Paradise Found Read online

  “Want you?” he had replied. “You are mine, Elizabeth, mine completely and absolutely, and I swear that no other man shall ever touch you!”

  He had kissed her passionately and they had run away a week later.

  It had been a long, arduous and sometimes uncomfortable journey to get to Gretna Green.

  However, they had enjoyed every moment of it and after they had married, Elizabeth Borne had lived in a very special Heaven where nothing mattered except her husband and later her adorable daughter, Salrina.

  “Are you quite sure, Mama, that you did not ever regret giving up the balls and the comfort in which you lived for Papa?” Salrina had asked once.

  Her mother had laughed and the sound was like a peal of bells.

  “How can you ask such a foolish question?” she asked. “I have everything – everything any woman could want, the most handsome glorious husband in the whole world and a very lovely sweet little daughter. Oh, Salrina, I am so so lucky!”

  The way she spoke was so sincere that Salrina had felt the tears come into her eyes.

  She had known then that what her mother had told her all the years she had been growing up was true and that the only thing that mattered in life was love.

  Nothing else was of any consequence.

  It was Nanny who grumbled after her mother’s death and said in her frank manner,

  “I don’t know what’s goin’ to happen to you, that I don’t!”

  “What do you mean by that, Nanny?” Salrina had asked.

  “Livin’ here, seein’ no one and goin’ nowhere. You’ll grow up, Miss Salrina, and where are you goin’ to find a husband, I’d like to know?”

  “I don’t want a husband at the moment, I am perfectly happy with Papa,” Salrina replied.

  “All you both think about is them horses!” Nanny said snappily. “It may be all right for your father, but you’ll be wantin’ to be married in a year or two and you can’t marry a horse!”

  Salrina had laughed and teased Nanny by saying that she would rather marry Jupiter than any man she had ever met or heard of.

  But sometimes at night when she could not sleep she would wonder whether there was anything more in life for her than training horses which, when she had grown to love them, were sold.

  Then like her father she would have to start all over again with another horse.

  Although she tried not to grow too fond of them because it made her unhappy when they went away, she found it impossible not to love them.

  When they nuzzled with their noses against her, she felt as if she meant something special to them and it gave her a warm feeling inside.

  ‘Perhaps it would be the same if one loved a man,’ she told herself.

  But since there was nobody she could talk about it to, she just tried to make her father happy, being aware how desperately he missed her mother, as she did.

  Now, as Lord Milborne looked at his daughter, there was an expression of pain in his eyes, because in her riding habit, which was old and slightly threadbare and had belonged to her mother, she looked so like her.

  She was also wearing her mother’s riding hat with its high crown and a piece of pale blue gauze round it which floated out behind her as she moved.

  Beneath her jacket she wore a white blouse and the lace of stiff starched petticoat showed beneath her skirt. She certainly looked very much smarter than she did on any other day.

  She also looked older and there was now a look of apprehension on Lord Milborne’s face that told Salrina even before he spoke that he was going to be difficult.

  “I am ready now, Papa,” Salrina said, “and before you start saying all over again that it is something I should not do, I promise you that I will not stay one moment longer with Mr. Carstairs after I have handed over Orion and, I hope, received his cheque. Then I will ride off without speaking to anybody else straight to Mabel’s cottage.”

  Mabel was an old woman who had kept a shop in the village for years.

  She had adored Lady Milborne and one of Salrina’s earliest memories was being given lollipops by Mabel, as she was always known in the village.

  She had kept the shop until her son had wanted to take it over and she had then moved into his cottage, which was at Little Widicot on the Earl of Fleetwood’s estate, for whom he worked.

  “The village will not seem the same without Mabel!” Lady Milborne had often said.

  Whenever she had time to spare she would ride over to see her in her cottage and sometimes Salrina would accompany her on her pony.

  “Mabel will not only be pleased to see me, Papa,” Salrina went on before her father could speak, “but she will ask a thousand questions about you and will be very distressed to hear that you have injured your leg.”

  “Not half as distressed as I am,” Lord Milborne replied. “But listen, Salrina, I have been thinking about your journey.”

  Salrina waited, feeling that there was nothing more than she had said already to convince him she would not get into any trouble.

  Then he surprised her.

  “Because, as you are aware, this is something you should not do,” he said, “if by any chance anyone should ask your name, you are not to say who you are.”

  Salrina’s eyes opened wide.

  “Why not, Papa?”

  “Because it would be very bad for your reputation if it became known in the County or anywhere else that you rode so far without being accompanied by a groom or a chaperone.”

  “I understand,” Salrina had to agree.

  She was relieved that her father had not started the argument as to whether she should or should not go all over again.

  “I can easily call myself something other than Borne,” she said. “What do you suggest, Papa?”

  “Think of anything you like,” her father replied in an irritated voice, “but I will not have people talking about you, do you understand?”

  Salrina longed to point out that she did not think there was anyone to talk or if he was thinking of the sort of people it would matter to, they would either not be interested enough or have no idea that her father was a Lord.

  She was not so half-witted that she did not realise that, if they could have afforded the expense at her age, she would have been presented to the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace.

  She would have been invited to attend balls, assemblies and functions of every sort as a Society debutante.

  There were very few, as it happened, large houses in their neighbourhood and the ones there were were inhabited by elderly people who seldom entertained and had in fact taken little, if any, notice of Lord and Lady Milborne, who could not afford to invite them back.

  It was only shortly before her mother died that she had said occasionally,

  “I wish we had one smart relation who would have you to stay in London, my dearest, or even give a ball for you in the country.”

  “Where are all our relatives?” Salrina had asked.

  “That is something I often ask myself,” her mother had replied. “Your father’s brother, the rich one of the family, is a very distinguished soldier, but he is at the moment, as you know, fighting with the Duke of Wellington’s Army.”

  She paused and then added quickly,

  “But don’t talk about him in front of Papa, dearest, because it upsets him that he cannot fight too, as he would like to.”

  “Why not?” Salrina had asked the first time her mother had said this.

  “Because,” Lady Milborne had explained, “he could hardly leave you and me here alone to starve and actually I thank God every night that we are too poor for him to leave me to join the Army.”

  There was a little throb in her voice and a suspicion of tears in her eyes that told Salrina how terrified her mother would have been if her father had insisted upon being a soldier.

  She now understood that her mother, while she was utterly and completely content with her life as it was, wanted more for her daughter.

  She also unde
rstood what her father was trying to say and she replied,

  “Don’t worry, Papa. I will forget that I am ‘the honourable’, which as far as I am concerned is not worth a penny in the open market and, if anybody asks me who I am, I will say that my name is ‘Milton’, which is near enough to yours for me to remember it and I have just been reading Paradise Regained by John Milton!”

  Her father laughed.

  “Perhaps that is what you and I will find together when you come back with the three hundred guineas!”

  “Exactly, Papa! And we will have a feast on the first night I bring it back and pay Mr. Travers what we owe him. In fact, while I am handing Orion over, I will be wondering what you would enjoy most, a large beefsteak, a leg of lamb or a piece of tender veal.”

  “I will decide that while you are away,” her father smiled.

  He held out his arms as he spoke and Salrina kissed him affectionately on both cheeks.

  “Take care of yourself, dearest Papa,” she admonished him, “and remember that you are not to put any pressure on your leg at all or it will take that much longer to heal.”

  “You are bullying me, as usual!” her father complained. “But I shall miss you, so hurry back to me tomorrow.”

  He held onto her for a moment as he added,

  “Swear to me that you will take care of yourself! I know in my heart that I should not let you go.”

  “You are not to worry,” Salrina said lightly, “and if I am in trouble I am quite sure that Mama will be looking after me.”

  She saw her father’s expression change and as usual when they spoke of his wife there was a tenderness in his eyes.

  Salrina ran from the room, only looking back from the door to wave to her father before she made her way to the stables.

  Orion was ready for her in the stall where she had left him and Len, looking more vacant than usual, was holding Jupiter by his leading rein.

  The horse was cropping some of the weeds that had grown up through the cobbles in the yard.

  He raised his head when Salrina approached and would have moved towards her if Len had not prevented him from doing so.

  Salrina stopped and patted him.

  “You are coming with me,” she said, “and you have to be very good and helpful.”

  She felt as if Jupiter almost understood, because she always talked to him.

  She glanced up to see if all that she needed for the night were safely strapped to his saddle.

  The stirrup was turned up on the side-saddle because she would not be riding him until they returned and everything else seemed to be in order before she went into the stables to bring out Orion.

  He was moving restlessly, bucking a little and tossing his head to show his independence.

  She climbed onto the mounting block and held him while she seated herself in the saddle and managed without any help to arrange the fullness of her skirt.

  Then she reached out her hand for Jupiter’s leading rein, taking it from Len and saying as she did so,

  “Goodbye, Len. Feed all the horses as I have shown you and be sure that they have enough water before you go home tonight.”

  “Aye, Miss Salrina,” Len replied.

  His speech was slow and he often stammered and was inarticulate, but he tried his best to do what Salrina told him.

  She had actually already seen that the horses had plenty of food and had filled up their water buckets herself first thing that morning.

  She rode down the overgrown drive that led to The Manor, feeling as she did so that in a way this was an adventure.

  It was certainly the first time that she had ever been away from home on her own and it was very exciting to be riding Orion and keeping him under control.

  She knew that she would enjoy even more the ride back on Jupiter, when he would do exactly what she wanted.

  Outside the gate she passed through the small local village and, as everybody knew Salrina, the women smiled and bobbed a little curtsey, while the men and boys touched their caps or pulled their forelocks as she went by.

  She was well aware that by this time everybody would have learnt that she was taking a horse to be sold because her father was unable to take him himself.

  She guessed that, because it would be something to talk about, two or three of the older women would pop in to see Nanny during the afternoon to see if her father wanted anything in particular fetched from the shop.

  ‘They are all very kind to us,’ Salrina thought to herself.

  She knew that it was because her father and mother had always shown, to whoever it might be, so much kindness and understanding.

  She realised exactly what her mother meant to them after her death, for when she was buried in the churchyard not only on the day of the funeral but for weeks afterwards there were small bunches of flowers on her grave.

  At Christmas there had been wreaths made of holly and mistletoe that had no name on them, but came from the simple people of the village who had loved her as she had loved them.

  Orion shied at a sheep grazing by the roadside and Salrina had to think about him rather than of her mother or herself.

  Although she thought that she knew the way to Mr. Carstairs’s house, she found it more difficult than she had expected, because going cross-country she tried to avoid gates to open, as she did not wish to dismount from Orion.

  This would have meant loosing Jupiter and for the same reason she also wanted to avoid having to jump any hedges. The detours she therefore had to make took longer than she had expected.

  Then unexpectedly the sun went in and the clouds became dark and finally it began to thunder.

  At the first roll Orion pricked up his ears and Salrina knew that he was alert and nervous.

  Most animals, she knew, disliked thunderstorms, although she had never had any trouble with Jupiter.

  Now she thought that it would be very difficult if Orion bolted or, worse still, refused to proceed any further.

  She knew that her father had trained horses who became static in storms and would not move from under a tree or even eat their food if they were frightened by thunder and lightning.

  The rolls of thunder came nearer and, as she had anticipated, Orion played up at every one.

  Somehow she persuaded him to go forward until to her consternation she realised that she had lost her way and was now not certain where she was, while the sky was growing darker every minute.

  It was obvious that there was going to be a heavy rainstorm.

  It arrived about five minutes later with a force that made Salrina realise that they had to take shelter.

  With the greatest difficulty she managed to make Orion move in the opposite direction to the way they had been going because the rain was beating down behind them rather than straight into their faces.

  Then to her relief she saw that just across the field they were riding over was a Posting inn.

  It was not a very large one, but it was an inn and she knew with a sense of relief that there would be stables.

  As there was no barn of any sort where they could shelter, she thought that her father would approve if she put the horses in stables at the inn until the storm was over.

  Again with a great deal of difficulty, because Orion disliked not only the loud rumbles overhead but also the rain lashing down on his head, she quickly rode into the yard.

  There appeared to be nobody about and she could see the stables on one side and the inn on the other.

  Because Orion was now rearing up in protest against the elements, she released Jupiter’s rein and took Orion hastily in through the nearest stable door.

  There was a horse in the stall exactly opposite her, but there was another stall to the left of it that was empty and to her joy another empty stall was beyond that.

  There was no sign of an ostler and she quickly pulled Orion into the first empty stall and shut him in, then fetched Jupiter who was waiting patiently outside in the rain.

  “You are a very go
od boy!” she said to him as she led him into the other stall.

  It was obvious that the rain would continue for some time and now it was pouring down as if the Heavens themselves had opened.

  She therefore took off Jupiter’s bridle and saw that there was hay in the manger and water in a somewhat battered pail beside it.

  She patted his neck to show him how pleased she was with his good behaviour and, carrying the bridle out of the stall, hung it up on a hook on the wall.

  Then she went to Orion.

  She realised as she entered his stall again that it was rather larger than Jupiter’s and somebody had obviously that morning thrown down some fresh straw.

  This was a relief because some Posting inns were dirty and she had no wish after all the trouble she had taken for Orion to arrive at Mr. Carstairs’s not looking worth the money he would be paying for him.

  She removed Orion’s bridle as well and hung it too on a hook beside Jupiter’s, then went to the door to wonder if she should go into the Posting inn to explain her presence.

  She then noticed through the rain that in the centre of the yard was a phaeton.

  It was a fashionable one with high wheels and she glanced back and saw that there was not only a horse in the first stall inside the door but another in the stall beyond it.

  Now that she had time to inspect them she realised that they were well bred and must belong to a Gentleman of Fashion who, like herself, was sheltering from the rain.

  She thought for a minute and then knew that, if she went inside the inn to tell the proprietor she had taken advantage of his stables without asking permission, she might become involved with gentlemen that her father would not approve of.

  And, although it seemed ridiculous, he would imagine that they would constitute some kind of danger to her.

  She thought it over for a minute and told herself that the best thing she could do in the circumstances was to stay in the stables until the rain stopped.

  If nobody came to question her presence, she could then ride away without anybody being aware of her very existence.

  It certainly seemed the easiest thing to do and she looked round for somewhere to sit while she waited.

  There was, however, nothing she could sit on and she thought that it would not be very dignified if anyone found her on the floor, while it would be tiring to stand propped against the wall for perhaps an hour.