A Very Unusual Wife Read online

  They cheered heartily as they did so, the men waving their hats in the air, the women their handkerchiefs.

  When they reached the top of the steps, bride and bridegroom stood waving in reply,

  “We will be able to talk to them later,” the Marquis said and, while the cheers were still ringing out, they walked into the hall.

  Elmina had seen it so often before that she had ceased to be surprised by its fine proportions.

  There were exquisitely sculpted statues of Gods and Goddesses in niches round the walls and the ebony and crystal staircase curved up on one side to the State rooms on the first floor.

  They were, however, to proceed directly to the ballroom and that involved walking for some distance down the wide corridors ornamented with antique furniture and some very valuable pictures.

  It would have been impossible for Elmina to move over the carpets for such a long way without somebody carrying her veil.

  A footman was designated to do so and she was able to walk at quite a good pace beside the Marquis.

  He did not offer her his arm and she felt that he was scowling as if he was not looking forward to the crowd that was waiting for them.

  Her veil had been lifted back from her face in the Vestry when they had signed the Marriage Register and now she had a quick glance at herself in the mirrors as they passed them.

  She saw that the softness of the tulle with the diamonds in her grandmother’s wreath gleaming through it looked more becoming than anything else that she had ever worn.

  At the same time she could not help feeling that the Marquis would have preferred to have married Mirabel, who, because Robert was present in the congregation, had looked more beautiful than ever and in Elmina’s eyes was not really eclipsed by Lady Carstairs.

  Elmina had expected that like most of the Marquis’s other friends she would go directly to Falcon.

  But she had seen her in the third pew on the Marquis’s side of the Church when she came up the aisle on her father’s arm and knew that it would be impossible for anybody to look lovelier.

  Wearing blue, the colour of her eyes, with a bonnet covered in feathers of the same colour and with a profusion of turquoises and diamonds, she stood out in the Church, which, Elmina thought, she had obviously intended to do.

  Now, as she and the Marquis took their places beside her father and mother and everybody began to surge forward to shake them by the hand, she saw that Lady Carstairs was one of the first.

  Having barely touched the Earl and Countess’s hand with the tips of her fingers, she then clasped the Marquis’s in both of hers as she said in a soft voice that sounded like the purring of a cat,

  “You know that I pray, Alston dear, for your happiness.”

  Her blue eyes looked up into his and Elmina thought for one startled moment that she intended to kiss him.

  Then she turned away and in a voice that was palpably insincere said to Elmina,

  “I am so delighted to meet you and, because your husband is such a very old friend of mine, I hope we shall be friends too.”

  It certainly sounded very pleasant, but Elmina knew with the perception that Chang had taught her that the beautiful Lady Carstairs was her enemy and always would be.

  Then, like the advancing waves of the sea, people came up to them, shook hands, wished them happiness and walked on.

  It went on and on until there appeared to be no more and at last the queues had vanished and their guests were all drinking champagne and eating the delicacies that the chefs at Falcon had been cooking for days.

  “Now we cut the cake!” the Marquis announced briskly almost as if he thought that they were running behind schedule.

  He walked to where it towered four tiers high and was decorated with the traditional horseshoes, white heather, silver bells and orange blossom.

  The only innovation was that instead of two dolls dressed as the bride and groom on top there was a replica of one of the Marquis’s horses wearing his colours.

  Elmina had already been told what had been planned and, as she looked up at it, she said,

  “What could be more appropriate? And, of course, an omen that you will win even more races this year than you did last, if that is possible!”

  The Marquis smiled.

  Then somebody produced his sword and they cut the cake together and at last were able to move amongst the guests.

  Then the Marquis said,

  “I want you, Elmina, to meet one of my oldest and dearest friends, Major Charles Marriott.”

  Elmina glanced at the good-looking young man smiling at her and told herself she liked him.

  “I am delighted to meet you!” he said, as the Marquis moved away to speak to somebody else. “I feel I ought to congratulate Alston on finding a bride who is so original.”

  “If you mean my gown,” Elmina said, “I am sure that most people will find something derogatory to say about it.”

  “I am quite certain they will not do so,” Charles Marriott replied. “You look like a water-siren – if that is the right description!”

  “That is just what I had hoped to look like.”

  “But actually,” Charles Marriott went on, “it is not only your gown, but you, who are not at all what I expected.”

  Elmina laughed.

  “That is because you were thinking of my sister. But she is already engaged and I was the only one who was eligible for the post.”

  “I am certainly not complaining,” Charles Marriott replied, “and I am sure that Alston is not either. It is only right that being so unusual himself he should have a bride who is different.”

  As he spoke, they both looked as if drawn by a magnet to the Marquis and saw that he was talking to Lady Carstairs, who was staring up at him with an expression on her face which even the most casual onlooker would have considered indiscreet.

  Charles Marriott looked back at Elmina,

  “You are unusual in yourself,” he said, “and no woman really wants to be a reflection of somebody else.”

  Elmina knew exactly what he was saying to her and she replied,

  “Thank you. I was feeling a little frightened that I had done the wrong thing, but now you have reassured me.”

  “I promise you I mean it,” Charles Marriott said, “and you must be aware that you look very very beautiful!”

  He saw the surprise in her eyes, then, as the colour came into her face at his compliment, he told himself that not only was she unusual but with his unfailing good luck Alston, when he least expected it, had achieved another win.

  Charles Marriott had no chance for another word with Elmina, for before she had talked to half-a-dozen people, the Marquis came to her side to tell her that it was time they went to the marquees to welcome and meet their other guests.

  By the time he had made two speeches and the bride and bridegroom had been toasted with beer and home-brewed cider, it was time for the majority of their guests to depart.

  Once again it was the Marquis who had decided that the first part of their honeymoon should be spent at Falcon.

  Her father and mother had thought it strange, but Elmina guessed that it was because he thought it would be boring to be alone with his wife in one of his other houses where he did not have so much to do as at Falcon.

  His excuse was that he not only had a number of his own horses to see to, which had only just arrived, but also there was a local sale he wished to attend in order to purchase horses for the Royal Mews.

  They could therefore decide a week or so later if they wished to go elsewhere.

  Elmina, as it happened, was very content to stay at Falcon.

  She knew the horses there would be better than they would be anywhere else and she was looking forward to finding time for browsing in the library.

  She was already aware that it contained a large number of books on subjects that she and Chang had often discussed that they were particularly interested in.

  A week or so before the wedding she had said t
o him,

  “You must not think, Chang, because I will be married, that I wish to give up my Karate or Jujitsu. As soon as I can arrange it, I want you to come over to Falcon or else I will come here for a lesson. It would be a mistake to get out of practice.”

  “May be difficult, my Lady,” Chang said.

  “Nothing is too difficult if we make up our minds to do it,” Elmina replied. “That is what you taught me, and you cannot argue about it now.”

  “That true, my Lady,” Chang grinned. “If one want anything enough, then it becomes ours.”

  “That is what I want to believe,” Elmina said in a low voice, “and I know that when I practise with you it has taught me to think more clearly and concentrate more directly.”

  “That what Karate means,” Chang agreed.

  “I will work out something,” Elmina told him.

  She was actually thinking that the Marquis would have a great many interests in which he would not allow her to take part and when she was free she could be with Chang and he could go on teaching her, as he had already.

  Finally the last guest had left and, although there were a number of people still in the marquees, inside the great house all was quiet.

  The Marquis looked at his watch.

  “We will have dinner in an hour,” he said, “and I expect you would like a bath. I know I want one.”

  “I feel rather as if I have had a very hard day’s hunting,” Elmina added, “and there is still a long ride home.”

  The Marquis gave one of his short sharp laughs that she had decided meant that he was slightly amused but not enough to laugh heartily.

  She picked up her veil and folded it over one arm, then turned towards the door and the Marquis said,

  “I feel that I should have congratulated you on your gown, but I was rather disappointed you did not wear one of my tiaras.”

  “They made me look top-heavy!” Elmina explained. “And they would, I thought, attract too much attention.”

  The Marquis raised his eyebrows.

  “That is what most women want.”

  Elmina’s eyes twinkled.

  “I thought that it was a question of either diamonds or me,” she said, “and today, at any rate, I wanted it to be me!”

  Now the Marquis did laugh as he responded,

  “That is certainly a different way of looking at it, and you, Elmina, are decidedly different!”

  “Thank you,” she said, “and I suppose that I should thank you for my bouquet.”

  “I could not believe that there was anybody else in the country who could have provided you with those particular orchids.”

  “As they were exactly what I wanted, I hope you will not grudge them to me.”

  “How could I?” he enquired lightly. “Actually Charles told me that they matched your eyes.”

  “I like your friend Charles,” Elmina said, “and that was what I thought myself, although I was too modest to say so!”

  She started up the stairs before the Marquis could say any more and when she reached the bedroom she knew, because she had seen it before, it was where all the Marchionesses of Falcon had slept through the centuries.

  She wondered if the Marquis had realised that she had found her way without either his escorting her or sending for the housekeeper to do so.

  Mrs. Leonard was waiting for her in the State bedroom.

  “You look lovely, my Lady, you do really!” she exclaimed. “A real picture, although some of them were surprised you weren’t wearing white.”

  “The answer to that is that I don’t look my best in white,” Elmina replied.

  “Well, all I can say, my Lady, is that most of the unmarried women among your guests are now saving up to afford silver for their own weddings, but they haven’t got hair like you, my Lady, unless they get it out of a dye bottle!”

  After Elmina had had a bath in what had originally been a powder closet opening out of the State bedroom, she put on a pink gown that she had bought in London.

  It was a very soft pink, but was not the same as the musk-rose gown, which had made her look so young.

  It was ornamented with camellias in the same colour, which were arranged low on the shoulders from which there hung a bertha.

  It was a lovely and very elaborate gown. At the same time Elmina thought when she looked in the mirror that she still appeared as if she was still in the schoolroom and merely dressed up for the occasion.

  ‘There is nothing I can do about it,’ she told her reflection, ‘and he will just have to take me as I am.

  They had dinner not in the huge Baronial Hall where they had dined when she had come to dinner at Falcon with her parents.

  Instead it was in a small dining room decorated by Robert Adam in soft green and lit only by the candles on a small and intimate table.

  It had an atmosphere, Elmina thought, that was conducive to two people who should be talking about love.

  But they talked about horses and the Marquis told Elmina how much he was looking forward to showing her the new horses he had recently bought.

  She did not tell him she had seen them already and thought them superb, but merely listened attentively to what he had to say.

  She thought that actually she had never enjoyed a meal so much or been with a man who was so interesting and knowledgeable on his own subject.

  As they dined late, it was eleven o’clock before they moved into one of the small salons, which had been decorated with white flowers and looked very bridal.

  “If you don’t think it rude of me,” Elmina said, “I would now like to go to bed. It has been a long day and, as I know that you like riding before breakfast, I would not want to keep you waiting.”

  “I would like to leave at about seven-thirty,” the Marquis said, “but if you are tired, you must say so.”

  “I shall certainly not feel too tired to ride any horse that belongs to you,” Elmina answered. “So, goodnight, my Lord. I promise I will not keep you waiting.”

  She did not wait for his reply, but hurried upstairs where one of the younger maids was waiting to help her with her gown.

  Mrs. Leonard had already told her that she would be provided with her own personal lady’s maid as soon as she could interview likely candidates.

  Elmina was so used to looking after herself and helping her sisters that she could not really imagine what a personal maid would find to do all the time.

  However, it was nice to have everything ready for her and she put on one of the pretty diaphanous nightgowns that had been in her trousseau, then over it a summer wrap, almost as light, trimmed with lace and ornamented with little bows of blue velvet ribbon.

  “Do not wait,” she said to the maid as the young woman stood irresolute.

  The maid, having bobbed a curtsey, went from the room.

  Elmina, having blown out the candles except for those beside the bed, went behind the curtains to stand at an open window looking out onto the garden in the moonlight.

  She wanted to think and remember what had happened to her and how, although it still seemed like one of the stories she made up for herself, she was now the wife of the Marquis of Falcon.

  She was Mistress of this exquisite house and could share with her husband the horses in the stables and all his other possessions including the huge library waiting for her downstairs.

  “I cannot believe it!” she said out loud. “It cannot be true!”

  She sent a little prayer winging into the moonlight that she would not be crushed or overwhelmed either by the Marquis or his possessions but might, although it would be difficult, eventually make him aware of her as a woman.

  After she had stood for what seemed quite a long time, she told herself that she must now go to bed.

  Tomorrow would be another exciting day and she had no wish to be tired.

  As she came back into the room, pulling the curtains to behind her, the door opened into what she knew was the communicating room where the Marquis slept and he ca
me in.

  He was wearing a crimson velvet robe, which Elmina thought made him look just as impressive as when he was in the clothes he wore in the daytime.

  She had wondered if he would seem different if she saw him without either the magnificence of his evening dress or the elegance of his riding breeches and boots.

  Now, with the frills round his silk nightshirt high against his neck almost like a cravat and the red of his robe accentuated by the darkness of his hair, he looked, she thought, almost as if he had stepped out of a picture.

  He glanced first towards the empty bed and now he looked at her with a slight air of surprise as she came from behind the curtains.

  “Not in bed, Elmina?” he asked. “I thought you were tired!”

  “I was just looking at the moon.”

  Then, as she moved a few steps towards him, she stopped and asked,

  “Why are you here?”

  “Why am I here?” he repeated. “I think the answer to that is very obvious. You are my wife!”

  She was very still before she said,

  “You do not mean – you cannot think – ”

  She hesitated and the Marquis looked at her in surprise before he asked,

  “You were not expecting me?”

  “No – of course not! And I cannot believe you are – thinking – of – ”

  She was feeling for words and the Marquis said,

  “I know this has all been done in rather a hurry and we have not had time to get to know each other well. At the same time, Elmina, you are my wife and I am looking forward to making our marriage a very happy one.”

  “I-I think I understand what you are – saying,” she said, “but I – never imagined for one – moment that you would expect – me to behave like your wife – before we have even talked about it or – had a chance to – get to know each other.”

  She found it difficult to say what was in her mind and the Marquis said with a faint smile,

  “We have to start somewhere and what could be better than to start on our wedding night?”

  “That is – impossible.”

  “What do you mean – impossible?”

  “Because it would – spoil everything from the – very beginning.”