The Waters of Love Read online

  “You need not give the matter another thought.”

  “I – I – Lexia really you shouldn’t be allowed out. You are dangerous.”

  “Does that mean that you will?” she asked, correctly interpreting his tone.

  “I – no – I will not do this, I will not do it!”

  “I understand,” she said mournfully. “It’s my problem, not yours.”

  “All right!” he roared. “I’ll do it.”

  There was a silence.

  “Do you mean it?” she enquired in a small voice.

  He looked at her exasperated.

  “I have to do it, don’t I?” he said. “Because I don’t want your dreadful fate on my conscience.”

  Lexia gave a little cry.

  “Oh, do let us do it while we have the chance,” she pleaded. “We may never have the chance again.”

  The Marquis smiled.

  “We will be brother and sister, but even so, we cannot go completely alone for the sake of your reputation. I will bring my man, Hawkins, and you must bring a maid.”

  Lexia was thinking fast.

  “I will go home for the money and give it to Annie, my maid. Send your man over to the oak tree just before the entrance to the drive and Annie will give it to him.

  “If we do it today, will you have time to make all your arrangements with your creditors, so that we can leave tomorrow?”

  “I am sure I can, but – ” he rubbed his eyes. “I still feel I ought to refuse this madness.”

  “Frank, don’t you understand? If we give in now and let them force us to marry, neither of us will ever be happy again. We will always be thinking that we have missed something wonderful that has gone for ever, but this way we will each have a chance to find the person we are really destined to love and be happy with.”

  He nodded.

  “You are right. Now tell me what we will do.”

  “I am going to leave that to you,” replied Lexia. “You are a man and you can arrange for us to travel on a ship and we will have to creep out of the house early in the morning so as not to be seen and stopped.”

  The Marquis resigned himself to his fate, but felt compelled to add,

  “But if everything fails and we come home disillusioned and despondent, I swear that somehow I will pay back your money back.”

  “We are going to win,” answered Lexia positively. “I am absolutely sure that if we search ardently for what we believe is true and wonderful, we will find it. I am convinced we will find it!”

  She pulled a rueful face.

  “But we will have to be very careful,” she added, “because everyone will try to stop us.”

  “I should rather think they might,” he declared with feeling.

  “You make all the arrangements, Frank, then I will be ready exactly at the time you tell me and we will just disappear.”

  “If we fail, we fail!” sighed the Marquis, “but at least we will have done our best and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.”

  *

  For Lexia the rest of the day was filled with tension.

  First she had to arrange her departure with Annie.

  “I cannot go without you, Annie,” she pleaded.

  “Of course you can’t, miss,” replied a shocked Annie.

  She folded her arms and looked forbidding. She was in her thirties and the best maid Mr. Drayton had been able to hire to transform Lexia into the perfect English lady.

  They had been together for three months, but in that short time Annie had become devoted to her Mistress and partly this was because she had never before had such promising raw material to work with. Lexia’s beauty, her tall elegant figure and her shining blonde hair were a challenge to her skills.

  “But my father must not know anything until we have left,” explained Lexia.

  Annie was wide-eyed.

  “You mean we’re running away, miss?”

  “Yes. It will be very difficult.”

  “It’ll be fun,” trilled Annie with an ecstatic sigh. There had been very little fun in her life.

  “Then let’s get to work. The first item we need to arrange is money.”

  She had told the Marquis she had money her father had given her, but had omitted to mention that she had no bank account and therefore kept it all in her room.

  There was a box beneath her bed and she and Annie hauled it out together and rummaged through it until they reached a large envelope at the bottom.

  “Take this,” she told Annie, separating out two thousand pounds and putting the rest back into the envelope. “Go to the oak tree at the entrance to the drive and wait for a man called Hawkins. And be careful.”

  Annie gasped.

  “Oh, yes, miss. I’ll dart from tree to tree and look over my shoulder – ”

  “There’s no need to go that far. Just try to look normal.”

  “Do we know anything about this man Hawkins?”

  “He is the Marquis’s valet.”

  “Oh, miss, you mustn’t do that. He’ll tell him we’re going.”

  “He already knows and he’s coming with us!”

  “But – ”

  While Annie was still trying to work this out Lexia urged her out of the door and began work sorting out her clothes.

  After an hour Annie returned to report that she had encountered Hawkins, had not been impressed with him, but had duly handed over the money and received a note in return.

  Eagerly Lexia opened the note and read,

  “Your father is spending tomorrow with the Master of the Hunt. A carriage will call for you at noon and it would be wise not to keep it waiting.”

  There was no beginning or end, but Lexia thought the Marquis was being discreet.

  As they began packing the clothes Annie asked,

  “What are you going to tell Mr. Drayton, miss?”

  Lexia sighed.

  “I shall have to tell him that I am visiting friends. I don’t like deceiving him, but the way he keeps badgering me leaves me no choice.”

  “But will he believe you have vanished just like that?”

  “Strange as it sounds, I think he will, because the truth will never occur to him.”

  But she knew the letter to her father would have to be very carefully worded and at last she sat down to write it.

  She said she knew that he would understand that she wanted to have a look round before she finally made up her mind to do what he wanted. And where could be better than to look in London?

  “We have so many friends in London,” she wrote, “and I know they will be pleased to see me.

  If I go from one to another I will not be in any way tiresome. All the time I will be able to meet gentlemen I did not meet the first time I was in London. I am sure that one of them at any rate will meet with your approval.”

  She thought as she wrote it, that he would translate this into saying that the gentleman in question had a title.

  But she thought it a mistake to put more than was absolutely necessary into the letter, just in case it gave him some hint in a strange way she had not foreseen that she was not husband hunting in London.

  Packing her clothes was a long and tedious task. When they had finished she and Annie stood and surveyed the cases.

  “Will we be able to take all these?” asked Annie.

  “No, I don’t think so. We’ll have to leave a good deal behind and I can always buy more clothes when we arrive.”

  “Oh, miss,” said Annie, suddenly struck by doubts. “Are you sure you’re wise to travel alone with a man?”

  “I won’t be alone. I shall have you.”

  But she knew she was only avoiding the question. A maid did not count, because she was an employee and could be dismissed. Only a lady with authority was acceptable.

  ‘And I have no chaperone,’ she thought. ‘So Pa must never know where I am.’

  She therefore sat down and added a further page to her father’s letter.

  “I have always
thought,” she wrote, “that you and Mama were so very happy together. It is what I want myself and I therefore need a little more time to think over the position as it is at the moment.

  I love you, Papa, and I want you always to love me. I know that you are thinking of my happiness and you would be very upset if I was unhappy for the rest of my life.

  I am merely going away to think things over and you are not to worry about me.”

  She finished her letter,

  “Your affectionate and admiring daughter, Lexia.”

  She addressed the envelope to her father, hoping that he would not receive it until she and the Marquis were far away.

  Just for a moment she felt afraid. Could she really be doing anything so outrageous socially, as well as being extremely disobedient to her father, as to run off with a strange man who she really knew very little about?

  Then she told herself there was no need to be frightened as after all, the Marquis was a gentleman and, what mattered just as much, he was Frank, her true friend.

  She was now so nervous that she was afraid her father would notice, so that afternoon she invented a headache as an excuse to stay in her room.

  Fortunately he had invited some male friends over that evening for a card party, so she was not required to make an appearance.

  By the time his friends had departed she had gone to bed, but she could not sleep. Thoughts of the step she was about to take crowded into her head and she became more apprehensive than she cared to admit, but she was determined not to give up now.

  At last she climbed out of bed and went to the window to look up at the sky.

  She had a feeling that her mother was in Heaven watching over her and she suddenly felt that she would understand as no one else would,

  ‘You loved Papa and you were so happy together that is how I want to be, but men like Papa are few and far between. I can only pray, Mama darling, that I will find someone who will love me and I will love him and we will be as happy as you were.’

  She felt the tears come into her eyes, but she brushed them away.

  ‘I have to be strong and sensible over this,’ she told herself. ‘I am doing something which the world will think appalling, but I am going to do it, because I think it’s the only way to live my own life in the way I want it. I will trust Frank and face whatever comes.’

  She rose early and had breakfast with her father, fearful lest something should make him change his mind about the meet, but it seemed that he was set on going.

  “I am very sorry, dearest, to be leaving you alone,” he told her, “but I am anxious to play my part with the hounds. I am quite certain they will find me a great help.”

  Lexia knew they would welcome his money if nothing else, but she merely said,

  “You are quite right, Papa. I am sure the hunt will need a great deal of help in the future.”

  If only, she thought, her father could be a little less naïve in his social climbing. She had a horrid suspicion that people laughed at him, even while they pocketed his cash, but she could not say this to him.

  When it was time for him to depart, she went to the front door with her father and he kissed her goodbye.

  “We must have a talk tomorrow,” he said.

  “About what, Pa?”

  “Don’t be demure with me, miss. You know very well about what. About how to bring his Lordship up to scratch.

  I thought you had succeeded the other night but – well anyway, we’ll talk. I’ll probably be very late coming home tonight. It will turn into one of those affairs that – ”

  “A drinking party,” smiled Lexia.

  “What do you know about drinking parties, miss?” he demanded.

  “Well, I have heard my father come home late a few times,” she replied.

  “That’s enough. I never heard such – a well brought up young woman should not know such things.”

  Lexia gave him an eager hug.

  “Goodbye, Pa dear! Enjoy yourself.”

  “I will. And don’t call me Pa.”

  He walked out to his carriage and Lexia watched him go, feeling a lump in her throat. She loved him dearly even though she was defying him.

  She wondered how long it would be before they met again and under what circumstances. Or perhaps he would refuse to meet her or even acknowledge her as his daughter.

  For a moment her eyes blurred with tears, but she clung to her resolve. She could not afford to weaken now.

  The biggest task was bringing the bags downstairs without being seen, but they managed by creeping down the back stairs very quietly, where they hid them in a room which was kept for extra rugs and cushions for the carriages.

  Then she was on edge, terrified that something might happen to prevent her from being ready on time.

  The day seemed to drag on and she watched the clock feeling that every moment seemed to take a hundred years.

  At last, on the stroke of two o’clock, the butler informed her that there was a carriage for her at the back door.

  He seemed rather surprised and Lexia said,

  “Ah, yes, I am giving some clothes to be sold for the Cottage Hospital. I have put them in the little storage room, so perhaps someone can take them out for me.”

  A footman was sent to fetch the hidden luggage and loaded it in the carriage and at the last moment Lexia slipped into her father’s study and placed the letter on his desk.

  Then she hurried outside and when she saw the carriage she realised the Marquis had been very clever. It was not one of his recognisable vehicles with a coat of arms on the panel, but an ancient one, which had obviously not been painted for some time.

  “Are you sure you would not like me to send one of our carriages to bring you back, miss?” asked the butler.

  “No, thank you,” replied Lexia hurriedly. “I am meeting some friends at the hospital and they have promised to bring me back.”

  The driver said nothing. He had obviously been told to keep his mouth shut.

  She climbed in, followed by Annie and the driver started off.

  Lexia sat in silence as they drove at a good pace, heading so she thought to the railway station, but instead to her surprise they drove through narrow lanes until they came to the river.

  “But why are we here?” she asked in wonder.

  Then she saw the Marquis walking up to the carriage to help her down.

  Just behind him was Hawkins who began unloading her bags and taking them to the river.

  “What are we doing?” she asked.

  “I thought you would be surprised. Now hurry, I have arranged everything and we are going first by boat.”

  He led her to the river where there was a large rowing boat powered by four oarsmen.

  It was something Lexia had never done before and she felt it exciting to start the adventure with something new and original.

  At the same time, she thought they could hardly be going to sea - in this boat? But there was no point in asking questions as she had committed herself to this adventure and vowed to cope with whatever happened.

  So she took a seat in the back of the boat, while her luggage was piled up behind with what she thought must be the Marquis’s.

  Then the men’s oars were dipped into the water and they started to move at what Lexia thought was a tremendous speed.

  Only when the carriage in which they had travelled was almost out of sight did she say,

  “Now it’s happening, I can hardly believe we are here. It is nothing like anything I have ever done before.”

  “I don’t want you to be disappointed,” said the Marquis. “But be careful what you say in front of these oarsmen as they know us by our new names and they must not guess the truth.”

  He spoke almost in a whisper.

  Lexia lapsed into silence, feeling almost as if she had walked into a dream and it could hardly be true.

  They seemed to row for a long time, while the light faded and gradually the river broadened out.

  �
��You will have realised that we are near the sea,” the Marquis told her and there we will find the ship that will take us abroad.”

  “Where abroad?”

  “To the Mediterranean. In a few hours we will be far out to sea and since we have already assumed our new names, we will appear to have vanished into thin air.”

  “What are our new names?”

  “Edward Malcolm and his sister Agnes.”

  Lexia made a face.

  “I don’t think I like Agnes.”

  “I am afraid I had no choice. I had to obtain passports and I borrowed them from a friend, who owes me a favour. He has frequently travelled with his sister, so I was able to borrow both passports.”

  “To tell the truth, I was wondering what would happen about passports,” she admitted. “I never thought of anything like this.”

  “We are desperate characters,” he told her and Lexia laughed.

  “I think you have been wonderfully clever.”

  Now the port was coming into view, crowded with boats.

  “That’s where we are headed,” he said, pointing out a very large white steamer.

  “It’s huge,” she exclaimed. “It’s like the ship Pa and I were in when we sailed to England.”

  “It’s the Maybelle,” he said. “It’s becoming quite well known for cruising the Mediterranean in great style. I cabled the Purser’s Office for our accommodation and it was immediately confirmed, so we have only to go aboard.”

  Lexia drew in her breath. Her eyes were shining.

  At last they reached the quay where Lexia found she was very stiff, but nothing mattered except the thrill of escape.

  Together they boarded the Maybelle and at once Lexia could see that the Marquis had not been exaggerating. The Maybelle was indeed a luxury ship and everything about her confirmed it.

  They went to the Purser’s Office and just as the Marquis had promised, staterooms had been reserved for them.

  “Our very best,” the Purser confirmed. “As the most expensive they were the last to go and so they were still available when we received your cable, but I had another application only an hour later, so you were only just in time.”

  The Marquis paid and a Steward showed them below, where they found their luxurious staterooms side by side. They were both well furnished each with its own private bathroom.

  When the Steward had departed Lexia went and knocked on the Marquis’s door. When he had let her in, she said,