103. She Wanted Love (15 page)

He did not say so, but he assumed that her parents must have been rich to be able to afford the expense of so much travelling.

And he supposed that for some reason they must now be bankrupt, which was why she was forced to take a position as a Governess.

When the servants left them to enjoy their coffee and liqueurs, the Marquis suggested again,

“Now that we are alone I want you to tell me about yourself. I cannot believe there is not some special reason for your taking a position as Governess.”

“Why should you think that?” Eleta asked him.

“Because you have just told me how far you have travelled and the gown you are wearing must have cost a whole year’s salary in your present position.”

“Of course I should not have brought to your notice two things that are so expensive. I forgot that you would be astute enough to find it strange.”

“Now tell me how you can do it.”

Eleta shook her head.

“You must leave me my secrets, my Lord. All I can tell you is that I have never been so happy as I am at the moment here with Pepe. I am only afraid that you may send me away because in many ways I do admit to having turned the whole place upside down.”

“And it is something I want you to continue doing,” the Marquis said. “I could no more send you away now than blow down the house itself. What you have done for my daughter is beyond any words I can express in English or in any other language.”

“What I have done is to bring out what is hidden in her, while the Governesses who came here before were too stupid to see it.”

She paused for breath before she added,

“She is an unusual, exceedingly bright young lady with a vivid imagination. That I believe must be developed until she becomes her own original person, whom everyone who meets her will admire and love.”

“And, of course, love is the most important thing of all. I know that you are thinking I did not love my daughter enough and left her with people who did not even try to understand her. There is no one to blame but me.”

“You now understand, my Lord, and that is what that really matters. I was so terrified that you would not accept me and insist on going back to everything that is conventional and expected of a child of that age.”

“I understand you have brought out her character, her personality and with that her achievement.”

He paused before he continued,

“Now you have said that she wants love and that, of course, we can be quite certain she will have from me and from you.”

Because Eleta thought that perhaps he was getting a little personal, she added,

“The chef, because she attempts to speak to him in French, is determined she will enjoy her food. I can assure you what we have been eating lately would shock the smart world of Mayfair and doubtless arouse the disapproval of Her Majesty the Queen!”

The Marquis laughed.

“I find the food at Windsor Castle very ordinary and unimaginative.”

“I doubt if they employ a French chef, my Lord.”

“I think it was my mother who engaged him and she, as you can see from the house, enjoyed everything that was delicious and beautiful.”

“It is what we all want and what we hope and pray that we are going to have,” she said.

“It is certainly what you should have,” he replied.

And once again they were looking into each other’s eyes and it was very hard to look away.

The next morning they rose early as the Marquis had said that it was going to be very hot.

He therefore suggested they had breakfast at seven-thirty and went for a ride soon afterwards.

Eleta thought it was an excellent idea and then they could swim later in the cool water of the lake.

She was almost dressed when Pepe came bouncing into her bedroom.

“It will be exciting to go out with Daddy,” she said.

“Of course it will, Pepe, and you will have to show him how well you ride Silver Star.”

“I love Silver Star, but I think I will soon want a much bigger horse.”

Eleta thought that this was doubtful, but she did not want to argue about it, so she just urged,

“Concentrate on showing your father how well you ride and don’t forget to tell Silver Star before you start how lovely he is.”

“I will tell him, of course I will tell him.”

She ran down and found the Marquis in the hall.

“Good morning, darling Daddy,” she cried. “It’s so very exciting to be going riding with you.”

“And I am looking forward to riding with you,” the Marquis replied. “But come in and have breakfast first.”

After breakfast he said to Pepe,

“Run ahead and see that the horses are ready for us. We will join you in a few minutes.”

When Pepe had run off, he turned to Eleta,

“I want to ask you something. I am sending a man to London today with some letters and I thought I would like to buy Pepe a special present.”

“That is a lovely idea,” Eleta enthused.

“I was wondering what I should get her. Do you think a doll, would be right, Miss Lawson?”

“Actually I think what she would love more than anything else is a dog of her own.”

“A dog of her own! I did not think of that.”

“She should have something which she has to bath and brush and see that he has the correct food.”

“In other words – another lesson.”

“Of course it is,” Eleta replied. “Pepe has to learn to think about other people. As she has no children of her own age to think about, a dog is the next best thing.”

“Of course it is and you are very wise.”

“There is a man in Chelsea,” Eleta went on, “who has young dogs already house-trained and has, I am told, a large selection.”

“Do you know the address?” the Marquis asked.

“Yes, I do, and I will write it down for you.”

Eleta ran to the nearest room to the writing desk and wrote down the address, which she had remembered, and took it back to the Marquis.

As she handed it to him, he said,

“I was just thinking that you always give me an answer I don’t expect. That is unusual in women and I find it very interesting.”

Eleta was just going to reply when the Head Groom came running through the front door.

“My Lord! My Lord!” he cried. “Her Ladyship’s been kidnapped!”

“
Kidnapped
!” the Marquis exclaimed.

“Yes, my Lord, and this be what they left behind.”

He handed the Marquis a piece of dirty paper.

Without asking permission, Eleta bent over his arm to look at it and on it was written,

“If you wants your dorter back, leave ten thousand p by pool in wood. If you come looking for her, she die.”

The Marquis stared at the piece of paper as if he could not believe what was written on it.

Eleta gave a cry.

”Who are these men – and how have they – taken her?” she asked the Head Groom hesitatingly.

“Lady Priscilla were a-talkin’ to ’er horse, Silver Star. I were inside the stable gettin’ the ’orses ready for ’is Lordship and then these two men seized the reins and pulls her out into the paddock. And when I ’ears the stable boy shoutin’ I goes out and ’e shows I the piece of paper. Then I sees them and her Ladyship disappearin’ in the distance.”

“I cannot believe it,” the Marquis cried. “We must go after them at once!”

“You see what the note says,” Eleta said, “and I think that would be a mistake. They might hurt Pepe.”

“Then what are we to do?” the Marquis asked.

“I think, although they have not said so, that they are hiding in the cave,” Eleta replied.

“The cave?” the Marquis questioned.

“Yes, the cave that I was told is dangerous. Pepe wanted to explore it, but I would not let her do so until I had talked to you about it first, my Lord.”

“How can we be sure they will be there?”

“There is nowhere else for them to hide as far as I can see,” Eleta replied, “and they would have from there a very good view of the wood where they want you to leave the money.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” the Marquis murmured.

He was staring at the paper as he was speaking as if he could hardly believe what he had read.

“I have another idea,” Eleta said after a while.

“What can it be?” the Marquis asked.

“I will go to the cave alone to be with Pepe.”

The Marquis stared at her.

“You would really do that, but they will take you prisoner as well.”

“Now listen. It is coming to me as if someone is telling me what to do.”

She thought, although she did not say so, that it was either God or Pepe’s angel who was telling her that this was the only way to save Pepe.

The Marquis and the Head Groom were waiting in astonishment as she went on,

“What I will do when we think they are settled in the cave, which will not take them long, is to ride through the wood and over to the cave. They will see me coming and, when I reach them, I will say I have been sent by you as you have gone to collect the money from the bank.”

“Supposing they are not there?” the Marquis asked sharply.

“I am almost sure that is where they will be,” Eleta replied. “Strangely enough, when we rode past yesterday, I thought that I saw someone moving in the entrance and then felt that it was just the sunlight and my imagination.”

“What am I to do?” the Marquis asked.

“What I think would be reasonable and, of course, we must take care they don’t hurt Pepe, is to gather all the men you can trust and who own guns and then go round to approach the cave from behind.”

“You mean so that they will not see us.”

“Exactly,” Eleta agreed. “It will take you quite a time, but if you go round by the road and then approach the cave from behind, I am sure you will not be seen, because behind it there are trees and I thought, although I only had a glimpse of them, that there are bushes too.”

“Aye, they be there,” the Head Groom said. “They makes it impossible for people to approach the cave that way unless they crawl through ’em.”

“That is exactly what we want,” Eleta exclaimed.

She looked up at the Marquis.

“If you and the men you can trust crawl up from the back, then I think if they are watching the wood for you to bring the money, they will have no idea that you are there until you suddenly come round to the front.”

“I understand what you are saying. I suppose there is no other way of rescuing Pepe. How many men do you think there are, Abbey?”

The Head Groom shook his head.

“There be only two as took ’er Ladyship away,” he replied, “but I’ll ask the others who were groomin’ the ’orses if they knows anythin’ about ’em.”

“This means they have read all the reports written on you in the newspapers,” Eleta remarked. “They might have come from London to extort money from you.”

“Perhaps it would be easier to give it to them – ”

Eleta thought for a moment and then she replied,

“I still think I ought to be with Pepe. She will be terrified and you must decide the best way to rescue her. But the longer she is with them alone, the worse it will be.”

“Yes, of course,” the Marquis agreed. “At the same time I want to speak to the groom who was holding Silver Star when the men appeared.”

“There is something I want to fetch from upstairs,” Eleta said. “I will meet you in the stables.”

The Marquis walked off with the Head Groom and she ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

She then opened the case where she had hidden her father’s revolver. It had been locked after her dresses had been taken out and the revolver was lying on the bottom with its bullets beside it.

She loaded it and then thrust it into the front of her blouse.

As it was so hot, she had been intending to ride without a coat and she thought it would be a mistake to take a coat now as it would invite the men to search her.

They would not notice the revolver underneath her muslin blouse and actually it was very uncomfortable, but she did not worry about that.

She then had a sudden thought and went into the boudoir where all Pepe’s toys had been taken.

Along with the doll’s house and a number of dolls and some tin soldiers was a flag. It was only a small one and had obviously been used in one of her games.

The flag was a Union Jack and Eleta pulled it off the stick and tied on a large white handkerchief in its place.

Then she ran downstairs and out through the back door, as it was the quickest way to the stables.

The Marquis was already there talking to the stable boy, who had been holding Silver Star and the other boys were all listening intently to what he was saying.

As Eleta joined them, she heard him say,

“Them weren’t black, but then them weren’t white. Them looked foreign-like, if you knows what I mean.”

The Marquis looked round at the others.

“Have any of you here seen any foreigners of that description in the village?”

Then an older stable boy piped up,

“Them be laughing in the shop as them says three men comes in and asks where Teringford Court be. Them be just opposite the gates and they thinks they be stupid.”

“Did he say what they looked like?” the Marquis asked.

The boy scratched his head trying to remember.

“I thinks someone says them be foreign ’cos them talked in a funny way, but I weren’t listening no more.”

“I was sure when I read that note,” Eleta said in a low voice, “that they are foreigners and now I think about it perhaps they are French Africans.”

The Marquis stared at her.

“Why on earth should you think that?” he asked.

“They have written ten thousand pounds with a ‘p’ after it instead of the way we write it. That is exactly the way the Arabs in that part of Africa write.”

“Perhaps you are right, but what is more important than anything else is that as far as we know now there are only three of them. Therefore we should have no difficulty in coping with that lot.”

“I will be there to comfort and protect Pepe,” Eleta insisted.

She looked at the Head Groom.

“Give me a horse,” she asked him, “that will not be upset if it is tied up to a tree or post below the cave.”

“There won’t be much there, miss, but if you rides old Samson, he’ll not wander away far and we’ll ’ave no difficulty when we gets there in catchin’ ’im.”