Little Tongues of Fire Read online

  There were a number of passengers leaning over the rails watching his arrival, but the Duke felt sure that Vina would not be amongst them.

  If she was, however, there would be nothing she could do to escape from him.

  Breathless, he began to climb up the companionway, and only as he reached the Purser’s office did he remember that he was travelling incognito.

  He never used his Ducal title, which invariably encouraged journalists and gossips, but travelled as Lord Elverton, another of his other names.

  The Purser was a large, fat and very affable man and, as the Duke introduced himself, he said,

  “You cut it a bit fine, my Lord.”

  “I knew only at the last moment that my journey was imperative,” the Duke replied grandly, “and I want the best accommodation that you can provide me with.”

  There were no suites on the P. & O. Liners, but the Duke knew of old how comfortable a passage could be if one could afford it.

  He therefore took two of the largest and best cabins, unoccupied because they were so expensive and gave orders that one should be turned into a sitting room.

  He also took a cabin for Hodgson as near as possible to his own and, when everything had been arranged, he said casually,

  “May I look at the passenger list?”

  “Of course, my Lord,” the Purser replied, “but there are two passengers who, like yourself, were too late to be included on it.”

  “Two?” the Duke queried.

  The Purser smiled.

  “One is an Egyptian gentleman who will be leaving us at Alexandria and the other – ”

  He looked down at his desk as if searching for the name and the Duke held his breath.

  It seemed as if an Eternity passed before the Purser found the piece of paper he wanted and read out,

  “The other is a Miss Vina Wallace, who is travelling alone.”

  The Duke, holding the passenger list, gave no indication of his relief.

  He knew, however, that his intuition had been right and that he had found Vina.

  Only when he was settled into his comfortable quarters and Hodgson, having supervised the arrangements in his sitting room, was unpacking in his bedroom, did he ask himself how soon he should approach her.

  It would clearly be a mistake to do so at once.

  When he thought about it, he was half-afraid because, if she was upset or frightened by his appearance, she might throw herself overboard.

  He could remember all too clearly that she had sworn to him that she would not throw herself from the Tower of Despair.

  But that would not prevent her from throwing herself into the sea or taking her life by some other means.

  ‘I have to do this very carefully and cleverly,’ the Duke mused.

  He thought that when he talked to her he might persuade her to leave the Liner at Gibraltar and that they could return to England either by sea or by land.

  He therefore had dinner in his State Room and retired to bed, wondering what was happening at Quarington and how John Simpson had coped with the General and Lady Wallace.

  Whatever his intentions had been for the next day, they were frustrated by a storm that blew up overnight.

  The Magnificent rolled and pitched as it passed down the English Channel and, by the time they reached the Bay of Biscay, it was difficult for anyone to move about.

  The Duke was a good sailor, but he was not so foolish as to risk breaking a limb by doing so unnecessarily.

  He therefore stayed comfortably in his cabin, merely instructing Hodgson to find out from the Stewards what he could about Vina.

  Hodgson was a past master at espionage and came back with the information that Vina was in a cabin not far from the Duke’s.

  “The Stewardess tells me,” he said with a grin, “that Miss Vina’s lyin’ on her bed, readin’ a book and hasn’t got much to say for herself.”

  The Duke thought that that at least was sensible.

  The next three days, while the storm continued, Hodgson learned that Vina was quite comfortable and had asked for nothing except more books.

  “Are there some aboard?” the Duke asked.

  It was something that he had never been concerned about on his various voyages.

  “There’s quite a number, Your Grace, in the writin’ room, which is at the end of this corridor, although I gather there’s not many people interested at the moment!”

  Hodgson had already given the Duke a vivid description of how ill most of the passengers were.

  It was only when they were not far from Gibraltar that the Duke decided that the time had come when he must find Vina and talk to her.

  He had eaten a good breakfast and was wondering, now that the sea was calmer, whether he should go out on deck as he was longing to do, when Hodgson came to tell him that Vina had been out very early.

  She had now returned to her cabin. The Duke realised that he had missed her and was annoyed.

  He walked round the Liner several times, feeling better for the air and the exercise, although there was a cold wind.

  The majority of the passengers who had struggled up on deck looked ‘green about the gills’ and very chilled from the wind.

  The Duke was quite aware that a number of them followed him with their eyes, thinking he was without exception the most handsome man that they had ever seen.

  He was wearing his gold-buttoned boating jacket and a peaked yachting cap covered his dark hair.

  Yet, now that things were more normal, the Duke was bored.

  He wanted to talk to Vina and he debated for a long time whether to go to her cabin, which would be embarrassing, or ask her to come to his.

  He had the feeling that she might refuse, in which case he would have alerted her to his presence aboard quite unnecessarily.

  If she hid from him for the rest of the voyage, there was little he would be able to do about it.

  As he went below to the Saloon for luncheon, he thought perhaps he would see her in the distance.

  It might be easier if he approached her in public, when it was less likely that she would make a scene.

  He could also prevent her from running away from him.

  But there was no sign of her, and he learnt from Hodgson that she had said that she had no wish to leave her cabin and wanted her meals brought to her as they had been during the storm.

  The Duke was once again faced with the problem of what he should do.

  Then Fate played into his hands.

  He walked round the deck during the afternoon feeling that he needed the exercise and realised even as he did so that the air was growing warmer now that the wind had considerably abated.

  The sea was very blue and the sun had emerged from behind the clouds.

  He wondered if Vina was aware of it and if she felt that now something had to be done and that he must talk to her.

  He left the deck and began to walk along the corridor towards his own cabin.

  Then, on an impulse, he walked on to the end of the corridor to where Hodgson had told him the writing room was situated.

  He had just reached the door, when he heard a woman scream.

  And then a man’s voice said,

  “Come on, now, don’t be stupid! You’re alone and I’m alone and, if we have a bit of fun together, who’s to stop us?”

  As the Duke pushed open the door of the writing room, which was slightly ajar, he heard Vina reply,

  “Go – away! Leave me – alone!”

  He walked in and saw that she had been pressed against a wall by a flashily dressed man, who was trying to kiss her.

  It took the Duke only two steps to cross the room, catch the man by the back of the collar and pull him away with a violence that threw him backwards down onto the floor.

  He half-sat, half-lay there with a dazed expression on his face, as if for the moment he did not know what had happened to him.

  “Get out!” the Duke ordered sharply. “And if I see you behaving like this
again, I will have you put off the Liner at Gibraltar!”

  The Duke’s appearance, the anger in his eyes and his voice, which was obviously one of authority, made the man grunt surlily,

  “I didn’t mean any harm.”

  “Then get out!” the Duke said again.

  Hurriedly the man obeyed and, as he moved towards the door, the Duke turned to look at Vina.

  She was staring at him as if she had seen a ghost and her eyes seemed to fill her small face.

  “It is – you!” she said in a voice he could hardly hear.

  “Yes, it is,” the Duke replied, “and I obviously arrived at the right moment.”

  “H-hje – was trying to – kiss me!” Vina whispered and he saw that she was trembling.

  “You cannot really blame him,” the Duke said gently, “if you are so unwise, looking as you do, to travel alone.”

  He thought, as he spoke, that she was lovelier than he remembered.

  But once again there was fear in her eyes and he knew that he wanted to protect her.

  Then, as if she could hardly that believe he was real, she asked,

  “H-how – can you be – here? How is it – possible?”

  “I want to tell you all about it,” the Duke replied, “and I suggest that if we do not want to be interrupted, we should go to my cabin which Hodgson has transformed into a very comfortable sitting room.”

  “Hodgson – is with – you?” Vina asked. “And – and who – else?”

  The Duke, reading her thoughts, knew that she was afraid he had brought Edgar with him.

  “When I realised where you had gone,” he said, “I reached the ship by the skin of my teeth. Only Hodgson is with me.”

  “Are you – saying that you – followed me? But – how did you know – I was here?”

  “That is exactly what I want to tell you,” the Duke replied, “and I think we would be much more comfortable sitting down than standing here where we may be overheard.”

  He saw Vina look nervously towards the door and he knew that he had struck the right note.

  The Liner gave an unexpected lurch and he put out his hand to take hers.

  “Come along,” he urged, “and, although the weather is better than it has been for the last few days, it is still wise not to take risks with our sea-legs.”

  Vina made a little sound that was almost a chuckle.

  And then she said,

  “I was – far too frightened to – walk about during – the storm.”

  “So was I,” the Duke admitted, “but I was longing to talk to you and found it very boring to be alone.”

  He knew without looking at her that she was staring at him in surprise.

  Then he drew her out of the writing room and along the corridor.

  Chapter Seven

  The Duke opened the door and Vina passed into his sitting room.

  He closed the door and turned round to see her standing looking at him, her eyes apprehensive and, he thought, still frightened.

  He smiled as he moved towards her.

  Then, and he was not quite certain how it happened, she was holding onto him and her face was hidden against his shoulder.

  He could feel that she was trembling and he said reassuringly,

  “It’s all right, you are quite safe.”

  “H-he – frightened me,” Vina murmured in a small voice. “He spoke to me on the – train and I was – afraid if I left my cabin he – would be waiting for me.”

  “You were very foolish to think that you could travel alone.”

  She did not answer, her face was still hidden.

  The sunshine streaming in through the porthole seemed to envelop her in a pure golden light.

  To his surprise he felt the blood throbbing in his temples and his heart beating frantically.

  Then he knew, although it seemed incredible, that he was in love.

  It was different from anything he had felt before so far as a woman was concerned.

  With Irene Halford and every other woman who he had enjoyed passionate affaires de coeur with the fire within him had burned fiercely for a short time and then died away, leaving not even a glow in the ashes.

  Now he knew that he wanted to protect Vina and look after her.

  He realised that it was something he had felt for a long time, but had not admitted it to himself.

  It was, of course, he now knew, why he had run after her in such an impulsive way that was very unlike his usual correct and well-organised actions.

  He had also experienced a terror of what might happen to her and he had never felt it for any living person.

  The Liner rolled a little and he drew her to the sofa.

  She sat down, only raising her head as she did so.

  He saw that there were tears on her cheeks and he took a fine linen white handkerchief from his pocket and put it into her hand.

  She wiped her tears away and then she said humbly,

  “I-I am – sorry.”

  “I wish you had trusted me with what you intended to do,” said the Duke gently.

  “You would have – tried to – prevent me,” she answered. “I know that – you and Aunt Marjory will be – very angry, but I cannot marry him – I cannot!”

  “So you thought that you would hide away in India?”

  “It is the – only place where I – know I could be – safe and be with people who – loved Papa.”

  “Do you really think that it would be possible for you to stay there indefinitely?” the Duke asked.

  She did not answer him.

  Then she stated almost defiantly,

  “I took my – jewellery with – me.”

  “The thought of that scared me more than anything else when I read your letter,” the Duke said. “You might have been robbed, and even injured.”

  “I had stopped at the Bank,” Vina continued, “on my way to London, and I drew a – cheque for – five hundred pounds. I guessed that if I – asked for more it might seem – suspicious.”

  “I see that you thought out everything very cleverly,” the Duke remarked, “but you were not clever enough to realise that you are too young and far too pretty to travel anywhere unattached.”

  Vina made a helpless little gesture as she answered him,

  “I-I did not know – there were – men like the one you – saved me from – just now.”

  “Well, now that you do know,” the Duke said quietly, “what are you going to do about it?”

  He saw the terror once again in her eyes and knew, because he could read her thoughts, that she was thinking that if he sent her back she must die.

  As if she wanted to run away, she rose from the sofa to stand at the window looking onto the deck outside.

  It was too high for anyone to look in, but she could see the sea beyond the railing and the white foam of the waves.

  “That would be a very stupid thing to do,” the Duke told her quietly, “and would undoubtedly cause a great scandal.”

  “I cannot believe – anybody would worry about – someone as unimportant as – me,” Vina asserted.

  “They would certainly ask a great many questions as to why you were with me and what I had done to upset you.”

  Vina turned to look at him with wide eyes and he knew that this had not occurred to her before.

  When she looked away again, the Duke said,

  “I cannot believe you dislike me so much that you would put me in an invidious position that I would have no reasonable explanation for.”

  “No – no, of course – not,” Vina said quickly. “How could I possibly hurt you when you have been – so kind to –me?”

  “I am trying to be kind, but I think we must talk things over and decide what is the most sensible thing to do in the circumstances.”

  He saw a little tremor go through her.

  Then she replied to him passionately,

  “I cannot – go back! I cannot – marry your – brother! He is – horrible, cruel and – w
icked!”

  Her voice faltered before she continued,

  “I heard him say that he would – spend all the money that – was Papa’s on – bad women and giving – riotous parties – that is wrong – I know it is wrong!”

  “Of course it is wrong,” the Duke agreed at once.

  There was a short silence and then Vina said in a hesitating voice, as if she was testing him,

  “I want to – give the money to – children in India – who are – hungry.”

  “I can think of many ways, including that, how your fortune would be of inestimable benefit to those who really need it.”

  Vina gave a little gasp.

  Then she turned round to stare up at the Duke.

  “Do you – mean that – do you really – mean it?” she asked breathlessly.

  The Duke rose to his feet.

  “Of course I mean it,” he replied, “but it is something that must be done sensibly and as cleverly as your father managed to help the British authorities when he was alive.”

  “That – is what I – want.”

  She looked up at the Duke, who was standing beside her.

  Now he saw that her face was changed and there was an expression that he had not seen before.

  Her eyes met his and she said in a voice that was a little above a whisper,

  “You – really will – help me – you really will?”

  “You know I will,” the Duke smiled.

  She gave a little cry of sheer happiness.

  Then, or perhaps it was because of the roll of the Liner, she flung herself against him.

  His arms went round her, and as her face was turned up to his, without thinking, because it was what he wanted, his lips came down on hers.

  He felt a little tremor go right through her.

  Then, as her mouth, very soft, sweet and innocent seemed to respond to his, his became more possessive and more demanding.

  To Vina it was as if she was swept from the depths of the darkness of death-like depression into a sunlit sky.

  *

  She had been terrified at Quarington to the point of killing herself by jumping off the Tower of Despair.

  When the Duke had prevented her from doing that, she had suddenly thought that the only way she could save herself was by running away.