A Prisioner in Paris Read online

  The Vicar now laughed too.

  “I was afraid you would think that, my Lord, but it is something I would have enjoyed if I had been your age. Although you must realise that you are going straight into great danger.”

  “Actually the whole idea rather excites me,” Lord Lanwood confessed. “I think that I have been living too comfortably for too long and perhaps it will be good for me to have to rough it and to be rough, which is what I intend to be.”

  The Vicar did not speak and, after a moment, Lord Lanwood added,

  “And, of course, I have to bring poor Charles back in one piece.”

  “I shall pray that you will do so,” the Vicar replied.

  “I am delighted to have your prayers, Vicar,” Lord Lanwood said. “At the same time I need something more practical. Amongst the many people you have taught, there must be one who will be able to translate what I want to say so that these Frenchmen understand me and in turn will explain to me what they are saying.”

  There was silence for a moment and when the Vicar did not speak, Lord Lanwood urged him,

  “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Vicar, you must find me someone, otherwise you know as well as I do that I will never be able to communicate with these swine! And then what will happen to Charles?”

  Again there was silence.

  Then the Vicar said very slowly,

  “The only person I can think to send with you is my daughter, Isa.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Lord Lanwood stared at the Vicar in astonishment.

  “Your daughter!” he exclaimed. “But why should she know the slang of the lowest form of French?”

  The Vicar smiled.

  “It’s a rather strange story,” he replied, “but, when my daughter and I visited France we learnt that a very poor relation I had not seen for many years was extremely ill. He lived in the poorest part of Paris where the type of people you have been describing live.”

  He hesitated for a moment before he went on,

  “He was really desperately ill. In fact I thought it was only a question of days before he died. I therefore went, with my daughter, Isa, to what you would think was a very common hotel, but it was the only one available in that part of Paris.”

  He sighed before continuing,

  “I spent most of my time at the hospital, but Isa, as she had always had a passion for learning languages talked to the people around us and became friendly with a number of families who lived near the hotel.”

  He saw that Lord Lanwood was listening intently and he continued,

  “They were, as you can imagine, talking the same sort of rough French, which is very different from what one finds in the better parts of France.”

  “So you think,” Lord Lanwood said, “that she will be able to communicate with the Frenchman I have with me. And, if she can talk to him, she will be able to talk to his confederates.”

  “Exactly,” the Vicar agreed. “Therefore, my Lord, I think it would be a good idea to take him down to the Vicarage or, if you prefer, I will send for Isa to come here.”

  “I think it best that we should go to the Vicarage,” Lord Lanwood said after a little pause, “because the less he sees of the inside of The Castle the less he will be able to explain what he has witnessed to his associates.”

  ”Do you really think that he is one of the men who intend to rob you?” the Vicar asked.

  “I dare say he will not start by thinking so, but it would be against human nature to see some of the treasures in this house and not talk about them to his friends.”

  The Vicar smiled.

  “You are quite right, my Lord, as you always have been. I thought that you were clever as a boy and am quite certain that you are twice as bright now as your father and many of your relations expected you to be.”

  “I hope that is true, Vicar,” Lord Lanwood replied. “But I will not believe it until I can rescue my nephew.”

  “Then the sooner we can get busy the better,” the Vicar said. “If you will send for this man, we will walk down to the Vicarage where I know Isa will be waiting for us.”

  Lord Lanwood rose from the table.

  Although the butler and footman were expecting to bring him in cheese and coffee to finish his meal, he went out into the hall.

  “I see you have come in your trap,” he said to the Vicar.

  “As I heard that you were in a great hurry to see me,” the Vicar answered, “and, although I was about to visit another part of my Parish, I came straight here.”

  “Yes, I am in a tremendous hurry,” Lord Lanwood replied, “and that could not be better.”

  He turned to the butler, who was standing behind him and ordered,

  “Armstrong, fetch the Frenchman you took into the servant’s hall as quickly as you can.”

  The butler hurried away and Lord Lanwood and the Vicar climbed into the trap, which was drawn by one good-looking horse that Lord Lanwood had given to him as a present at Christmas.

  The Vicar picked up the reins.

  As he did so Armstrong came out of The Castle with the Frenchman.

  He was looking, Lord Lanwood felt, even rougher than he had been when they left London.

  He climbed into the trap behind them and the Vicar immediately set off.

  The Church was at the far end of the drive and on the other side opening onto the road was the Vicarage.

  It was a most attractive house, having been built only fifty years ago by Lord Lanwood’s grandfather.

  The garden was full of flowers and a well mown lawn led to a small stream that came from the Park. When it passed through the village, it was a big attraction to the small boys who occasionally caught fish in it.

  The gate into the Vicarage was open and the Vicar drove in, drawing up his horses outside the front door.

  As Lord Lanwood stepped out, the door opened and the Vicar’s daughter stood there looking at the visitors with surprise.

  Lord Lanwood had not seen her for some time and thought that she was a beautiful and attractive girl.

  She had auburn hair and dark blue eyes which was a rather unusual combination.

  However, he only had a brief glimpse of her before she ran to her father and asked,

  “Why are you back so soon, Papa? I thought that you were going to see Mrs. Cobbold and would not return until teatime.”

  “As you can see,” the Vicar answered her, “I have guests and they need our help.”

  As if he had rebuked her for not being aware of it before, Isa turned towards Lord Lanwood and held out her hand.

  “Do forgive me, my Lord” she said, “but I was so surprised to see my father back home so quickly.”

  “He has come because I need his help and he tells me that I also need yours,” Lord Lanwood replied.

  Isa looked at him in astonishment.

  “My help,” she repeated. “Is there someone ill at The Castle?”

  Lord Lanwood laughed.

  “No, not as bad as that. But would you be kind enough to take the occupant in the back of the trap to the kitchen? Perhaps he can be given some coffee while I talk to you.”

  Looking a little bewildered, Isa moved towards the trap.

  She then said to the Frenchman who had not moved from the back seat

  “Will you come with me?”

  She was actually thinking that he must be one of the local poor and needy her father continually spent his time with.

  She was also surprised to find that he was in some way connected with his Lordship.

  The Frenchman climbed out of the trap and then, as Isa spoke to him, Lord Lanwood intervened,

  “The man is French,” he told her, “and speaks the language in a way that your father and I find impossible to comprehend.”

  Isa looked at him for a moment wide-eyed.

  Then, turning to the Frenchman, she said,

  “Will you come with me?”

  She spoke French words of which Lord Lanwood had no knowledge.

  Yet
clearly the Frenchman understood her, because, as she walked ahead, he followed her and they disappeared into the house.

  The Vicar walked slowly up the steps behind them.

  He led the way to what Lord Lanwood remembered was his particular sitting room where he wrote his sermons.

  It was where as a boy he had sat and had lessons in several European languages and these had taken place in the holidays.

  He had at first thought that it was rather unfair that he should have to work so hard while his friends were enjoying the freedom of being away from school.

  The Vicar had always been a very intellectual man.

  He made all foreign languages so interesting and amusing that Lord Lanwood had enjoyed his lessons that took place three times a week equally as much as riding his horses or swimming in the lake.

  Now he sat down on the large sofa and, before he had exchanged no more than a few words with the Vicar, Isa joined them, saying,

  “Do tell me, Papa, where on earth did you find that extraordinary man who I have just left in the kitchen? He quite obviously comes from the part of Paris that you and I remember well, but most people try to forget.”

  The Vicar smiled.

  “That is very true, my dear, but he has brought his Lordship bad news about his nephew, Charles, and so we need your help to rescue him.”

  “To rescue him,” Isa echoed. “What has happened to Charles? I hope he has not been arrested by the Police.”

  “It’s not as bad as that,” Lord Lanwood said. “Or perhaps it’s even worse. As we have little time, will you sit down and let me tell you quickly what has happened.”

  “But, of course, I would want to know if Charles is in danger,” Isa said. “I have told him before to be careful, but he enjoys being with the strangest and roughest people like the man you have just brought here.”

  “So could you understand that Frenchman when he spoke to you?” Lord Lanwood asked.

  “Of course I could, my Lord. I expect Papa told you that we lived in the part of Paris he obviously comes from and how, when he was in the hospital, I would have had no one to talk to if I could not understand their language. I can assure you it is far more difficult than Cockney!”

  “I am sure that it is,” Lord Lanwood exclaimed. “I found it impossible to understand!”

  “I am certain that you would,” Isa replied, “because they have a special language of their own in that part of Paris. It was only because Papa and I stayed there for so long that I finally managed to talk French in the same way as they did, while Papa never could make out a word of it!”

  She glanced at her father as she spoke.

  He smiled as he added,

  “I am afraid that is the truth, my Lord. I just could not force my brain to take in those peculiar words. To call it French is almost an insult to the country and to a very musical language!”

  Lord Lanwood thought that this conversation was now a waste of time.

  He therefore suggested to Isa,

  “I want you to read this letter that I received from Charles who bribed the Frenchman you are entertaining in the kitchen to bring it to me.”

  Isa took it from him and read it carefully.

  Then she remarked,

  “If Charles is in the hands of these men and I have heard about them before and how dangerous they are, it is going to be extremely difficult to extract him from their clutches.”

  “I am sure it will be, Isa, but all the same we must save him and, as your father thinks that you are the one person who can speak their language, I want you to come with me to Paris immediately.”

  Isa looked at him in sheer amazement.

  “Come with you to Paris,” she repeated slowly. “Is that what you said, my Lord?”

  “It is what I said and what I mean,” Lord Lanwood replied. “From what I gather, which is very little, from that extraordinary creature who brought me this letter, is that Charles is in great danger if we do not rescue him. As I see things at the moment, only you could find out what they intend to do and how we can spirit Charles away from them.”

  He paused for a moment before he gave a sigh and added,

  “And I am afraid that means leaving within an hour or so for Dover.”

  As he spoke, he expected Isa to exclaim with horror at the idea of leaving so quickly and that as far as she was concerned it would be impossible.

  Instead, after a moment’s hesitation, she said,

  “If Papa will agree that I may go with you to Paris then, of course, I will get ready at once. How long – can you give me to pack, my Lord?”

  “Shall we say just one hour? Or would you like to hear first what I have already managed to grasp with great difficulty from that creature now sitting in your kitchen?”

  “If you cannot understand his language, my Lord, then you cannot learn much,” Isa said. “I think it would be better if I talked to him quietly on the journey. If you are listening, it might well be overpowering for him. He would probably feel more at ease if he was alone with me.”

  Lord Lanwood was surprised that anyone who was so young and properly brought up would be prepared to associate with this unpleasant Frenchman he had brought down from London.

  At the same time he thought that it was extremely intelligent of her to realise that the Frenchman was much more likely to tell her what they wanted to know if he was all alone with her than if there was an older and perhaps critical man listening to their conversation.

  All the same Lord Lanwood could not help feeling that they were moving almost too fast for the Vicar.

  He looked at him and enquired,

  “Would you agree to this, Vicar? I feel that I am asking a lot of you, but there is no one else I can turn to for help.”

  There was a short pause before the Vicar replied,

  “The most important issue, my Lord, is for you to save Charles. I was always afraid as he was so adventurous that he would get into trouble. But Isa thinks, as I do, that this is a frightening situation and there is always a chance, even if he gives his associates all the information they want, that they will make absolutely certain that under no circumstances will he be able to give any evidence against them.”

  “What you are really saying to me,” Lord Lanwood probed, “is that, having learnt everything they can from him, they will then dispose of him.”

  “That is always possible where those sort of people are concerned,” the Vicar said. “When staying in that part of Paris, I was always scared that Isa and I would somehow get mixed up in their crimes and the Police would turn to us for help, which would be exceedingly dangerous for us to give them.”

  Isa gave a little laugh.

  “That’s true, Papa. On more than one occasion I thought we would never see England again, but somehow we managed to escape.”

  “I feel that I may be asking too much of you,” Lord Lanwood said. “But if I cannot find out more or talk to the Frenchman then there will be no chance of Charles being able to escape from them.”

  “I am sure you are right, my Lord. It would be impossible for you to learn anything from them as you do not speak their language. You will have to leave that to me and Papa knows that, as I already know two or three people in that neighbourhood, they will not think I am spying on them.”

  “I can appreciate even better than when I first came here that you are the only person I can really turn to for help. I thought, when I received Charles’s letter, that if I notified the French Embassy and they contacted the Police in Paris, it might easily mean his death.”

  “You are absolutely right, my Lord,” Isa agreed. “Although most Englishmen would believe that the Police can do everything.”

  She hesitated for a moment before she went on,

  “I think you should realise from the very beginning that it is your Lordship and I who will have to do all the work and the Police can only be informed when we know the whole situation quite clearly and that there is no risk of Charles being murdered.”
/>   As she finished speaking, she walked to the door.

  “I will now go and fetch my things,” she said. “I imagine that I will not need anything smart.”

  She smiled as she spoke and was gone before Lord Lanwood could reply.

  They heard her footsteps running down the passage and then, turning to the Vicar, Lord Lanwood said,

  “I feel embarrassed by having asked so much of you. I swear that I will take every possible care of Isa so that she does not come to any harm.”

  “I know you will do that,” the Vicar said, “and, of course, as I have known you and Charles ever since you were born, you are both very dear to my heart and to my daughter’s.”

  “I am more grateful than I can possibly say,” Lord Lanwood said. “Almost as soon as I heard the man speak, I felt that you would be the only person I know who would understand what he was saying. It’s a miracle to me how he found his way to London.”

  “We can only thank God that he did find you and I will pray fervently that you will be in time to protect and save Charles,” the Vicar answered.

  Isa came back dressed in a travelling coat and with a small plain hat on her head.

  She had put her case, which she had packed with great speed, in the hall.

  The Vicar carried it out and put it into the trap.

  “We must leave for Paris as soon as possible,” Lord Lanwood said. “And I hope you will forgive me for asking so much of you.”

  “I will be thinking of you and praying for you both,” the Vicar replied. “You can be certain that God will bring you back to me.”

  Then he climbed into his trap and bent to pick up the reins.

  As he did so, Lord Lanwood stopped, thinking that perhaps he should stay behind with the Frenchman while Isa sat in front with her father.

  Moving quickly Isa then seated herself opposite the Frenchman and, without saying anything, his Lordship sat down at the front.

  As they drove along the drive, he could hear her talking away to the Frenchman.

  He could understand enough of the conversation to realise she was talking of the flowers and the magnificence of the trees.

  The Frenchman was replying to her, although Lord Lanwood could not make out what he was saying.