108. An Archangel Called Ivan (12 page)

‘I should have left things as they were,’ she said to herself.

Even as she spoke, she knew that she had brought a new life and happiness not only to the family but to the household and to the village as well as to those who lived nearby.

‘All the same I must be careful, very careful,’ she repeated to herself as she bent to kiss the twins goodnight.

There was a huge roar of applause as Johnnie beat the other three boys he was swimming against.

He had certainly improved extraordinarily in the short time they had been joined at the lake by a number of guests.

“Your swimming pool,” one of the mothers said to Arliva, smiling, “is very much better than ours. I hope you will not mind if we turn up nearly every day.”

“It’s very good for Johnnie and the girls to have companions,” Arliva replied.

“You are quite right,” the mother agreed. “I often thought in the past that they looked rather lonely as if they were not enjoying themselves as they ought to do at that age.”

It was a compliment that Arliva was receiving over and over again.

She mused to herself that she had certainly brought a new atmosphere to Wilson Hall and its occupants.

The number of servants had increased considerably and they seemed happy too. They were always thinking of new cakes and puddings to tempt the children’s appetites, not that they really needed tempting.

Arliva was pleased to see that both the girls seemed to have grown a little while Johnnie was definitely much stronger than he had been when she arrived.

More and more of Lord Wilson’s relations came to stay and they were obviously delighted at what they found.

They did not leave without saying that they would be coming back very shortly.

‘What I have think about of now,’ Arliva said to herself, ‘is something special for the winter.’

The idea of producing a Nativity play at Christmas passed through her mind.

But she thought more important still that they must have something to keep them energetic, which their new friends in the County could join in.

As Johnnie and the boys he had been swimming against came out of the water, the girls were ready for their race.

They were all slightly older than Rosie and Daisy, but at Arliva’s suggestion they had practised early every morning before the party and she was sure if they could not win they would certainly not be last.

The Vicar, who had been extremely interested in all that was happening up at The Hall, had undertaken to be the referee at the swimming races.

He now began to give them their orders and to tell them that he would count up to three before he called out the word ‘
go
’ when they would plunge into the water.

They lined up at the far end of the lake.

As they did so, Arliva, looking back, saw a young boy running towards her from the wood.

She wondered why he was coming and then saw from the way he was dressed that he was not one of their visitors.

As he was running very fast towards her, she began to walk towards him.

He was breathless by the time he reached her from having run so fast.

She did not recognise him and thought that he must be from the village.

“Are you looking for me?” she began. “What is it you have come to tell me?”

Jerkily, because he was out of breath from running so fast, he answered,

“There’s been – an accident in the wood to a little girl, miss, and – they wants you there.”

Arliva looked back towards the lake and saw that the race had already started and the grown-ups were all cheering on the child they wanted to win.

“I will come and see what I can do to help. What has happened?” she asked.

The boy, however, was already running back.

She thought that it would save time if she went with him at once rather than cross-examine him.

She therefore hurried after him.

But he ran very quickly and he reached the wood well before she did.

There was an opening where there had once been a gate and from here there was a path between the trees that led to the pool.

As she ran on into the wood, Arliva could see the fairies dancing amongst the leaves. There was quite a lot of them on the fence that surrounded the wood, both at the front and at the back.

The boy had quickened his pace and he slipped into the wood ahead of her.

Because she thought that she might lose him and have some difficulty in finding the child who was injured, Arliva hurried after him and was rather breathless as she reached the opening between the trees.

The boy was now no longer in sight,

But she thought he would be waiting for her a little further on to take her to the accident.

Then as she began to move forward, quite suddenly something, which felt like a blanket, was thrown over her head.

Even as she gave out a little scream of astonishment she was aware that two men, one on either side of her, were picking her up in their arms.

“Put me down!” she cried. “What are you – doing to me?”

It was difficult for her to say the words.

At the same time she realised that she was helpless.

The men were carrying her not too quickly because they were moving between the trees.

Although she tried to push the blanket away with her hands, it was too difficult to do so as the men had their arms tightly and securely round her.

She could not imagine what was happening or why, if there had been an accident, they were behaving in such an extraordinary manner.

Then she became aware that they were leaving the wood, not as she thought on the side that faced the house, but into the lane at the far end of it.

It was a very narrow lane and very little used as it only led from the village up into a farm which was a small and insignificant one somewhere beyond the lake.

She felt the men moving onto the road and then a moment later realised that she was being deposited onto the seat of a carriage.

She tried to scream for help but they were fastening the blanket at her waist and it was impossible for her even to free her hands.

Then her feet were tied together at the ankles.

Without her hearing any word spoken, the horse or horses that were drawing the carriage moved off.

She thought, although she could not be sure, that one man was sitting opposite her in the carriage and the other was in front with the driver.

‘How can this possibly be happening to me?’ she asked herself. ‘Surely I must be dreaming.’

It was very difficult for her to breathe through the thickness of the blanket.

Although she wanted to yell out for help, she knew that it would be just a waste of energy.

The horses, and she guessed now that there were two, were gathering speed. She leant back, because she was afraid of falling forward.

She could not imagine what was going on and why she was being treated in this way.

She wondered what would happen when the party at the lake discovered that she was missing and then there would be no one to tell them what had taken place.

But the swimming would go on for another hour or so before they sat down to the picnic tea she had arranged for them in a tent.

Even then they might think that she had just gone to the house or was likely to turn up at any moment so no one would be anxious.

‘Just how can this be happening to me?’ she asked herself again and again.

But the horses trotted on and on.

Because it was extremely hot and airless, she tried to breathe the best way she could.

It must have been almost two hours later when she was aware that they were moving on far better roads than they had been at first.

The horses then began to slow down and she knew without being told that they were passing through some gates and were now in a drive.

‘Where can I be and what can be going on?’ she questioned as she had asked a thousand times already.

But there was no answer, only the horses coming to a standstill.

She thought that now, at last, she would know who was behaving towards her in this extraordinary manner.

She was taken out of the carriage and up the steps to what she was sure was the front door of a house.

Then the two men were carrying her up a staircase.

It all seemed so incredible and even now she could hardly believe that it was really happening and she was not imagining it.

Then she was put down on what she thought was a sofa and she hoped that, after she had clearly reached her destination, they would at least set her free.

Her hopes were realised.

The men began to undo the rope or whatever it was that bound her legs together and she felt, as it had been so tight, it was at least some relief.

Then she felt the rope round her body being taken away and now she would be able to breathe more easily.

Then to her surprise they did not take the blanket off her, but walked away, she presumed towards the door.

Very slowly, because she was frightened, she lifted the blanket away from her face.

Then, with a huge effort, she managed to throw it off.

She saw that she was in a bedroom, well-furnished and containing a four-poster bed.

She stared round her in sheer astonishment.

Why had she been brought here and who owned this pretty and obviously comfortable room?

She pushed her hair, which had been pressed down by the blanket, off her forehead.

She thought that she had enough strength to rise to her feet, but before she could do so, the door opened.

As she turned her head, she saw that a woman was walking towards her.

She could hardly believe who it was.

Then with a gasp she realised that she was right and it was indeed the Countess of Sturton looking, she thought, as unpleasant as she always thought her to be.

The Countess reached her and then Arliva cried out,

“What is happening? And why have I been brought here in this extraordinary manner? I don’t understand.”

“That is exactly what I have now come to explain to you,” the Countess replied. “I expect, as it’s very hot, you would like a drink of water.”

She went to the washstand, filled a glass and then brought it back to Arliva.

Because her throat was so dry and she felt as if her body was dripping with heat, she drank half of the glass rapidly before she repeated,

“I don’t understand why I have been brought here.”

“That is what I am about to tell you,” the Countess said again.

Turning round a chair that faced the dressing table, she sat down on it.

Arliva pushed the blanket that had covered her onto the floor and then tried to wipe some of the sweat from her forehead.

Then she managed to say in what seemed to her a strange voice,

“I find it very hard to understand what is happening and why you are treating me like this.”

“I should have thought as you are so clever, as your father’s daughter, that you would have guessed by this time that, as I am devoted to my son, I want him to be happy. And I know only too well that his future happiness lies in marrying you.”

The Countess spoke somewhat sharply in a voice that Arliva had heard before, especially when she had been listening to her through the open window at her house in London.

She thought this was extremely odd behaviour on the part of the Countess and it was only with an effort did she manage to say,

“You will, I hope, not think I am rude when I say that I have no wish to marry your son and I am certain he has no real wish to marry me.”

“Of course he wants to marry you,” the Countess said sharply.

It trembled on Arliva’s lips to add, ‘because I am rich,’ however she thought it a vulgar way of speaking and remained silent.

The Countess went on,

“As I want my son’s happiness more than anything else and as I believe that you are the one girl who could make him happy, I am determined that your marriage will take place and it will in a few days’ time.”

Arliva stared at her, thinking that she must have gone raving mad.

But she saw by the expression on her face that she was determined that the Earl should be her husband just as she had suggested it to him when she heard them talking outside her sitting room.

With an effort she tried to sit up a little straighter than she was before and said deliberately quietly,

“I am sorry to disappoint you, Countess, but I have no intention at the moment of marrying anyone, although I am sure that your son is very sincere in his anxiety to be my husband. My answer is still very definitely ‘no’.”

The Countess laughed and it was not a pleasant sound.

“Do you really believe I will accept that? In fact I anticipated how you would behave after I learnt that for some amazing reason I cannot understand you left London and are hiding at Lord Wilson’s house pretending to be the children’s Governess.”

“I wonder who told you that story?” Arliva asked.

Even as she spoke she knew only too well that the relations who had come to stay must have talked of what seemed to them a charming and pretty Governess who had changed everything at Wilson Hall.

Or perhaps one of their servants knew the servants whom the Countess employed. They too would talk of the strange transformation that was happening in the country.

She thought swiftly and somewhat bitterly that she had underestimated her chance of remaining as she was, so happy with the Wilson children and continuing to think up new ideas they would enjoy.

She had forgotten that her disappearance from the Social world was bound to be continually chatted about by gossips.

“I have decided,” the Countess was saying, “that, as you cannot make up your mind and your father and mother are dead, I will take their place and choose a husband for you for which service you should be extremely grateful.”

“I have already said,” Arliva repeated, “that I have no wish to marry anyone and that
includes
your son.”

“In which case I will do what your parents would do if they were alive and choose him for you,” she replied. “They would understand that any girl would be thrilled to have the title Simon can give you.”