‘’Well, my dear Jeanne, why don’t you tell us about your family and the reasons for them to travel to the Guadeloupe?’’

Jeanne obliged him at once and served him the cover story built for her by the Time Patrol. That story actually closely followed the historical reality, as a Jeanne de Brissac

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had effectively taken a cabin with her parents on the GROS GAILLARD in the port of Bordeaux, with the goal of rebuilding their fortune in the Guadeloupe. The real Jeanne de Brissac was sixteen at the time of her fatal trip, was fairly tall for a girl and had dark brown hair and green eyes. Nancy ‘B’ knew nearly every detail about her short life and that of her parents, thanks to the research in depth done on the Brissac family by the Time Patrol. Nancy finally had to lie only about the way the GROS GAILLARD had vanished. At the insistence of the governor, she described to him the taking of her ship by the pirates, as well as the tortures and ill treatments she had endured at their hands. She only had to think about her own, too real experience in the basements of the Bastille to paint a convincing look of horror on her face. De Layrle, visibly moved, listened closely to her story before asking less disturbing questions about what she knew about the French government and French customs. Nancy also passed with brio that part of what was really a polite but detailed interrogation.

By the time that supper was announced, the governor had become convinced that Jeanne was telling the truth, reasoning that a girl raised among pirates could not possibly fool him this much. What cemented his favorable impression of her was when, at his invitation in order to test her, Jeanne played the piano and the guitar after supper while singing, on top of conversing in Spanish and in English, two languages which the governor was fluent into. De Layrle exchanged a knowing look with his wife, who nodded her head and whispered in his ear.

‘’Her education is just too good for her to be anything but an aristocrat, Henry. I believe her.’’

‘’I believe her too. Just let me go speak discreetly with De Mézières, to see what he thinks of Jeanne’s answers to my questions.’’

Excusing himself for a moment with Pierre and Jeanne, the governor left the lounge and went to see his assistant-prosecutor, who was hiding in the governor’s office adjacent to the lounge.

‘’So, what do you think, Monsieur De Mézières?’’

The graying functionary had a last look at his notes before answering in a slow, deliberate voice.

‘’Well, Your Excellency, everything she said made sense and fitted with what we know. Her answers about the House of Brissac matched perfectly with my treatise on French genealogy. She even described very precisely the coat of arms of the Brissac,

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which is only a modest noble house that is not known by many people. I still can’t be absolutely certain that this girl is who she says she is without sending a letter to Bordeaux to verify that the Brissac family indeed boarded the GROS GAILLARD. However, I am certain that this is no pirate girl, Your Excellency.’’

‘’Excellent! I agree with you that she can only be a true aristocrat. I don’t believe that sending a letter to Bordeaux will be necessary. Close your inquiry on her and have a certificate in her name prepared for tomorrow morning, indicating her date of arrival in the Guadeloupe. Put her as well in the registries of the colony.’’

‘’It will be done, Your Excellency.’’

The governor then returned to the lounge, both relieved and satisfied, going to Jeanne and gallantly kissing her hand.

‘’Lady Jeanne, I am truly sorry to have forced you to do the long trip to here. Know that I now believe your story and that the registries of the colony will officially list your arrival in the Guadeloupe as Jeanne Marie Céleste de Brissac.’’

‘’Thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Your Excellency!’’ replied Nancy, not needing to simulate her emotion, before kissing de Layrle on both cheeks. The latter then shook hands with Pierre, who was now feeling immense relief wash over him.

‘’Congratulations, Sire Pierre. You now have my blessings to marry your beautiful Lady Jeanne when you wish so. You are of course both invited to stay in my residence until your departure to return to your plantation. In fact, I was planning a ball for tomorrow, to which I have invited all the high society of Basse-Terre. You would make me happy if you could stay and participate in that ball.’’

‘’It will be an honor to do so, Your Excellency.’’ said happily Pierre. On her part, Nancy also smiled, satisfied. The first part of her mission in the Guadeloupe was now nearly complete. There was only one small formality left to conclude it.

14:23 (Guadeloupe Time)

Sunday, July 5, 1846

Church of Saint-François, Guadeloupe

‘’And I thus declare both of you united by the sacred links of marriage. You may now kiss each other.’’

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The small crowd that was present at the ceremony, made up in majority of the black workers of Pierre and their families, shouted with joy as Pierre and Jeanne exchanged a long kiss inside Saint-François’ church. Nancy looked into Pierre’s eyes, real tears on her cheeks.

‘’Pierre, I could not possibly have found a better man than you here in the Guadeloupe. I promise to love you with all my passion and for as long as I will be alive.’’ Many of the women present sighed deeply on hearing that declaration of love, while Pierre caressed her cheek with one hand.

‘’Know that you are everything for me, Jeanne. I now count myself as the luckiest man in the World.’’

The couple then exchanged a second kiss even more passionate than the first one, making more than one female spectator cry.

The marriage ceremony in the church was followed by a party held in the biggest inn of the town, a party that went on until after supper. The newlywed and their employees then returned to the plantation, either by cart or on foot, to continue the festivities there. Pierre and Jeanne stayed together in bed until late next morning, caressing each other and repeatedly making love. They finally decided regretfully to get up and wash, then dress. With Pierre having declared that day as a holiday for his workers, Jeanne made a point of walking around the workers houses with Pierre’s guitar, playing and singing to brighten their day. When she returned to the main residence a few hours later, she found Pierre busy writing a series of letters in his lounge. Approaching him and hugging his back, she rested her head on his shoulders.

‘’To whom are you writing to, Pierre?’’

‘’To my relatives in Louisiana and in France, to announce my marriage to them.’’

‘’Do you still have a lot of relatives in France, Pierre?’’

Pierre gave her an amused look before kissing her on the cheek.

‘’You are now a d’Orléans, Jeanne. You should know that I am actually a distant nephew of King Louis-Philippe. One of these letters is for the King.’’

‘’Oh! Should I be intimidated or flattered by that?’’

Pierre answered her by gently patting her bum.

‘’Nothing of the sort, my sweet Jeanne. Affairs of state and the aristocracy are of no interest to me at all. I was content with living in reasonable comfort here, in the Guadeloupe. Now, I have the most beautiful jewel that I could possibly find.’’

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‘’You flatterer!’’ purred Jeanne while caressing his hair.

Later, as night had fallen, Jeanne left the residence, telling Pierre that she was going to walk through the workers’ houses. Once out of sight, she changed direction and stealthily went to the back of the barn. First making sure that nobody was watching her, she concentrated and mentally activated the space-time distorter implanted in her body, disappearing in a brief flash of white light. Nancy Laplante ‘B’ had another mission to continue in the 17th Century.