Paris Kiss by Maggie Ritchie Page B

peaceful.’ Birdsong filtered through the open windows. I leaned towards her. ‘Please, Louise, you can’t leave her in that place. Show some mercy. She’s your sister.’
    Louise screwed up the letter and dropped it on the rug. Her voice was hard. ‘Who are you to lecture me? What do you know about Camille?’
    â€˜I know Camille like I know myself.’
    â€˜Oh really? Where were you when she started to behave like a raving lunatic? And now you come marching in, telling me my duty. You have no idea what our family has had to put up with from Camille over the years, no idea. It’s too much.’
    She stood up and went to the bureau, returning with a bundle of letters. ‘Don’t you think we’ve been through all this before? It’s not the first time the doctors at Montdevergues have tried to go against my family’s wishes. These are from 1920, from a Dr Brunet. He wanted Camille to be let out on a trial basis, said she was calmer.’
    She read from the letter. ‘ Her thoughts of persecution, though not completely gone, are much less pronounced. She would very much like to be with her family and to live in the country. I believe that, in these conditions, we could try to let her out. ’
    She put them back in the drawer and slammed it shut. ‘Maman saw right through that ruse, knew she’d been playacting for the gullible doctor. Camille is a sly one, they all are, it’s part of their sickness.’
    Louise had always been selfish and spoiled, but I thought she might have grown up. She clearly hadn’t: she was as brittle and self-
obsessed as ever. It was hard to listen to her, the way she spoke about Camille, her flesh and blood. I forced back my anger and tried again.
    â€˜Louise, if you could only see Camille, you would be able tell straight away that she is harmless. Won’t you go and visit her at Montdevergues?’ She turned her hard little face to the window. I had tried to rouse her compassion with a gentle appeal to her good nature, but she obviously didn’t have one. I spoke more sharply. ‘Dr Charpenel said Paul has been her only visitor in all these years.’
    Louise flinched then composed her features into an icy mask once more. ‘I can’t possibly leave my family. It’s such a long way, and I am not strong.’ She pressed a lace handkerchief to her temples, as if to show me what a terrible strain she was under. It made me furious and I lost my patience.
    â€˜I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous. I made the journey from England to the South of France and back up to Paris, and you see I am still in one piece, even though I’m older than you. You’re just making excuses.’ I stood up, my fists clenched by my side, and Louise shrank back in alarm. ‘And if you won’t let Camille come with me, why don’t you have her live here? There’s nothing to stop you, there’s plenty of room, and it is her family home too, after all.’
    Louise looked horrified. ‘Are you mad, also, Jessie? Camille cannot come here; she’s not fit to live with decent people. I have children, and they can’t be exposed to Camille’s vices.’ She returned to the bureau and found another document. ‘We’ve had regular reports over the years. In this one it states that Camille had a period of calm, and then a relapse. The latest one says she’s no better than she was when she was admitted.’ She held out the piece of paper to me. ‘You can read it for yourself if you don’t believe me.’
    I ignored the documents. ‘Obviously she had a relapse, anyone would. Camille thought she was going to get out but when your mother refused to let her out then and made it clear she never wanted her back, all hope was taken from her. And now she’s been abandoned in asylums for years, with no prospect of freedom. Can’t you see it’s a living