The Sign of Love Read online

  “Exactly. And do you think your mother, if she was alive, would have countenanced you being here in close association with two so-called ‘ladies’ who are nothing but a pair of harlots?”

  Bettina started.

  She had never heard anyone use such language and the words shocked her. Besides there was something singularly unpleasant in the tone of Lord Eustace’s voice.

  “I don’t wish to – discuss it,” she replied. “I have to see Papa. Please let me – pass.”

  She took a step towards the door, but Lord Eustace did not move.

  “Listen to me, Bettina,” he said. “You are very young and innocent and I consider it extremely reprehensible of your father to have brought you here in the first place. But now that you know the depths of depravity that the so-called Social world will stoop to, make up your mind in future that you will have nothing to do with such evil people.”

  “I don’t intend to allow you to criticise Papa,” Bettina retorted.

  “Sir Charles is old enough to do what he likes,” Lord Eustace answered, “but you are young and, as it happens, very pretty.”

  He did not make it sound particularly a compliment and Bettina merely repeated,

  “I wish to go to Papa.”

  “When I am ready to let you, but first you have to listen to me.”

  “I do not wish to listen to you and, if you want my opinion, I think it is very bad manners to eat a man’s salt and abuse him behind his back.”

  “Where my half-brother is concerned, the rules of chivalry do not apply,” Lord Eustace retorted. “I only came on this trip, which is everything I expected it to be, when I learnt that you were to be one of the guests.”

  She looked at him in surprise and he went on,

  “When I looked after you at Dover, I realised that you were pure and innocent, a child who knew nothing of the world and certainly nothing of that part of it that is reigned over by my illustrious half-brother!”

  His voice was spiteful.

  Then he added in a different tone,

  “I accepted his invitation because I thought I could save you! Save you from being soiled and besmirched by the evil women my half-brother associates with and with the licentious rakes he calls his friends.”

  “That was – very kind of – you,” Bettina said a little breathlessly, overcome by the turn that the conversation had taken, “but Papa is with me and he has looked after me – as he always – has.”

  “Your father cannot protect you from what you see taking place and from what you hear being said,” Lord Eustace retorted, “and if you make excuses for the people you have been associating with on this voyage, then all I can say is that you are already contaminated and already sinking into the slime and filth that they wallow in.”

  It flashed through Bettina’s mind that Lord Eustace was positively unhinged by his hatred of his half-brother and Society life.

  Yesterday, she thought, this would have perturbed her and she would have felt afraid.

  But now, with a sudden sense of freedom, she realised that there was no need for her to be troubled by what Lord Eustace thought or did not think.

  Ever since coming on board she had been overshadowed and menaced by the idea that her father wished her to marry him.

  Now, like the sunshine sweeping away the darkness of the night, her fear had gone.

  Lord Eustace could hate, sneer and denounce as much as he pleased. Once they reached England she need never see him again.

  Because there was a sudden happiness in the thought she said in a quiet conciliatory tone,

  “You are upsetting yourself, my Lord. Things are not as bad as you imagine. I am very grateful that you have tried to protect me and prevent me from being corrupted. But I assure you I am quite safe and like Papa I never remember the unpleasant things that happen, only the nice ones.”

  She smiled at Lord Eustace before she insisted again,

  “I really must go. Papa will be wondering what has happened to me.”

  “Your father can wait,” Lord Eustace replied firmly. “I have something to ask you, Bettina, but I did not mean to do so until we reached England.”

  There was something in the way he spoke and the expression in his eyes that gave Bettina a sudden sense of danger.

  She knew what he was going to say and felt that she must stop him before the words passed his lips.

  “We will talk later, my Lord,” she said swiftly, “but not now. I really cannot stop.”

  “You will listen to me,” he persisted in the obstinate tone that she knew so well.

  He was still standing with his back to the door and there was nothing that Bettina could do to move him.

  She waited apprehensively, feeling frantically that she must somehow prevent him from saying the words she expected, but feeling helplessly that it was impossible.

  “I want you to marry me,” Lord Eustace said. “I will teach you all you need to know about life. There will be no question of you ever again coming in contact with the dregs of a dissolute aristocracy.”

  Bettina drew in her breath. The words were spoken and she had been unable to prevent them.

  And now she had to reply.

  “I-I am very – honoured,” she said in a hesitating little voice. “B-but I must be honest and say that while I – am grateful for your kindness to me – I cannot marry you.”

  “Don’t be so ridiculous!” Lord Eustace came back sharply. “You will marry me not only because I want you to but because it is your father’s wish. He has already intimated very clearly that he considers me a suitable son-in-law, which is exactly what I am.”

  “I am – sorry,” Bettina said, “very sorry to – upset you, but I-I want you to know now – from the very beginning that it is impossible for me ever to – marry you.”

  To her surprise there was a smile on Lord Eustace’s thin lips.

  “You are very young, Bettina, and I can understand that your first proposal of marriage would not only surprise you but seem overwhelming. Just get used to the idea that you will be my wife and we will be married sometime in the New Year when I have had time to make the necessary arrangements.”

  “No!” Bettina cried. “No!”

  Lord Eustace smiled again.

  “Go and talk to your father. He will explain to you that you are unlikely to receive a better offer.”

  He paused and then went on, his eyes on her face,

  “I know this makes you feel shy since you have not, unlike so many other women, thought previously of marrying me, and that is to your credit. But I am sure, Bettina, I can teach you to be the sort of wife I need to help me with my plans for the future.”

  He paused significantly before he continued,

  “It will, of course, take time and a great deal of application on your part, but you will soon realise and appreciate that the battle that I have thrown myself wholeheartedly into is very well worthwhile.”

  He spoke in a grandiose way that Bettina felt she could find no answer to.

  Now at last he moved away from the door and opened it.

  “Go to your father. You will find that he will be delighted at your news.”

  Without saying anything Bettina escaped, feeling almost as if she had been buffeted unconscious by the waves of a tumultuous sea.

  She ran down the passage towards her cabin and burst in to find thankfully that her father was still there waiting for her.

  He was sitting on the bed reading a newspaper and she flung herself upon him putting her arms round his neck.

  “Oh, Papa! Papa!”

  Sir Charles dropped the newspaper and held her close.

  “I expect it has been a bit of a surprise, my poppet. Never mind, you will get used to the idea of being a Duchess and God knows I am proud of you.”

  “It is – not the – Duke,” Bettina answered, “it’s Lord Eustace! Oh – Papa, he says that I – have to marry him and that you will be so – pleased!”

  For a moment Sir Charle
s stared at his daughter in astonishment and then he began to laugh.

  “So Eustace has come up to scratch only to be pipped at the Winning Post! It’s the funniest thing I have ever heard and serve him damned right! The sanctimonious swine, he deserved a set down!”

  Bettina took her arms from round her father's neck.

  “But, Papa – you wanted me to – marry him!”

  “Only before I knew that you could aspire very much higher,” Sir Charles answered quite unabashed.

  “I really think,” Bettina said in a low voice, “there is – something in what Lord Eustace says about – you and your – friends.”

  “Don’t tell me what he said,” Sir Charles replied, “I know Eustace’s view all too well. Forget him! It is Varien we are concerned with.”

  “Yes, I know – but Lord Eustace is very – overpowering and, when he has made up his mind, he can be extremely – obstinate.”

  There was just a touch of fear in her voice that Sir Charles did not miss.

  “Forget him,” he repeated. “Eustace cannot hurt you now and you will see very little of him once you are married. He seldom accepts his half-brother’s invitations.”

  “He claimed that he only came on this trip because he knew that I would be here.”

  “So that was the reason,” Sir Charles expostulated. “Oh well, it shows he has good taste in one thing if in nothing else. You are certainly very different from the riff-raff and the gin-sodden down-and-outs he usually expends his time on.”

  “I was thinking this morning that he has the right ideas, but he goes about it in the wrong way.”

  “I am not even certain that his ideas are right,” Sir Charles answered. “He abuses his half-brother, but nobody knows better than I do of the generous way that Varien helps other people and actually the Alveston estate is a model of its kind.”

  “In what way?” Bettina asked.

  “Well, you will have to ask Varien, but I know that he has built more orphanages and more alms-houses than any other great landlord. He supports several hospitals and the charities that he subscribes to would fill a book!”

  “Then why does Lord Eustace say such – terrible things about him?”

  Sir Charles smiled.

  “My dear child, you cannot have read the ninth or is it the tenth Commandment about envying your neighbour.”

  “Do you mean that Lord Eustace is – jealous?”

  “Of course he is! He loathes his half-brother because he is the Duke. His mother hated Varien because he was the heir when Eustace was born. There was nothing she could do about it except to be spiteful, disagreeable and continually try to put his father against his son. Luckily she did not succeed.”

  “Now I – think I understand quite a – lot,” Bettina said slowly.

  “And, because Varien enjoys the good things of life and, because he is a sportsman, a friend of the Prince of Wales and a King among men, Eustace has gone to the other extreme.”

  Sir Charles paused for a moment and then continued,

  “He has made his friends the poverty-stricken rabble who no one else is interested in. At least amongst them he can shine as his half-brother shines in a very different world.”

  “I feel sorry for him,” Bettina said.

  “You need not be. In his own way he is eaten up with his own conceit and I can tell you one thing it would never cross his mind that you might refuse his offer of marriage.”

  Remembering what Lord Eustace had said, Bettina knew this to be true.

  “You will have to – speak to him, Papa.”

  “I will,” Sir Charles answered, “but not until we reach England.”

  “No, of course not. The Duke has said that we should behave quite normally until we reach The Castle. I could not face the other guests if they suspected – ”

  Her voice died away.

  “That is what I thought, my poppet, but there is no reason why they should suspect anything. As my old Nanny used to say, ‘keep yourself to yourself for the rest of the journey’. And that includes, where possible, keeping away from Eustace.”

  “I shall certainly do that, Papa.”

  It was, however, easier said than done.

  *

  As they steamed homewards up the Mediterranean, she was aware that Lord Eustace was trying to get her alone and finding it increasingly frustrating when he could not manage it.

  It was not at all easy to hide in a yacht or to be always in the company of the other guests.

  On the voyage out Bettina had avoided Lady Daisy and Lady Tatham as much as possible.

  If she was honest with herself, she knew that they shocked her, not quite as violently as they shocked Lord Eustace, but the way that they behaved towards the Duke seemed to her to be fast and at times vulgar.

  Now to see them fawning over him at meals, to hear their remarks, which always had an innuendo in them and to watch the invitation in their eyes, made Bettina feel uncomfortable and also gave her another feeling that she could not put a name to.

  It also made her aware of her own insignificance.

  How, she asked herself, could she ever be like them? How could she be sophisticated, witty and at the same time deliberately and provocatively alluring?

  She did not know how to be any of those things and, if that was the type of woman the Duke admired and who amused him, he would find her dull within a few hours of their marriage.

  At night she tried to think it all out logically and clearly for herself.

  The Duke hated his half-brother, who quite obviously despised him. He had therefore come to the conclusion against his better inclination that he must marry again and produce an heir.

  Perhaps in other circumstances he would not have chosen her, but because she had been there when he had been angry with Eustace and, when he resented his high-handed manner in interfering with his servants, he had decided that he might as well marry her as any other woman.

  It was a very dispiriting picture and Bettina felt her heart sink as she thought it over.

  The night before they left the Mediterranean and passed through the Straits of Gibraltar to leave behind the warmer weather and the calm seas for the cold and the winds of the Bay of Biscay, she went to the deck when she was certain that no one would see her.

  She put on her warm cloak with its fur-trimmed hood that framed her face.

  There was a touch of frost in the air and the stars were brilliant overhead and Bettina could look up at them and remember how she and the Duke had seen them together.

  She thought then that he had been different, serious and understanding and ready to listen to her ideas, which, she thought humbly, must have seemed very childish to him.

  Quite suddenly she knew how much she longed for her marriage to be a successful and happy one.

  She wanted to bring the Duke happiness, perhaps a happiness that he had never known and this must certainly not be a marriage of quarrels and disagreeableness such as he had endured with his first wife.

  She felt that only her mother would understand what she was feeling, and, as she looked up at the stars, she found herself praying,

  ‘Help me, Mama. Help me to do the things – he will like. Tell me how to look after him.’

  As she spoke, she thought that it was a strange request to make about the Duke who had hundreds of servants to pander to his every requirement and yet she felt that perhaps someday he might need her.

  If only her mother was there and she could talk to her about it. If only she could be told what a man like the Duke wanted from his wife and from the mother of his children.

  She felt herself tremble because it was all so overwhelming and, with one last look at the stars, she slipped below to lie sleepless in her cabin for a long time.

  *

  Once they were in rough weather there was an inescapable relief in knowing that Lady Daisy and Lady Tatham had succumbed to seasickness and would remain in their cabins.

  Mrs. Dimsdale appeared on the first d
ay and then she too retired with the other ladies and Bettina was once again the only woman to appear at meals.

  The gentlemen teased her, paid her compliments and treated her like a rather precocious child.

  Bettina actually enjoyed herself although she sometimes glanced apprehensively at the Duke at the head of the table in case he thought that she was not behaving in the way he would wish her to do.

  She was quite aware that Lord Eustace was glowering at her through every meal and disapproved of every smile that curved her lips and every laugh that came spontaneously from her throat.

  The other gentlemen teased him too.

  “Come on, Eustace,” they would say. “How can you be so disagreeable about it? You have to let us share Miss Charlwood with you when she is the only female company we have left.”

  Lord Eustace did not reply, but only looked more sullen and unfriendly than before.

  Because Bettina felt that he was suffering she allowed him to read her one of the new pamphlets he had composed, not in the intimacy of the writing room but in the Saloon, which they occupied alone, but where there were always servants moving in and out.

  He took out the closely written sheets of paper that he intended to read to her from his briefcase and then he said fiercely,

  “You have been avoiding me!”

  Bettina did not deny it.

  “You – frightened me the way you – spoke last time we were – together.”

  “I had no wish to do so, but at the same time you will have to learn to obey me, Bettina.”

  Bettina did not answer and he went on,

  “For it to be a happy marriage a wife must always be subservient to her husband and let me make it clear, we shall not move in the circles where women like Lady Daisy and Lady Tatham have complaisant husbands who remain at home while they go gallivanting with their lovers.”

  “Please, Lord Eustace, don’t let us speak of anything but the work you are doing,” Bettina suggested,

  “The work I am doing for the down-and-outs concerns me just as it is impossible for me not to be concerned about the people who we are forced to associate with at this moment.”

  “As I told you before,” Bettina said, “I think it is wrong and extremely bad manners for you to abuse your half-brother and his guests.”