Darkling by R.B. Chesterton Read Free Book Online Page A

and original scents.” I lectured as we walked.
    I threw a glance at Annie. This was a continuation of a history lesson started in the early summer, and I wondered if she might be lost. She gave me a smile that said she was willing to catch up as I told it.
    â€œHenri Desmarais was the man who built our house and the Paradise Inn,” Donald told Annie.
    â€œSuck up.” Margo reached out to pinch her brother but thought better of it when she saw I was looking.
    â€œYou’re a bitch, Margo.” Erin was angry. “Why do you have to act so awful to Annie?”
    â€œWhy do you have to act so awful?” Margo mocked her.
    I grabbed Margo’s arm in a none-too-gentle grip. “Stop it. Now.”
    She wanted to defy me, but she didn’t. I was only five years her senior, but I was her teacher and I had the authority of her parents behind me. She broke free of me but kept her mouth shut.
    I caught Erin’s shoulder. “And your language is unacceptable.”
    â€œDid the Desmarais family ever make money on the perfume?” Annie stepped smoothly into the breach.
    â€œThe family suffered much tragedy, which is part of the local legend of Belle Fleur and the Paradise Inn, but they did create two original scents. I never thought to ask if they actually made a profit.” That was a point we could look up in the library books.
    â€œTell Annie about the perfumes,” Erin said. “I wish I could smell them.”
    â€œOne perfume, named Belle Fleur for the house, resembled a blend of wild white jasmine and magnolias and was said to be the favorite of the confederate officers.” I loved this part of Belle Fleur’s legend.
    â€œChloe Desmarais, the young daughter of Henri and Sigourney, was the first to wear it, and Cora said that it could cast a spell on a man. Chloe had many suitors, from what I understand.” It was Annie who spoke, and I turned to her in amazement.
    â€œHow did you know that?”
    â€œWhen Cora said she was bringing me to Coden and the family lived at Belle Fleur, I went to the main library on Government Street and looked up the Desmarais family. In 1860, the newly created scent, Belle Fleur, was produced and had begun shipping to Northern markets as well as the South. The war, though, ruined the family perfume business.”
    â€œThat’s remarkable, Annie.” She was so matter-of-fact with her eager knowledge.
    â€œWhat? That I would look up the history of the place I was going to live?” She made it sound so logical, but it struck me as strange.
    â€œIt’s very … mature.”
    â€œBelle Fleur is my home, and I don’t give a damn what kind of perfumes they made here two hundred years ago. Knowing about Belle Fleur won’t make it your real home, Annie. Can we get this field trip over with?” Margo wiped sweat from her forehead. “I have a date tonight and I don’t want to have to reset my hair. If we fart around here all morning, I’ll have to wash and roll it.”
    â€œYour wish is my command.” I gave her a low bow. “Lead on.”
    â€œStop a moment,” Annie said. “I can smell the flowers. Incredible.”
    She was right. The intoxicating scent of the swamp lilies was suddenly all around us. When we rounded a bend in the path, I saw the lilies. They bloomed everywhere in the natural springs that bubbled around the roots of the trees. The smell was intoxicating. Had the war not destroyed the entire economic structure of the South, the Desmarais family would have been millionaires.
    The rat-a-tat-tat of a woodpecker stopped us in our tracks. With the help of the field glasses, I was able to find the rare pileated woodpecker halfway up a dying wild cherry tree. The bird hammered the bark with its beak. I handed the glasses to Erin, who looked and then passed them to Donald while we stood hushed and observing.
    â€œNote the bird’s size—it is the largest