Survivor by Lesley Pearse Page A

ways, parents themselves, and worldly enough to be aware of the
     dangers young girls can get into. They would be a good influence too, and
     inspiration for Mari. But how could we let her go?’
    ‘You coped
     in America, under hideous circumstances, and you were far younger than Mari. But
     before we give that any serious consideration, we need to get the truth out of her,
     and I think that must be in Etienne’s hearing.’
    ‘Perhaps we’ve got it all
     wrong?’ Belle said hopefully.
    ‘Pigs might fly!’ Mog
     retorted. ‘We’ve both got too much experience of girls going astray to
     hope for a more innocent explanation. We should do it tonight, after the boys have
     gone to bed.’
    Belle and Mog put their anxieties about
     Mariette on hold when the rest of the family arrived home. They all had supper
     together, and Mog saw the two boys off to bed just after seven. When she came
     downstairs, Etienne was still sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper
     while Mog and Mariette finished off the washing-up.
    Mariette hung up the tea towel to dry
     and then went to leave the room.
    ‘You can come back in here, and
     close the door,’ Belle said sharply.
    ‘Why?’ Mariette asked.
     ‘I was only going to get a book to read.’
    ‘We have things we need to talk
     about,’ Belle said. ‘Now, sit down there by your papa.’
    ‘What is this?’ Etienne put
     down his newspaper and looked at Belle in puzzlement.
    ‘Mari has something to tell
     you,’ Belle said. ‘In fact, she has something to tell us all. Come on,
     Mari, we want the name of this boy you’ve been seeing!’
    Etienne was fond of saying he was an old
     man now but, at fifty-eight, he still had all his hair, his body was lean and fit,
     his eyes had lost none of their sparkle, and he was still as strong as a horse.
    ‘You’ve been unusually helpful today – has that got something to do with
     this?’ he said, looking hard at his daughter.
    Mariette blushed. ‘It was just a
     boy, nothing special. And it’s all over now,’ she said quickly.
    ‘Name?’ Belle roared at her.
     ‘I already know, I just want to hear you say it.’
    Mariette quaked visibly.
     ‘Sam,’ she whimpered. ‘I couldn’t tell you, I knew you
     wouldn’t approve.’
    Etienne looked stunned, but more by
     Belle’s anger than by the name because he couldn’t think of anyone
     called Sam.
    ‘How could you expect us to
     approve of you going off alley-catting with any boy?’ Belle asked, her voice
     harsh and cold. ‘But that man! He’s at least twenty-five, uncouth,
     always getting into fights and full of himself. You have clearly been lying to us
     constantly in the past weeks in order to see him. Why is that, Mari?’
    ‘Because I knew you’d be
     like this,’ Mariette retorted.
    ‘Is this the blond Australian
     sailor?’ Etienne asked, looking aghast.
    Belle nodded.
    ‘In that case, I agree totally
     with your mother. He’s an animal, drunk every night, and I’ve heard
     other men say their girls aren’t safe around him.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Papa,’
     Mari said pleadingly. ‘You are right about him, but I didn’t realize it
     at first.’
    ‘Just the fact that you were
     meeting him in secret tells me you knew full well that he was a bad lot. How far has
     this gone?’
    Mariette folded her arms, looked
     insolently at the kitchen wall and didn’t answer.
    ‘Answer me, Mari,’ Etienne
     commanded. ‘Have you been lovers?’
    Her silence was his answer, and his face
     flushed withanger. ‘You are barely
     eighteen. You have your whole life ahead of you, and you’d throw it all away
     for a roll in the hay with someone as worthless as him. Are you pregnant?’
    He looked at Belle and Mog, waiting for
     them to confirm or deny this.
    Belle shrugged. ‘I don’t
     know. I wasn’t sure till now that it had gone that far.’
    ‘Mariette! You will tell us all
     now,’ Etienne roared. ‘Are you pregnant?’
    She continued to avoid