now that he had worried unnecessarily. She was like any other woman, she needed to be
dominated. He would have no further problem with her.
Their lovemaking that night surpassed anything that had gone before, possibly,
Gautier thought, because of the added excitement of the slight quarrel they had had.
During the night he said to her, “You really can be a wonderful actress, Noelle. I’m
going to be very proud of you.”
“Thank you, Armand,” she whispered.
Noelle fixed breakfast in the morning, and Gautier left for the theater. When he
telephoned Noelle during the day, she did not answer, and when he arrived home that night
she was not there. Gautier waited for her to return, and when she did not appear he lay
awake all night wondering if she could have been in an accident. He tried to phone Noelle
at her apartment, but there was no answer. He sent a telegram that went undelivered, and
when he stopped at her apartment after rehearsal, no one answered his ring.
During the week that followed, Gautier was frantic. Rehearsals were turning into a
shambles. He was screaming at all the actors and upsetting them so badly that his stage
manager suggested they stop for the day and Gautier agreed. After the actors had left, he
sat on the stage alone, trying to understand what had happened to him. He told himself
that Noelle was just another woman, a cheap ambitious blonde with the heart of a shopgirl
who wanted to be a star. He denigrated her in every way he could think of, but in the end
he knew it was no use. He had to have her. That night he wandered the streets of Paris,
getting drunk in small bars where he was unknown. He tried to think of ways to reach
Noelle but to no avail. There was no one he could even talk to about her, except Philippe
Sorel, and that, of course, was out of the question.
A week after Noelle had disappeared, Armand Gautier arrived home at four o’clock
in the morning, drunk, opened the door and walked into the living room. All the lights
were on. Noelle was curled up in an easy chair dressed in one of his robes, reading a book.
She looked up as he entered, and smiled.
“Hello, Armand.”
Gautier stared at her, his heart lifting, a feeling of infinite relief and happiness
flooding through him. He said, “We’ll begin working tomorrow.”