Charlie so very RARELY let the children play in the street ------------ it wasn’t SAFE to be seen in the light of day, after all;; though Paris was a massive city ( easy, coincidentally, to DISAPPEAR in ), it was never worth getting into TROUBLE over. The children were getting restless, and it was difficult to sate them with only the COURTYARD or walks after dark. It couldn’t be too dangerous, she’d supposed, for just an HOUR or two while she sat on the steps outside the house --------- she couldn’t play after all, not in HER condition, but was pleasant to sit in the sun for a while, relax.
She’d been there for a WHILE, when a figure caught her eye. Her daughter, a few yards away, sensed her mother’s sudden APPREHENSIVE air and stopped, grabbing her cousin’s arm.
“ CHILDREN, go back inside. ”
Charlie got herself to her BARE feet, steadying herself on the door as it closed behind her daughter and nephew. Her stare was particularly fixed, READY --------- no one came around there, there was no NEED to check on the poor, crippled Robespierre brother, and rumours of her presence were, of course, entirely UNSUBSTANTIATED.
“ Who are you, and what do you WANT, monsieur ?? ”
There was no kind of hospitality to her voice, no chance that she could END this without some kind of physical violence --------- this was her turf, after all, and the retribution for TRESPASS could be quite spectacular.