A Teacher of Love Read online

It was a marvellous invention and was just what the Empire depended on for its intelligence and central control.

  Her father had told her that there had been difficulties with the Russians, not only because they spied on British messages, but also because they made the price for the overland cables over their territory extremely high.

  She learnt from the Earl that a new submarine cable had just been laid running via Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Suez and Aden – all British or friendly to Britain – to Bombay.

  The Earl was content to say briefly that he had been of some help to those working on the cable and Tasia made the two boys appreciate how important the service was for the defence of the Empire.

  They became curious to know more and Tasia was amused when they plied the Earl with repeated questions.

  She had been told that in the past they had always kept silent when he was present or had just answered him in monosyllables.

  *

  The next morning it was difficult to persuade Peter and Simon to wait for their father to show them the horses.

  They wanted to be off to the stables as soon as they were dressed.

  But Tasia warned them it would be a mistake as it would spoil their father’s great pleasure in giving them the generous presents they had asked him for.

  “If it was you giving someone the one present they had always prayed for, you would want to give it yourself and see the look on their faces when they were pleased – ”

  She paused before she added,

  “And of course to hear their exclamations of delight and gratitude for such wonderful presents!”

  She realised they had taken her message on board.

  “Now we must think what we can give your father. I suppose what he would like most would be a drawing by Simon of his horse and a special ‘thank you’ in music from Peter.”

  “Do you mean,” Peter asked her, “I have to invent a special tune for him?”

  “Why not?”

  “Actually I was humming one to myself last night and I thought it was a tune I had never heard before, so I must have invented it.”

  “Well, practice it until you are perfect, Peter. Then we will have a special musical evening and your father can listen and appreciate that it is a melody he has inspired.”

  “Then it will have to be called after him.”

  “Of course it must be, and we will think of a very special way of bringing in his name, like ‘Listening to the Legend of Leopold’ or perhaps ‘Leopold the Leader.’

  “I will think of something better than that!” Peter promised.

  *

  The gardens at Linsdale Court were beautiful and Tasia felt she could spend hours walking around the flowerbeds or following the cascade that fell down from the trees behind the house into the lake.

  But at present no one could concentrate on anything except the horses.

  The stallions the Earl had bought for the boys were certainly outstanding and Tasia was not surprised that Sir Stephen Henlow boasted such a glowing reputation.

  Simon chose a good-looking chestnut whilst Peter selected a black horse with a white star on his nose.

  Both horses seemed absolutely perfect and it would be impossible for anyone to find any fault with them.

  Two days after they arrived, Tasia said to the Earl,

  “You must have caused quite a major commotion, my Lord, in buying the whole stud before anyone else had a chance.”

  “I happen to know Sir Stephen’s son very well and when I offered him a sum well above his expectations at an auction, he not unnaturally accepted.”

  “That is what comes of being rich,” Tasia remarked and the Earl chuckled.

  “What it saved me was precious time attending an auction at Tattersall’s and having to stay in London when I would so much prefer to be in the country.”

  “I can only congratulate you on your superb taste, my Lord, and on now being the owner of the finest horses in the whole country.”

  She was not aware that the Earl had been surprised when he first saw her riding one of his horses.

  When the boys were crying out that they must ride the horses he had given them, he had expected Tasia to say she had work in the house and would await their return.

  Instead of which she looked wistfully at the horses as they were being paraded round the stable yard.

  Then the Earl had enquired,

  “Do you ride, Miss Tasia?”

  “I rode almost before I could crawl and I have spent some of the happiest hours of my life in the saddle.”

  “Then I suppose you are telling me,” the Earl said with a slight twist to his lips, “that you would like to ride one of my new acquisitions?”

  Her eyes lit up until he felt he was almost dazzled by their light.

  “Can I really?”

  “But of course you can, if you are quite certain you can handle one of these superb stallions.”

  “Please give me time to change,” begged Tasia.

  “I will give you five minutes. If you are not back by then, I feel I shall not be able to prevent the boys from galloping off on their new possessions!”

  Tasia did not wait to answer him.

  She ran from the stables back into the house and up into her bedroom and it took her only a few minutes to put on her riding habit.

  Then she tidied her hair that would curl whatever she did to it under her riding hat.

  As she hurried to the stables, she found that she had been given a side-saddle on a stallion she had particularly admired.

  “Thank you, thank you, my Lord,” she enthused to the Earl. “I think I should have cried my eyes out if you had left me behind!”

  “I might have guessed, Miss Tasia, as you were so knowledgeable about horses that you were a rider, but as you well know there are horses and horses and an amateur rider can easily have an accident.”

  “I think if you call me an amateur rider, my Lord, I shall burst into tears, whilst my father would doubtless call you outside in the prescribed manner for settling an insult!”

  The Earl laughed.

  “I have already fought two duels as it so happens and I am pleased to say I was the winner in both of them.”

  Seeing how good-looking he was, Tasia was certain his duels had concerned some beautiful lady, doubtless the wife of someone else.

  Then she remembered how Mr. Seymour had told her that, since his wife treated him so badly, he had formed a distinct dislike for women.

  ‘I must be most careful,’ Tasia reflected to herself, ‘not to seem to intrude on him – or to let him think I am pursuing him. In which case he will undoubtedly dismiss me and it is still far too soon for me to go home.’

  They set off, the boys riding their new horses.

  The Earl watched them both a little anxiously just in case their new mounts proved too much for them.

  Tasia deliberately kept well behind.

  However, once they had reached the open fields, the Earl suggested that they should gallop – but not too fast.

  Tasia could not prevent her own mount trying to beat all the others and in the end it became a race between her and the Earl.

  When they reached where he had said they were to stop, it was only by a neck that he managed to beat her.

  As they reined in, he exclaimed in astonishment,

  “How could I have imagined for one moment that a female Tutor would ride as well as you?”

  “I can see no reason why not, my Lord!”

  “There is no need to be modest, Miss Tasia. You know as well as I do that you are an exceptional rider. In fact I have found it very difficult, ever since I came home, to believe that you are in any way real!”

  “So you will not be surprised, my Lord, if I vanish into thin air and you will find I am just a hallucination?”

  “I could hardly say that, but I would indeed like to congratulate you. Perhaps I can put it more forcefully by saying my stable is now at your disposal, Miss Tasia.”

&n
bsp; Once again Tasia’s eyes lit up with a dazzling light.

  The Earl thought that he had never seen such light in any woman’s eyes.

  “Thank you, thank you, my Lord,” she enthused. “I was so afraid you would expect me to stay indoors and that would have been agony beyond words!”

  The Earl laughed and then, as the boys came along to join them, he enquired,

  “What do you think of your horses, boys?”

  “Mine is scrumptious,” Simon answered, “and I am going to call him ‘Red Robin’, which I think is a pretty name as well as accurately describing him.”

  “I agree with you and his name will be written up over his manger.”

  “Thank you, Papa, thank you.”

  Peter had not yet decided what he was going to call his stallion, but before their ride was over, he said it would be ‘Champion’ as he intended him to win every race and no one would ever beat him.

  *

  On the following day Tasia ventured at breakfast,

  “I see in the newspapers, my Lord, that you caused quite a furore by buying all of Sir Stephen’s horses outright when everyone expected them to be put up for auction.”

  The Earl frowned.

  “There is one thing I really dislike and that is being in the newspapers. I avoid reporters whenever possible.”

  “You will be lucky if you are not written about for taking a part in the new submarine cable,” queried Tasia.

  “The least said about it, the better,” the Earl replied sharply. “The Russians will be most annoyed they can no longer interfere with us. The new cable goes overland to Marseilles, where it picks up the main cable line to Malta. That keeps us clear of those who pretend to be our friends, but who are undoubtedly our enemies.”

  Tasia was very familiar with international problems – not only from her reading but from her many fascinating conversations with her father.

  She therefore surprised the Earl by her remarks and questions he had never expected to hear from a woman. Then he remembered the way she had spoken to him when they had first met in three foreign languages.

  He asked Tasia,

  “Where have you travelled that you know so much about the current European situation?”

  “If you are referring to my knowledge of languages, I was educated in Florence and have travelled extensively.”

  She was about to explain that it had been with her father, but she thought it would be a mistake.

  She had been careful not to mention her family nor where she had lived before she had come to Regent’s Park to teach the boys.

  “I cannot imagine, Miss Tasia, that you travelled alone, so how come you are so proficient in Greek and in at least two other languages?”

  “I think it is wiser at this moment to remain silent about myself – ”

  The Earl looked at her quizzically.

  “I have never yet met a woman who did not want to talk about herself all the time!” he muttered.

  “Well, you have now, my Lord, and I assure you I really am interested in hearing about all your exploits.”

  She spoke in a way that seemed complimentary, but at the same time she did not flash her eyelashes at him and nor did she use the seductive voice that other women used when they were attempting to flirt with him.

  When the boys came back, eager to talk about their horses, she moved away towards them.

  She was clearly so involved with them that he was certain that she had not given him another thought. She was so different from the women he had met in the past.

  He found it difficult, because he was curious, not to cross-question her about herself, but he soon realised that she always managed to avoid giving him a straight answer to a straight question.

  She was so intelligent and well informed that every time he talked to her he found himself becoming more and more intrigued as to who she really was.

  He was well aware, without needing to be told, that Tasia had completely changed the two boys.

  They had been shy of their father and as they had grown older they had avoided being with him unless it was absolutely necessary.

  Now they sought him out, running to tell him about some new achievement with their horses.

  Their laughter and excited voices seemed to fill the house.

  “It be a real pleasure, my Lord,” the old butler said, “to hear the two young gentlemen laughing from first thing in the morning till they goes to bed. That’s just what the house’s been wanting for a long time.”

  Although he hated to admit it, the Earl agreed with him.

  *

  It was almost a week after the horses arrived that as they were about to start off riding after breakfast, the Lord Lieutenant called unexpectedly to see the Earl.

  His carriage drove up to the front door while their horses were waiting in the stable yard.

  Entering the breakfast room, the Earl announced,

  “Lord Wilson is now arriving and I will have to see him – but he might have waited until later in the day.”

  “Must you stay with him, Papa?” pleaded Simon.

  “I am afraid so, but you three go ahead and I will join you as soon as I can. I expect you are going the usual way towards Monks Wood?”

  He looked at Tasia as he spoke and she replied,

  “Yes, my Lord, and we will be waiting for you in the wood. But don’t be longer that you can help.”

  “I promise, and I daresay you will have a fairy story to tell the boys to keep them occupied.”

  “They are growing too old to believe in fairies!”

  “But they would enjoy the legend of Narcissus. I remember looking in the pool for him myself when I first heard the story.”

  “Then that is what they will have, my Lord, but I promise not to allow them to disappear among the water nymphs!”

  The Earl smiled at her and then he went out into the hall to greet the Lord Lieutenant.

  Tasia and the boys went straight to the stables.

  She told the Head Groom that his Lordship would be joining them later.

  They rode off.

  It was a lovely day and not too hot although the sun was shining.

  They galloped for a little way with Jimbo running beside them.

  Then Tasia made them draw in their horses, as she did not want to ride into the wood too soon. She knew of old that when their Lord Lieutenant called on her father it was always hard to get rid of him.

  He invariably had many difficulties in the County on which he needed her father’s advice.

  On the outskirts of the wood there were a number of thick bushes beneath the trees.

  Tasia was looking out for the path that led into the wood when suddenly from behind some bushes came four men.

  One glance at them made her start.

  The man leading them was wearing a mask and the other men had handkerchiefs covering the lower parts of their faces leaving only their eyes uncovered.

  The men walked towards them.

  Then three of them seized the reins of each horse.

  “What are you doing?” Tasia demanded. “What do you want?”

  “You ought to be able to guess that,” the man in the mask replied. “We ’eard about these ’orses so you can’t be surprised that us wants ’em.”

  “Well you cannot have them! Take your hands off my reins.”

  The man snarled.

  “That be askin’ too much, and now we’re a-takin’ you where you’ll keep silent until us be well away.”

  Tasia tried to turn her horse and gallop away from him, but he had his hand firmly on the bridle and started leading her horse round behind the wood.

  They were a long way out of sight of the house and Tasia could not think what she could do.

  “What is happening? What are they doing to us? Tell them to go away, Tasia,” the boys called out to her.

  “I cannot understand what is going on, but your father will soon deal with these ruffians.”

  The man in the ma
sk sniggered.

  “I’m a-goin’ to put you where you’ll not be found for some time and when you are, your ’orses’ll be far away where no one can take ’em back from us.”

  Simon gave a little cry.

  “You can’t take Red Robin from me. He’s mine!”

  “So that’s ’is name,” the man in the mask smirked. “And a pretty name it is too.”

  “Whatever are we to do, Tasia?” Peter asked her desperately.

  “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do right now.”

  Behind the wood there was a wide river that ran through the estate and she was wondering how they were going to cross it, if that was what the villains intended.

  Then she saw just ahead that there was an aged mill in an obviously bad state of repair with holes in its roof.

  As they drew nearer, Tasia could see that the water wheel was smashed and there were pieces of wood hanging down into the water.

  “You realise,” she said quietly in a stern voice to the man leading her, “that you will be caught stealing these horses and you will be imprisoned if not transported.”

  “Us be too clever to be caught,” the man replied, “and you be better to worry about yourselves than us.”

  “What are you going to do with us?”

  Tasia had a sudden fear that they might be going to drown them.

  “If I plays it clever-like, they should find you in a day or two,” the man smirked.

  They were nearing the mill and Tasia spoke up,

  “If you are going to shut us in this mill, I am sure from its looks that it’s in a dangerous state. We shall very likely drown and you will be arrested for murder as well as stealing our horses.”

  “I expect you’ll be saved and ’is Lordship can send ‘is men North, South, East or West, but ’e’ll not find us!”

  He was laughing in an insolent way as he spoke and it made his words seem even more unpleasant.

  It seemed somehow even more terrifying as only he was speaking – the other men did not say anything because of the handkerchiefs over their mouths.

  They arrived at the mill and the man in the mask brought the horses to a standstill.

  The fourth man lifted Simon down from his horse.

  “I will not leave you, Tasia,” cried Simon. “I will not leave you.”

  Carrying Simon to the door of the mill, he pushed him inside.