They Found their Way to Heaven Page 10

  “I think you would have to trust your heart to tell you.”

  “But would your heart always know?”

  “Yes,” Elvina murmured. “If it was real, you would know everything, because he would be a man incapable of falsehood.”

  As she spoke she knew that Andrew had vanished from her heart entirely and had been replaced by the Duke.

  Instinct told her that he was truly incapable of falsehood and if he ever told her that he loved her, it would be the truth.

  If he ever told her.

  *

  As they arrived home Violet queried,

  “Where are we going to keep the puppies? I suppose we ought to put them in the stables.”

  She did not sound very keen and Elvina immediately suggested,

  “I think we should keep them with us for safety. Let’s take them up to my room.”

  Having sworn the coachman to secrecy, they crept up the back stairs until they reached Elvina’s room and darted inside.

  “We have to be organised,” Elvina said. “We need food from the kitchen and some newspaper.”

  “I can fetch newspapers from the library,” Violet volunteered.

  “Good. You do that while I find them somewhere to sleep.”

  She solved the problem by emptying a drawer, placing it on the floor and lining it with one of her own dresses.

  “I never much liked that dress,” she told the pups, who were eyeing her with interest. “Now it’s all yours!”

  Violet dashed in, eyes brimming with fun.

  “I have brought all the newspapers from the library. But David came in and found me and said had I suddenly developed an interest in current affairs? I told him I was fascinated by politics and it was all your doing.”

  “You terrible girl!” Elvina exclaimed. “What have you let me in for?”

  They found out over dinner. The Duke was in a good humour and teased them both about Violet’s new found interest in serious matters. Elvina teased him back, until at last he admitted, grinning,

  “I can see I am going to learn nothing. All right, keep your secrets!”

  At that moment there was the faint but unmistakable sound of a yap.

  Elvina and Violet stiffened, looking at each other, aghast. The Duke seemed untroubled. Either he had not heard the yap or it did not strike him as odd.

  “How did your meeting go?” Violet asked.

  He began to talk about the Lord Lieutenant, breaking off to take a sip of wine.

  Yap!

  This time he heard it.

  “What was that?” he asked, frowning.

  “Nothing,” they said together.

  “I could have sworn I heard – ”

  Yap!

  The Duke looked around. Six footmen in livery and powdered wigs lined the walls, three to a side.

  “Did any of you hear anything?”

  One by one the footmen said, “no, Your Grace,” until only one man was left.

  “What about you, Willis?” the Duke asked.

  It was one of his talents that made him loved among his staff that he knew each one of them by name. All two hundred of them.

  “Willis?” the Duke said again. “Is something wrong.”

  Willis, a huge, dignified individual gave his employer a painful look and forced himself to say,

  “A small creature is disgracing himself on my foot, Your Grace.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  How the Duke laughed! Elvina and Violet threw up their hands and then buried their faces in them, horrified but laughing too.

  Next Elvina hurried across the floor to seize the miscreant who had by now finished his work and settled contentedly in her arms.

  Violet was regarding her brother with relief.

  “You’re not angry?” she asked.

  “How can I be angry? I don’t know when I have enjoyed anything so much. I thought nothing could bring Willis’s dignity down.”

  His voice became gentler as he laid a hand on the footman’s shoulder.

  “Forgive me. You had better take the rest of the evening off.”

  “Thank you, Your Grace!” the footman said, immediately forgiving the Duke for his laughter.

  “What a splendid little fellow!” the Duke exclaimed, regarding the pup. “Where does he come from? Is he yours, Violet?”

  “No, he is yours,” she cried. “Oh, dear! Now the surprise is spoiled.”

  “Surprise?”

  “This is your birthday present.”

  “This?” A look of fond pleasure broke over the Duke’s face. “He is your present to me?”

  “Mrs. Winters said you looked lonely without a dog – ”

  “Violet, I didn’t exactly say – ”

  “Well, anyway, he’s yours,” Violet repeated hastily.

  “Happy birthday – a week early.”

  Elvina held the pup out and the Duke took him gently from her hands.

  “Thank you,” he said. “It was a lovely thought. I shall call him Blackie.”

  “But the other one is black as well,” Violet protested.

  “Yes, we bought two,” Elvina explained. “We couldn’t resist them. We were going to hide them upstairs.”

  “For a week?”

  “Yes, it wasn’t very practical, was it? I wonder how he got out. And where is his brother? We hid them in my room. The maid must have gone in and left the door open.”

  “Do you mean there might be another one wandering around the castle?” the Duke asked.

  “We had better find out,” Elvina urged.

  The three of them hurried out of the dining room and up the stairs.

  When they reached her bedroom door, Elvina said breathlessly,

  “Cross your fingers!” Then she opened the door.

  The room was very silent and she was suddenly filled with foreboding.

  “Is anything wrong, Your Grace?”

  A maid had appeared in the corridor and was looking at them all in surprise.

  “Do you know who’s been in here recently?” Elvina asked.

  “Yes, miss, I have. I brought you some fresh linen.”

  “They must have sneaked out then,” Elvina said. “I don’t think the other one’s here. How long ago were you in this room?”

  “About an hour ago, miss.”

  “He could be anywhere by now,” Violet groaned.

  “Then we had better start looking,” the Duke said.

  “Did I do wrong, Your Grace?” the maid asked worriedly.

  “Not at all,” he told her kindly. “But please pass the word all around the castle. If anyone sees a black puppy, he belongs to me.”

  Violet, who knew her brother better than anyone, was regarding him curiously.

  “We had better call him by name,” the Duke suggested.

  “He doesn’t have a name,” Elvina pointed out.

  “We’ll call him Blackie.”

  “But you are holding Blackie,” Violet objected.

  “It’s no use, he will just have to be called Blackie as well. We need some name to call him.”

  Elvina and Violet looked at each other, considering how to explain to him that he was being illogical. But it would have been useless. A new light had come on inside the Duke and he seemed strangely happy.

  “We must each take a different direction,” he said. “I will go along this corridor, Violet, you go in the other direction and Mrs. Winters, you head for that staircase.”

  They set off, each of them calling, “Blackie! Blackie!” loudly.

  Elvina headed for the staircase the Duke had indicated.

  It led to the rear of the castle and descended to the kitchens. She ran all the way down to the ground floor and stood listening, for she could sense something.

  “Your Grace,” she called, returning half way up the staircase, “I think he may be here, but it’s too dark to see.”

  From above she heard him say,

  “Violet, are you there? Here, take Blackie before he disgraces
himself again.”

  A moment later he was beside Elvina, only half visible in the gloom.

  “There’s a noise coming from down there.”

  From down below came a faint scratching noise.

  “Blackie!” the Duke called.

  Yap!

  “He’s under the stairs.”

  Elvina made her way down gingerly, calling, “Blackie!”

  This time, instead of the yap there came a pitiful whine.

  “Poor little thing, you are lost and frightened,” she muttered. “You shouldn’t have run away.”

  There was a small table by the wall and she knelt down beside it, guided by the whining. But when she reached out the pup scuttled away.

  “Don’t run away from me,” she begged.

  “I’ve got him,” came the Duke’s voice from where he was kneeling at the other end of the table. “No, I haven’t. Hey, come here!”

  The puppy, a small black shadow in the semi-darkness, slithered away. They both lunged for him at the same moment.

  Then something seemed to thump Elvina and the next moment she felt the floor beneath her back.

  “Mrs. Winters,” he enquired sharply. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I – I seem to have slipped.”

  “We collided and I knocked you over. I am so sorry.

  Let me help you up.”

  She felt his hands on her shoulders, drawing her upright. Instinctively she clung to him to steady herself.

  And then there was silence and stillness. Something seemed to transfix them both.

  In the gloom she could hear him breathing and feel the warmth of his breath on her face. That warmth seemed to be pervading her whole body, streaming through every part of her.

  Suddenly the moment was full of blazing excitement and she could hear the thunder of her own heartbeat.

  The next instant she felt his lips on hers and his arms about her. Instinctively she pressed against him, responding with her whole heart, knowing that this was what she wanted, what she had always secretly desired.

  “Mrs. Winters – ” he murmured.

  Never had words sounded so beautiful.

  “Forgive me,” he said. “I know I have no right – ”

  But then his arms tightened again and he was kissing her more passionately than ever. This time Elvina put her own arms around his neck, filled with delight at the feel of his lips and the sense of his heart beating against hers.

  She could feel him trembling, but at the same time his body was tense, as though he was engaged in some overwhelming inner struggle.

  She knew then that he had kissed her against his will and that he should break free if only he could.

  But she would not let him.

  She moved her lips gently against his, trying to tell him silently that he must not break free. She desperately wanted this heavenly moment to last forever.

  But then the spell was broken, not by him, but by a voice that echoed down the stairs.

  “Hallo, is anybody down there?”

  It was Violet calling to them.

  Hastily they pulled apart, but for a moment neither could summon the strength to stand up. They knelt where they were, on the floor, neither quite sure what had happened, but each trying to come to terms with what they could not understand.

  At last the Duke rose to his feet and helped her to stand up. Elvina could feel that he was still trembling.

  “Bl-Blackie,” she stammered in a shaking voice. “Where is he?”

  “He managed to slither away between us,” the Duke mumbled and his voice too was shaking.

  “Are you there?” Violet called again.

  She was coming nearer. They moved apart and turned away, both feeling confused and distracted.

  “Have you found him?” Violet asked, reaching the bottom step. She was still holding the first puppy.

  “No,” Elvina answered vaguely. “He rushed away – he may not have been here – ”

  “But he’s over there,” Violet said, pointing to a corner.

  And there he was, crouched in the corner, looking worried and squeaking.

  “Poor little thing,” Elvina muttered.

  “He’ll be all right,” the Duke said, reaching down. “He was just worried in case his Master didn’t come for him. But here I am and now he has nothing to worry about.”

  “Perhaps I should fetch a lamp,” Violet offered.

  “No need,” her brother told her. “I’ve got him. Come along, little fellow. No more escaping.”

  They made their way back upstairs to where the corridors were well lit.

  “Let me see them both,” the Duke asked.

  Violet held up the pup she was holding and the Duke looked from one to the other.

  “They are exactly alike,” he said chuckling. “Blackie and Blackie.”

  “David, you’re surely not going to give them the same name?”

  “Why not? They know who they are now. Let’s not confuse them!”

  Violet began to giggle and they all laughed.

  The Duke took the second pup and held them both, one tucked under each arm. It was a delightful sight and later Elvina remembered it as one of her happiest moments.

  By now the servants had also become aware that His Grace was behaving in an incredible fashion and were appearing through doorways and up the stairs, all wanting to share in the excitement.

  When he realised that he had an audience he turned and grinned at them all.

  “Here they are everyone,” he called. “The new members of the household. “Come and see.”

  They all crowded around to look at the pups. Some of them cast nervous looks at the Duke, as if wondering at the change in him and how long it would last.

  But at last they dared to reach out and touch each of the little black bundles.

  “Have you named them, Your Grace?” one of the maids asked, which drew her a look of reproof from Pearson, the butler, for normally only he was permitted to address the Duke directly.

  “Yes,” the Duke answered her. “I have named them Blackie and Blackie. It will save calling for them separately.”

  “But they’ll both come, Your Grace,” the housekeeper pointed out.

  “Excellent. Since they will live together and with me at all times, that will be the best arrangement.”

  He looked so genial that everyone broke into smiles. Nobody had ever seen His Grace so at ease before. It was as though a glow of benevolence had taken over the whole castle.

  “I think we should spend a little time in the library getting to know them,” the Duke proposed. “Pearson, perhaps you would be so good as to arrange some suitable refreshment.” “Very good, Your Grace. Would wine and cakes be acceptable?”

  “I meant for the dogs.”

  “Certainly, Your Grace,” he said stiffly.

  “Wine and cakes will do nicely for us,” the Duke agreed, relenting. “I suggest you try the stables for the rest. I know my head groom keeps a dog.”

  The three of them spent the next two hours very happily in the library, laughing over the antics of the two Blackies.

  The puppies learned their names quickly and in a short time they would bound across the floor together when their new Master called them, already seeming to race each other for the honour of getting there first.

  He dealt with them kindly, distributing titbits with strict fairness.

  “I am glad to see you don’t favour one over the other,”

  Elvina remarked.

  “Considering I cannot tell them apart, that would be very difficult,” he said with a smile.

  But then he grew serious and added,

  “Having favourites is something I would never permit.

  It is cruel. It can break a child’s heart.”

  “But these are dogs,” she said.

  He gave an awkward laugh.

  “Yes, of course, but – the truth is that I suffered badly as a child. I had a brother, a year younger than myself.
<
br />   “He was my mother’s darling and my father’s too, although he was not a man given to warm feelings. Such love as he had to give went to my brother. When they looked at Simon their faces would soften and their eyes were full of joy. That never happened with me.

  “Of course, as the eldest and the heir, I received a great deal of attention. But that was family duty and I knew the difference, because family duty was drummed into me from the very first moment. A Castleforde did this. A Castleforde did not do that. The rules were strict and never to be broken.

  “I had a whole army of tutors and companions to make sure I knew what was expected of me. But it was never the same as being loved.”

  Even now, all these years later, his voice was wistful, as though somewhere inside him there still lived that lonely boy, wondering desolately why he could not inspire love.

  Elvina’s heart ached for him and perhaps something of that feeling showed in her voice, for when she said, “how sad!” he looked up at her quickly with a grateful smile.

  “I promised myself that it is something I would never do to anyone else,” he said.

  “It’s strange that Violet has never spoken about her other brother.”

  “He died when she was three years old and he had joined the Army by that time, so he was never at home. She knows that he once existed, but he was never very real to her.

  “My parents did not survive long after that and I am sure that losing him hastened their deaths. The odd part is that Simon and I were on good terms. I was jealous of him, but also fond of him and apart from some of the older servants I am probably the only person left who remembers him.”

  Another creature lost to him, Elvina thought. How lonely and unloving his life had been!

  And it showed itself in consideration for the feelings of a small defenceless dog. She regarded him fondly, while both puppies greedily accepted morsels of food from his hands oblivious of all else.

  She wondered if he would mention the kiss they had shared in the shadows. But she guessed that he would say nothing while Violet was in the room, even though she was at the other end. This was a moment for warmth and friendship, not passion.

  Then she saw the glow in his eyes and knew that the passion was still there, even while he concealed it for the sake of propriety.

  “You once said that you like to ride early,” he reminded her, “before the rest of the household is awake.”