An Angel Runs Away Read online

  “And what will you do?”

  “I shall read a book,” Ula replied. “When I first saw his Lordship’s library, I knew that there were at least two or three hundred books I wanted to read and the sooner I get started, the better!”

  The Duchess laughed.

  “You are far too lovely, my dear, for there to be any need for you to be a ‘bluestocking’.”

  “I have no wish to be that. At the same time Papa always said that a pretty face is a good introduction, but a man wants something more if he is to enjoy the company of one woman for the rest of his life.”

  “So you are talking about marriage.” The Duchess smiled. “How many proposals did you receive last night?”

  “You will hardly believe it,” Ula said, “and I feel quite certain by this morning they will have changed their minds, but there were no fewer than three young gentlemen who said they intended to ask if they could pay their addresses to me.”

  The Duchess laughed.

  “It is what I expected.”

  “I cannot believe it possible that any man could imagine he wants to marry a woman he has danced with only once.”

  “Most women don’t look like you, my dear,” the Duchess said, “and I am sure the men in question were all frightened that somebody else might steal a march on them by getting there first.”

  Ula was silent for a moment.

  Then she said,

  “It is strange – but each one began by saying, ‘are you in love?’ When I shook my head they said, ‘then if you are not in love with the noble Marquis, I have a chance’.”

  The Duchess smiled and then she said insistently,

  “I do beg of you, my dear, not to fall in love with Drogo.”

  Ula’s eyes opened wider than usual as she answered,

  “Why do you think that I should presume to do anything so foolish?”

  “Because inevitably women want what they cannot have,” the Duchess replied. “So many women have done everything in their power to get Drogo to give them the quite inexpensive but inexpressibly valuable present of a gold ring.”

  She looked at Ula and then said as if she wanted to impress it upon her,

  “I am quite sure that the very unpleasant experience my grandson has had with your cousin Sarah will make him revert to what has been his intention ever since he was quite young and that is never to be married.”

  “But, of course,” Ula said, “he is quite right, unless he really falls in love with someone. I am sorry Sarah should have hurt him and perhaps made him very cynical, but I know he would have been very unhappy with her.”

  “I am aware of that now. Like many other men, Drogo was for a time blinded by her beauty.”

  The Duchess sighed before she said almost to herself,

  “But she is the only girl, and this is unfortunately the truth, whom he had ever seriously considered making his wife and I think it will be a long time before he recovers from the blow inflicted upon him.”

  “I can understand that,” Ula said in her soft voice, “but as Papa often said, ‘time heals many things’. Although the Marquis is now bitter and upset, I am sure that, as he is such a marvellous person, he will find somebody to love and love is the quickest healer of all.”

  The Duchess smiled.

  “Only you could think like that, my child, and what we have to do is to find you a husband you love and who does not love you just for your pretty face.”

  Ula was silent and the Duchess guessed that she was remembering how much her mother had loved her father and he her.

  She found herself praying that the child would not be disappointed or disillusioned as her grandson had been.

  She was sure, even from the few days she had been with her, that Ula was very vulnerable and very sensitive.

  ‘She must find the right sort of man,’ the Duchess thought, ‘a man who will protect her and keep her from anything that could spoil her intrinsic purity and goodness.’

  Then she was surprised that she could apply such words to someone who being so young would obviously still be quite immature.

  She was well aware, however, that Ula was different from most girls of her age, for her character and personality were unusually developed for her years.

  ‘In fact, she is exceptional,’ the Duchess told herself.

  She had already made up her mind that when the Marquis had finished using her as a tool to enact his revenge on Lady Sarah, she would look after her at her house in Hampstead and try to find her a husband who would make her really happy.

  *

  After the Duchess had gone up to rest, saying they had only a small dinner party to attend that night and so would be able to go to bed long before midnight, Ula went into the library.

  As she had said, there were so many books she wanted to read that she did not know where to begin.

  She had just found one that looked particularly interesting because it was about horses, when the door opened and the butler announced,

  “His Highness Prince Hasin of Kubaric to see you, miss!”

  Ula started and almost dropped the book she was carrying.

  The Prince came into the room looking more bombastic than he had last night. His dark eyes as they appraised her in the daylight embarrassed her even more than they had under the crystal chandeliers with their pink candles.

  “I am delighted to find you alone,” the Prince said as the butler closed the door behind him.

  He advanced across the room until he reached her side.

  Ula curtseyed and then she said quickly,

  “I am afraid, Your Highness, that, as Her Grace has retired to rest, being somewhat tired after last night, it is incorrect for me to receive visitors in her absence.”

  “You will receive me,” the Prince replied, “because I am here and because, my beautiful Miss Forde, I want to talk to you.”

  Ula held the book she was carrying tightly against her breast, almost as if it protected her, as she countered,

  “I regret, Your Highness – that is – impossible!”

  “That word is not in my vocabulary,” the Prince said.

  He moved a step nearer as he demanded,

  “Let me look at you. You are even lovelier today than you were last night and, having found you, my precious pearl, I have no intention of losing you.”

  “I would – not wish to – insult Your Highness,” Ula said in a voice that shook a little, “but, if you will not – leave me, then I must – leave you.”

  She moved away from him as she spoke, but he reached out and caught her by the wrist.

  “Do you really think I will allow you to leave me?” he asked in an amused tone of voice. “I find you entrancing, even when you are resisting me and, because you are so small and at the same time so lovely, I cannot fail to teach you to obey my commands.”

  “Please – don’t – touch me!” Ula cried, trying to free her wrist from his grasp.

  But he merely pulled her closer to him.

  Then he unexpectedly put out his other hand and, taking the book from her, flung it down on the floor.

  She realised as he did so that he intended to draw her closer still and kiss her.

  With a little cry of horror she tried to struggle against him frantically attempting to release his grip on her wrist.

  Then, as she did so he gave a low laugh that was little more than a sound that came from between his lips and she knew perceptively that because she was trying to escape, because she was fighting against him, it only amused and excited him all the more.

  “Let me – go – please – let me – go!”

  Her voice was low and frightened.

  “That is something I have no intention of doing,” the Prince replied.

  Relentlessly he drew her with what seemed an iron grip nearer and nearer to him.

  She gave a little scream as his other arm went around her.

  Then, as he bent his head towards her lips, she screamed again and as she did so the door op
ened.

  For one second she could hardly believe she was saved, but standing staring at the Prince and looking extremely angry was the Marquis.

  It was then that his grip relaxed and Ula with a swift movement was able to free herself.

  She ran across the room to fling herself against the Marquis and hide her face against his shoulder.

  He did not put an arm around her, but he felt her whole body trembling against his.

  Then to her surprise the Marquis said in a cold, hard and at the same time controlled voice,

  “I think Your Highness must be unaware that my grandmother, being old, is finding it impossible to receive visitors today after the festivities of last night.”

  The Prince did not speak, but, as he looked at the Marquis, it was as if the two men challenged each other.

  “You will therefore understand,” the Marquis continued, “that you were admitted by mistake and I can only ask Your Highness if you will be so gracious as to call on another occasion.”

  “I came to see Miss Forde,” the Prince responded at length.

  To Ula it was as if he snarled the words as an animal might have done.

  “I think Your Highness must be unaware,” the Marquis went on in the same cold and lofty tone he had used before, “that in England young ladies of gentle birth do not receive gentlemen alone without a chaperone being present.”

  The Prince was beaten and he knew it, but he managed to give a somewhat forced laugh as he said,

  “English traditions! English protocol! So very difficult for those of us who come from other countries.”

  “Exactly!” the Marquis replied. “I knew Your Highness would be intelligent enough to understand.”

  He reached out to pull the door a little wider open and, although the Prince tried to bluster his way towards it, there was no doubt it was a humiliation.

  Deliberately the Marquis, without turning Ula around, moved her to one side and, following the Prince into the passage, he said,

  “Your Highness must allow me to show you to your carriage.”

  He closed the door behind him and, Ula, as she sank down in a chair, heard them walking down the passage towards the hall.

  She was still trembling and feeling as if she had passed through a terrifying experience and had been saved from utter destruction only by the intervention of the Marquis.

  She hated the Prince and feared him in a way that she had never been afraid of anyone before, not even her uncle, in the whole of her life.

  She was sure that he was evil, she was sure that he personified everything that was debauched and wicked.

  And yet she had no valid reason for thinking this, only an instinct that made her still tremble at the thought of him kissing her.

  The Marquis came back into the room.

  “How can you have been such a little fool – ” he began.

  Then he saw Ula’s face looking up at him and his anger seemed to evaporate as he asked,

  “I realise you did not expect him. That is the truth, is it not?”

  “I had – no idea he – would call on me,” Ula answered. “I-I hated him last night – when I had to dance with him – and if you had not saved me – he would have – kissed me!”

  The terror in her voice was obvious.

  The Marquis walked to stand with his back to the mantelpiece.

  “Forget him,” he said. “I should have been sensible enough to refuse the Turkish Ambassador’s request that he should be included among my guests last night. I shall now give instructions to the servants that if he ever comes here again, they are to say that no one is at home.”

  “Thank – you,” Ula whispered.

  Then after a moment, as if she had thought it over, she said,

  “It was – stupid of me to have been so – frightened, but I did not – know there were – men like him in the world.”

  “There are unfortunately quite a number of them,” the Marquis said coldly, “and you will have to learn to take care of yourself.”

  “I-I will try,” Ula said humbly, “but I cannot help thinking I – might have encountered somebody like him – rather than you – when I ran away.”

  “Prince Hasin is not the sort of man you will meet as a general rule in anyone’s house, unless you are particularly unfortunate,” the Marquis said. “I know his reputation, and once again I can only say that I made a mistake in allowing him to come to the ball last night.”

  “It was such – a wonderful ball,” Ula sighed.

  “You enjoyed it?”

  “More than I can ever tell you. It is something I shall always remember.”

  “I hope it taught your uncle and your cousin a lesson they will never forget.”

  There was a note in his voice that made Ula say involuntarily,

  “No – please – don’t speak – like that!”

  “Why not?” the Marquis asked.

  “Because it – spoils you.”

  He looked at her in astonishment and she explained,

  “You will think it very – presumptuous and perhaps very – impertinent of me – but you are so magnificent in – yourself, so kind and so wonderful, that it spoils – you when you are – vindictive and too petty to be – worthy of what you – really are.”

  She spoke hesitatingly, stumbling a little over the words.

  Then she added quickly,

  “I-I am not putting it very well – but it is what I feel is – true.”

  The Marquis looked at her for a long moment, then he walked to stand at the window looking out into the garden.

  The gardeners and a number of servants were busy removing the Chinese lanterns from the trees and lifting up the fairy lights that had edged the paths.

  He did not see them.

  He was looking back into the past, when he knew he had been a very different person from the one he was at the moment.

  Then he had been young and idealistic, and had believed, as his mother had taught him, that in his position he had to set an example of everything that was fine and noble to those who served and looked up to him.

  He wondered now if he had lost that ideal, when behind him he heard a very small voice ask,

  “Y-you are not – angry with – me?”

  He turned around.

  Ula was looking at him somewhat piteously and he realised that she was afraid of what she had just said.

  “I am not angry,” he said quietly, “and I have an uncomfortable feeling that you are right.”

  chapter five

  Ula awoke with a feeling of happiness.

  She had gone to bed after a quiet dinner with the Duchess and the Marquis and they had laughed a great deal as they talked over everything that had happened the night before.

  There were so many things to amuse them.

  One of the guests had held a wine glass under the fountain spraying perfume and said,

  “I am sure this wine is delicious!”

  Then, as he took a large gulp from the glass, he had not known whether to spit it out or to swallow it!

  There were some very amusing incidents in the garden when, trying to catch the balloons that were floating down from the top of the house, several ladies and gentlemen had fallen into the flowerbeds and a lady’s gown had been set on fire by one of the fairy lights.

  It was very quickly extinguished and only scorched a frill of her gown, but she screamed and made enough noise as if she had been burned at the stake!

  They also laughed over the many compliments the Marquis had received. The Duchess had found many of her friends with debutante daughters had tried to be congratulatory about the magnificence of the ball, but found it difficult.

  When dinner was over the Duchess said,

  “I have never enjoyed your company more, Drogo, or known you in better form, but now, unfortunately, as I am so old, I must retire to my bed.”

  “Of course you must rest,” the Marquis said, “for I believe there is another ball tomorrow night at whic
h Ula must consolidate her position as a great beauty.”

  “I am quite certain she will do that,” the Duchess said, patting Ula’s arm affectionately.

  “Will you be accompanying us?”

  “It is unlikely,” the Marquis replied, “as I shall not return to London until late in the evening.”

  “Where are you going?” the Duchess asked.

  “To Epsom,” the Marquis replied. “Have you forgotten that there is racing there tomorrow?”

  “Oh, of course and I suppose, as usual, you will win all the major races.”

  “I sincerely hope so!”

  “I wish I could come with you!” Ula exclaimed impulsively.

  The Marquis looked at her and then he said,

  “I never thought of it, but, of course, another time I will take you racing, especially when I am sure that my horses are going to win.”

  “That will be wonderful!” she enthused.

  But, as they walked out of the dining room, she had the feeling that tomorrow he would be accompanied by one of the beautiful women who had been at his side last night.

  It was nothing he had said and yet she was sure it was the truth and somehow she felt suddenly lost and alone, as if no one really wanted her.

  “So you will not be in to dinner tomorrow?” the Duchess was saying as they moved along the passage.

  “No,” the Marquis replied, “I am dining with the Cavendishes, so if I don’t turn up at the ball, you will realise that the dinner finished too late for me to appear.”

  “I understand,” the Duchess said, “and Ula and I must not complain, for you have been very generous in dining with us tonight. I suppose, unlike us, you do not intend to go to bed early.”

  “I promised His Royal Highness I would look in at Carlton House,” the Marquis replied, “and after that I have several other invitations.”

  He spoke slightly mockingly and again Ula was certain that the invitations came from lovely women who would be waiting anxiously for him.

  She went up the stairs with the Duchess, who, on reaching her room, said,

  “Goodnight, my child. My grandson is delighted with the successes of last night and how beautiful you looked.”

  “Does he – really think – that?” Ula asked a little wistfully.