Gift Of the Gods Read online

  The way he spoke told Alisa that he had already assumed that she would accept his proposal. In fact for him it was inconceivable that any woman would refuse him, let alone somebody of no social consequence.

  With an effort and in a voice that did not sound like her own, Alisa said,

  “I am deeply – honoured – Your Grace – that you should ask me to be your – wife, but as you say – we have known each other – only a very short time.”

  “I have known you long enough to know that you will make me a very happy man,” the Duke replied, “and, as the King is here this evening, I would like him to be the very first to know of our engagement.”

  “Please – please,” Alisa said frantically “we are not engaged – not yet. You must let me – think. I have been in London only a short while – and could not consider – marriage with anybody – unless I knew him – well.”

  She did not look at the Duke, but she was aware that he was surprised at what she had said and his eyes were on her face.

  “I am sure,” he said after a moment, “that you would wish to be married before the Coronation. The Duchess of Exminster has a traditional role to play in such ceremonies, and I know that no Duchess could be more beautiful than you.”

  “Thank you – Your Grace,” Alisa said in a very small voice. “I am – deeply sensible of the – honour it is for me to receive such a – proposal – but I must think about it. I must be sure – that I will be able to – make you happy.”

  “I am quite sure of that,” the Duke said complacently.

  “Then could we both – think it – over for a few – weeks?”

  “I have nothing to think about,” he replied. “I want you, Alisa, and, although I know you are young and perhaps it frightens you to think you will have to play such an important part in the Social world, I will look after you and you need not be afraid of making mistakes.”

  “You are – very kind,” Alisa stammered breathlessly, “but I must think about it – I must – be sure before I give you my answer.”

  There was a pause before the Duke replied, and Alisa knew that he was surprised that she should prevaricate and not accept him immediately as he had expected.

  “I am sure that there is time enough for both of us,” he said at length.

  He put out his hand to take hers.

  “I promise you that we will be very happy together and tomorrow or the next day I will take you to meet some of my relatives.”

  The touch of his hand on hers gave Alisa again a feeling of repugnance that she had felt before.

  Quickly she took her hand away and rose to her feet.

  “I must go and – find Penelope – Your Grace,” she said and hurried away from him before he could follow her.

  She sped across the lawn towards a different window from the one she had come through with the Duke and she found when she reached it that it did not lead into the ballroom but to a sitting room at the side of it.

  It was empty, but there was a door opening out of it into a room where she could see card tables and a number of gentlemen either playing or standing about with a glass in their hands.

  She had discovered at the balls they had already attended in London that there was always a room set aside where the older men who disliked dancing could gamble with one another and drink in comfort.

  There was also a door that led to the passage and, as Alisa went towards it, she heard a gentleman in the card room say to another,

  “Where’s our host? I have not seen him for some time.”

  “Finding another bottle,” a voice answered, “and I expect as usual he has lost count by now,”

  There was a burst of laughter at this and, just as Alisa was about to leave the sitting room, the gentleman who had spoken first said,

  “I think he is more likely to be ravishing that attractive creature he was dancing with earlier in the evening!”

  Alisa drew in her breath.

  It was insulting that he should refer to Penelope in such a manner and she thought, from the wav he slightly slurred his words, that he also had been drinking.

  Now she knew that she must find Penelope and see if she was all right.

  She did not know why, but when she had made Penelope an excuse for leaving the Duke, she had positively felt in some strange way she had often felt before that Penelope did need her.

  Because they were so close, they often thought the same things and would laugh about it.

  “We might be twins,” Penelope had said more than once.

  “I think really it is because we have always lived such a secluded life together in the country,” Alisa had answered.

  Now she was sure that Penelope wanted her and she walked down a corridor that contained some very fine pieces of furniture and a great number of valuable paintings.

  Alisa had no idea where she was going, but she felt that if the Duke was proposing to Penelope, as was likely, he would not have taken her to the garden, but to some quiet room where they could be alone.

  There were a number of sitting rooms on the ground floor, all of which were discreetly lit and decorated with flowers.

  As she peeped into them, some were empty but in others there were couples, obviously talking intimately, and in one she saw two people kissing passionately, which made her hurriedly move away.

  She had almost reached the end of the passage, which seemed to run the whole length of the house, when she saw somebody in white come through a door and realised that she had found whom she was seeking.

  It was Penelope.

  She hurried towards her, seeing as she did so that there was a large notice on the door marked, Private and Penelope was shutting it behind her.

  Then, as she turned and saw Alisa standing only a few feet away, she gave a little cry.

  At the same time Alisa saw the expression on her face and exclaimed,

  “What is the matter? What has happened?”

  She could see that Penelope was trembling.

  “What has upset you, dearest?” she asked, as her sister did not speak.

  “I-I have killed – the Duke!”

  For a moment Alisa felt that she must have misunderstood, but there was a stricken look in Penelope’s eyes and her face was so pale that it was obvious something terrifying had occurred.

  “What do you – mean, dearest?” she managed to ask,

  “I have – killed him!” Penelope answered. “He is – dead – in that – room!”

  As she spoke, she stretched out her hands blindly and Alisa put her arm round her.

  She saw an open door beside them and through it another sitting room with shaded lights and decorated with flowers and it was empty.

  She gently pulled Penelope into the room and closed the door behind them.

  “What are you saying?” she asked. “Did you – really say – you had – killed the Duke?”

  “After he asked me to marry him – he tried to – kiss me,” Penelope answered, “and when I resisted him – he forced me down onto a – sofa.”

  She made a sound that was almost like that of an animal in pain as she went on,

  “He was – horrible – beastly – and I – hated him!”

  “Then what happened?” Alisa asked, as Penelope seemed unable to say any more.

  “I – escaped from him, but, when I tried to – get out of the room, he – stopped me.”

  She paused before she could go on,

  “It was – then that I realised he had had too much to – drink and he was – behaving like an – animal!”

  “Oh, dearest!”

  “I picked up the – poker and when he – rushed at me again – I pushed it – hard into his – stomach.”

  She held her breath as if it was frightening to remember what she had done.

  Then, before Alisa could say anything, she continued,

  “He – doubled up for a moment – then I hit him and hit him – on top of the head. He fell down and I went on – hitting him!”
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  “Oh – how – could you!” Alisa breathed.

  “I wanted to – hurt him. Then I – realised that he was – dead!”

  Alisa put her arms round her to hold her and Penelope asked with fear in her eyes,

  “What – shall we do? I – cannot tell – anybody about it but – you.”

  Because Penelope sounded so helpless and so unlike herself, Alisa found a strength that she had never had before.

  “Somebody must help us,” she said. “You stay here, dearest, until I come back.”

  She felt as if Penelope hardly heard her and she added,

  “I will lock you in. Then you will not be disturbed by anybody. Don’t be frightened. I will be back in a few minutes!”

  “I am – frightened!” Penelope moaned. “Oh, Alisa, I am – very – frightened!”

  “I will be as quick as I can.”

  Penelope did not reply. She merely put her hands over her face and because she seemed suddenly small and pathetic, Alisa moved to the door with a determination that was very unlike herself.

  She closed and locked the door, then holding the key in her hand she ran down the passage.

  She knew there was one person who could help her now and, as she went in search of the Earl, it flashed through her mind that they might have to hide somewhere or perhaps even leave England.

  She thought that the Earl would be with the King in the ballroom, but, as the music grew louder, she passed a room in which there were a number of people drinking champagne and there she saw him.

  He was standing talking to Major Coombe and, as there was no sign of the King, he was apparently for the moment free of his duties.

  Without thinking of anything except that he was there and he must help them, Alisa ran to his side.

  The Earl was just saying something to the Major, when, seeing Alisa at his elbow, he stopped in the middle of a sentence and looked at her in surprise.

  “I must – speak to – you,” Alisa said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, but with a distinct tremor in it.

  The Earl realised at once that something untoward had happened, for her eyes were stricken as Penelope’s had been.

  He put down the glass he was holding in his hand and moved a few steps towards an empty corner of the room.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  For a moment Alisa felt that it was impossible to tell him, impossible for the words to come to her lips.

  Then, so quietly that he could only just hear, she said,

  “P-Penelope has – killed the – D-Duke!”

  The Earl was still for a moment and there was a question in his eyes, as if he thought that he had either misunderstood what Alisa had said or that she was playing some joke on him.

  Then, as if he was convinced not so much by her words as by the look on her face, he said quietly,

  “We will walk slowly from the room as if nothing unusual has happened.”

  Then in a voice that could be heard by many of the people standing near them he said,

  “I am finding, Miss Wynton, that it is extremely hot in here and I am not surprised that some people are feeling faint. Let’s try to find somewhere cooler.”

  Then, as she took a few steps beside him to cross the room to the door, the Earl said to Major Coombe, whom they had left standing alone,

  “Why do you not come with us, James? I have something interesting to tell you.”

  The Major put down his glass.

  “Then I shall certainly accompany you,” he replied.

  They walked at what seemed to Alisa a funereal pace and only when they were outside the room and had moved away from several groups of people talking in the passage did the Earl ask,

  “Where is Penelope?”

  “I have – locked her in a – room where she – will not be – disturbed.”

  “That was very sensible of you,” he replied.

  They walked back the way Alisa had come and now when they were free of the guests and there was nobody within earshot, Major Coombe asked,

  “What is the matter? Where are we going?”

  “I want your help, James,” the Earl replied, and the Major said no more.

  They reached the end of the long passage and, as Alisa saw the Earl’s eyes on the room marked Private, she knew there was no need to explain to him where the Duke was lying.

  As they stopped, she felt that her hands were trembling so violently that she would be unable to open the door of the room where she had left Penelope and without speaking she held the key out to the Earl.

  He opened the door and, as she walked inside, he shut it behind her and she heard the key turn in the lock.

  Penelope was sitting where she had left her. She was not crying, only staring blindly ahead of her in a manner of utter despondency and despair.

  She went to the sofa and took Penelope’s hand in hers.

  “I have brought the Earl,” she said, “and I am sure he will help us. Perhaps we can hide somewhere or go abroad, but whatever it may be, he is the only person who can arrange it.”

  “I was – wrong to – hit him so hard,” Penelope groaned, “but I was – frightened.”

  “I can understand that,” Alisa said, “but you say he asked you to marry him?”

  “He said – he was going to marry me,” Penelope corrected. “Then he – grabbed me, and his lips hurt my cheek – and I knew he was – horrible and I – could not let him – touch me!”

  Alisa put her arms round her sister to hold her close against her.

  “He was – rough and beastly!” Penelope was saying. “And I wanted to – get away – but he was big and – strong and I thought that I – would not be able to escape.”

  “You must not think about it,” Alisa said. “It will not do any good.”

  “I am – sorry, Alisa, very sorry – I have spoilt – everything for you.”

  “There is no need to be sorry, not as far as I am concerned,” Alisa answered. “I love you, Penelope, and it would not matter what you did, I should still go on loving you.”

  “Oh – Alisa – !”

  Now the tears were in Penelope’s eyes and, as she wiped them away, Alisa thought that she was suffering from shock and should have something to drink.

  But there was nothing in the room and the only thing they could do was to sit and wait.

  She could not think why the Earl was taking so long.

  It would be impossible to conceal the Duke, and once he had confirmed that he was dead, he should be concerning himself with Penelope.

  It was agonising to have to wait not knowing what was happening and Alisa would have gone in search of the Earl if he had not locked her in.

  Now Penelope was just staring in front of her, her hands hanging limply at her sides and Alisa could think of nothing more to say.

  She could only sit listening and waiting for the door to open and the Earl to join them.

  Then suddenly there was the sound of the key turning in the lock and he was there.

  He walked through the door and for a moment she could not look at his face and felt afraid.

  Then, as she rose a little unsteadily to her feet, Penelope also rose to hers and gave a cry that seemed to echo round the silent room.

  “Jimmy!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Jimmy!”

  To Alisa’s amazement, she ran towards Major Coombe, who had followed the Earl in through the door.

  She flung herself against him and his arms went round her, holding her close against him.

  “It is all right, my darling,” he said. “He is not dead.”

  Penelope burst into tears and, as she did so, Major Coombe bent his head and his lips were against her cheek.

  Alisa stood staring at them in sheer astonishment until the Earl said quietly,

  “What James has just said is true and the Duke is not dead, although Penelope has certainly been very rough with him!”

  To her surprise there was just a hint of laughter in his voice and, as she look
ed up at him in a bewildered fashion, he said in an authoritative tone,

  “Now, all of you listen to me.”

  Penelope raised her head from Major Coombe’s shoulder.

  “I-I thought I would be – hanged,” she whispered.

  “Nobody will hang you,” the Major said. “I will make sure of that.”

  There were tears on Penelope’s face, but now there was a light in her eyes and she looked, Alisa thought, very different from the stricken helpless girl, who a few seconds before had been sitting beside her on the sofa.

  “I love you!” Major Coombe said. “I will look after you and see that nothing like this ever happens again.”

  As he finished speaking, he kissed her on the lips and Penelope put her arm round his neck and held him close to her.

  Alisa was aware that the Earl was watching them with an undoubted twinkle in his eye.

  Then the Major said,

  “We will talk about ourselves a little later, but now we have to listen to what Landon has planned.”

  Obediently Penelope looked towards the Earl and Alisa in surprise realised that she was not in the least embarrassed that he had watched her being kissed.

  Instead, she groped for her handkerchief and, when the Major handed her his, she gave him a beguiling smile before she wiped her cheeks.

  “Now, attend to what I have to say,” the Earl remarked. “James and I have made it appear that while the Duke was alone in his private sitting room, a thief broke in through the window and assaulted him, robbing him of his watch, his jewellery and any money he might have had on him. So now none of us can be implicated in any way in any crime.”

  He paused before he went on,

  “You, Penelope, and James will go back to the ballroom to dance so that everybody can see you and Alisa and I will go into the garden to dispose of the Duke’s possessions in a flowerbed where they will ultimately be recovered.”

  “That is a very – clever plan!” Penelope exclaimed. “But are you – quite certain he is not – dead?”

  “He will undoubtedly live to enjoy a great many more bottles of wine!” the Earl said drily. “Now come along, we cannot waste time here when we should be seen in a different part of the house.”