A Prisioner in Paris Read online

  During the return journey by train she had relived the moments when he had told her how clever she was and how much she had done for Charles.

  Now the ferry was carrying them nearer and nearer to England and the life she had lived before this strange and exciting adventure.

  *

  When it was morning and they were nearing Dover, Lord Lanwood knocked on the door of Isa’s cabin and asked if she was awake.

  “You can come in,” she called out. “I am dressed and I think that we will be arriving soon. Does Charles want me to see to his wounds?”

  “That is exactly what I have come to ask you to do,” Lord Lanwood answered. “He slept for a little while, but I have forbidden him to move about and I thought that you might want to change his bandages.”

  “It’s what I ought to do,” Isa said. “I hope you slept well, my Lord.”

  “Very well as it happens,” Lord Lanwood replied, “but then I always enjoy being at sea. Perhaps our next journey will take us to foreign lands and we can use my own yacht rather than this slow and creaking vessel.”

  Isa laughed.

  “They are intensely proud of their cross Channel ferries,” she replied, “and would not feel complimented if they heard what you said.”

  At the same time she could not help thinking that his Lordship was merely teasing her.

  It was very unlikely he would ask her to accompany him on his yacht which she knew was his new toy and a vessel he was exceedingly proud of.

  She picked up the bag that contained the dressings for Charles’s wound and went to the next cabin.

  “Come along, nurse!” Charles said cheerily. “What am I going to do when I go home if you are not there to look after me?”

  “I only live a short distance from The Castle, as you well know, Charles, and I can come to you whenever you want me to. But I think that Lord Lanwood is considering giving you a proper nurse and that will certainly be what the doctor will order for you.”

  Charles gave a groan.

  “I would much rather have you!”

  “And I enjoy looking after you, but I am sure that they will have new ways of curing you more quickly than I have been able to do. You must get well quickly as you know the horses are waiting for you.”

  “Now you are tempting me,” Charles asserted. “If there is one thing that makes me want to get well quicker than anything else, it is to be riding my uncle’s horses.”

  “I think there are two new ones since you were last there,” Isa told him. “They are both simply magnificent. You will have to be very strong to handle them and that, if nothing else, should be an excellent incentive for you to get well quickly.”

  “I will be furious if I hear you and Uncle Lionel galloping away over the Park while I am still bedridden,” Charles replied.

  Isa did not say that Lord Lanwood would not be riding with her, but with some entrancing lady like those he had entertained in the past.

  She now remembered when she was much younger seeing them riding out over the paddock and longing to be beside him on a horse that was just as fast and as good at jumping as his was.

  But she knew that she would be very lucky in being allowed to ride on any horse chosen for her by the Head Groom.

  Although invariably she rode out alone, it had been a thrill that meant more to her than anything else.

  She had been quite happy alone because her father was always too busy to accompany her.

  Now she desired more than anything else to ride with Lord Lanwood.

  To challenge him when they came to a jump and to know that they were thinking the same thoughts, perhaps once again solving a problem together.

  ‘I am being very silly,’ she told herself when finally she prepared Charles for the man Lord Lanwood told her would carry him to the ambulance he had asked to have waiting for them.

  “You are not sending me to a hospital?” Charles asked quickly when he heard about what his Lordship had arranged.

  “No, of course not,” Lord Lanwood replied. “You are coming to The Castle. But I am sure when the doctor sees you he will produce two pretty nurses who will hasten your desire to be on your feet or more than likely onto my horses!”

  “Of course I would love to be mounted on your horses, Uncle Lionel and I would rather have Isa than any nurse.”

  “I expect she has many other things to do,” Lord Lanwood answered before Isa could speak. “All you have to do for the moment is to concentrate on getting well as quickly as you can.”

  “I have every intention of doing so,” Charles said.

  The ferry steamed into the Port of Dover.

  They did not have to wait long before the men from the ambulance were brought up to where his Lordship was waiting.

  He took them to Charles and they then lifted him skillfully onto a stretcher and carried him carefully down to the ambulance.

  On the quay Isa saw, with a leap of her heart, Lord Lanwood’s smart chaise drawn by his fastest team of well-matched horses.

  ‘At least I will be able to be with him until we reach The Castle,’ she consoled herself.

  Their luggage was quickly placed with the groom at the back of the chaise.

  They passed the ambulance carrying Charles before they approached the town.

  “We will be there long before Charles is,” Isa said aloud.

  “Yes, of course,” Lord Lanwood replied. “It will give us chance to see that he is in the best possible room so that he gets all the sunshine.”

  He looked a little thoughtful before he added,

  “I am afraid that it will be a little while before he is well enough to go out into the garden.”

  “It might be quicker than you think, my Lord. I am very sure that the terrible atmosphere in the ghastly place he was imprisoned in, where there was hardly a breath of fresh air, must have prevented him regaining his strength after that appalling wound.”

  “It must have been intolerable for him, but we want him to forget it, Isa, and so the less we talk about it the better.”

  There was silence for a moment.

  Then Lord Lanwood continued,

  “One thing we have to do and you know as well as I do how important it is, is to strengthen the security at The Castle.”

  Isa turned to look at him in surprise.

  “Do you really think that the Comte might attempt to rob you after all?”

  “One can never be sure that he really believed what I told him. If he made enquiries, which he might do, he would find out that I was lying and deceiving him. Thus we have to make sure that The Castle is properly protected, as I think what we are doing now is really out of date.”

  “I am sure that is sensible,” Isa answered. “After all the Comte is not the only person who is envious of your wonderful possessions. I remember my father saying that burglars were often the last people one ever expected.”

  “That is true,” he agreed. “I remember a friend of mine was robbed by a man he had trusted implicitly for over ten years. If the temptation is great enough there are always people who will risk anything to acquire what they want.”

  “You are quite right,” Isa agreed. “Please don’t let anyone rob The Castle. It would be heartbreaking not only to you but to everyone like myself who has grown up to admire and respect it. I feel in a way that it partly belongs to all of us, because it has always been there to look at, to talk about and, of course, to love.”

  She was speaking with words that came from her heart because, like its owner, The Castle meant so much to her and had done all her life.

  “That is just what I thought you would say,” Lord Lanwood said quietly. “So you must help me again, as you helped me with Charles, to make very sure that The Castle remains as it is, not only for us but for those who follow us when we die.”

  “We must make certain,” Isa said quickly, “that we don’t die unnecessarily soon.”

  “That, of course, is obvious, Isa, but I intend to live and continue to enjoy al
l I possess. We must therefore use our intelligence as you used yours in France to save and protect us.”

  “You know I will help you in every possible way I can,” Isa said.

  “That is a promise and I will hold you to it, Isa.”

  He was now driving his horses at a very quick pace and Isa thought that she was going faster than she had ever been before.

  They must be many miles ahead of Charles already.

  Isa thought that, if Lord Lanwood wanted her to go to The Castle first before going home to help him choose Charles’s bedroom and do anything else he might ask of her, she would want to do so.

  It would take them four hours to reach The Castle and she hoped that Lord Lanwood would ask her to have luncheon with him when they finally did arrive.

  She anticipated that her father would be out, as he always was, visiting his Parishioners especially those who were ill.

  Unless everything had changed dramatically at her home since she had left, there were several pensioners who lived some distance away from the Vicarage who he had been visiting every other day or so.

  Then, to her surprise, when it was just after twelve o’clock, Lord Lanwood pulled in at a Posting inn.

  “Why are we stopping here, my Lord?” Isa asked.

  “Because I am hungry,” he replied, “and I am sure you are too. We had a very small breakfast and we cannot be sure that there will be any luncheon for us at The Castle as they don’t know when to expect us.”

  He looked at Isa before he added,

  “So we will have luncheon here, as I have done in the past and found it very good. Then we will be able to arrive at The Castle before Charles and welcome him back to civilisation.”

  Isa felt really delighted that she was not to lose his Lordship as quickly as she had expected.

  The Posting inn was a very attractive one and Lord Lanwood was right in saying that the food was excellent.

  They told the Head Waiter at once that they were in a hurry and a really delicious first course was brought to them very quickly.

  “I think,” Lord Lanwood said as he helped himself, “that your father will be very pleased to see you. He must have been worried as to what you were doing in France and afraid that you might come back engaged to a Frenchman!”

  Isa laughed.

  “That would be the last thing I want, actually, as you know, and anyway we were far too busy to think of anything but how to rescue Charles.”

  “You may have thought only of that, Isa, but I kept feeling that I was wrong to take you away from the gaieties that are available in Paris and keeping you disguised, or indeed listening to that appalling Comte, who is most unfit to be the companion of any civilised person, let alone a beautiful young woman.”

  “He is certainly a very bad man,” Isa agreed. “But when we write our memoirs we will always be proud to think that we defeated his criminal plan of robbing you of your most precious treasures.”

  “You prevented him, Isa, from doing so and saved my nephew’s life as well and I have been wondering how I can tell your father how brilliant you have been and how fantastic your final effort was to bring Charles away. Also for us to escape from any recriminations or, what would have been much worse, a battle of wits.”

  “I have been wondering,” Isa murmured, “what the Comte will think when he finds it was his carriage that enabled Charles to escape. He will know by this time that we have left Paris and are home.”

  “I think for the first time in his life, he will feel a fool,” Lord Lanwood replied. “The trouble with those people who try to break the Social code and who, through their greed and avarice, attempt to rob those who are more fortunate than they are, he will not only feel very angry but humiliated and that is far more unpleasant than anything else we could do to him.”

  “I am sure you are right. He must have made a great number of ordinary people suffer before he came up against you and was defeated.”

  “Against us!” Lord Lanwood insisted. “You had as much to do with it, if not more than I did. I will see that Charles is eternally grateful to you as well as to me.”

  Because he spoke so earnestly Isa felt rather shy.

  Quickly she finished her coffee.

  “I am sure we ought to go on,” she said, “otherwise Charles will arrive before us and you want to choose which room he will have.”

  “I am reckoning that my four horses are twice if not three times as speedy as those drawing that ambulance,” Lord Lanwood replied. “But you are quite right, we have to do so and the sooner we reach home the better.”

  He then paid the bill and they were bowed out to the courtyard where the horses were waiting.

  Lord Lanwood climbed in and picked up the reins, as Isa sat beside him and the groom jumped into the back seat.

  Then they were off.

  The horses seemed to be in as much of a hurry to reach The Castle as they were.

  As they sped through the village, Isa saw some of the children waving to her and she waved back.

  Then, as they sped up the long drive to The Castle, Lord Lanwood said,

  “I think if we discount luncheon we have broken all records!”

  “I am sure you have,” Isa enthused. “I have never been driven so fast and it has been enthralling. Thank you, my Lord. Thank you for coming home in triumph.”

  “That is what I am trying to thank you for, Isa,” he answered, as he pulled up outside the front door.

  A footman came running down the steps to open the door and started to take the luggage out of the back of the carriage.

  Armstrong, the butler, was waiting for them at the top of the steps.

  “Welcome home, my Lord,” he said as he bowed. “I hope your visit was successful.”

  “It was indeed. Mr. Charles is just behind us in an ambulance.”

  “You found him, my Lord!” Armstrong exclaimed. “That is good news, very good news indeed.”

  “Now I want to see Mrs. Shelford,” Lord Lanwood said, “and tell her which room Mr. Charles will be in.”

  “Mrs. Shelford’s waiting for your Lordship at the top of the stairs.”

  “Then we will go to her,” Lord Lanwood said to Isa.

  They then walked slowly up the beautifully carved staircase.

  As they reached the top, the housekeeper, wearing a black gown with a silver châtelaine glittering at her waist, curtseyed.

  “It’s ever so nice to see your Lordship back,” she said. “I’m sure Miss Isa enjoyed herself in Paris.”

  “We not only enjoyed ourselves,” Lord Lanwood replied, but we have brought Mr. Charles, who has been wounded, back with us. I want him to go into the Rose room as it attracts all the sun. Where he has been, it is one thing he has definitely lacked.”

  “The Rose room be ready for him,” Mrs. Shelford said. “In fact all the rooms in the front of The Castle are ready for any guests your Lordship’s asks to visit us.”

  “I knew I could rely on you, Mrs. Shelford,” Lord Lanwood smiled. “The doctor may insist on him having a nurse, or perhaps two, but I hope it will only be for a short time.”

  “I’m sure, my Lord, we’ll soon get Mr. Charles on his feet. I’m real sorry to hear he’s been hurt in any way.”

  Lord Lanwood looked at his watch.

  “Mr. Charles should be here very shortly,” he said. “I am just going to take Miss Isa to the stables as I know she is as anxious as I am to visit the horses.”

  Isa’s heart gave a leap of joy.

  Then Lord Lanwood, walking to the door, said,

  “Have some flowers brought to the Rose room and pull back the curtains to let in all the sunshine. What Mr. Charles has missed more than anything else has been the sun.”

  He did not wait for the housekeeper to ask him any questions.

  He walked out of the room and Isa followed him.

  “Do we really have time to see the horses? she asked eagerly.

  “I knew without you telling me that was what you wante
d,” Lord Lanwood replied. “As you know, it will take quite some time for them to carry Charles upstairs and undress him before we are needed. So let’s do what we both want and go to the stables.”

  Isa thought that if she was a child she would skip with joy.

  As it was, she walked demurely beside him down the stairs, along the passage and out of the side door of The Castle which led to the stables.

  The Head Groom was waiting for them.

  He well knew that inevitably when his Lordship had been away, he would go to the stables before he would visit any other part of the estate.

  “We’ve missed your Lordship every mornin’,” he said, “especially Firebird who’s waited anxiously for you. If ’e could speak, ’e’d ’ave been askin’ why you’d stayed away from ’im so long.”

  “It is something I must not do in the future,” Lord Lanwood replied.

  He walked into the stables with Isa following him.

  He moved from stall to stall patting the horses as some of them whinnied as if to tell his Lordship that they were there and he must not forget them.

  They were a magnificent collection and what they were seeing were the very special ones that his Lordship enjoyed riding most.

  There were several others like the team they had been driving that were in another stable.

  His favourite, Firebird, nuzzled against him as soon as he arrived and Isa felt that no human being could have given him a warmer welcome.

  “I will ride you tomorrow morning,” he promised him.

  The stallion whinnied as if he understood.

  There were a number of other horses which were also finely bred and Isa knew that they were fine jumpers.

  Lord Lanwood had erected a Racecourse near The Castle and the jumps on it were very high, but at least ten of his best thoroughbreds could manage them without the slightest hesitation.

  When they left the stables, Isa looked towards the paddock and the Racecourse beyond it.

  Lord Lanwood followed her eyes and suggested,

  “I will challenge you tomorrow morning. You can choose which horse you like, except, of course, Firebird.”

  “You know perfectly well that you will win, my Lord,” Isa answered. “But it is something I would rather do than anything else in the whole world.”