Love and the Cheetah Page 7

  “Ever since she first came to London and swept through the Social world like a meteor from the sky!” Lord Randall replied.

  Ilesa did not speak and he went on,

  “Her beauty stunned me the first moment I saw her. But I suppose I should have known that she is as far out of my reach as the moon.”

  “She is certainly ‒ very beautiful,” Ilesa agreed.

  “Too beautiful for any man’s peace of mind,” Lord Randall nodded.

  Now there was a harsh note in his voice.

  Because she felt so sorry for him, Ilesa changed the subject and talked to him about horses. She was sure that he would be interested in them and hoped that for the moment, at any rate, he would forget Doreen.

  Lord Randall told her that the Duke had been his best friend when they were at Eton together.

  The two of them had bought and broken in many young horses and found it an absorbing hobby.

  “I suppose that Drogo is one of the best riders in England,” he remarked. “Of course he owns the finest horses, but he can make even an inferior animal seem exceptional.”

  “My father also has a great love of horses,” Ilesa said, “but we cannot afford many and have to be very careful of those we do choose.”

  “Are you saying you are poor?” Lord Randall asked.

  “Very poor,” Ilesa answered, “but we were fortunate in that, when my grandfather was alive, both Papa and I could ride any of the horses in his magnificent stable.”

  “I always had the idea,” Lord Randall commented, “that Doreen came from a wealthy family that owned a large estate!”

  “That was true of my grandfather,” Ilesa told him, “but my father, being the third son, is only the Vicar of the village of Littlestone. I am sure you know as well as I do that Vicars are seldom rich. They always have to put their hands in their pockets for a great number of poor people.”

  “That is indeed true,” Lord Randall agreed.

  Ilesa was thinking how typical it was of Doreen to have talked of her grandfather’s house rather than her father’s.

  Of course, as she had married a very rich man, it would be natural for people to assume that she had always been brought up in luxury and extravagance.

  When dinner was over, they moved into one of the other Reception rooms that was just as beautiful as the salon.

  The middle-aged guests soon said that they must be on their way home and therefore everyone was able to retire to bed soon after eleven o’clock.

  As they went upstairs, Ilesa thought that Lord Randall was looking longingly at Doreen and she knew that her sister was deliberately avoiding him.

  It was in case the Duke should think that there was anything unusually familiar about the way they spoke to each other.

  When Ilesa opened the door into her bedroom, Doreen followed her and she closed the door behind her.

  Then she turned round to look at Ilesa and demanded sharply,

  “Where did you get that gown? And why have I not seen it before?”

  “Nanny packed it for me,” Ilesa responded, “and surely you must recognise it as Mama’s Wedding gown?”

  “It’s far too elaborate and overdressed!” Doreen snapped angrily.

  As she herself was wearing a gown that had a large bustle and which was decorated with flowers on either side, Ilesa could only stare at her.

  “I know what you are thinking,” Doreen said, “but I am a married woman and can wear chiffon glittering with diamanté. But girls should not push themselves forward and certainly not be dressed like someone on the stage!”

  “It was either this or one of the gowns I wear at home which are almost in rags,” Ilesa protested. “I had no idea that I might be going anywhere like this. I was going to ask Papa for a new gown, but he wanted the money for someone who is sick.”

  “Well, don’t you dare wear that dress again!” Doreen retorted. “And I saw you talking to Hugo Randall at dinner. What were you saying?”

  “We were talking about you,” Ilesa replied.

  “I thought you might be. For Heaven’s sake, be careful! If the Duke thought that Hugo and I were close friends, he might be suspicious.”

  Ilesa was silent for a moment.

  Then she said,

  “I think Lord Randall loves you very much, Doreen.”

  “I know that and I am fond of him too. But you do see, I must be a Duchess! I must own this enormous house and the one in Park Lane in London.”

  “Can owning houses really make anyone happy?” Ilesa asked. “I should have thought that it was the men who lived in them who were the most celebrated.”

  There was a little pause before Doreen said,

  “I am going to marry the Duke! It is just a question of time before he actually asks me. and you be careful what you say to Hugo Randall.”

  She went from the room as she spoke and Ilesa heard her hurrying down the corridor towards her bedroom.

  She gave a deep sigh.

  She had the feeling that Doreen was not going to be happy and, although she would never admit it, she was making a mistake.

  Then she asked herself who was she to judge.

  ‘Nobody has ever proposed to me,’ she mused. ‘And no one is likely to as I never meet any gentlemen in Littlestone.’

  She undressed and climbed wearily into bed.

  Before she fell asleep she tried not to think of her sister and her problems.

  Instead she was seeing Stubbs’s painting of a cheetah The Spotted Sphinx with the Indian handlers standing beside him.

  *

  Ilesa awoke very early as she always did at home. It must have been around five o’clock in the morning.

  The sun, peeping between the curtains on the windows, was the pale gold of dawn.

  Quite suddenly she thought that this was her opportunity to see the gardens and the lake and she might not be able to do so before she had to return home.

  Her father and the Duke had talked of going to the stables soon after breakfast and she would certainly want to go with them.

  She dressed herself quickly, finding that Nanny had packed the best of her simple gowns although they would not compare in any way with anything that Doreen would be wearing.

  Ilesa, however, was not in the least interested in herself, but what she could see.

  She slipped down the stairs to find that the front door was already open.

  There were muffled sounds of servants brushing the carpets and dusting in the nearest rooms.

  She walked straight out into the sunshine, thinking just how exciting it was to be able to explore everything on her own.

  The gardens were wonderful. She walked over the lawns past flowerbeds and shrubs brilliant with blossom and colour.

  There was a Herb Garden, which entranced her and she thought how much her mother would have enjoyed walking round it.

  Then she came to an iron gate that led out of the garden into an orchard and because it seemed so inviting, she opened the gate and walked into the orchard.

  Then in front of her she saw a wire fence.

  As she reached it, she wondered if it would prevent her from going any further.

  Then she gave a gasp.

  On the other side of the fence, lying on the ground, was a large animal.

  Ilesa could hardly believe her eyes, but it was a tiger!

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Duke had risen early as he usually did.

  Instead of going to the stables, however, as he most often would have done, he went to his menagerie.

  It was a hobby that always thrilled him and was very close to his heart.

  He had learned, however, that it was a great mistake to tell people about it. They either told him that they were terrified of wild animals or else lectured him that it was cruel to keep them cooped up in cages all of the time.

  He was sick and tired of hearing the same arguments over and over again.

  The fact that menageries had been in existence and popular in all coun
tries since the time of Julius Caesar did not seem to impress his critics.

  He therefore had placed his menagerie well out of sight of any of his guests who might wander in the gardens.

  He kept it entirely for his own enjoyment and he had long term plans to expand it year by year. This would mean his going abroad to buy the animals he particularly wanted to include in his collection.

  It was just half past six as he walked out through the front door, passing two maids in mobcaps who were scrubbing the steps and who then stopped to curtsey to His Grace.

  He walked through the gardens, appreciating as always their timeless beauty and then he went through a door in the Herb Garden and down into the orchard.

  The fruit trees were breathtakingly lovely with swathes of pink and white blossom scenting the fresh morning air.

  As he gazed at them, they reminded him of how Ilesa had looked last night at dinner and he had been stunned by her beauty when he had first seen her in the Vicarage.

  But wearing a picture gown that he recognised as being out of date, she looked as if she belonged to a different era.

  He was still thinking of her as he reached the enclosure of his favourite animal, a tiger called ‘Rajah’.

  The Duke had brought him back from India as a cub and had trained him himself.

  Rajah was inclined to be fierce and he made the men who looked after him feel nervous.

  They never entered his enclosure alone and, when he was fed, there was always another man standing by with a sharp-pronged weapon to hold him at bay if it became necessary.

  The Duke walked to the entrance and lifted the bolt.

  The menagerie was locked at night, but it was always opened at dawn so that he could go in and see the animals as early in the morning as he wished.

  Then, as he closed the door of the enclosure behind him, he looked for Rajah.

  Instantly he was stunned into immobility.

  He could see that Rajah was lying under one of the trees in his enclosure.

  But then he thought that he must be dreaming!

  Rajah’s head was resting in the lap of a woman sitting beside him and she was stroking the tiger’s head.

  For a moment he felt that he must be imagining the picture that he saw before him.

  Then he became aware that the woman sitting beside Rajah and stroking him fondly was Ilesa!

  The Duke did not move.

  He merely called out in a very low voice,

  “Rajah! Rajah!”

  The tiger raised his head.

  Then slowly, almost reluctantly, he rose to his feet and ambled towards the Duke.

  As he did so, the Duke asserted in a low voice,

  “Get out of the enclosure immediately, but don’t make any sudden movement!”

  Ilesa did not move.

  She merely smiled at him.

  Rajah had by now reached the Duke and then started rubbing himself against him like a cat making noises of contentment.

  Then just as he had done as a cub, he rose up on his hind legs and put his front paws on the Duke’s shoulders.

  The Duke patted him affectionately and talked to him in a soft soothing voice.

  But he was fully aware all the time that Ilesa had not obeyed him.

  Again he said to her in a markedly different tone of voice from the one that he had used to the tiger,

  “Do as I say!”

  She shook her head.

  “I am quite safe,” she replied. “He knows that I love him and ‒ he would never hurt me.”

  The Duke stared at her incredulously.

  Then the tiger demanded his attention and he patted and caressed him again.

  At last the animal went down on the ground and once more rubbed his body against the Duke’s legs.

  It was then that Ilesa rose to her feet and exclaimed,

  “He is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen! I did not know his name, but ‘Rajah’ is a very fitting one for him.”

  She was talking as she walked slowly towards the Duke.

  When she reached him, she bent down to caress the tiger, moving her hand over his head and down his back.

  “How can you own anything so lovely as Rajah?” she asked. “And even more exciting than your pictures?”

  The tiger next turned from the Duke to rub his head against Ilesa.

  She put her arms round him and kissed the top of his head.

  “You are a beautiful, beautiful boy!” she sighed, “and Rajah is most certainly the right name for you.”

  “I am afraid that his keepers have translated it into ‘Rajee’,” the Duke informed her. “They are Indian and it seems to them a more appropriate name for a tiger.”

  Ilesa laughed.

  As she did so, the Duke said,

  “Is this really happening in front of our eyes? Can you and I be talking across an animal that is supposed to be very fierce?”

  “I am sure that he is fierce only because people don’t understand him,” Ilesa pointed out. “Of course he should be treated with respect and admired by everyone.”

  She turned and stretched out her hands to bring the tiger’s face up to hers.

  “Is that not true, Rajah?” she asked him. “You want people to admire you and think how important you are.”

  The Duke still felt that he must be dreaming.

  Then he said,

  “I have other animals to show you, if you are interested.”

  “Of course I am,” Ilesa replied. “Why did you not tell me, Your Grace, that you owned a menagerie?”

  “I always keep it a secret,” he answered, “but, as you have discovered it for yourself, I would like to show you my cheetahs.”

  Ilesa gave a little cry.

  “Cheetahs? You really do have cheetahs, Your Grace?”

  “I really and truly do,” the Duke answered her with a smile.

  Ilesa patted Rajah’s head again and the Duke did the same.

  Then they walked slowly through the gate, leaving the tiger standing and watching them go.

  “I have had Rajah here since he was a cub and I trained him myself,” the Duke said. “But I have never before known him to allow a stranger to enter his enclosure!”

  Ilesa did not answer and he asked her,

  “Have you always had this incredible power over animals?”

  “I have never met a tiger before,” Ilesa answered, “or a cheetah for that matter, but I can manage the most obstreperous horses. I used to help my grandfather’s grooms break in those that were really wild.”

  “I find it hard to believe that what you tell me is the truth,” the Duke said. “How can you look as you do and yet ride wild horses and fondle savage tigers?”

  Ilesa laughed and it was a very pretty sound.

  “That is the nicest compliment I have ever had, Your Grace. But then I have not received very many!”

  The Duke felt certain that this was most probably true.

  He had never met anyone so unselfconscious and Ilesa talked to him in a manner that was quite different from the way other women would.

  They walked round the tiger’s enclosure and then came to another.

  When she saw what it contained, Ilesa gave a cry of sheer joy.

  Moving among the trees in a large enclosure was a cheetah as beautiful as the one in the Stubbs picture.

  His coat was sleek like that of a short-haired dog with black spots that were fluffy like a cat’s fur.

  “This is ‘Che Che’, as the Indian keepers insist on calling him,” the Duke said. “His wife ‘Me Me’ is hiding from us in the bushes as she has just produced four enchanting cubs.”

  “This is the most thrilling thing that has ever happened to me!” Ilesa enthused.

  “The cubs were born only four days ago,” the Duke said, “so I doubt if Me Me will come to speak to us. But first you must meet Che Che.”

  Standing up on the gate of the cheetah enclosure, he asked jokingly,

  “I suppose you are n
ot too afraid to be introduced to him?”

  “That is a gratuitous insult!” Ilesa protested, smiling at the same time.

  They walked into the enclosure and Che Che ran towards the Duke, welcoming him as a dog or a cat might have done.

  He was purring loudly as he moved his body against the Duke’s legs as Rajah had done. Then he jumped up and began to lick his face.

  Finally, as the Duke caressed him, the cheetah began to nibble at his ear.

  “That is the greatest compliment a cheetah can pay you,” he declared in a quiet voice.

  Ilesa put out her hand.

  To the Duke’s surprise the cheetah turned towards her and started to lick her face too.

  “You are now accepted as one of the family,” the Duke said, “and perhaps Me Me will let us look at her cubs.”

  He walked towards a clump of bushes, calling out ‘Me Me! Me Me!’ as he did so.

  There was a short pause and then a very beautiful cheetah, a little smaller than Che Che, peeped out from under some low bushes.

  She did not come any nearer, but the Duke went over to her.

  As he patted and caressed her, he moved the leaves of a bush to one side so that Ilesa could see the cubs.

  They were rather like silver-backed jackals with a furry spotted under-carriage and a long fluffy mane on their heads.

  They were very small and sweet.

  And Ilesa wanted to pick one up in her arms, but then thought that it would be a mistake until Me Me knew her better.

  They stayed for some time with the cheetahs and Ilesa loved every moment of it.

  Then they had to said ‘goodbye’ to them both and the Duke took Ilesa further to another enclosure to see his monkey cage.

  It was built high enough to enclose several trees that the monkeys could climb up and in all the enclosures there were huts where the animals could shelter if it was cold in the winter.

  The monkey cage was so large that Ilesa learnt that it covered over an acre of ground.

  “How can you keep anything so thrilling all to yourself?” she asked him.

  “There are few people and I thought that no woman would enjoy it like you,” the Duke replied. “Let me show you the rest of my family, which I intend to increase year by year.”

  He had a hippopotamus lying in a deep pool that it refused to come out, but lay looking like some huge giant in the cool water.