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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 13:14:34 GMT -5
"Of course," Valmont murmured, laying a cool--though not cold--hand on hers briefly in a comforting gesture. "May I come back and see you?"
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Post by Valerie on Apr 6, 2009 13:18:52 GMT -5
"I suppose," she said flatly, her gaze clouded and unfocused. "You are under no obligation."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 13:29:30 GMT -5
"I do not speak from any," Valmont assured her, and with a bow, took his leave. "My condolences," he said again, and he was gone.
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Post by Valerie on Apr 6, 2009 14:02:11 GMT -5
Valerie took a deep, shuddering breath after he was gone.
What any of this meant, she could hardly tell; but she sorely wished for someone she could recognize...even as she knew they would not appear. She was alone, injured, and evidently losing her mind in a strange city full of strange people.
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Post by Valmont on Apr 7, 2009 11:10:19 GMT -5
**THE NEXT DAY, OR PERHAPS THE DAY AFTER**
Valmont knocked again, with fresh flowers and a box of chocolates in his hand. Valerie would likely still be confused and upset, but if no one was familiar, and he became so, he had a chance at worming his way into her life. To bore away at it from within.
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Post by Valerie on Apr 7, 2009 11:59:56 GMT -5
((Aw. You're sweet. <3 )) "Come in," said Valerie, laying aside a book she'd been trying to read. Some religious tract...it was all the sisters would give her. As it was, her head still ached too much to make any kind of reading pleasant, rather than simply occupying.
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Post by Valmont on Apr 7, 2009 14:36:13 GMT -5
Valmont did so, head first as if to give her fair warning of his presence, to present himself as someone who cared very much about her state of mind.
"Mademoiselle Lambert," he said. "Are you feeling any better?"
The flowers were in one hand, the chocolates under his arm.
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Post by Valerie on Apr 7, 2009 15:03:19 GMT -5
"A little, thank you, yes," she said; and while she could not manage a smile, she was well able to banish her frown for the time being.
"Flowers...and chocolates...thank you, but you needn't do these things."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 7, 2009 16:17:31 GMT -5
"Nonsense," Valmont said, approaching the side of the bed. "I have no doubt the nurses here are taking excellent care of your body," they did his, certainly, "but one needs more nourishment than that."
He replaced the older flowers with the new ones, and set the chocolates on the table next to her. Unspoken was the truth that, so far as he could see, she didn't have anyone else.
"But I am glad to hear you are recovering," he said. "You do look much better." She clearly remembered nothing, so he didn't ask. "Heavens, is that all you have to read?" he exclaimed. "That must be remedied at once."
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Post by Valerie on Apr 7, 2009 16:24:00 GMT -5
"Oh, it's no trouble...I mean, I can't read for long--it gives me a headache to focus, but...well...it's something to do, anyway."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 7, 2009 17:14:51 GMT -5
"Well," he said, reaching into his pocket, "I'm certain you've read it, but you're welcome to borrow it until you can get something new." It was the copy of Jane Eyre he'd had with him before. "Have they... do you know when you might be released?"
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Post by Valerie on Apr 7, 2009 17:36:20 GMT -5
Valerie thanked him quietly as she took the book from him, turning it over in her hands for a moment before she replied.
"It...it is quite likely I will be kept here for some time," she said slowly. "I've no family near enough to see to my care...though I do not know about my in-laws...though perhaps we were not on good terms, I cannot tell. They must have enough to cope with, having lost their son."
She twisted the wedding band on her left hand, feeling at once its familiarity and its strangeness.
"At present all I can do is wait and see if my memory returns, and if I shall ever walk again. I feel I shall know these walls very well, by the end of it all...whatever that end may be."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 7, 2009 18:01:43 GMT -5
Valmont hesitated delicately for a moment, knowing this was the time. But he had to appear humble, suggesting without assuming anything. He didn't know what was wrong with her legs, for one thing.
"If it comes to it," he started, sounding almost apologetic, "I hope you'll consider me. That is, I have a very large house. It wouldn't be a bother at all, to put you up in one of the spare rooms. And I'm certain it would be far healthier for you than this dreary place. You shouldn't even have to see me, unless you want, and you'd have access to a full library. I assure you, it would all be quite above board."
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Post by Valerie on Apr 7, 2009 18:23:42 GMT -5
"I...thank you...but I..."
Valerie was speechless for a moment, struggling to think of what to say.
"I would not wish to impose on you--there is no guarantee that I will ever be well, again. It would be too much to ask you to take such a burden, and I...I hardly know you, monsieur."
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Post by Lavinia on Apr 8, 2009 9:19:19 GMT -5
(*dies*)
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