CHAPTER 26
When they arrived at the lighthouse it was just dusk and the warm glow of the keeper’s cottage was very welcoming. When they entered they were greeted by a mass of fairy lights that Uncle Bernard had strung up all around the room and through the hull of the unfinished boat that dominated the room. The table lit by two large candelabra, had been placed at the centre of the room and was loaded with delicious looking food. There was a log fire too.
It looked as if Uncle Bernard had been at the fish market in Royan and bought as much delicious looking shellfish as he could find. The whole table had food laid out in the shape of a sailing boat. The hull and the sails were made of delicious looking salads, all green red and purple from the lettuce leaves, mini tomatoes and chopped beetroot. The boat carried a huge mountain of prawns and langoustine in its net. And underneath the boat, looking for all the world like the sea and the waves were oysters, still in their half shells. Uncle Bernard stood by the table with a huge grin on his face. “Well, what do you all think of my painting?” he laughed. “Maybe not as good as Isabelle’s but tastier, don’t you think?”
“How lovely and I just loves les hûitres, or oysters to you two,” she said as she tousled the twins hair.
“Hooray! It looks like Christmas.” cried the twins.
Uncle Bernard went into the kitchen and returned carrying a tray with seven glasses and in the centre a bottle of champagne. He opened the bottle so that the cork popped out and shot off up to the ceiling. Everyone laughed. He poured out a glass of champagne for all and half glasses for the twins who thought champagne tasted awful. Jennifer didn’t really like it either but she felt very sophisticated as she took a sip.
“A toast to Uncle Bernard,” said Thierry.
“Uncle Bernard! Happy Birthday.” said everyone.
“ And a toast to a successful mystery! I have heard today that the rest of the gang of smugglers has been caught thanks to the efforts of the twins and the Three Musketeers. Now, you must eat all this food,” grinned Uncle Bernard.”
“Uncle Bernard,” said Jack his mouth full of prawns, “why didn’t you tell us all how to get to the windmill? You knew all along didn’t you?
Uncle Bernard’s eye’s twinkled, “It would have spoiled all the fun. I have been young too and I always saw a mystery in everything. Even an old discarded bottle of whisky left on the beach!” he winked at the twins.
“And how, Uncle Bernard, when we had the key, did the smugglers manage to open the large door to the moulin asked Jennifer.
“Oh that’s easy,” replied Uncle Bernard. ”They obviously took a wax impression and made a new key themselves. Smugglers are very clever these days.”
“And how did you know that Jack and I were on the beach when the smugglers were there?” asked Claire.
“Let me show you. You sit at that table over there, Claire, where I sat when you looked in at the window and I’ll go outside and pretend to be you.”
Uncle Bernard went outside and peered through the window just as the twins had done that night. “Oh! No.” gasped Jack and Claire.
Uncle Bernard came back inside, laughing. “Now do you understand?”
“The mirror,” the twins squealed in unison, “You saw us in that mirror next to the fireplace.”
“Yes, I certainly did and the full moon behind you gave me the perfect view.
Now come on everyone let’s eat!”
When they had eaten the food and finished the champagne, Uncle Bernard said they should all go outside and stand on the sand and look back at the lighthouse.
Thierry took Jenny’s hand and ran to the water’s edge. Aunty Izzy followed with Aliénor and the twins galloped around everywhere like tiny Shetland ponies.
“I think my brother likes Jenny very well,” said Aliénor.
“I think you are right,” replied Aunty Izzy.
They all stood with their backs to the sea and looked up in wonder as Uncle Bernard set off a chain reaction of fireworks and then ran down to join them carrying Blanca.
The lighthouse was lit up with rockets and stars and moon shapes and fireworks that banged and fizzed and were all colours of the rainbow.
And, as the feu d’artifice created a wonderful and crazy spectacle, the stately beam of the lighthouse calmly and reliably flashed on and off.
The twins and Blanca were so excited with the fireworks that they turned cartwheels on the beach.
The Three Musketeers gazed at the magical sight and, as Jenny turned to look at Thierry, he kissed her on the cheek. She was pleased that he could not see the colour of her face and she felt that her heart was fizzing just as much as the Catherine wheels. “So now, Jenny, you know what feu d’artifice means,” laughed Aliénor who had seen the kiss.
Jennifer certainly felt that she suddenly knew the meaning of feu d’artifice and as she looked up towards the lighthouse her eye caught a slight movement in the forest behind it. Suddenly a repeater rocket rose up and crashed over the lighthouse and burst into a thousand orange stars. Just as the second burst began Jenny saw the girl on the palomino horse appear in a clearing and gaze out to sea. The green stars began to fall in a shower as Jeanne raised her gloved hand and pushed her hair away from her face. As the third burst brought a shower of blue stars she turned the horse toward the forest and slowly faded away. Jenny looked up at the sky in the direction the girl had taken and saw Orion. Still holding Thierry’s hand, she turned towards him and smiled. He and the others were still looking towards the lighthouse oblivious that Jeanne and Palome had come to say goodbye.
“Look, Aunt Izzy, there’s Orion just above the pine forest and behind the lighthouse,” said Jennifer pointing to where the girl on the palomino had just been.”
“Oh no, Jennifer,” cut in Uncle Bernard who had been listening to Jenny with interest. ”It can’t be Orion! That constellation is not in the northern sky at this time of year. It doesn’t return to our skies until much later in the year. So, Jennifer, you must have imagined it, or been seeing in to the future.” he laughed.
“Perhaps we have been seeing not the future, but the past,” said Aunt Izzy under her breath as she winked at Jenny.
Nobody wanted to say goodbye and as the fireworks fizzled out they all lingered on the beach. It was Uncle Bernard’s booming voice that broke the silence.
“You must all come to see us in Paris,” said Uncle Bernard.
“We would love to, “shouted Jennifer, the twins and Aunty Izzy.
“Good that’s settled then. The Easter holidays when the weather is nice will be best for me.”
“Hooray!” shouted the twins and chased Blanca round in circles.
“Three cheers for Uncle Bernard,” called Jenny, and they all joined in.
“Hip hip hooray! Hip hip horray! Hip hip hooray!”
The End
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