Cynthia du Pont

1590's Outside Paris, France
My Papa, an aristocrat, fell in love with my mother, a Gitano on the outskirts of Paris in 1558. When going to town from his country home, he passed by a caravan. Sitting in the back of a wagon he saw a lovely girl. When in town, he ran into her again and they were taken with each other. They were married, but it was annulled by his parents. My Papa never remarried and occasionally saw my Mama when her clan came to Paris. They were very much in love.

At 5 years of age, after being with my Mama's caravan, I was put in a nunnery where I learned to read and write. At 12 years old, I was taken in by a noble's family to read to their children and write correspondences. At 16 years old, I was married to an older man, who treated me kindly, Monsieur Henri du Pont. Upon his death, when I was 22 years old, I rented out his chateau and moved back into the noble's home. I had a beautiful chamber on the southern side of the manor for which to read and stayn standards.

Following in my parents footsteps, I fell in love with a man out my station in life. We had to be content with casual meetings in Paris and writing letters and love poems to each other."

I never knew my Papa, but he paid for my care in the nunnery, which is why I was well cared for. I often wondered, when I passed men on the street of Paris, if one of them was my Papa. He had a small portrait of my Mama painted and had it delivered to me. My Mama has passed on, and I carry the picture everywhere with me. I still meet with my mother's clan on occasion, and do Persian dances around the campfire and listen to wonderful stories of their travels when they pass through the outskirts of Pairs. For a woman of the 1590's I live a very content life.