171. The Marquis Wins (The Eternal Collection) Page 10

  Esmé was concerned only with grasping every penny that she could of Daniela’s fortune.

  ‘I will talk to Daniela tonight and find out what relatives she has,’ the Marquis told himself.

  Equally he was uncomfortably aware that while he had known Lord Seabrooke he could not think of any other male members of the family he had encountered either on the Racecourse or at White’s Club.

  ‘There must be someone,’ he reassured himself confidently.

  But he could not help feeling doubtful.

  *

  In an incredibly short time Daniela came running up the companionway and into the Saloon.

  She was now dressed in a pretty simple gown, which any young girl might have worn in the garden or on casual occasions.

  Because her figure was so good, in fact the Marquis could not help thinking as good, if not better than Cora Pearl’s, she looked very alluring.

  Her eyes were shining and her lips were smiling.

  She seemed part of the fairy story that she believed she was taking part in.

  “I have been very quick,” she told the Marquis, “because your kind valet had already unpacked my clothes. He is such a nice man.”

  “That is what I have always found myself,” he replied, “but you are not to encourage him to gossip.”

  “Why not?” Daniela enquired.

  “Because he talks too much and knows too much,” the Marquis answered.

  It was the sort of remark that would make his usual guests scream with laughter.

  “You mean he knows too much about you?” Daniela asked. “Papa always said that no man could be a hero to his valet.”

  “As far as I am concerned,” the Marquis said, “without being conceited, I think Bowles makes me out to be too much of a hero. In fact he turns my escapades into victories.”

  “Which I expect is what they are,” Daniela replied. “And, as you are a hero to me, Bowles and I will get along very well together.”

  She spoke simply, neither giving him a coquettish glance nor being flirtatious in the sort of way which the Marquis had always found inevitable whenever a woman talked about him personally.

  Instead she stated it just as a fact.

  Then before he could reply she asked,

  “Oh, please, let me see the yacht and I want to inspect the engines, which sound just like the buzz of bees.”

  Good-humouredly and because he was very proud of The Sea Horse, a great deal of which he had designed himself, the Marquis took her on a tour of inspection.

  To his surprise she talked intelligently about everything, and asked questions that occasionally he had to refer to the Captain.

  She was wildly enthusiastic about every gadget, most of which the Marquis knew were different from what was found on most yachts and which he had insisted on being installed.

  She was thrilled by the galley and left the chef beaming with satisfaction when she talked to him about his food, making it obvious to him that she had a special knowledge about cuisine.

  “I’ll cook you something really special for dinner, m’mselle.”

  “I shall look forward to it,” Daniela answered, “and I will not waste a mouthful.”

  The chef had laughed at that.

  “Most of the ladies my Lord has had aboard,” he said, “are so worried about their figures that they don’t eat enough to keep a mouse alive!”

  “Well, I am the exception,” Daniela replied, “and, as I am greedy, please let the menu be a long one.”

  “Now you have offered him a challenge,” the Marquis said as they walked away from the galley. “We shall, if we are not careful, be eating until midnight!”

  “And enjoying ourselves,” Daniela exclaimed.

  The Marquis thought that most women would have said rather that they were enjoying themselves with him and nothing else was of ay interest.

  Again he told himself that Daniela was very young. In a few years she would not be interested in food, but only in the compliments that she would receive from some besotted man.

  They inspected every inch of the yacht from the bow to the stern and Daniela eulogised over the engines.

  Then they sank down in two deckchairs that had been arranged for them under an awning on the shady side of the deck. They were very comfortable chairs made of basketwork with a stool so that they could rest their feet.

  Daniela leaned back against soft cushions.

  “This is so lovely!” she cried ecstatically. “As you are too young to want to go to sleep, will you tell me some of the legends of the Rhine?”

  The Marquis looked at her in surprise.

  “Are you really interested in the legends?” he asked.

  “Of course,” she answered. “Although I know a little about Lohengrin, the Knight of the Swan, I would like to hear you tell me about him and naturally about Brünnhilde, Hagen and Siegfried whose sword decapitated him.”

  The Marquis held up his hands in horror.

  “I will give you a book of all the legends. It’s a long time since I was at school, and I am afraid I have forgotten them.”

  Daniela thought for a moment, then she said in a small voice,

  “I think the truth is – you are finding me – rather a bore and I am – sorry. If you want just to think – I will be very quiet and not – disturb you.”

  The Marquis smiled.

  “We have not been acquainted very long, Daniela, and so far you have certainly not been a bore. In fact everything about you has been dramatic and, when you look back, exciting.”

  “It was the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me – until I heard your voice behind me in the Church,” Daniela said in a low tone. “I had been – trying to think how I could – die before I had to be – alone with the Comte, then suddenly – you were there!”

  It was impossible, the Marquis thought, not to find the sudden lilt in her voice very moving.

  “This morning,” Daniela went on as if she was looking back on it all, “before we entered the Church, I offered my stepmother half my fortune if I did not have to – marry the Comte. I said I would be happy to stay with her if I did not have a – husband I did not – want and –”

  Daniela paused for a moment and then as if she forced herself she finished,

  “ – and who – belonged to her!”

  The Marquis knew that she was once again extremely shocked.

  She was appalled that the Comte should try to marry her at the same time that he was making love to her stepmother.

  Because he thought it was a mistake to encourage her to be introspective he asked quickly,

  “What did your stepmother reply?”

  “She said, ‘why should I accept half a loaf when I can have the whole?’”

  “Forget her!” the Marquis said sharply. “At least for the moment.”

  Then, as he realised that it was really not possible, he went on,

  “You said that this yacht is magical and I am a magician.”

  He smiled at her before continuing,

  “You have to trust me therefore to get you out of the difficulties that lie ahead, just as I have spirited you away from the one you were facing this morning.”

  “You certainly – did that,” Daniela sighed, “and it was so wonderful – wonderful of you – that I still – cannot believe it’s – true!”

  “It is true,” the Marquis asserted, “and at least for the moment you are safe on The Sea Horse. Because I want you to be happy I suggest you try to forget your stepmother and concentrate on enjoying yourself.”

  “I am sure I can do so by – eating your – delicious food,” Daniela said, “and thinking how – beautiful the – Rhine is.”

  The Marquis’s eyes twinkled.

  He knew that was not the answer any other woman would have given him.

  Even Cora Pearl would have made the automatic response that was expected of her.

  There was silence for a moment.

  Then Daniela said,<
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  “You are – right, because if one – thinks of one’s – enemies it gives them a – power over you. We must think only very beautiful and happy thoughts and then nothing that is evil can come near us.”

  The Marquis thought that she was making it all into a Fairytale.

  He could only pray that unlike in many of the legends of the Rhine there would be a happy ending.

  “That is exactly what we will do, ” he said, “and, of course, as the only lady aboard, you have to amuse me and think of ways to prevent me from becoming bored! ”

  Daniela laughed.

  “Now you are – talking like – a Sultan ordering, ‘bring on the dancing girls’!”

  “They are in rather short supply this year,” the Marquis grinned.

  “Now you are not using your imagination,” Daniela replied. “You have to multiply me by five or perhaps more – and I will do my best to oblige!”

  She made a little obeisance with her hands as she spoke which the Marquis thought was very graceful.

  Then she asked,

  “Is it true that at a party in Paris the Prince Napoleon offered Cora Pearl, who was with you last night, a whole vanload of the most expensive orchids?”

  The Marquis frowned as she spoke, but Daniela did not notice as she went on,

  “She gave a supper party, the orchids were strewn all over the floor and dressed as a sailor she danced a hornpipe followed by the can-can all over them.”

  “Who has been telling you these stories?” the Marquis asked, not wishing to admit that it was true.

  “My stepmother talked about it when she was fitting on two orchids she had bought to wear with her gown last night,” Daniela replied.

  The she put her fingers to her lips in dismay.

  “I-I am sorry – I have mentioned her and it is – something you told me – not to do.”

  “I told you to forget her,” the Marquis said sharply, “and you are also to forget Cora Pearl and all the women like her. Once you are out of this mess, Daniela, you will have to understand that you are a lady.”

  Daniela made a little murmur, but he went on,

  “Ladies know nothing about the women of Paris who were at the casino last night or someone like your stepmother who tries to emulate them.”

  “I am – sorry,” Daniela said in a contrite little voice, “but I thought you preferred – women like – them and Papa must have liked Madame Blanc – until she married him.”

  She gave another little sigh.

  “I shall never be – like them.”

  “Thank God for that!” the Marquis exclaimed harshly. “Do you not understand, you stupid child, that you are different? Your loveliness is not put on with a paintbrush and you don’t have to dance on orchids to attract a man. You are what a man wants as a wife and not in any other capacity.”

  He spoke strongly and Daniela sat thinking it over.

  Then she replied,

  “Are you – telling me that despite my – money – a man who is really nice and a gentleman like you and Papa – might want to – marry me just because I am – me?”

  “Of course that is what I am saying,” the Marquis said. “A man will love you because you are not only a very beautiful woman, but also good and pure.”

  Then, as he saw Daniela’s eyes light up and an expression on her face that was very revealing, he thought that he was on dangerous ground.

  In fact from his point of view – very dangerous.

  Chapter Six

  “Look! Look! I have never seen anything so beautiful! It’s enchanting! It is Fairyland!”

  Because Daniela was so excited and thrilled, the Marquis found that he too was moved by the beauty of the river.

  When they reached Bingen, he agreed as they steamed on to Coblenz that it was, as Daniela thought, a real Fairyland.

  There was Castle after Castle on either side of them and one lovely vista after another appearing ahead.

  It was difficult for Daniela to know which viewpoint on the yacht was the best.

  She ran up and down the deck, frightened that she would miss something.

  Because she was so enthusiastic, the Marquis found himself remembering stories that he had not thought of since he was a boy.

  He pointed out Lahneck, the stronghold of the Knights Templar and the King’s seat at Königsstuhl, where the Emperors used to be elected.

  When there were no Castles, cascades or cliffs to admire, there were barges moving up and down the river, which Daniela found enthralling as well.

  Some of them were carrying coal and coke destined for Italy, others Russian petrol and Prussian wheat.

  A number, as the Marquis pointed out, were bringing timber from the Black Forest.

  It was difficult for him to persuade Daniela to come into the Saloon for luncheon because she was so determined not to miss anything.

  He found himself thinking that he had never in the past known a woman so excited by nature.

  She plied him with questions and he was reluctant to have to admit that he was ignorant about so much that she wished to know.

  She longed to stop at Woerth where below the falls there was a Medieval Castle.

  It stood in the middle of the river and could only be reached by a footbridge, where both banks of the river were thick with larches, pines and oak trees.

  “Please let’s just go and look at it,” Daniela pleaded.

  The Marquis shook his head.

  “It would be a mistake not to sail to England as quickly as possible.”

  Now that he had reminded her that her stepmother might be pursuing them, it was in a very different tone of voice that she answered him,

  “Yes – yes – of course. You are right – as you always – are.”

  Although he told himself that it was unnecessary, the Marquis was worried.

  Esmé might be taking steps to get hold of Daniela before he could deliver her safely to her relatives.

  He therefore told the Captain that no member of the crew was to mention to anybody outside the yacht that he had a guest with him.

  “If anybody asks questions, I am travelling alone. Make it known that any man who disobeys my order will be dismissed immediately!”

  The Captain was surprised at the way the Marquis spoke, but he said quietly,

  “I assure you, my Lord, your orders will be carried out by every man aboard The Sea Horse.”

  The second evening after they had come aboard Daniela and the Marquis went out on deck having finished what once again was a delicious and unusual dinner.

  The last glimmer of crimson in the sky showed where the sun had set and the stars were already beginning to glitter overhead.

  The banks of the river had become mysterious and even more romantic than they had been in the daytime.

  Now it was hard not to believe in the legend of the Niebelungen treasure and the lovely lady who lured the fishermen to their doom.

  Heine and Liszt had made it famous, but seeing the steep creeper-covered rock standing sheer in the water made it real.

  Watching Daniela’s face in the fading light, the Marquis thought that she was reliving everything she had ever learnt or he had told her.

  For the moment the Rhine was peopled not with barges and ships, but with the nymphs that swam in its shallow waters.

  Knights in their Shining Armour patrolled the Castles.

  And the Gods, who used their power to sweep away the evil of those who were always plotting against what was good and noble.

  They did not speak for a long time.

  They leant on the railing and looked ahead until Daniela said with a little sigh,

  “It’s so beautiful that it makes me feel as I – sometimes do – in Church.”

  “And how do you feel then?” the Marquis asked.

  “As if my heart was being – carried up to the sky and my – prayers were part of the – anthems the angels sing.”

  Her voice was very soft as if she was speaking to hersel
f.

  Then she continued,

  “Now this loveliness is a – part of me – and I shall – never be able to – forget it.”

  She threw back her head as she spoke to gaze up at the stars overhead.

  The Marquis felt as if she too was part of the angels she heard singing.

  ‘She is lovely – too lovely to be left alone with nobody to look after her,’ he told himself firmly.

  For the first time an idea occurred to him!

  It would be thought reprehensible and would certainly damage her reputation if it became known that she was travelling alone with him in his yacht.

  He knew exactly what construction would be put upon it.

  Not only by the Dowagers in the Social world of Mayfair but also by the members of his Clubs.

  He knew, however, that it had not entered Daniela’s mind that she ought to have a chaperone.

  She had not shown in any way that she was embarrassed at being alone with him.

  He sensed that it was her innocence and her ignorance of the Social world that made her behave as naturally as if he was her father or her brother.

  It was, he told himself with a faint smile, very good for his ego. He was so used to being flattered and pursued by every woman he met.

  It was an entirely new experience to find himself more of a Tutor than a lover.

  He knew that Daniela was comparing him because he had saved her with the Knights who had fought so valiantly on the banks of the Rhine.

  Alternatively she identified him with one of the Gods who had directed and inspired them and who were still believed in by the peasants.

  Dusk had turned into darkness and the stars shone more brilliantly than diamonds.

  Finally he drew Daniela back into the Saloon.

  “I cannot – bear to leave it,” she protested.

  “It will be there tomorrow,” the Marquis said, “although after we pass Cologne, the Rhine will not be as enchanting as it is here.”

  There was silence.

  Then she said a little wistfully,

  “I-I suppose we could – not stop at Cologne, which I know is called ‘the Rome of the North’ and see the – Cathedral?”

  She gave a little sigh as she continued,

  “I learned about it at school with the nuns. It is the fifth largest in the world and took six hundred and thirty-two years to build!”