An Angel Runs Away Read online

  A voice from the door interrupted them.

  “You rang, my Lord?”

  “Yes, Newman. Have Miss Forde carried upstairs, undressed and put to bed.”

  “Very good, my Lord.”

  “She is not to be taken into her old room,” the Earl went on, “but somewhere where she has no clothes. She must be rendered unable to escape. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  “Put her in the oak room at the end of the passage of the first floor and tell the housemaids when they have undressed her that Lady Sarah wants her gown. Miss Forde is to be locked in the room and the key brought to me. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  “If she escapes again,” the Earl continued, “anyone who helps her or lets her go will be dismissed immediately and without a reference!”

  “I understand, my Lord.”

  Ula heard Newman step back and he must have beckoned to one of the footmen. A few moments later someone lifted her shoulders, someone else her feet and she was carried from the study, through the hall and with some difficulty up the stairs.

  The whole household must have been aware by now, Ula thought, that something unusual was happening.

  She could hear the housemaids chattering at the top of the stairs before the footmen carrying her reached them.

  “Miss Forde is to go in the oak room at the end of the passage,” Newman said.

  He repeated the Earl’s instructions about removing her gown and locking her in and that if anyone helped her escape they would be instantly dismissed.

  “’Er’s fainted,” one of the housemaids said as the footmen put her down on the bed.

  “I heard his Lordship knock her down,” Newman replied, “and she must have hit her head against something.”

  “Oh, poor young lady! T’isn’t fair!”

  Ula knew it was Amy who spoke. She was one of the younger housemaids and a very nice girl.

  “Now, you be careful, Amy,” Newman warned. “If Miss Ula runs off again, we’ll be in the soup.”

  “If you asks me, Mr. Newman, it’s a cryin’ shame the way ’is Lordship treats ’er and I’ve always said as much.”

  “Then you keep your ideas to yourself,” Newman answered, “or you’ll find yourself crying outside the back door! Come on, James.”

  The two men left the room as he spoke and Amy and the other housemaids undressed Ula.

  She was determined to remain, as they thought, unconscious, and she made herself completely limp as they took off the beautiful gown that Sarah coveted.

  Then having fetched it from her bedroom upstairs, they dressed her in one of her old, worn, and darned nightgowns.

  Ula lay stiffly without moving until the housemaids had left and she heard the key turn in the lock.

  Only then did she open her eyes and look around her frantically, wondering if there was any means of escape.

  She knew, however, that unless she had wings and could fly, it would be impossible to get out by the window.

  The house had been built with high Georgian ceilings and even from the first floor, if she fell from a window onto the gravel below, she would certainly break at least a leg or her back, even if she did not kill herself.

  She sat up in bed looking at the large mahogany wardrobe, the dressing table, the wash stand, with its china ewer and basin, the chairs and other smaller pieces that furnished the room.

  It was very much better than the room she had been given originally which was really a servant’s room on the second floor.

  Equally she was aware that the wardrobe was empty. Although she could see that the housemaids had, besides her nightgown, brought down a plain flannel dressing gown she had worn for some years and a pair of slippers, there was nothing else in which, if she wanted to, she could escape.

  “What can I do? What – can I do?” she asked in a whisper.

  Once again she was sending out a frantic winged prayer to the Marquis, pleading with him to come to her rescue.

  She knew it was impossible and yet he had saved her before when she was running away from Chessington Hall without even a penny in her pocket in an effort to reach London.

  He had saved her once already from Prince Hasin and perhaps by a miracle he would do so again.

  Something she decided during the long hours when no one came near her was that she would rather die before she allowed the Prince to touch her, although she had no idea how she could do so.

  There were, she knew, guns in the gun room and sharp knives in the kitchen, but they were all inaccessible.

  Half a mile from the house, if she could get there, there was a swift-moving stream and she thought that in certain parts of it the water would be deep enough for her to drown.

  But with the door locked there was little or nothing she could do about it.

  ‘Help me – God please – help me. There must be – a way. There must be some manner of – escape before I am to – marry that Prince!’

  Having studied Eastern religions with her father, she knew it was very easy for a Muslim to divorce any wife he was bored with.

  If the Prince already had four wives, which was more than likely, because in the East the men started marrying when they were very young, he only had to say, ‘I divorce you’ and he was free to marry another woman.

  But it was not so much being the wife of a Muslim that appalled her, but the thought of belonging to the Prince.

  The evil she had immediately felt in him seemed in her imagination to be all around her. She wanted to scream and go on screaming so that she could somehow express her terror and horror of what awaited her.

  *

  At five o’clock in the evening Ula heard someone outside the door and, as the key turned in the lock, she quickly lay down and closed her eyes.

  She did not need to be told that it was her uncle who had come into the room and she sensed, although she did not look at him, that he had come to beat her as he intended.

  When he came up to the bed, she felt that he was surprised at finding her, as he thought, still unconscious.

  She knew he was looking down at her, because she could hear him breathing heavily as if it had been an effort to walk up the stairs.

  She did not move, and after a moment he said,

  “Ula, Wake up! Do you hear me? Wake up!”

  There was a note of authority in his voice that made it difficult for her not to obey him.

  Then, as if he was anxious because she appeared to be unaware of what was being said, he bent forward to take her by the shoulders and shake her.

  He shook her backwards and forwards, but with an effort of willpower which came from her fear of being beaten, Ula forced herself to be limp under his hands.

  She let her head fall backwards and forwards as if she had no control over it.

  Then with an oath beneath his breath her uncle threw her back against the pillows.

  As he did so, Sarah came into the room.

  “Ula cannot still be fainting, Papa!”

  “I think she must have a touch of concussion,” the Earl said slowly, as if it was difficult for him to admit it.

  “Well, she had better come round before tomorrow, if that is when she is to be married.”

  Her father did not reply and Sarah went on,

  “Mama says I am to lend her one of my gowns or give her back the one she arrived in, but I have something white which I don’t want and it will be quite good enough for her.”

  “The Prince can certainly afford to buy her anything she wants,” the Earl remarked.

  “Then she is lucky!” Sarah sneered. “I could do with quite a lot of things!”

  “If the Prince buys my horses at the high price I intend to ask for them,” the Earl said, “you shall have a new gown as soon as we return to London.”

  “Then let that be the day after tomorrow or better still, tomorrow afternoon. I want to see the Marquis and now that Ula is out of the way he will soon be back in my pocket �
� you see if I am not right, Papa.”

  “I hope you know what you are talking about,” the Earl said, “but come on, we can do no good here.”

  Ula heard him stride out of the room and Sarah followed him, then once again the key was turned in the lock.

  She climbed slowly out of bed and walked once again to the window.

  Was it possible, she wondered, to make a rope with the sheets from the bed?

  She had nothing to cut them with and she knew that tied together even with the blankets they would not be nearly long enough to reach the ground.

  ‘Help me! Please, God – please – Papa – help me!’

  There was nothing she could do but pray and now she thought of how cleverly her mother had escaped the night before her marriage.

  No one had been aware of it until the next morning, when it was far too late to find her. She and the man she loved had already been married in a small country village by a Parson they had got out of bed to see the Special Licence they showed him.

  She felt herself shiver at the thought that a Special Licence was what the Prince was obtaining now.

  She knew that they would be married in the village Church where the Vicar, who was an old man, had been appointed by her uncle.

  Even, therefore, if she protested at the altar that she had no wish to be married, it was doubtful if he would listen to her.

  She went on praying until the sun was sinking behind the trees in the Park and the shadows had grown very long.

  Then, unexpectedly, she heard the key turn once again in the lock and before she had time to get back into the bed the door opened.

  To her relief it was not her uncle, as she feared, but Amy, the young housemaid who had come to the hall at about the same time as she arrived.

  She came into the room.

  “Are you better, Miss Ula?” she asked. “We’ve been ever so worried about you.”

  “I am worried about myself,” Ula replied.

  “I ’ears you’re to be married tomorrow. Do you feel well enough?”

  “It’s not a question of feeling well, Amy. Prince Hasin is an evil, wicked man and I simply cannot marry him.”

  Amy looked at her in surprise.

  Then she said,

  “I can understand you not wantin’ to marry a foreigner! But you’ll be a Princess!”

  Ula sat down on the bed.

  “Yes, Amy, but I shall not be properly married as you understand it. Prince Hasin is a Muslim and is allowed by his religion to take four wives.”

  “Four wives, miss? I’ve never ’eard of such a thing!”

  “I know that my father, who was a Parson, would be horrified at the idea and my uncle, the Earl, is allowing the Prince to marry me only because he wants me out of the way.”

  “You’re too pretty, miss, that’s the whole trouble. It’s that Lady Sarah. They say she’s been jealous of you ever since you first comes ’ere.”

  “Yes, I know, Amy, but what matters now is that I have to get away somehow, as I did before.”

  “There’s no way you can do that, miss. If I ’elped you, as I’d like to do, I’d only be dismissed without a reference and these days jobs be ’ard to come by.”

  “I understand,” Ula said, “but Amy, I am hungry.”

  “I was thinkin’ about that, miss, and ’is Lordship said you was only to ’ave dry bread and water, but cook’s ever so sorry for you, we all are, and after they’ve gone into dinner I’ll bring you somethin’ nice to eat and a cup of cocoa.”

  “I would like that, Amy. Thank you very much.”

  “I’d best go now, miss, in case ’is Lordship sees me.”

  Amy smiled at her, slipped out of the room and turned the key in the lock.

  Ula sat gazing at the closed door.

  Then she had an idea.

  chapter six

  It was after half past eight when Amy came back with Ula’s dinner.

  By this time she was really hungry, despite the fact that she was so frightened that she thought the food might choke her.

  But then she had eaten nothing since breakfast in London.

  She lay in the dark thinking about the Marquis and, when Amy came in to light the candles and pull the curtains, she felt almost as if he was inspiring her to find a way of salvation.

  The plate of fish that Amy had brought upstairs was delicious and she watched with satisfaction as Ula ate nearly all of it.

  Then, when she had drunk a little of the cocoa, Ula said,

  “I am going to ask you to help me, Amy.”

  “You knows I’d do anythin’ you ask me, miss, but I can’t let you escape and your room with your clothes in it ’as been locked and ’is Lordship asked for the key.”

  Ula reflected that her uncle was taking every precaution to prevent her from escaping.

  Then she said,

  “Sit down, Amy, and I will tell you my idea.”

  A little apprehensively Amy sat down on the edge of a chair, looking at Ula with worried eyes.

  “I have to get away from here,” Ula began. “If I cannot escape, then I shall have to kill myself and that is not an idle threat.”

  “You can’t do that, miss, it’d be real wicked!”

  “I know, Amy, and my father would be very upset if he knew. At the same time I cannot marry Prince Hasin.”

  Even to think of him made her tremble, but she forced herself to go on,

  “What I want you to do, Amy, if you are brave enough, is to come back here when the others have gone to bed and say, if anybody asks you, that you had forgotten to collect my tray.”

  She saw Amy was listening, so she continued,

  “Your story tomorrow will be that I overpowered you, tied you up and escaped before you could prevent me or call for help.”

  She looked at Amy, who was staring at her wide-eyed as she went on,

  “One thing I promise, that if my uncle does turn you out, which I think in the circumstances will be unlikely, you can go to the Duchess of Wrexham or to the Marquis of Raventhorpe and I am certain because they are fond of me that they will give you a position the same as you have here.”

  “You’re sure of that, miss?”

  “Quite sure,” Ula replied. “Frankly, my only alternative would be to throw myself out of the window, but I don’t think I would be killed, only maimed, perhaps for life.”

  Amy gave a cry of horror.

  “I can’t let you do that, can I? But, miss, I’m afeared for you and for meself.”

  “I know, Amy, that I am asking a great deal of you,” Ula answered, “but you are literally the only person I can turn to for help.”

  Her voice was pleading and after a moment, as if she could not help herself, Amy said,

  “I’ll ’elp you, miss. It ain’t right you should be treated that badly by ’is Lordship.”

  “Thank you, Amy. There is nothing I can give you to show how grateful I am, but I feel that one day you will be rewarded for being so brave.”

  “It’ll be in ’eaven, if his Lordship guesses the truth!” Amy replied with a flash of humour.

  “If you are clever, his Lordship will think that I overpowered you when you least expected it. After all, you are not very big, and he would believe anything of me as long as it was bad enough.”

  There was a little pause and then Amy enquired,

  “Will you tell me, miss, what you wants me to do?”

  “I want you to come up before his Lordship goes to bed, but when it is late enough for the other servants not to notice you have disappeared.”

  “I understands, miss. I’d better go now.”

  She stood nervously looking over her shoulder as if she half-suspected that somebody was listening to their conversation.

  She peeped out of the door and then hurried away, locking Ula in as she had before.

  It was an hour and a half before she returned and, as she turned the key, Ula, watching the door, was apprehensive in case instead of Amy it would be her uncle.<
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  But Amy came in quickly and closed the door behind her, saying as she did so,

  “I tells ’em down below I were a-goin’ to bed and they paid no attention.”

  “Where is his Lordship?” Ula asked.

  “Sittin’ in the study and Mr. Newman said he were ‘drunk as a Lord’ afore he leaves the dinin’ room.”

  Ula thought that was encouraging and Amy went on,

  “Mr. Newman says Lady Sarah were goin’ on at ’im to beat you as ’e says ’e would, but ’e tells ’er you ’ad to be well enough to be married as soon as the Prince arrives.”

  Ula did not wish to hear any more.

  “Now, listen, Amy, I want you to lie down on the bed as you will be tomorrow morning when they find you.”

  Amy did as was suggested and raised her head so that Ula could tie a napkin, which had come up with her dinner over her mouth and knot it at the back.

  Then she pulled it down onto her neck and said,

  “It will not be uncomfortable, for you need not adjust it until just when you think you might be discovered and are shouting for help.”

  “When’ll that be, miss?”

  “As late as you can. The longer they assume I am here and not you, the more chance I have of getting away.”

  Amy seemed to understand this and then Ula showed her how to tie her ankles together with the silk cord which had held back the long curtains over the window.

  “You can put that on easily,” she said, “but now, this is the one difficult part.”

  She had taken a soft linen face towel from the wash basin and twisted it so that it made two holes into which Amy could easily slip her hands.

  Then, when she pulled her hands apart, the knots tightened so that it appeared as if she could not move.

  “If you put your hands close together,” Ula explained, “you can easily release yourself so as to be able to tie your legs and put what is meant to be a gag over your mouth.”

  She went on speaking slowly so that Amy would understand.

  “Then, at the last moment, you slip your hands into the towel and lie down, saying that you have been in that position all night.”

  She did not say so to Amy, but she thought that when it was discovered that she had run away, there would be so much consternation over her disappearance that they would pay no particular attention to the way in which the maid was tied up.