‘Leave it to me,’ said the Duc. ‘My cousin was telling me about this man and how pleased Jean-Pierre was with him. Said his boys were getting too old for a tutor now. They’ll be going to their university soon. But they still get coaching for two or three days a week. I’ll ask.’ He shook his finger at my father. ‘You will be most unwise to engage anyone else until you have seen Léon Blanchard.’
‘We must certainly see the man,’ said my father. ‘It is good of you, Duc, to take such an interest.’
‘Nice boys,’ said the Duc. ‘Look as if. hey should have the best.’
The Duc de Soissonson spent three days with us. He talked a great deal to my father and continued to chide him for shutting himself away from his friends. My father presented Charlot to him, and because I felt that Lisette was more hurt to see her son left out than she had been for herself, I arranged that Louis-Charles should be presented to the Duc at the same time.
He was a little vague and seemed unsure which boy was his friend’s grandson but he was very complimentary about them both. After he had gone, my father said: I hope he doesn’t forget about the tutor. He can be a little vague.’
But the Duc did not forget and in less than a week after his departure, Léon Blanchard came to see us.
We were all impressed by Léon Blanchard. There was about him an air of dignity and a certain indifference whether or not he was employed, which was unusual in someone applying for a post. Not that there was anything insolent in his demeanour—far from it. His manners were impeccable. My father said to me afterwards that it was probably because several others were trying to secure his services.
His dress proclaimed him to be something of a dandy; his white wig accentuated his blue eyes which were startling in his dark face; his high cheekbones and lean looks were quite attractive. His clothes were of good though far from gaudy material, his shoes sturdy but of fine good leather. He had a pleasant voice and because his manner and speech and everything about him suggested a man of breeding he was treated as such.
He was in my father’s private sitting-room when I was called in to meet him.
My father said: ‘You had better tell Monsieur Blanchard what will be required.’
Monsieur Blanchard took my hand and bowed over it. He could have come straight from Versailles.
‘I am very glad that you have come to see us, Monsieur Blanchard,’ I said.
‘I could not ignore a command from the Duc de Soissonson, Madame,’ replied Monsieur Blanchard, smiling.
‘Oh, was it a command?’
‘A very urgent request. The Duc is anxious that I shall be of help to you.’
‘Then I hope we can come to some arrangement.’
We talked about the boys and what they had learned so far. He shook his head gravely implying that they must certainly be in need of his tuition.
‘It would be my pleasure to take on that task,’ he said. ‘But it may well be that your boys need a full-time tutor.’
‘That was what we were hoping for,’ I said.
‘Then, Madame, I cannot be of service. I have two charges whom I must see into the university. They are advanced and I spend three days at the Château de Castian. They are connections of the Duc de Soissonson, as you are probably aware. I could not desert them at this stage and in the circumstances would only have four days a week to spare here. You see how I am placed.’
My father said: ‘These boys you are teaching … I understand they will in due course go to the university.’
‘Indeed they will, Monsieur le Comte, but until they do I am in duty bound to stay with them.’
‘It does not sound very difficult to me. You could spend four days of each week here and the other time with your present pupils. How would that work out?’
‘Excellently, if it were not necessary to tie me down. I could come here and teach your boys for four days of the week. But there might be a time when I would feel it necessary to give an extra day to my original pupils …who … forgive my saying so … have first claim on me.’
‘It does not seem an insurmountable problem,’ I said.
Then we laughed and chatted and it was agreed that Léon Blanchard should come to us for part of the week and if he should need a day off to spend with the boys of Castian, no obstacle would be put in the way of his taking it.
When he left we had agreed that he should start at the beginning of the next week.
After he had left my father said he thought it was an excellent arrangement. It would give us a chance to see how we liked each other.
I was pleased to see my father in an almost merry mood. I had Léon Blanchard and the boys to thank for that.
So Léon Blanchard came into our household and he appeared to be a great asset.
