Winged Victory Read online

  Then he was aware that it was not only a challenge but had brought him a new interest that had made him feel as if he had come alive in a manner that he had not known for several years.

  Only when he was pitting himself against an enemy who was unpredictable as Sir Walter was, had he felt as he did now and the Earl knew it was something that, while in its way it was alarming, was also exhilarating and in an inexplicable way enjoyable.

  Because the Earl had made no response to the solution he had offered and was also behaving in a manner that was somehow uncharacteristic, Eddie, who had not moved from the comfortable chair by the fireplace, was watching him closely.

  There was a question in his eyes and he was perplexed by the Earl’s behaviour.

  Then after a moment there was a faint smile on his lips as he reached out towards his glass of port.

  *

  The Earl went to bed and lay for quite some time thinking about Cledra.

  Almost as if he could see it happening again in front of his eyes, he saw the picture she had made in the stable yard as she had stood with her arms raised to Winged Victory and again when they had thanked him so gracefully for what he had done for them.

  He was just drifting into a dreamless sleep when he heard the handle of his door turn and was instantly alert with the quickness of a man who was used to danger.

  When the door opened, there was the light from a candle and he turned his head to see to his astonishment that Cledra had come into the room.

  “What is it? What do you want?” he asked raising himself on his elbow to face her.

  She walked right across the room, which was quite a large one, until she reached the side of the bed.

  When he could see her face in the candlelight, her eyes were wide and very dark and frightened.

  “What is it? the Earl asked again.

  He knew, when there was a little pause before she answered, that she was finding it hard to find the words in which to reply.

  “Y-you will think it very – f-foolish of me,” she stammered after a moment, “but I know that – Winged Victory is – in d-danger.”

  Thinking that the Earl was going to tell her that she was talking nonsense she quickly went on,

  “I-I cannot explain – but just as I can make him come to me without words – I know now that he is – calling out to me – and I h-have to go to him!”

  The Earl looked at here in perplexity.

  The he realised that she had dressed herself and was wearing her riding habit and he thought perhaps that it was the only dark clothing she possessed.

  Without asking any more questions he made up his mind.

  “If you think your horse is in danger, Cledra, we will go at once to the stables.”

  He saw the expression on Cledra’s face change to one of relief and he knew how scared she must have been that he would not agree.

  “You had better leave me your candle,” the Earl suggested, “and wait outside the door. I imagine there is some light in the passage.”

  “Yes,” Cledra agreed, “and – I will wait.”

  She put the candle down on the table beside his bed and walked back the way she had come.

  Only as she reached the door did the Earl say,

  “It might be a good idea to wake Eddie. Just knock on his door and say I want him.”

  Cledra did not turn round, but he knew by the way her body stiffened that it was something she had no wish to do, so he added,

  “Never mind, I will do it as soon as I have dressed. I will not be more than a few minutes.”

  The door closed behind her and the Earl jumped out of bed.

  Because he was quite capable of dressing himself as quickly, if not quicker, than when Yates was with him, it was only two minutes before he opened the door and found as he expected that Cledra was waiting in the passage just outside.

  The candles in the sconces had guttered low so that it was obviously much later than he had thought, but there was enough light for him to see the expression on her face and he knew that she was straining with every nerve in her body to beg him to hurry.

  She was convinced in a way that it was difficult to understand that Winged Victory was actually in danger.

  The Earl did not speak. He just walked across the passage and opened the door of the room where Eddie was sleeping.

  He reached the bed and shook him by the shoulder.

  “Wake up, Eddie!” he called out. “Cledra thinks that something is happening in the stables and we are going there at once. Follow as quickly as you can.”

  Eddie did not argue, he merely started to climb out of bed and by the time he had done so the Earl was back in the passage and with Cledra beside him walked towards the centre of the house.

  He was thinking as he did so that it would be a mistake to alert the nightwatchman until he was quite certain that Cledra’s instinct was correct.

  He had been very careful since her arrival at The Hall to impress upon Hannah and Yates that they must not talk of there being any danger that concerned his guest and he thought now that to rush the servants from the house to the stables unless there was real necessity for it might do more harm than good.

  ‘Whatever is happening,’ he told himself confidently, ‘I feel sure that Eddie and I can cope with it.’

  When they reached the top of the main staircase, where there was a footman on duty and doubtless a nightwatchman in the process of making his rounds, the Earl moved straight on down the passage to a secondary staircase.

  Without wasting time in politeness he went down the staircase first, moving swiftly and knowing that as far as Cledra was concerned nothing could be swift enough.

  It was only a short distance to a door that was bolted, but which led out of the side of the house from where it was but a short distance to the arch that was the entrance to the stables.

  It was as the archway was silhouetted against the starlit sky and the Earl had to slow his pace because the path between the shrubs was in darkness that he felt Cledra’s hand slip into his.

  He knew from the way that her fingers trembled that she was frightened and he knew too that she was trusting him and depending on him in a way that made him feel determined that he would not fail her.

  While he had not wanted to raise a general alarm, nevertheless, as he left his bedroom, he had put a pistol into the pocket of his coat, which he had previously primed.

  They reached the arch and, as they stepped into the stable yard, the Earl thought that everything was quiet and as it should be.

  Then he heard a horse neighing in fear, which instantly was taken up by other horses, and there was the sound of animals moving restlessly in their stalls.

  Cledra’s fingers tightened on his and she gave a little cry of horror.

  “Fire!”

  Even as she spoke, the Earl saw a red light coming from the window of a stable and knew that it came from the direction of Winged Victory’s stall.

  “Fire!”

  He could not only see it but thought that he could smell it and he took his hand from Cledra’s and started to run towards the door of the stable that Winged Victory had emerged from that morning, shouting as he did so at the top of his voice,

  “Fire! Fire!”

  By the time his cry seemed to echo back at him he had reached the outer door of the stable and pulled it open.

  As he did so, there was a loud explosion and the noise from the horses was suddenly deafening.

  He saw the stall where Winged Victory was housed was alight with flames and the horse was rearing, bucking and neighing with terror.

  It took the Earl only a second to reach the door that led into Winged Victory’s stall.

  He pulled it open and saw as he did so that it was not bolted as it should have been.

  Then, as smoke and flames made it difficult to see what was happening, he realised that the horse was unable to turn round because it was wearing a bridle and had been roped to the manger.

  The hay i
n the manger was alight and so was the straw on the ground on which Winged Victory was bucking frantically in his efforts to pull himself free.

  The Earl recognised the danger from the horse’s hoofs and he was about to try to insert himself between the plunging animal and the wall to get to his head when Cledra was there before him.

  When the Earl would have put out his hands to stop her, it was too late.

  She was already in the stall speaking to Winged Victory quietly and calmly.

  She had reached her horse’s head and pulled off the bridle and, as he turned round and rushed out through the open door, she was left standing silhouetted against the flames.

  The Earl reached her, picked her up in his arms and as he did so was aware that there was the body of a man lying on the floor at the back of the stall.

  It was difficult to see clearly in the flames now leaping higher and higher from the blazing straw and the hay in the manger, but, as the Earl carried Cledra out into the yard, there was an explosion behind them and he knew who lay there.

  As he looked down at Cledra, concerned only with her, he was aware that somebody was slapping his shoulders to put out the flames that were burning his coat and that his forehead was hurting him.

  But he was sure since she had hidden her face against his shoulder as he lifted her up in his arms that the flames had not touched her face.

  Then Eddie was asking her,

  “Are you all right?”

  By now the grooms, appearing from every direction, had rushed into the stables to release the other horses trapped amongst the flames.

  The Earl set Cledra down on a mounting block and, putting his hand under her chin, turned her face up to his so that he could see by the light of the moon that she was uninjured.

  As he did so, Winged Victory was beside them and the horse was nuzzling at Cledra who put up her hands weakly to touch him.

  “You are both safe,” the Earl declared quietly and went back to the stables to help release the remainder of the horses.

  Grooms were now carrying buckets of water to put out the fire and the horses, frightened but safe, were careering about the cobbled yard.

  “Turn them into the paddock,” the Earl ordered sharply and several of the stable boys hurried to obey him, while the rest strove to extinguish the flames.

  Already half the building was ablaze and the stall where it had started was an inferno, with more explosions coming from it.

  Only after the roof had fallen in was the estate fire engine brought from the shed where it was kept.

  It was a new acquisition that had never been used and both the Head Groom and the Earl had forgotten it until the traditional manner of putting out fire with buckets passed from hand to hand had been put into operation.

  When finally the fire engine was in use, the fire had destroyed half the stalls in that stable, but the rest were intact and comparatively undamaged.

  The horses were all safe, if shocked and restless.

  The Earl had them brought one by one from the paddock and housed in empty stables on the other side of the yard where they were given a good feed.

  He ordered that each one be covered by a blanket to keep them warm for the rest of the night and it was only when everybody had obeyed him and peace had been more or less restored that he went back to where he had left Cledra.

  She was still sitting on the mounting block and Winged Victory was beside her, apparently quite calm after his ordeal and unhurt expect where the front of his mane had been singed and so in places had his neck.

  The Earl was aware that, because Cledra was talking to him and caressing him, he was quiet, while the other horses who had suffered much less were still upset and would doubtless be restless for several days.

  He stood watching Cledra for a moment before she was aware that he was there.

  Then he said,

  “I have a stable ready, if you can persuade Winged Victory to go into it.”

  “I am sure he will – if I go with him,” Cledra answered.

  She rose to her feet and, as the Earl led the way, she walked beside him with Winged Victory following her.

  He had deliberately chosen a stall that was not only on the opposite side of the yard, but as far away as possible from where the fire had taken place.

  It had not been used for some time and the grooms had already put down fresh straw and filled the manger with hay and there was also a good feed of oats like that being distributed amongst the other horses.

  The Head Groom was waiting and had a blanket ready to throw over Winged Victory’s back.

  At first he would not let the man touch him and then, when Cledra helped and talked to him, he was quiet except that his ears twitched and now he was in a stall he seemed nervous and apprehensive.

  “It’s all right,” Cledra said in a soothing voice, “I promise you, dearest, it is all right. You are quite – safe now – and you shall never be – hurt again.”

  The Head Groom moved out of the stall and Cledra turned to the Earl,

  “I think perhaps I had better stay with him.”

  “I am sure that is unnecessary, but, if you can persuade him to eat, he will be all right.”

  Cledra put some oats in the palm of her hand and, although at first he was reluctant, she finally persuaded Winged Victory to take a small amount and then to eat from the manger.

  “He will be fine now,” the Earl said. “I am going to insist that you go to bed.”

  Cledra moved nearer to him.

  Then she muttered in a small voice,

  “S-suppose – Uncle Walter comes back and – tries again?”

  “He will not do that,” the Earl replied.

  “How can you be – sure?”

  “Because he is dead!”

  Cledra’s eyes opened wide and she stared at the Earl as if she could hardly believe what she had heard.

  “H-how do you – know that?”

  “He was lying on the floor in Winged Victory’s stall,” the Earl answered. “I saw him as I carried you out.”

  She looked at him incredulously and he went on,

  “I think I know what happened, your uncle was determined to burn down the stables, which he would have done if you had not sensed that there was danger. The stable boy who was on guard had been found. He had received a blow on the head, which rendered him unconscious.”

  Cledra gave a little murmur, but she did not speak and the Earl continued,

  “Your uncle then went into Winged Victory’s stall, put on his bridle and tied him to the manger just as he tied you.”

  Cledra gave a cry and the Earl carried on,

  “But Winged Victory did not submit so tamely. He must have reared up and knocked your uncle down. At the same time the candle lantern he carried that he intended to set the place on fire with was knocked over.”

  “How could he do such – a horrible thing?” Cledra gasped.

  “The straw flared up,” the Earl went on, “igniting some fireworks that your uncle was carrying and which I think he intended to throw about the stables, inciting the other horses to madness.”

  Cledra closed her eyes as the Earl said angrily,

  “As I heard them exploding, I realised that they were part of your uncle’s diabolical plot to destroy not only Winged Victory but all my horses as well!”

  “How could he think of anything so cruel – so wicked?” Cledra asked in a broken voice.

  Now, as if the horror of it was too much to bear she hid her face against the Earl’s shoulder.

  He put his arms around her saying,

  “You have been through too much already. I will tell you the rest tomorrow, but I want you to know for certain that Winged Victory will be quite safe tonight. And so will you.”

  As he spoke, he saw that she was crying and, lifting her up in his arms, he carried her out of the stall and across the stable yard towards the house.

  Chapter Seven

  Cledra came back to consciousness and felt t
hat she must have been sleeping for a hundred years.

  She could hear Hannah moving softly about the room and thought that she had heard her earlier. She vaguely remembered too being given something sweet and soothing to drink before she had drifted away again into a dreamless sleep.

  Now, with what was an effort, she opened her eyes and saw the sunshine streaming in through the windows

  Hannah came to the bedside to ask,

  “Are you awake, miss?”

  As she spoke, the terror of the fire came to Cledra’s mind and she cried out in a voice that did not sound like her own.

  “The – horses! Winged Victory! He is – all right?”

  “Perfectly all right, miss,” Hannah replied soothingly. “In fact I’m sure it was your horse I sees his Lordship ridin’ not an hour since as he galloped across the Park.”

  “His Lordship was – riding Winged Victory?” Cledra said slowly, as if she was saying it to herself rather than to Hannah.

  “I’m sure I’m right,” Hannah insisted, “and, when his Lordship comes back, he’ll be right glad to hear you’re awake. He’s bin askin’ after you every day.”

  “Every – day?”

  Hannah smiled.

  “Yes, miss, you’ve been sleepin’ for three days and t’was the best thing you could possibly do to get over the shock of it all.”

  “Did you say – three days?” Cledra asked, finding it hard to understand what Hannah was saying and thinking that she must be very stupid.

  “Yes, three days, miss, and now they’re clearin’ up the stables and his Lordship’s havin’ fire drill inside the house and out.”

  As Hannah was talking, she was patting the pillow behind Cledra’s head and then she said,

  “I’m goin’ downstairs now to fetch you somethin’ to eat, miss. You’ll be hungry after sleepin’ for so long.”

  “How could – I have slept for – three days?”

  “That’s a question you’ll have to ask Mr. Yates,” Hannah replied. “But his sleepin’ herbs as he calls them will do you no harm and both he and his Lordship wanted you first and foremost to get over the shock.”

  Cledra drew in her breath, thinking of how frightened she had been, and remembering that the Earl had told her that her uncle was dead.