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  “I expect he will manage! But, as I have no idea when I shall return, it’s no use counting on me. Now if you will forgive me I must go to get ready for luncheon.”

  He walked over to the door and left the room before Lady Matilda could think of a way to detain him further.

  He ran up the stairs to the Master bedroom where he had slept ever since his father died.

  As he did so he thought it was just what he might have expected. Whatever was going on in the family his Aunt Matilda always upset it – she had different ideas and different ambitions to all his other relatives.

  ‘If she thinks I am so stupid as to marry the girl she has just produced,’ the Marquis mused, ‘she is very much mistaken.’

  He remembered now that Lord Basildon came from an ancient aristocratic family and was exceedingly rich and the rather plain young woman was therefore the girl his family would think an ideal wife for him.

  She would undoubtedly do everything in her power to make him – what she would call – see sense!

  ‘I wish the old women would leave me alone!’ the Marquis murmured. ‘It would be just what they deserve if on the Duke’s wild goose chase some girl without any blue blood and a rough background insisted on marrying me!’

  The idea amused him.

  He thought just how furious his relatives and Aunt Matilda would be, but he was sure that anyone was better than the girls considered desirable by his aunts and uncles.

  Luncheon was an excellent meal as the cook who adored the Marquis since he had been a boy, had produced at no more than a moment’s notice, all his favourite dishes.

  The Marquis sat at the top of the table with his aunt on his right and Edith Basildon on his left.

  Her Ladyship insisted on talking, as she always did, all through the luncheon and the Marquis thought as they finished that Edith had not been able to utter one word. He therefore said kindly to her and it was the first sentence he had spoken to her directly,

  “Do you enjoy the country?”

  “I-I have never lived – anywhere – else,” replied Edith in a small voice.

  “I expect you enjoy riding?”

  There was a little pause before the girl answered,

  “Only if the horse is particularly quiet. I should be frightened to ride a strange horse. Although Lady Matilda has told me your stables are famous.”

  “I like to think they are. They are certainly very precious to me. Therefore you must forgive me if I leave you to go to visit my horses.”

  He was making his excuses early before he found it impossible to stand any more of his aunt’s conversation as she was trying to impress him with Edith’s background – it was all quite unnecessary and exceedingly boring.

  The Marquis knew of old how her mind worked. She was steadily getting round to the right moment when she would ask him face to face if he would marry Edith.

  The answer was a guaranteed ‘no!’ but he found it easier to run away.

  “We will have tea ready in the drawing room later,” Lady Matilda called out as he reached the door.

  “If I am late, don’t wait for me,” he answered and went out before she could reply.

  He ran down the steps and up towards the stables knowing that the Head Groom would be expecting him.

  His horses were looking fine and better than when he had last seen them. One, he was informed, was a better jumper than expected and there was another the grooms were certain would win the steeplechase if he entered for it.

  He took a long time talking about every horse and inspecting them all, moving from stall to stall.

  “Which horse do you want to ride now, my Lord?” the Head Groom asked after the Marquis had spent nearly two hours in the stables.

  Because he knew it would please them, he chose the stallion the grooms had selected for the steeplechase, named Firefly, and when he was mounted, he realised that he could not have chosen better himself.

  He gave the horse its head on the flat ground and then he took him over several jumps. There was no doubt he had a winner and he smiled to himself as he rode on.

  In fact the whole afternoon was a delight.

  When the Marquis eventually arrived back at the Hall it was long after teatime and he reckoned that if his aunt and her protégé had waited for him, they would surely be hungry.

  At the same time the sooner he left the better.

  If indeed he was really to go on this mad adventure devised by the Duke, he himself should be the first past the winning post.

  If he failed he knew one thing – he would not marry Edith Basildon, however good her antecedents might be!

  Newman told him that the ladies had waited tea for some time and then her Ladyship had gone upstairs to rest.

  “And where is Miss Basildon?”

  “She’s out in the garden, my Lord.”

  The Marquis thought in that case he could go to the study and he gave Newman instructions to say he had no idea where he was.

  He sat down to look over the reports from the farms which he knew would be waiting for him. They were more interesting than he had expected and it was now getting near to dinner time.

  Finally he walked upstairs to change his clothes.

  His valet had a bath waiting for him and Newman insisted on bringing him up a glass of champagne.

  “You mustn’t be late for dinner, my Lord. Cook’s been working all day on your favourite sweetmeats. She were disappointed your Lordship was not there to enjoy the cake she’d made for tea.”

  “Tell her to put a piece of it by my bed tonight and then if I am hungry when I wake up, it will keep me going until the morning!”

  Newman laughed.

  “Your Lordship’ll not be hungry if you eats all the dinner cook’s got prepared. She’s had the kitchen running about since we learnt your Lordship were arriving. If you stays for long my Lord, you’ll be looking for new breeches because them you be wearing’ll be too tight!”

  It was the sort of thing Newman had said to him when he was a boy and the Marquis chuckled.

  “I will be certain to see cook before I leave. I am definitely going tomorrow. I have already told the stables what time I want a horse and I shall be leaving soon after breakfast.”

  Newman looked at him in surprise.

  “Your Lordship will be not going alone?”

  “Yes, all alone, Newman, and I don’t want a lot of questions asked as to where I am going and why. I am thus leaving you to keep those who are curious at bay.”

  “It’ll not be that easy, my Lord. What’ll I tell them when they ask where your Lordship has gone and when you’ll be back?”

  “I am sure you will think of something better than I could, Newman. The truth is I am disappearing for a while and it’s no use anyone trying to be in touch with me.”

  “Well, it strikes me, that if your Lordship be up to mischief as you were when you was young, I’ll do my best to keep them all from looking for you, but if they dies of curiosity, it’ll not be my fault!”

  The Marquis chuckled.

  “You have always helped me, Newman, in all the strange things I do. I hope you will help me in this.”

  “I’ll do my best, my Lord, but it’s not a job I enjoy. Them women’ll get real mad when they start to wonder where you’ve got to!”

  The Marquis felt that Newman was really worried, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  He walked slowly down to dinner and tried to make the conversation a little more interesting than it had been at luncheon – and only by talking instead of allowing his aunt to do so was it at all possible.

  She kept on interrupting him by insisting that it was impossible for him to leave the next day, as there was so much she wanted to see on the estate.

  After dinner they went into the blue drawing room where coffee and liqueurs were waiting for them and the Marquis had hardly had a sip of his before his aunt said,

  “I am going to leave you two young people to get to know each other. I hope
, Ivor, you will listen to what Edith has to say and I am sure you will find it interesting.”

  She did not wait for the Marquis to reply because she suspected he might protest and slipped out of the room closing the door firmly behind her.

  He went to stand in front of the fireplace wondering what he should say and how he could avoid what he felt could be an uncomfortable tête-á-tête.

  Then to his surprise Edith looked up at him and said in a small rather frightened voice,

  “I am sorry! So very sorry!”

  The Marquis looked down at her and thought if he was honest she was not completely unattractive – she was just young, unfledged and dull.

  Then because of what she had said, he replied,

  “I am afraid my aunt is very tactless and like all my family, she cannot help matchmaking without concerning herself with my feelings.”

  “You don’t really want to – marry me?” she asked, stumbling over her words.

  The Marquis shook his head.

  “Quite frankly, no! I have no wish at the moment to marry anyone.”

  To his surprise she gave an obvious sigh of relief.

  “I thought that was the truth, but I was still afraid.”

  “Afraid that I would want to marry you?”

  “Yes!”

  The monosyllable did surprise him, but at the same time he was interested.

  “Then why did you let my aunt bring you here and make it so obvious as to what was expected.”

  “Lady Matilda is a great friend of my father and they arranged between them that I should meet you and that you would then find me a desirable wife.”

  The Marquis smiled.

  “That sounds very unattractive. I suggest you tell your father I have no wish to marry anyone at present.”

  Then an idea occurred to him and he added,

  “Is there someone else you would like to marry if you were not being pushed upon me?”

  He saw a sudden light in Edith’s eyes that had not been there before and he then suggested,

  “I would like you to tell me the truth, because I feel now that you were not at all enjoying my aunt’s blatent and rather clumsy effort at matchmaking.”

  “I was so very frightened! Terribly frightened, that you would say ‘yes’.”

  “But why? Is there someone else?”

  She nodded her head and then glanced towards the doors as if she was afraid that she might be overheard.

  The Marquis sat down beside her on the sofa.

  “Tell me about it, Edith, and perhaps I can help you in some way.”

  “It helps me so much that you do not want to marry me. I was desperately afraid when I came here that you would agree with Lady Matilda.”

  “I will never agree with her if I can possibly help it! Now tell me about yourself. I am really interested.”

  “You will not tell your aunt, my Lord?”

  “No! Of course not, or anyone else.”

  “Then I want to marry someone who lives near us. At the moment it is too difficult for him to say anything to Papa because he knows that Papa would say that he has no house nor any money.”

  “Tell me about him,” he asked sympathetically.

  “I suppose I have loved him ever since we used to dance together at parties. He is four years older than me and he says he has never found anyone he loves but me.”

  The way she spoke was very moving and there was a rapt expression on her face that seemed to transform her. From a plain and ordinary girl she became someone lovely but at that moment pathetic.

  “What does your young man want to do?” he asked.

  “He is keen on flowers. He saved up and worked his way to Nepal where they have such wonderful orchids and other strange blooms from the Himalayas.”

  The Marquis was surprised, but he did not interrupt.

  “Peter brought back a great number of the most rare and unusual of these flowers. He claims that once he can grow them here in England, there will be a great number of people especially in London, who will want to buy them.”

  She drew in her breath before she added,

  “They are very beautiful. Far more beautiful than any flowers on sale anywhere else.”

  The Marquis was suddenly interested.

  “How does Peter know so much about flowers?”

  “He has been interested in them ever since he was small. He used to bring me flowers from his garden when I was only a child. I knew then they were very precious.”

  “You say he has no house he can take you to if you marry him?”

  “Peter said that he cannot approach Papa when he has nothing to offer except his love for me.”

  She spoke so simply that the Marquis felt touched.

  “So what do you intend to do?” he asked.

  “Papa did not make a fuss about me not wanting to go to London, as he is so much happier if he comes back home every weekend. Then Lady Matilda suggested that I should marry you and told Papa that I was wasting my time with Peter.”

  “So what has your father done?”

  “He told me that if you asked me, I was to accept your proposal and I knew there was no point in telling him I loved Peter and that all I wanted was to be with him.”

  “I do understand what you are feeling, Edith, I have an idea which I think may help you and certainly save me from my aunt trying to force us down the aisle together.”

  “What is it, my Lord?”

  “I learnt today that one of my cottages – in fact it is better than a cottage as it was used by my Head Gardener before he died – is empty. My manager suggested that as we do not require any more gardeners, we let it out and he is sure it could be let for quite a good sum if we allowed the garden and one or two fields to go with it.”

  Edith was listening wide-eyed as he continued,

  “Suppose I invest in your friend Peter’s idea of new flowers for London and for people like myself who love their gardens and want them to look different.”

  “Invest?” Edith queried.

  “I was thinking perhaps I would not ask any rent from you, but I would fund what your fiancé would have to spend on starting up his business.”

  The Marquis paused for a moment to think.

  “We would need to build special greenhouses, but when they are finished and all the flowers are ready, I am certain he would find it quite easy to sell them in London. He could then give me a small share in his profits.”

  Edith clasped her hands together.

  “Do you really mean it, my Lord? Have you really a house where we could live?”

  “You can look at it tomorrow, Edith, and I am sure your father would deem it is a very nice way for you to start your married life.”

  Edith gave a little murmur of delight.

  “Of course your future husband, Peter, can pick the brains and use the experience of my gardeners. Several have been here for many years and I expect you know my gardens are famous for their beauty and originality.”

  “And Peter and I would really be a part of it?”

  “That is what I suggest you tell Peter, and of course he will be able to explain to your father better than you can the possibilities of such a new business.”

  Edith gave a cry of sheer delight and then she flung both her arms round the Marquis who was sitting next to her and kissed his cheek.

  “Thank you! Thank you!” she cried. “How can you be so marvellous? So different from what I expected?”

  There were tears in her eyes.

  The Marquis thought he had never seen a woman who had been so dull and dreary suddenly be transformed into anyone so radiant as if touched by a magic wand.

  “Now what I will do, as I am leaving tomorrow, is to write all this out for you to take to Peter. Tomorrow before I leave I will tell my manager to help Peter in every way he can. You must look at the house and it can be done up by my own people to whatever you want.”

  “You are the most wonderful man in the world,” Edith exclaimed
. “I just cannot believe that this is really happening to me and I am not dreaming!”

  “I am certain your father will see sense and realise that your happiness is more important than anything else, but I am afraid that you will have to deal with my aunt.”

  “I think I could deal with anyone now that you have been so kind to me, my Lord. It is all so fantastic. I wish I could run to Peter right away and tell him that you have solved all our problems.”

  “I only hope that is true. If you take my advice you will be firm with my aunt and not let her interfere. This will be your home and your happiness. The only person who should have a say in the matter is of course – Peter.”

  Edith laughed.

  “Peter will feel that he can jump over the moon and like me that you are a kind archangel sent from Heaven.”

  “I will set the ball rolling for you. Now I suggest you go to bed and dream about Peter and no one else!”

  “I shall dream we are thanking you and we will try to make you a huge fortune, my Lord.”

  She rose and when the Marquis had walked to the door to open it for her, he kissed her gently on her cheek.

  “Good luck, Edith, and may all your dreams come true!”

  “That is what you have done. Thank you! Thank you again!”

  She looked up at him and added,

  “I hope all your dreams will come true too. I shall pray they will.”

  The Marquis smiled.

  “I doubt it. But your prayers may be more effective than mine!”

  She smiled at him again and then she ran down the corridor towards the hall, almost, he thought, as if she was running back to the man she loved.

  The Marquis walked to his desk.

  He gave a little sigh as he pulled out a piece of paper to write down very clearly what he wanted for Edith and his manager was very able and would understand what he must do without making too much fuss about it.

  At least, he mused when he had finished, there is one person going to bed really happy tonight.

  ‘Now I can only hope,’ he said to himself, ‘that one day I shall feel as Edith is feeling now.’

  He felt, however, it was most unlikely – unless an angel dropped down from Heaven, he was not likely to find the woman he was seeking.