Versailles Palace
Dim sunlight filled the palace’s cavity. Sharp shafts of light shimmered on the decorative gold moldings. A distant sound, barely perceptible, echoed. Marie Antoinette, in her flimsy night dress, caught her breath and swallowed hard. What could that be? I see no one. The sound came again. Marie listened. She looked around, she saw no one, nothing, nothing but for her reflection. Tall mirrors, short mirrors, wide mirrors all framed in glittering gold. Her widened eyes caught the light as she turned to the sound. The sound of a muffled laugh. She bit her lip. But there is no one here, where would it be? She called, “Hallo.” Her voice reverberated. She walked towards the sound. It bounced off all the hard surfaces, mirror, wood, moldings, it got louder. She clasped her hands over her ears, but the sound boomed like she had an ear trumpet. Her night dress caught at the bottom of the column, she fell forward and stumbled over her feet. She gathered herself up, her heart pounding too many beats.
Hall of Mirrors
There it is, the laugh, its coming from the column at the wall. She put her ear to the column. Nothing. She gulped, swallowed her breath and slid her hand over the column’s edges. There it is again, that muffled laugh. Bang, a door smashed open right in front of Marie’s face. “Yikes.” Out popped her husband, a small jeweled box in his hand, he in his night dress, void of his powdered wig , slight of girth, tall and handsome, just the right size to squeeze into the boxy column.
Wall columns in hall of mirrors
She gasped and pushed her lips together, her hand over her heart, “Oh Louis, I will whip you for this.” He stuck out his hand and grabbed hers. He pulled her to him, so close their lips almost touching.
“My sweet wife, how could you be so crass? Might my peace offering dissuade you?”
“Chocolates. Chocolates from France.Yes, I can be dissuaded.” She said as she placed the delicate bon bon in her mouth.
His gaze lingered on her lush lips and said, “Marie, did you remember this day? It is the yearly celebration of our marriage. Will you permit me to take you to my bedchamber so that we can pleasure ourselves?
Marie’s face goes crimson as her mouth drops open. She glances with apprehension at Louis. She takes a breath, her mouth dry.”What would you like to have then Louis?”
He tilts his head to one side and smiles his oh-so-special smile at her. “I would like to have you.”
“This one time Louis, I will be what it is you like.”
What are you doing this chocolaty day? How are you celebrating the world of love? What do you remember from days like this that have passed?
Happy Valentine’s Day. Enjoy your bon bon’s.
A brief history of Versailles from Wikipedia:
The Palace of Versailles or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles.
When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
Gail, I love this little vignette! I think it’s a fabulous idea to combine your knowledge of architecture with fiction. I’d love to read more.
Thanks Suze. I can do more, but a different era, or continue this one, but it doesn’t have a happy ending. they both get beheaded. There is a great deal to be told about the era. We’ll see. It gets me storytelling.
On valentine’s day I invited my 5 birthday party committee for Cold Stone red velvet cake, strawberry ice cream, chocolate covered valentine heart shaped cake. We ate and gabbed and smiled a lot. All of us have lost our husbands so Valentine’s day is not the same. Lorraine
Gail,
This reads like a scene from a historical romance. I love the way you’ve written it around a famous person.
Clever story, Gail. Love how he comes out of the column to surprise her with chocolates! My hubby and I had a quiet night at home. He made baked sea scallops and lobster tails–my favorite. Not great for my cholesterol, but very tasty. He’s a sweetie! I love him more than dark chocolate and coconut<3
Lovely, Gail! I was really there, my senses engaged. Now I want to take a trip (in time as well as space). Hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day! Arizona and I didn’t do anything on the day, but we’re planning a little romantic getaway this weekend 🙂
Very nice Gail!! I hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day. I had a nice dinner with my favorite guys (Hubby and my two sons), then we watched Skyfall. While eating cupcakes….
What a delightful story! 🙂 You left me with big smiles. And yes, I did receive a chocolate lollipop with my roses.
Thank you Katy. I had fun writing the story. Imagine, they were kids, two kids on the French throne, making lots of poor decisions. When the people cried “we have no bread,” Marie Antoinette said “Let them eat cake.” They were both beheaded.
I was waiting for more! Happy Valentine’s Day. Dinner with my Valentine
Marian, thank you. Maybe storytelling is what I need to do each week and combine it with what the blog is about, history of architecture and interior design. It’s funny how this blog evolved. I was going to write about columns. They are functional, aesthetic works of architecture. I thought how can I storytell along with the architecture. Columns are a great subject. While in the midst of my career in interior design and architecture, I specified columns for various reasons.