They Found their Way to Heaven Page 7

  “Of course,” Elvina said. “If it was easy it would not be worth the effort.”

  “Violet,” the Duke suggested, “why don’t you go and ask cook to send us all some tea?”

  Since he would normally never send his sister on an errand that properly belonged to a footman, both of them recognised that he wished to be alone with Elvina. Violet departed without protest.

  Once they were alone the Duke smiled at Elvina.

  “I like to hear my sister praised,” he said. “But is this your idea of lessons?”

  “Oh, yes,” she replied seriously. “I am teaching her to think well of herself and that is a vital lesson.”

  “Think well of herself?” he echoed incredulously. “A young woman in her position is taught to think well of herself from her first moment.”

  “Not at all,” Elvina said. “She is taught to think well of her title and position, not herself. One day she will find love and how lonely she will be if she cannot believe the man loves her for herself alone.

  “I know she is socially important. But I don’t think anyone has ever warned her that, because of her position, she will find it harder to win affection for her own self. And it is so easy – ” she drew in a sharp breath, “so fatally easy to believe what one wants to believe.”

  “Yes,” the Duke nodded slowly. “Yes, I think I understand.”

  “Do you? I suppose a Duke must often be the focus of matchmakers, concerned only with his title and riches.”

  “That is true. But I was thinking of something else. I am afraid my mother married my father for that kind of reason. She was a woman of fashion, who spent as much time in London as possible.

  “She loved Society and for a while was a Lady-in- Waiting to the Queen. Jewels and clothes were all she cared about. She seldom bothered to be a mother to her daughter, and she would certainly never have taught Violet to value her character rather than her title.”

  “And that has left her sadly unprepared for Society,” Elvina remarked. “It is not enough for your sister to have an unassailable standing in Society. I want her to be happy as well.

  “Tell me, did you ever remember to praise her for the splendid way she fetched help on the day of my accident?”

  The Duke made a sharp sound of annoyance with himself.

  “No, with everything that happened it went completely out of my mind.”

  “Your praise and approval would mean so much to her.”

  “I shall make up for it at dinner tonight. You shall join us and hear how well I do.”

  “Thank you, I shall look forward to it.”

  “You are right, of course. I must admit, she sounded so amazed at the idea of being liked that it made me feel – ” he stopped suddenly and his eye fell on a magazine open on the table beside Elvina.

  “The Debutante’s Friend,” he growled, revolted. “We discussed this earlier and I made my feelings clear.”

  “Yes, we did, and I made my feelings clear as well,” Elvina returned with spirit.

  “What?”

  “Your Grace is simply mistaken.”

  “I am mistaken? Did I hear you correctly?”

  “Perfectly. Soon Lady Violet will be going into a world of young men, seeking a suitable husband.”

  “You amaze me, I understood that she was going to be an actress.”

  “No, no, she only thinks she is going to be an actress. Do try to keep up.”

  “I – ?”

  Sensing that she had gone a little too far, Elvina hurried on.

  “I am afraid the melancholy truth is that most young men do not demand intelligence in a girl. If she appears ignorant, far from putting them off, it may make her more attractive.”

  “That cannot be true,” he said, appalled.

  “Sadly, it is. There are men who prefer a really stupid wife.”

  “Good Heavens! Why?”

  “I suppose she might be less inclined to ask awkward questions about what he has been up to?” Elvina answered demurely.

  For a moment he stared at her. Then his lips twitched faintly. But he controlled them.

  “If you want to laugh, you should go ahead,” Elvina said. “Of course there are some instincts that should be controlled, but laughter is seldom one of them.”

  He relaxed and allowed himself to grin.

  “Now you mention it, I know men exactly like that,” he admitted. “But I should hate my sister to marry any of them.”

  He was pacing the room and for a moment he was standing in the French window, silhouetted by the sun.

  But then he whirled round suddenly and shot out a question.

  “Is that what you did?”

  Caught off-guard, she gasped, “I – ?”

  “Did you marry a man who preferred a stupid wife? Tell me about Mr. Winters.”

  With horror, she realised that she should have prepared herself for this moment. Suddenly her mind had gone blank.

  “Oh – well – he – ”

  To hide her confusion she rose from the sofa and turned away, covering her face with her hands.

  The Duke saw the gesture and misunderstood it.

  “My dear lady, do forgive me,” he said quickly. “I did not mean to upset you. I assumed you are a widow – ”

  “Yes,” she replied, pulling herself together quickly. “That’s right, I’m – I’m a widow.”

  He moved closer to her and put an arm about her shoulders.

  “Has your husband been dead for long?”

  “A year,” she said, improvising quickly.

  “And it still hurts you to talk about him. Please try to forgive me.”

  The gentleness in his voice was almost her undoing. She felt swamped with guilt for deceiving him when he was being so kind. But it was too late to back out now.

  “Please think nothing of it. It was just that you caught me by surprise.”

  “But you grieve for him still?” the Duke enquired, in the same gentle voice, laying his other hand on her shoulder.

  “Please do not ask me to talk about him,” she said hurriedly.

  “Of course.”

  He looked into her face.

  “I treat you very badly, don’t I?”

  “Oh, no, you are kinder than I deserve.”

  “I am very sure than I am not,” he added with a touch of sadness in his voice.

  Then to her amazement and perhaps his own, he drew her close to him and laid his lips against her forehead.

  She stared at him, shaken to the soul. For a moment his mouth seemed very near and her heart began to beat faster.

  Then a sudden noise from outside startled them.

  Elvina turned away quickly, one instant before Violet came in with a housemaid bearing tea.

  “Here we are,” Violet announced. “Tea for everybody!”

  “Not for me,” the Duke muttered hastily. “I must be going.”

  Violet turned in dismay. “But – ”

  “I will see you both at dinner,” he threw over his shoulder as he left the room.

  “I thought he meant to stay with us for a while,” Violet said. “I wonder what made him run away.”

  “Your brother is a very busy man,” Elvina replied quietly. “This tea looks lovely.”

  She did not want to talk further of what had happened.

  But had anything happened?

  Surely the fleeting moment had been all in her imagination?

  Besides, what could it possibly mean?

  “Mrs. Winters?” Violet asked, looking at her in alarm.

  “I’m sorry – what?”

  “You were off in a dream.”

  “Was I? Then the sooner I have some tea the better.”

  After that, nothing further was said on the subject.

  *

  Elvina had not dined with the Duke and Violet since the first evening, but now she was officially well again and that night she dressed with care.

  The gown she chose was deep pink, embroidered with roses. Ar
ound her neck she wore one strand of pearls and she dressed her hair in the plainest style she could manage.

  When the time came she and Violet walked downstairs together. As they entered the drawing room, the Duke’s eyes flickered over her.

  “My compliments on your recovery, madam,” he began. “Violet, does she not look well?”

  “I think she looks wonderful,” Violet enthused.

  “And much of the credit for such a good recovery must go to you,” he told her warmly. “You displayed great presence of mind that day. In all the upset I neglected to tell you so, but I was very proud of you.”

  The look Violet turned on him was so blissful and yet so startled that he was taken aback.

  What Mrs. Winters had told him was true, he realised. It was his affection that Violet yearned for. And all the while he had only offered her endless rules.

  He then further amazed her by kissing her cheek and leading her to the dinner table.

  Over dinner he made several joking references to The Duchess of Malfi, calling on Elvina to back him up.

  Violet later said that she had never seen him so pleasant.

  Eventually he said,

  “I have to go away for a few days. Mrs. Winters, can I trust you not to take out any of my dangerous horses?”

  “None of your horses are dangerous to me,” she protested sweetly.

  “Your accident shows otherwise, madam.”

  “Ah, but I shall be prepared for Joby next time. If I just – ”

  “You will not mount Joby now or ever. I forbid it. Now give me your word or before Heaven I will not leave.”

  Elvina started, struck by some strange tone in his voice even more than by his forceful words.

  “Of course I give you my word,” she agreed. “But I only wish I had my own favourite horses here with me. Now they are really horses!” she added provocatively.

  He eyed her askance.

  “Then why don’t you bring some of your animals here and let me judge them for myself. I will house and feed them at no charge to you.”

  Suddenly she was overwhelmed with longing to see her favourites again. If only she dared –

  Of course there would be danger in writing home and telling somebody where she was. But she knew one person whom she could trust absolutely not to reveal anything.

  “I would love to,” she said. “Thank you so much – Your Grace.”

  She had to catch herself up a little on the last words. As the daughter of an Earl, it would have been permissible for her to address him simply as ‘Duke’ and there were several Dukes of her acquaintance with whom she did exactly that.

  But as mere Mrs. Winters she must observe the correct formality. The problem was that in the last few days she had felt herself growing closer to him and it was becoming harder to be cautious.

  She spent the rest of that day writing a letter to Simpson, the head groom in her stables. He was an old retainer and should have been pensioned off years ago but he had fiercely resisted the idea.

  He had been devoted to Elvina’s father and was now devoted to her. He was the one man whom she could trust with her story, partly because he was completely reliable and also partly because of another attribute.

  Elvina’s lips curved into a smile as she thought of his other attribute and how useful it would be now.

  Having given Simpson his instructions, she wrote a banker’s draft that would provide him with enough money to bring her horses across country, staying in hotels where the stables were good.

  She enclosed the letter in an envelope and then put that into another envelope, which she addressed to the landlord of The Dragon, an inn in the village near her estate.

  In a separate letter she asked the landlord to send a boy to Simpson and deliver the enclosed to him. This too she placed in the envelope and sent for a footman to put it in the post.

  All anyone here would see was that she had written to someone at The Dragon. They could wonder, but they would not guess the truth.

  Now there was nothing to do but wait. Elvina began to calculate how long it would take for her letter to arrive and then how long it would take for Simpson to bring the two horses to her.

  When would he be here? When?

  If she only knew exactly where he had gone! But he had not told her. He had only said that he must leave for a few days –

  With a start, Elvina came to herself and realised that her mind had slipped sideways.

  She was no longer thinking of Simpson, but of the Duke. It was his absence that concerned her.

  When would he return?

  When?

  CHAPTER SIX

  Three days later, while reading Romeo and Juliet with Violet in the library, Elvina was informed by an agitated footman that she had a visitor.

  The young footman told her, wooden-faced, that the newcomer was a rough, rude man who spoke in grunts, demanded to see Mrs. Winters and otherwise refused to give any account of himself.

  Elvina chuckled, recognising Simpson from the graphic description.

  “Wait here a moment,” she told Violet.

  “Can I not come with you?”

  “Certainly not. While I am away you can learn Juliet’s potion speech and act it for me when I return.”

  She ran down to the stables and her eyes lit up with delight at the sight of Jupiter and Mars, her two dearest steeds.

  And there, too, was the friendly, familiar face of Simpson, looking as though it was carved out of oak. He was about sixty, tall and sturdy.

  He had served Elvina’s family all his life and was not in the least surprised that she had finally recognised that she could not do without him. Not before time, in his opinion.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Winters,” he greeted her, remembering his instructions.

  Elvina welcomed him, then spoke to Harris, who ran the Duke’s stables and who was studying Jupiter and Mars with admiration.

  “Two of the finest beasts it’s been my privilege to see, ma’am,” he said. “His Grace told me they were coming and that they were to be well housed. And if Mr. Simpson would like to lodge with Mrs. Harris and me, we have a very nice room.”

  He looked expectantly at Simpson as he spoke, but receiving no response, he became puzzled.

  “Simpson is a little hard of hearing,” Elvina explained.

  Harris said it all again louder and this time the matter was resolved.

  Once she had seen her horses stabled and fed, Elvina took a stroll with her groom to the little wood nearby, where they could be sure of privacy. For it was true that he was a little deaf, although not nearly so deaf as he sometimes assumed.

  “How are things at home?” she asked, as casually as she could.

  “Goin’ well,” he assured her. “The butler thanks you for the banker’s draft and the horses are all in prime condition.”

  “And my neighbours? Is there any local gossip?”

  “One matter that may interest my La– that is, may interest you, ma’am. Captain Broadmoor and Miss Margaret have announced their engagement.”

  The world seemed to stop. Elvina told herself not to be absurd. She had half expected this news. And yet –

  “That is most interesting,” she said, trying to sound bright. “And very suitable.”

  “Indeed, ma’am. I must say that some of us were disappointed, havin’ hoped that the Captain and yourself – ”

  “Oh, no,” she replied quickly. “There was never any question of that. I always encouraged him to court Margaret. I am delighted for them.”

  Simpson had brought all the mail that had arrived since her departure and a brief glance told Elvina that one of the envelopes was addressed in Andrew’s hand.

  “Thank you,” she said in a colourless voice. “Why don’t you go and settle into your lodgings now?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He walked off, leaving her glowering at the envelope.

  At last she forced herself to open it and stared amazed at the contents,
>
  ‘Dear Lady Elvina,

  I do not know what good angel prompted you to give me two thousand pounds just before I announced my engagement, but I can only say that you have my heartfelt thanks.

  Miss Halson has honoured me by consenting to be my wife and your wedding gift will give us the perfect start in life.

  Thank you from both of us.

  Your devoted friend,

  Andrew Broadmoor.’

  Whatever she had expected, it was not this cool formal acceptance of her bounty, as though whatever life offered him was no more than his due. The sheer effrontery of the letter made her gasp.

  She had made a lucky escape. And yet this dismal ending to what had been such high hopes cast a blight over her heart, and she found herself weeping despite her good sense.

  *

  In the library Violet closed her eyes and tried to remember the words she was learning.

  “I have a faint, cold fear that runs through my veins.”

  “What’s this?”

  Violet opened her eyes at the unexpected voice.

  “David!” she cried, beaming and running to hug him.

  When they had exchanged greetings he asked,

  “Where is Mrs. Winters?”

  “Oh, David it is such fun. Someone has come to see her and she has gone to the stables to see him and she’s being very mysterious.”

  “Then probably her horses have arrived. What is there to be mysterious about?”

  “She wouldn’t let me go with her.”

  “How sensible of her,” he said with a grin. “I must go and reconnoitre. You stay here and do whatever Mrs. Winters told you to do.”

  “Spoil sport!”

  He laughed and departed. He could not have said why he had refused to take her with him, but for some reason he wanted his meeting with Mrs. Winters to be just the two of them.

  He walked first to the stables, where he found Simpson, who had just returned from talking to Elvina in the wood and greeted him in a friendly manner.

  “So you work for Mrs. Winters?” he asked jovially. “I expect they are missing her at home.”

  Simpson turned blank eyes on him.

  “A little hard of hearing, Your Grace,” Harris murmured.

  “You work for Mrs. Winters?” the Duke shouted.

  “Yes, Your Grace,” Simpson replied.

  “In her stables?”