The Dare-Devil Duke Read online

  “They will not send you away if I say I want you to stay,” Simon said.

  “That is all I want,” Kasia said, “but you must understand that we have to be very clever, so that they are completely deceived.”

  “How do we deceive them?” Simon enquired. Kasia thought for a moment. Then she said,

  “I think, as I have only just arrived, I would like to explore the garden while it is so sunny, and perhaps later on, or tomorrow, I could explore the Castle.”

  “I will show you in the garden,” Simon offered.

  “Then let us go now,” Kasia suggested. “It looked very pretty as I came up the drive.”

  “You could not have seen the garden at the back,” Simon said, “so I will take you there first.”

  “That is very kind of you,” Kasia said, “and I am so grateful to you for saying you will help me.”

  “I will make sure that no one sends you away,” Simon said, sounding quite grown-up.

  “As I have already said, we shall have to be very clever about it,” Kasia said in a conspiratorial voice.

  “We will be,” Simon answered. “Let us go into the garden before anyone tries to stop us.”

  He took Kasia down a staircase and out into the garden through a side-door where there was no one to see them.

  The garden was, as Kasia had expected, very beautiful.

  It was attractively laid out, and the yew hedges must have been growing there for centuries.

  Simon took her over the lawns past a Bowling Green.

  Then they walked up a path which twisted and turned between the trees which sheltered the Castle from behind.

  Many of the trees were very old. As they came to a great oak, Kasia said,

  “That would be a good tree in which to hide!”

  “I am not allowed to climb trees,” Simon said.

  “But I am!” Kasia replied. “And, if we hide among the branches no one will find us.”

  “I have always wanted to climb a tree,” Simon said a little doubtfully, “but no one would let me try. They said I might fall and hurt myself.”

  “Of course you will do nothing so silly!” Kasia said. “I will show you how to climb a tree, but first we must take off our shoes.”

  She took off her shoes, then Simon did the same.

  Regardless of her pretty gown, Kasia began to pull herself up by a low branch.

  Simon watched her and then tackled another.

  Kasia had carefully chosen an easy tree to climb, but she had in fact been climbing trees all her life.

  Her mother had encouraged her to do so.

  “I always used to climb a tree if I wanted to hide from my Governess,” Lady Margaret had said. “It used to amuse me to hear her calling me, while I was just above her hiding among the leaves.”

  She had paused before she continued,

  “But I was frequently punished for the, mess I made of my clothes.”

  There had been a special tree in the garden of her home where Kasia liked to sit and think.

  It had a beautiful view of the surrounding country.

  She used to feel as if she was looking down from Heaven at the people striving below.

  “I am sure the angels when they are looking at us,” she told herself, “often think how silly we are to keep looking down at the earth instead of up at the stars.”

  Without her helping him Simon reached her.

  She thought that one reason why he was so difficult was that he had never been allowed to extend himself physically.

  ‘This is really his first lesson,’ she thought, ‘and, in my opinion, a very sensible one!’

  Simon sat down beside her with his legs dangling over a thick oak bough.

  “I have done it!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I have done it!”

  “Of course you have!” Kasia smiled. “Now we are so high that no one can find us.”

  The oak leaves were very thick.

  She parted them a little so that she could look back at the garden and over the lake which lay below the house.

  There was a Park beyond in which she was sure she could see speckled deer.

  Then Simon said,

  “There is someone coming!”

  He was right.

  A man was walking between the yew hedges and over the Bowling Green.

  “Keep very still,” Kasia whispered, “and he will not know we are here.”

  She let go of the leaves she was holding so that they obscured them once again from view.

  *

  The Duke had arrived in under two hours, and on reaching the Castle, had immediately set to work.

  He had sent for the Estate Manager and told him he wished to inspect the Home Farm.

  He also would hear what the farmers required to bring their flocks and their crops up to date.

  The Estate Manager said he would make arrangements for the Duke to visit at least four farms the following day.

  He suggested that they started after an early breakfast.

  The Duke agreed.

  He was aware that the Estate Manager wished to give the farmers a chance to ‘tidy up’ and look their best.

  He then saw Mr. Bennett and told him that he wanted to see the estate painters, carpenters and stonemasons.

  There was a great deal to be done to the Castle itself.

  “They will have to come tomorrow afternoon, your Grace,” Mr. Bennett said. “They are all at work and it would take too long to collect them now.”

  Again the Duke agreed.

  At the same time he thought he now had more or less a free afternoon when he had in fact expected to be busy.

  He wanted to see what new horses had already arrived in the stables.

  He intended to inform his Head Groom there were more arriving either today or tomorrow.

  He had purchased a number at Tattersall’s Salesrooms and left bids for others.

  Mr. Ashton had told him before he left London that they were accepted.

  Now it was just a question of their being delivered, which had been arranged by his grooms in Berkeley Square.

  Mr. Bennett had made a list of some of the work which had to be done in the Castle.

  The Duke when he had finished his luncheon, read the list before he walked out into the garden.

  As he did so, he thought he had been a fool to spend so long in London when the country was enchanting.

  Nothing could be more peaceful.

  It was only as he was walking across the lawn that he remembered that he had forgotten about his little nephew Simon and how tiresome he was.

  While he had been dancing attendance on Lady Julie, the Castle and its difficulties had seemed far away.

  Now he felt rather guilty.

  He had been fond of his brother and extremely upset when he had been killed.

  After the War ended, he had spent two years with the Army of Occupation in France.

  It was not until he had returned to England that he learnt his brother’s only child had caused such difficulties among his relatives.

  Charles’s wife had died a year after he had been killed.

  The small boy had been taken from their home which was put up for sale by the Trustees.

  He and his nanny had then stayed first with one of his mother’s sisters.

  She however soon said that two extra people in the house was too much for her.

  Simon had then been sent to one of the home relatives.

  She was an elderly aunt, who soon found a small child an intolerable burden.

  He had moved on and on.

  The Duke learned that finally all the relatives approached by the Trustees refused to take responsibility for him.

  Dreghome Castle was the only place left. The Duke had said in an airy way,

  “There is room for a regiment of small boys, and there will certainly be no difficulty in having Simon!”

  He had not been aware then of the problem of Simon’s education.

  His brother had p
ut him down for Eton almost as soon as he was born.

  Both he and Darcy had been very happy there.

  The Duke was soon to realise that neither Eton, nor any other school, would take Simon, if he remained as ignorant as he was at the moment.

  He had instructed Mr. Bennett and Mr. Ashton to advertise first for a Governess, then for Tutors.

  One after another they came, one after another they quickly went.

  The Duke was anxious to do his best for his nephew.

  But he really had not time to concentrate on a small boy when there were so many interesting things happening in London.

  Especially with Beauties like Lady Julie to keep him amused.

  But no boy, he thought, could fail to enjoy himself in any place so delightful as the Castle.

  ‘And it is mine!’ he was thinking. ‘Mine for as long as I live, and what man could ask for more?’

  He walked on, thinking of how the Castle had always fascinated him when he was young.

  His father and mother had lived only about five miles away, and he had frequently gone with them to the Castle.

  There they could play with their cousins who were about the same age as they were.

  They were rich and had everything they could possibly desire.

  They were however only too willing to share everything including their horses with them.

  He swam with them in the lake and raced them each trying to jump higher hedges than the other.

  Never had he thought that one day the Castle might be his.

  He walked on, going up a little path he remembered well.

  It led to the top of the wood from which there was a magnificent view.

  Then as he passed one of the large oak trees he saw something white on the ground beneath it.

  He looked in surprise at an elegant pair of white slippers.

  Then he saw that beside them lay a pair of boy’s shoes.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Duke stood for a moment looking down at the shoes, then he raised his head.

  The leaves were very thick.

  But almost directly above him he saw two large eyes staring at him.

  The leaves fell back and he walked forward.

  He was against the trunk of the tree when he looked up again.

  Above him there was a very attractive young girl sitting on a thick bough.

  She had a small, heart-shaped face, and her eyes, which he had seen through the leaves, were almost too big for it.

  Then he was aware that his nephew was only a foot or so away from her.

  “Hello, Simon,” he said, “you seem to have moved up in the world! And who is your friend?”

  Quickly, because Kasia thought Simon was looking sulky, Kasia said,

  “I am the new Governess, your Grace. My name is Watson.”

  The Duke stared at her as if he could not believe his ears.

  After a long pause while they just looked at each other he said,

  “And are you telling me, Miss Watson, that this is a lesson?”

  “Of course, your Grace,” Kasia replied. “It is the study of nature combined with gymnastic exercise.”

  The Duke gave a short laugh as if he could not help it.

  Then he said,

  “In which case I must not interfere, but I hope, after I have been to the stables, you will both have tea with me.”

  He turned as he spoke and went back the way he had come.

  Only when he was out of ear-shot did Simon say,

  “That was Uncle Darcy.”

  “I realise that,” Kasia replied, “but I thought he could not be here because the flag was not flying over the Castle.”

  There was silence for a moment.

  Then Simon said as if the words were dragged from him,

  “I tore it and they are having it repaired.”

  “You tore it?” Kasia questioned. “How did you manage to do that?”

  “I went up on the roof,” Simon explained, “and Mr. Jackson was very angry. He started to drag me back, but I held onto the flag.”

  “So it tore!” Kasia said. “I expect it can be mended all right, or they can buy a new one.”

  “Mr. Jackson tried to punish me,” Simon went on, “by making me write out twenty times ‘I must not go on the roof’.”

  “And did you do that?” Kasia enquired.

  “I threw an ink-pot at him,” Simon said with a note of relish in his voice.

  Kasia laughed.

  “I heard about that. I hope you will not throw one at me!”

  “No, of course not,” Simon said, “and you would not make me write out such silly things.”

  “You may have to pretend to write,” Kasia said after a little pause, “because your uncle will ask what you are learning.”

  Simon thought this over.

  But before he could say anything, Kasia said,

  “Let us go to the top of the wood, until your Uncle has left the stables. I want to look at the horses. Do you ride?”

  “I hate riding!” Simon answered.

  “You hate it?” Kasia repeated. “How can you hate it? I think it is the most exciting thing anyone can do.”

  “They make me ride a horrid little pony,” Simon said, “and the groom keeps me on a leading-rein.”

  “That is the silliest thing I have ever heard!” Kasia exclaimed. “Of course you are too old to be on a leading-rein, and you want a horse – a big one!”

  “They will not let me have one,” Simon grumbled.

  “They will, if I insist upon it,” Kasia said, “and I would love to ride with you. Oh, please, Simon, let us try to ride together. It will be such fun!”

  “And I can have a horse?” Simon asked.

  “I am sure I can arrange for you to have what you want,” Kasia said.

  She was thinking it would be easier if they went to the stables and simply ordered horses.

  “I tell you what we will do,” she said. “We will say nothing now, but tomorrow morning early, perhaps before your uncle is up, we will go to the stables and choose the horses we want to ride.”

  She smiled at him before continuing,

  “Then if you do not fall off, but enjoy it, they will not be able to forbid you to do it again.”

  “That sounds a spiffing idea!” Simon said.

  Kasia guessed that he had got the adjective from one of the footmen, but she merely smiled.

  “Now I am going to get down,” she said. “You can follow me, but let me go first.”

  She swung herself lithely down from the bough, hung by her hands and then dropped the last few feet.

  The ground was soft and covered with moss.

  She knew if he fell Simon would not be hurt, and told him what to do.

  He obeyed her, but landed a little awkwardly on his knees.

  He did not hurt himself and said as he picked himself up,

  “That was fun!”

  “I was sure you would think so,” Kasia said, “and we will soon climb much higher trees, where no one will be able to find us.”

  “Yes, let us do that,” Simon agreed.

  They walked up to the top of the wood as the Duke had intended to do.

  As Kasia saw the view spread out before her towards an indefinite horizon she drew in her breath.

  To her it was so lovely that she felt as if she was seeing the world from a different angle than she had ever seen it before.

  Then, as if she came back to earth again, she remembered that Simon was with her.

  “Now you have shown me this beautiful view,” she said, “where shall we go next?”

  “Let us go to the stables,” Simon suggested. “I am sure Uncle Darcy will not stay there long.”

  “Why do you think that?” Kasia asked.

  “They keep saying how much work he has to do now he is the Duke,” Simon said.

  Kasia thought this showed that Simon was in fact, interested in what went on around him.

  As they walked through
the wood she said,

  “I have always loved the woods. When I was little I used to listen to the trees where I believed the goblins were working underneath them. We had a pool at home which I was sure was full of water nymphs.”

  “Nanny used to tell me stories about goblins and fairies,” Simon said.

  “And where is your nanny now?” Kasia asked.

  “They sent her away. Aunt Martha said I was too old to have a nanny, but Nanny said it was because she was so mean that she grudged her the food she put in her mouth.”

  “I am sure you miss her,” Kasia said sympathetically.

  “I ran away to try to find her,” Simon said, “but they brought me back and were very angry.”

  Kasia thought it was shocking that he had been treated in a way which would upset any sensitive child.

  She did not say anything however.

  Instead she told Simon a story about the way the ancient Britons used to ambush the invading Roman Army in the woods.

  She finished the story just before the stables came in sight.

  Then she drew up behind some bushes and said,

  “Let us peep to make sure your uncle is not still there.”

  Simon was delighted to do this.

  They crept through the bushes until they could see clearly that the stable yard was empty.

  One of the lads came out of a stable-door carrying a pail and he was whistling.

  Kasia thought he was not likely to be doing that if the Duke was anywhere near.

  She and Simon therefore went into the yard.

  She quickly asked that he himself should show her the horses, although after they had been there a short while a grown man appeared.

  Kasia held out her hand.

  “I must introduce myself,” she said. “I am Miss Watson, the new Governess, and I want my pupil, Master Simon, to show me the horses.”

  “We’ve some fine noo uns,” the man replied,

  who she was to learn later was the Head Groom.

  “I felt sure you would have,” Kasia said, “and as I love horses, I very much want to see them.”

  Simon had gone into one of the stalls.

  “Come and see this horse, Miss Watson,” he shouted.

  As she moved towards him the Head Groom said,

  “That be one us ’ave ’ad fer sometime, an’ a very nice animal it be.”