Little Tongues of Fire Read online

  Perhaps, although at this moment he could not think how, he would find a solution.

  He was well aware from what he had seen of Lady Wallace that she would fight like a tiger to make sure that through Vina she was connected with Quarington and, if she ever knew what the girl intended, she would merely think that she was just being hysterical.

  ‘I have to find some way to help Vina,’ the Duke told himself as they reached the twisting steps of the Tower.

  He let her go first so that he could close the door and bolt it.

  Then, as he saw her moving quickly down the twisting stone steps, he was forced, because his feet were larger, to move more slowly.

  He also had to hold onto the sides because the steps were so narrow that he had to prevent himself from falling.

  He had the feeling, however, that Vina floated down almost as if she had wings on her heels.

  Finally he reached the door that led into the passage and as he pulled it shut behind him he was aware that Vina was already vanishing ahead of him into the corridor.

  Perhaps she would wait for him there. He thought it unconventional to ask her to come into the sitting room that adjoined his bedroom.

  It would be wise, he thought, to talk to her and persuade her to be sensible. At the same time she might be shocked at such a suggestion.

  Then, when he stepped into the corridor, he saw to his astonishment that Vina had not waited for him.

  Instead he caught a glimpse of her going through the door of her bedroom.

  He was then aware that she had no wish to talk to him as any other woman he had known would have wanted to do.

  He wondered for a split second whether he should call her. Then he knew that it would cause a great deal of comment if anybody should hear him.

  There was a boudoir between General Wallace’s room and Vina's, but nevertheless he felt that it was something he should not risk.

  He therefore walked down the corridor to his own suite and as he did so he thought that what had just happened was the most amazing thing he had ever known and something that he could hardly credit.

  He was well aware that, if Vina had thrown herself into the moat as she intended, it might have been a long time before they found her and it would have caused a most unpleasant scandal.

  He knew at any rate that he had prevented that from happening, but equally the problem still remained.

  If Vina Wallace felt so strongly about marrying his brother, how could he acquiesce to a marriage to avoid which she was prepared to die.

  ‘I can give Edgar the money he wants,’ the Duke thought, ‘but if I do surely, as the girl is so rich, this sort of situation will happen again and again.’

  He also had the feeling that Lady Wallace would not give in so easily.

  With an effort the Duke climbed into his bed.

  Two hours later he found that his brain was turning over and over the possibilities and the probabilities of the problem that he had been presented with.

  ‘What can I do? What the Devil can I do?’ he asked himself.

  There was no answer.

  All he kept seeing was the stricken expression in Vina’s eyes that he had seen at the dining room table.

  Chapter Five

  Strangely, because she had not expected to, Vina slept soundly and when she awoke it was very much later than she had intended.

  It meant that even if she had wished to, she would be too late to go to the stables before breakfast without encountering other members of the house party.

  She remembered a little belatedly that it was Sunday today and she thought that she would like to go to Church to pray for some solution for her future.

  She and her father had prayed in the buildings of many different religions, in Hindu and Buddhist Temples, in Muslim Mosques and, when they were in the North, in strange Monasteries inhabited by Tibetan monks.

  Her mother had told her when she was young that it did not matter where one prayed. It was the prayer itself that counted, as long as it came from one’s soul.

  ‘I must go to Church,’ Vina decided.

  Her maid told her that there was a Communion Service at eight o’clock and she was sure that there would be nobody else in the party who would be there so early.

  She put on her bonnet, which she tied under her chin with pink ribbons, and wore a shawl over her gown.

  As soon as she knew what she intended, the maid had sent a message downstairs and Vina found an open carriage waiting for her outside the front door.

  As she had expected, there was no one else to accompany her as she drove down the drive to the ancient Church, which was situated just inside the Park gates.

  There were very few people in the pews and she thought most of them had come from the village.

  The Verger, realising that she had arrived from the Big House, escorted her to the Ducal pew, which was situated at the front of the Chancel.

  It was elaborately carved and there was a high reading desk in front of what seemed to be almost a throne and Vina knew that it was for the Duke himself.

  She knelt down on a red velvet hassock and prayed that God would help her escape from Lord Edgar and that her uncle would not force her to marry him.

  She prayed until the Service started and then tried to find some answer for what she was asking in the beautiful words of the prayers.

  What they actually told her was that life was very precious and she had been wrong and wicked to try to throw it away.

  She was afraid that her father would, as the Duke suggested, be ashamed of her and she prayed for forgiveness not only from him but from God, who had given her life.

  Yet, when the Service was over and she drove back to the house, she knew that the same question was repeating and repeating itself in her mind,

  ‘How can I go on living if I have to marry Lord Edgar?’

  There was some surprise among the guests at breakfast when they realised that she was late because she had been to Church.

  “Of all the people in this party who I am sure have no sins to confess,” one man said to her, “it is you, Miss Wallace.”

  “I wish that was true,” Vina replied.

  He smiled at her flirtatiously.

  “Tell me what is your most besetting sin?” he asked. “It cannot be vanity for you appear quite unconscious of your beauty.”

  Vina knew that it was a compliment and so she answered demurely,

  “My sins are – private as I am sure – yours are.”

  Several of his friends laughed at this and said jokingly,

  “Not as private as all that! But we will not sneak on you, Harry!”

  “I shall be extremely annoyed if you do,” he replied. “I want Miss Wallace to think of me as a White Knight, ready to defend her against all her enemies.”

  Again there was laughter and Vina thought miserably that there was no Knight to save her from the dragon who had the face of Lord Edgar.

  He came in to the dining room just as she had risen from her place to leave and, when she walked towards the door, he went ahead to open it for her.

  She thanked him without looking at him and then realised, as she stepped into the hall, that he had followed her.

  “I want to talk to you, Miss Wallace.”

  “There is – nothing to – say,” she answered.

  “I have a great deal to say,” he replied, “and I insist on you hearing me.”

  It was impossible to run away from him when there were two footmen on duty in the hall and she had the frightened feeling that if she tried to do so he would hold onto her.

  She therefore walked beside him down the corridor until he opened the door of a sitting room she had not been in before.

  It was a small room, exquisitely furnished with Louis XIV furniture, and pictures by Fragonard and Boucher on the walls.

  Vina’s heart was pounding frantically because she was scared and her lips felt dry.

  But, as Lord Edgar closed the door, she lifted her ch
in and told herself that she would not let him see how frightened she was.

  Yet, because she felt that her legs could hardly support her, she sat down on an upright chair.

  As she expected, he stood in front of her with his back to the fire.

  “First,” he began, and he was speaking to her in a different voice from what he had used before, “I feel I should apologise.”

  “N-no – please – ” Vina pleaded.

  However, he continued as if she had not spoken,

  “I had no idea until you told me that the plot hatched between your uncle and my brother had received not your approval.”

  Vina did not speak and he said in quite a considerate tone,

  “What I said must have been a shock.”

  “Yes – it was!” Vina murmured. “I had no – idea that that was – why we had been – invited to stay here.”

  There was a poignant silence and then Lord Edgar said,

  “Now that you have had time to understand what has been planned, I hope you will view things differently and that we can try to make our marriage more or less successful.”

  Vina clasped her fingers together so tightly that it hurt.

  Then she said in a voice that she tried to make calm,

  “I know what you are saying is what my uncle and aunt – wish to happen. At the same time please understand that it is – impossible for me to – marry anyone I do not – love.”

  “That is what you said yesterday,” Lord Edgar replied, “but you must be aware that marriages are always arranged amongst the aristocracy.”

  There was a little pause after Lord Edgar said the word ‘aristocracy’.

  Vina was aware that he was going to add ‘and even among people like you’, because he considered her not as blue-blooded as he was.

  It was insulting, but she was aware that he was attempting to be conciliatory and there was no use her taking offence openly.

  What he had to understand was that she could not and would not marry him.

  “What I am going to suggest,” Lord Edgar continued as she did not speak, “is that we accept the inevitable without recrimination and try to make the best of – ”

  Again he stopped and Vina, reading his thoughts, knew that he was thinking of saying, ‘the best of a bad job’.

  He however deftly turned it into,

  “The best for us both.”

  He looked at her enquiringly as he did so.

  It was, she thought, as if for the first time he was noticing her as an individual and considering her good points in the same way that a man would inspect a horse before he bought it.

  “Because you are young and have lived only in the country,” he went on, “I feel sure that you will find a great deal to amuse you in London. We can certainly afford a bigger house than I have at the moment so in which case, you can entertain all your friends.”

  “I have no friends – in London,” Vina pointed out.

  There was a twist to Lord Edgar’s lips as he replied,

  “That will be remedied once you are one of the family.”

  Again there was silence.

  Then he said as if the question was uppermost in his mind,

  “All we have to do is to announce our engagement and once it is made public there will be no need for our marriage to be hurried, as I suggested yesterday.”

  Vina drew in her breath.

  She knew that if their marriage was announced, as he suggested, it would soon be discovered how rich she was.

  Then his creditors would be only too ready to wait for the money he owed them.

  She thought that she could see only too clearly how he had reasoned this out. If not by himself, then he had listened to somebody with more intelligence than he had.

  He had it all settled, she thought, and once again she was aware that she was trapped and there was little she could do about it.

  Then, although she was frightened and it was difficult to breathe, she felt as if her father was beside her telling her what to say.

  In a voice that sounded controlled, she managed to answer him,

  “As – this has been such a – surprise, my Lord, I should be grateful if I could have a – little time to – think it over and that we need not say – anything to my uncle and aunt until we have – talked about it again.”

  She sensed as she spoke that Lord Edgar heaved a sigh of relief because he thought that he had won.

  He replied eagerly, almost too eagerly,

  “Of course, if that is what you want, Miss Wallace. Or should I say ‘Vina’? I am only too ready to agree.”

  He smiled before he added,

  “As I understand you will be leaving tomorrow, perhaps you could give me your decision and we can talk about it to my brother and, of course, to your uncle before luncheon.”

  “Yes – we can do – that,” Vina responded.

  Lord Edgar moved closer and she had the terrifying feeling that he might be going to kiss her.

  She rose quickly to her feet, saying as she did so,

  “Please – will you keep everything – secret until then? I think therefore it is a – mistake for us to be – here alone.”

  She did not wait for his reply, but hurried to the door.

  Only as she reached it did Lord Edgar say,

  “We will talk about it tomorrow after breakfast here in this room. Is that agreed?”

  “Yes,” Vina answered and felt that it was impossible to say anything more.

  She hurried upstairs and was walking along the corridor to her bedroom when she met her uncle coming down to breakfast.

  “Good morning, Uncle Alexander,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.

  “Good morning, Vina, I am afraid I am rather late.”

  “I am sure that there is plenty of breakfast left for you,” she said trying to smile.

  “I think your aunt wants to talk to you,” the General added and started to descend the stairs.

  Vina hurried into her own room.

  The one thing she seriously wanted to avoid was a confrontation with her aunt.

  She had realised yesterday evening that Lady Wallace had come to her bedroom after she had locked her door and then gone away because she thought that she must be asleep.

  She had skilfully avoided talking to her aunt before dinner, but had known that she had later peeped into her room after she was in bed.

  When she had found the room in darkness, Lady Wallace had closed the door quietly and gone away again.

  ‘I cannot talk to her. There will only be a scene when I tell her I have not yet decided what to do about Lord Edgar,’ she mused.

  She also knew that, if she told her aunt that they were going to talk about everything tomorrow morning, she would be unable to keep the information to herself.

  Inevitably she would chatter to the other ladies in the party and perhaps to the Duke as well.

  ‘I must just avoid her,’ Vina determined.

  She therefore did not go into her bedroom, but waited until her uncle had entered the breakfast room.

  Then she slipped down the stairs.

  She made her way to the library and, collecting a couple of books, climbed up to the balcony.

  At the far end of it there was a seat, which was low and comfortable, and she was aware that unless anyone on the floor below looked very carefully she could not be seen.

  She opened one of the books and thought that she would keep out of sight until luncheontime.

  But for once the written word did not capture and enchant her as it usually did.

  Instead she felt that all she could see on the open pages was the face of Lord Edgar.

  Although she tried to stop herself from being uncharitable, she knew how greedy he was for her money and that he actively disliked her as a woman because she was to be his wife.

  She had known too when he was speaking to her in what she knew was a deliberately quiet and reasonable manner that he was hating the effort he had to make.
/>   He was obviously thinking that the sacrifice was worthwhile if it meant that he could get his greedy hands on her fortune.

  She was aware as he smiled at her that he was still as puzzled as he had been on the previous day when he had shocked and had frightened her with his aggressive approach.

  She thought that everything about him was unpleasant and she knew with an unmistakable conviction that, once she was his wife, he would treat her despicably.

  ‘What can I do, Papa?’ she asked.

  Now, once again, she was desperately afraid.

  She stayed in the library for a long time and then suddenly below her she heard the door open and somebody come in.

  She sank a little lower on the seat to ensure that whoever it was could not be aware that she was there.

  Then she heard Lord Edgar’s voice say rather sharply,

  “We can talk in here. What was it you wanted to say to me?”

  “I thought it wise to make sure that we were not overheard,” a man’s voice replied.

  He was an older person, whom Vina knew had been introduced to her as Sir Robert Warde and she had sat opposite to him at dinner.

  She had not noticed, while he was flirting with a lady sitting next to him, that he had drunk a great deal and that the servants were continually filling up his glass.

  “You must be aware of what I am going to say,” he now said to Lord Edgar. “It is that the ten thousand pounds you owe me is long overdue and I do not suppose that you wish me to appeal to your brother?”

  Lord Edgar laughed and it was not a particularly pleasant sound.

  “I think, as you are an intelligent man, Robert,” he replied, “you must have some idea why that young woman, Vina Wallace, was included in this house party?”

  There was a little pause.

  Then Sir Robert exclaimed,

  “Good heavens! We were talking in the smoking room about her having an enormous fortune. Are you telling me that you are going to marry the girl?”

  “Of course I am,” Lord Edgar replied. “I would be a damned fool to let an opportunity like that pass me by.”

  “My dear boy, I had no idea. Is she really as rich as they say she is?”

  “Apparently some Indian Prince left her father a fortune,” Lord Edgar replied, “but, as he is dead and there are no other children, she has inherited the lot!”