I was a pretty girl, – and a good thing too, Maman said. It was a good thing because Daniel began to court me long before I left school, – in those days, we left school at the age of 12.
Daniel’s family was the richest in the village, and he was the eldest son. That made no difference in France, for, thanks to our great Napoleon, children all get the same when it comes to inheritance. Yet being the eldest did make a difference, so Maman said. Good things would come his way.
It started the way these things do. Daniel sat with the boys and I sat with the girls, but we used to look at each other…. and sometimes Daniel winked at me when no-one was looking… I didn’t dare. If anyone saw me…. But once I think our Teacher saw him! and though he could have told him off, he did not…. There’s nothing wrong with looking, is there? Sometimes after school, Daniel walked behind me. I suppose it was to be near me, and to look at me, for he didn’t say anything. One day he walked along beside me, though there wasn’t much room, with the bracken bursting onto the path… so he had to walk close. I felt his hip close to mine through my skirt…what could I say? At least I always washed as much as I could – not like some girls who, frankly, smelt – let alone the boys. Washing was difficult, – it was usually a dip in the tub once a month, but I would take some extra time when it was my turn to fetch the water, and find some time to wash myself. This brought its own difficulties, for Maman knew exactly how long it took to walk to the well and back…. what she didn’t know was how many other women were waiting at the well for water…. that’s the excuse I would give, anyway.
Maman was not stupid. It wasn’t long before she told me it was time we invited Daniel and his family to spend the day with us. She had talked about this with Papa she said. “It’s better this way,” she said to me, “then at least you’ll know where you are. There’ll be no getting into trouble in our family.” It was a pity there were so many of them, for we would have to show we were a decent family and knew how to welcome people. This meant good food on the table, and plenty of it. “Never mind the work,” Maman said “it seems Daniel really likes you. Papa is very pleased, his family has some land next to ours, so it would be a good thing….” My heart sang, it would be pointless me liking a boy if Maman and Papa were against it.
“You will have to help me,” said Maman. “We have the sausages, but we must have pate en croute and meat pies…We must make extra butter, and buy some sugar which will cost money. I shall make some blueberry and raspberry tarts with mixed fruit so that the two colours set each other off…blue, red, blue, red all the way round. I shall make some sweet pastry with apple…and the bread, we will have to make fine white bread specially, we can’t give them our everyday bread….”
Such a to-do there was! Scrubbing, for the house must be spotless, polishing for the furniture must be polished, and washing for the curtains must be washed! We were going to start in the front room which we hadn’t used since Grandma died. I had to put in extra time on the vegetable garden, weeding and all that, as Maman had to do all this work for me and my young man! But was he my young man? You will soon see for yourself.
The great day came. We were all in our best clothes, which were not very comfortable for us children as they never fitted properly, we were either just growing into them or just growing out of them. The worst of all were the shoes, mostly we wore clogs. We just got used to these, but the shoes! How were we going to smile when our toes were pinched? Maman said not to worry, for we would not stay in the front room long, and when we were all sitting at table, no-one would be able to see our feet, so we could take our shoes off if we wanted….
Daniel’s father knocked on the door. Behind him was his mother with a baby, two brothers and three sisters. And Daniel, looking very handsome in his best white shirt. Of course, Papa knew Daniel’s father, they had worked together in the forest, and last year Papa was part of the team that brought in their harvest, so they had eaten together before, but this was different. Maman admired the baby, – and this broke the ice. She knew Daniel’s mother too, for all the women knew each other and gossiped when they did the laundry. “Let’s sit down,” said Maman, “when the young people have eaten, they can change their shoes and go out to play.”
“And we can have a talk,” said Daniel’s father.
It didn’t take us long to eat the fine bread, and the meat pies, tarts and apple slices…. Oh, they were good! None of us talked, we were too busy eating. All of a sudden, it was all gone!
“Out you go!” said Papa firmly, and so we did. I never knew what the grow-ups talked about exactly, though I knew that part of it was about Daniel and me. What was more important, – Daniel took my hand as we walked through the cottage garden. “You will be my girl, won’t you? You will dance with me at next summer’s fete, won’t you?” he asked shyly. I squeezed his hand. There was nothing I would like better! I loved dancing and I loved Daniel. He would be mine and I would be his girl: that’s how it would be. Daniel leant forward and kissed me on the cheek. He bristled with hair and it felt so funny!
When we went back inside the house, Papa was sitting next to Daniel’s father. They spoke together. “It’s all settled: you will spend Sunday afternoons getting to know each other, and as soon as you are old enough (this was to me) we’ll have the wedding, the finest wedding in the village for many a year!”
If you want to listen to the audio version, the link is here:
https://charlotteswonderfulstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/recording0026.wav
(The answer to last month’s riddle was – the rabbit!)
Charlotte's Wonderful Stories 