The Winning Post Is Love Page 2

  As it was summer there was no fire and his sister had therefore put a pot of geraniums in the fireplace and they gave a touch of colour to the room.

  Because the Marquis was coming to dinner tonight, Dolina had arranged flowers in front of the windows.

  There was no point in opening the drawing room for just one guest.

  Besides the designs for the Racecourse the brothers hoped to build were in the study laid out on a table against one of the walls.

  Gordon was thinking he would have another look at them when the door opened.

  His sister came in.

  Dolina was very beautiful and had been acclaimed in London as one of the beauties of the Season.

  That had happened last year when she had been presented at Court and this year they had not been able to afford to open the London house.

  As Dolina entered, the two brothers looked at her in surprise.

  She was dressed in one of her smartest dresses and there was a blue driving cape over her shoulders. On her head was an elaborate hat trimmed with feathers.

  “Where are you going?” Gordon asked. “As you are dressed up to the nines, it must be somewhere grand.”

  “I am going to London,” replied Dolina.

  “London!” Henry echoed. “But you cannot leave us. You know that the Marquis is coming here tonight.”

  “I really cannot help that. I have been invited by the Countess of Leamington to a big dinner party tonight and a ball at the Duchess of Devonshire’s afterwards.”

  “You realise as well as I do,” Gordon interposed, “that it all depends on you whether the Marquis will help us with the Racecourse or not. You know only too well that he likes pretty women.”

  “I have heard more than enough about that tiresome roué. He would not look at me when I was a debutante and it’s very doubtful if he will do so now. What he likes are married women with complacent husbands!”

  She spoke scornfully, but Henry asserted,

  “Do be sensible, Dolina. We are relying on you to amuse the Marquis and make him happy to be here. No one knows better than you do that we don’t have enough money to buy ourselves a donkey, let alone new horses and build a Racecourse.”

  “I know. You have not talked of anything else for the last two months, but I am not going to miss this ball.”

  She tossed her head, then added in a defiant tone,

  “Besides there will be someone there tonight I am very interested to see again. And he is definitely not like that tiresome Marquis and his reputation with women.”

  “Please listen to me – ” Gordon began.

  But his sister gave a little cry.

  “I think I can hear the carriage. They told me they would pick me up at twelve o’clock and we are having luncheon with friends on the way.”

  She walked defiantly towards the door, saying,

  “Goodbye boys. I wish you good luck with your Marquis, but I will be dancing, I expect, with someone far more enchanting.”

  She then pulled open the door before either of her brothers could move and they heard her running down the passage towards the hall.

  For a brief moment, Gordon considered going after her to beg her again to stay with them.

  But he knew it was hopeless.

  Even as he hesitated, he could now hear a carriage moving away.

  Now he thought about it, he remembered that when he came in he had seen a trunk in the hall, but he had not paid any attention.

  With her, he then told himself dismally, went their chance of the Marquis helping them.

  The Marquis of Millbrook had indeed, as Dolina had indicated, a very bad reputation.

  He was tall, dark and handsome and had come into his title when he was only twenty-two.

  He was immensely rich and owned one of the finest and most prestigious ancestral castles in the country. His very large estate adjoined their much smaller one.

  It was, of course, the Marquis, who was the talk of the neighbourhood and he was noted in London for being a close friend of the Prince of Wales.

  He even rivalled His Royal Highness in the number of women he chased.

  It had been Gordon’s idea that they should build a Racecourse.

  They owned a most suitable piece of land, which adjoined the Marquis’s estate and, if he would collaborate with them, Gordon believed, it would be of great advantage to them both.

  As they were relatively near London and within reach of several fairly large towns, it would undoubtedly be most profitable – and there was no other Racecourse anywhere near them.

  But everything depended on the Marquis.

  All that Gordon and Henry could supply was the land for the Racecourse itself and they had to be frank and admit that they could not put up any capital themselves.

  Because the Marquis was famed as a roué where women were concerned, both brothers were counting on Dolina to persuade him to help them.

  But, as she said, he was much more interested in older married women than he was in girls of her age, but as she was so lovely, the two brothers were convinced that the Marquis would be fascinated by her.

  She would at least put him into the right frame of mind for being generous.

  Now, as they looked at each other, Gordon sighed,

  “Well, that’s another dream gone. When I last saw the Marquis he said that he was looking forward to seeing Dolina, as he had heard she was the most beautiful girl in Mayfair.”

  “Who on earth could take her place?” Henry asked.

  “No one,” Gordon responded bluntly. “And as you well know, the girls round here are very pleasant when we meet them, but you could hardly say they are beauties.”

  Henry knew this to be true.

  There were a few local girls, but none of them were particularly exceptional, as the Marquis was expecting, and there was not one to compete in any way with what Gordon had referred to as ‘the Mayfair beauties.’

  He walked across the room and flung himself down in a chair.

  “Well, that ends yet another chance,” he said again. “We may as well send a message to the Marquis to tell him not to come, rather than let him be blasé and bored, as he undoubtedly will be when he arrives.”

  Gordon sighed.

  They had taken so much trouble buying the best wine they thought the Marquis would like and choosing the food, which the old cook, who had been with them since they were born, could do best.

  They had made Barnes, the ancient butler, polish up the silver and it was now shining as brightly as he had said himself, ‘as them stars.’

  Then all of a sudden Gordon sat up and shouted,

  “I have an idea!”

  “What is that?” Henry asked without enthusiasm.

  “There is a chance, just a chance, that we might be able to produce Dolina when the Marquis arrives.”

  Henry looked at him.

  “You must be raving mad, Gordon! You know as well as I do that Dolina would not come back even if we offered her a thousand pounds.”

  “I did tell you that I had had trouble with Starlight’s bridle and that then Professor Stourton’s daughter, Rosetta, stuck it together so that I could ride home safely.”

  “What has that got to do with it?”

  “While she was mending the bridle, I thought she was not only very pretty but that she looked extraordinarily like Dolina.”

  Henry chuckled.

  “You are not dragging up that old story again, are you?”

  “What old story?” Gordon asked in surprise.

  “Oh, you must have heard it,” Henry answered. “It was whispered that, when Mama was so ill and had to be in London, leaving Papa alone here, he had an affaire-de-coeur, if you want to put it politely, with Mrs. Stourton.”

  His brother stared at him.

  “What are you saying?”

  “You must have heard the story hundreds of times. Apparently when the Professor was at the University, his wife became bored with endless talk about undergraduates
and what they knew and did not know. So she often used to come back here on her own to keep the house going. And one of her most frequent visitors was our father.”

  Gordon stared at him.

  “Are you then seriously telling me, Henry, that you think Stourton’s daughter, who I do admit is exceedingly pretty, is the result of a liaison between our Papa and Mrs. Stourton?”

  “I heard my nanny talk about it when I was still in the nursery, but I suppose, as you were older than me, they were more careful what they said in front of you.”

  “I can hardly believe it!” exclaimed Gordon, “but Papa did like pretty women and Mama was constantly ill after you were born and she had to keep having treatment in London.”

  “Well, that is the gossip I listened to as I played with my fort and my soldiers on the nursery floor,” Henry said. “I have often wanted to meet Rosetta Stourton, just to see for myself if there is any likeness to Papa.”

  “It’s so difficult to know if a woman looks like a man,” Gordon replied. “But she is certainly astonishingly like Dolina.”

  The two brothers stared at each other.

  “I know what you are thinking,” Henry remarked, “but I don’t think she would do it.”

  “We can at least try. Let’s go over there now, tell her about the Racecourse and ask her if she would act the part of Dolina and then be clever enough to deceive the Marquis.”

  “I think it’s a crazy idea, Gordon, but it’s either that or we might as well give up right away!”

  Gordon nodded and Henry went on,

  “There is no time to ask anyone else who is really attractive. We should have to go as far as London to find anyone pretty enough to please the Marquis.”

  “I just don’t believe he is such a roué as they make out, but as he moves with the ‘Marlborough Set’ it’s not surprising if he has an appetite for a real beauty.”

  “Which is more than we can offer him here,” Henry chimed in, “where the girls all look strong and healthy, but if you ask me, they are all extremely boring.”

  “I think we are asking too much, but equally we either have to give up our idea of building the Racecourse, which I am certain would be a most profitable addition to the estate, or chance our luck with Rosetta Stourton.”

  “Well, nothing ventured nothing gained,” muttered Henry. “I think we might at least ask her to help us. If that fails, then we will have to send a message to the Marquis saying the Racecourse idea is off. I myself would rather do that than have him tell us he is just not interested.”

  “We will go to her father’s house after luncheon,” Gordon suggested. “It’s a chance in a million, but let’s give it a try.”

  Next the door opened and Barnes announced,

  “Luncheon is served, my Lord, and, if there ’aint much of it, it’s ’cos me wife be busy planning the meal for tonight when his Lordship be with us.”

  The two brothers walked into the dining room.

  They found a cold and somewhat unappetising meal awaiting them, but neither of them was particularly hungry.

  As long as Barnes was in the room, they were silent and only when they had finished eating, did Gordon say,

  “I know without you saying so you think I am mad. But, as it is our last and only chance, we have to be brave enough to try it.”

  “All right,” Henry agreed. “I will just make myself look a little more respectable. We will ride there, because it always looks better if gentlemen arrive on horseback.”

  “That’s your idea, my dear brother. Although it’s a somewhat conceited one, I grant you it has a point but not a very strong one.”

  “Well, there is nothing else we can do,” said Henry. “And I have always had the idea that women admire a man when he is mounted!”

  Gordon laughed and then he added,

  “Come on. Keep your wit for Rosetta Stourton and your words of consolation for when we return home having been told our idea is quite ridiculous.”

  “I am not going to bet on it, simply because I have no money.”

  “I seem to have heard that somewhere before,” his brother replied, “and for Heaven’s sake don’t say it again.”

  “We will doubtless be saying it after tomorrow not once but a thousand times,” Henry murmured gloomily.

  Then, as they walked to the stables, he said,

  “Cheer up, Gordon. If the girl refuses to help us, we will just have to think of some other way of amusing the Marquis.”

  “If you can do that, you are brilliant. Personally, I can think of nothing in the house he does not have better himself. Although I am extremely proud of our treasures, which are entailed on to the son, I am never likely to afford, we can only say that we have done our best and no one could ask for more.”

  “You sound as if you are writing your obituary!”

  As Gordon attempted to chastise Henry jokingly for his impertinence, they were both laughing.

  There was no sign of the groom who was obviously on his break and so they saddled the horses themselves and Gordon chose a different mount from Starlight.

  The one treasure they did have was a stable of well-bred horses, but there was, however, no chance of Gordon racing them as his father had managed to do.

  The sun was shining and the birds were singing as they rode away from Waincliffe Hall.

  As boys they had liked the Professor and had often visited him in the holidays.

  Then they found they could discuss international affairs with him that were beyond their other neighbours’ capabilities.

  Gordon was trying to remember what Mrs. Stourton looked like.

  Vaguely at the back of his mind, he thought she was very pretty, but, as he was only a boy at the time, he could not recollect her at all clearly.

  They then reached the house with its flower-filled garden and where he had seen Rosetta washing her dog this morning.

  As they did so, Gordon saw that she was again in the garden, but now she was sitting in a deckchair reading a newspaper.

  As the two brothers pulled in their horses outside the garden gate, she looked up in surprise.

  Then she put down the newspaper, rose and walked towards them.

  By the time she reached them they had dismounted and were tying their horses’ bridles to the wooden fence.

  As she opened the gate, she called out,

  “Surely you are not in trouble again?”

  “In much greater trouble,” replied Gordon. “We’ve come to ask your help, but to a very different problem from the one I brought to you this morning.”

  Rosetta looked a little surprised.

  “Of course, I will help you if I can, but I just cannot believe that both those magnificent horses you have just attached to our fence have broken bridles too.”

  “I think,” Henry said before Gordon could reply, “that it is we who have broken bridles and that is why we need your help.”

  Rosetta looked puzzled.

  Henry thought, as he was looking at her, that she did closely resemble his sister.

  They had the same coloured hair, the same pink and white skin and they were both gloriously pretty.

  He was aware, as he looked at her, that Gordon was thinking the same.

  In fact his brother was thinking that, if you put the two girls together, they might almost be twins.

  They walked to where Rosetta had been sitting and she brought up two more deckchairs.

  The two brothers hurried to take them from her and opened them and, as they all sat down, Rosetta said,

  “Now tell me what I can do to help you, gentlemen. Of course, I should love to be able to do so, although you do make it sound particularly difficult.”

  “It’s very difficult indeed,” admitted Gordon. “We only hope you will not be shocked at what we have to say.”

  Rosetta opened wide her very attractive eyes and he saw they were the same colour as his sister’s – not the pale blue that most people thought of as being very English, but a much deep
er blue.

  “Let me first tell you,” Gordon began, “why we are in trouble.”

  “What sort of trouble?” she asked.

  “Well, we are almost broke in the first place and Henry and I had a brilliant scheme to save ourselves from almost bankruptcy of building a Racecourse on our estate and adjoining land owned by our neighbour, the Marquis of Millbrook.

  Rosetta looked surprise and then she exclaimed,

  “That is a wonderful idea! Of course, it would be a great attraction in this part of the world, but how could you possibly afford it?”

  “This is the whole point,” Gordon replied. “That is why we want your help.”

  “To pay for your Racecourse?”

  “No, no, of course not. Well, not in money, but in persuading the Marquis of Millbrook to help us.”

  There was a short pause and then she asked,

  “Do you really think I could do it? He is a very strange man from what I have heard. He rarely pays any attention to anything that happens in the County.”

  “That is because he is always in London,” Gordon said. “But I have the feeling he might find it interesting, as he is an outstanding rider, to own with us a Racecourse here right under his nose.”

  Rosetta gave a little laugh.

  “It’s certainly a marvellous idea, but I cannot see how I can help you with it.”

  “That is the point. The Marquis is well known for pursuing beautiful women and he finds them much more amusing than a Racecourse – ”

  “That is one way of putting it and, of course, I have heard about him. No one talks of anyone else in this part of the world.”

  “I am sure that’s true,” said Henry. “He is actually coming to see us this evening to talk about our idea and we are praying, as you can imagine, that he will agree and put up the money for it.”

  ”Have you really gone as far as that?” she asked. “How wonderful and it would be great for us all to have a Racecourse so near. It would undoubtedly bring a great deal of employment to the whole neighbourhood.”

  “That is exactly what we thought and that is why you have to help us, because, if you don’t, I think we may have to forget the Racecourse straight away.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Gordon glanced at his brother as if for help before he replied slowly,