A Change of Hearts Read online

  It was difficult for her not to beg him once again to be very careful and not to take any risks with himself or Champion.

  As she watched him walk away, she thought that if anything did happen and he was mortally injured, it would be all her fault, as she would not have impressed on him strongly enough that he must take good care of himself.

  She appreciated, however, that any such move on her part might attract Randolph’s attention.

  If he did not put his dastardly plot into operation today, he would undoubtedly keep it for another time and then there might be no one to warn the Marquis.

  ‘Like Carol, I can only pray,’ she decided.

  She wished that she could tell her father what was happening as she was sure that his prayers would be more effective than anyone else’s.

  They all drove down to the starting-post.

  When they arrived, Neisa thought that no one could look more magnificent than the Marquis seated upon Champion.

  He was moving among the riders, giving directions and making sure that every one of his guests was mounted on the horse they wanted.

  One gentleman changed his mind at the last moment, saying frankly, that his own horse was not up to scratch.

  He requested one from the Marquis’s stable and a groom ran to fetch it for him, returning with an exceedingly fine looking chestnut, which was young and frisky and, as the groom assured the rider, an excellent mount.

  “I will have a bet on myself,” the Marquis’s friend boomed, “and now I have a good chance of winning I will make it one thousand pounds!”

  Neisa gave a gasp.

  She could not imagine that anyone would wish to risk such a lot of money on a single race when there was so much competition.

  “Can he really afford it?” she asked Lady Sarah.

  “His father is an extremely rich man,” Lady Sarah replied, “and made a fortune, I am told, in shipping.”

  “Then I need not worry about him!”

  “If you worry about all these young gentlemen, you will be grey before your time,” smiled Lady Sarah. “They enjoy taking risks in life and nothing any of us say can stop them.”

  Neisa thought she would rather they took risks with money than with life.

  She had managed to avoid speaking to Randolph since leaving the breakfast room and now he was mounted on one of the Marquis’s best horses.

  She had to admit, although she disliked him, that he did have a good seat on a horse.

  But no one could look so fine or so magnificent as the Marquis in his dark green jacket and brown top hat.

  At the same time there was no doubt there was a family resemblance between the two men.

  ‘With Randolph as the dreadful black sheep,’ Neisa told herself, ‘and a very creepy one.’

  Perhaps because she was thinking of him, he looked towards her and then rode up to her side.

  “Are you wishing me luck?” he enquired.

  “In winning the race? I feel sure that your cousin will win.”

  She realised it was something she should not have said and yet the words came from her lips before she could prevent it.

  Randolph laughed and it was not a pretty sound.

  “Perhaps he will and perhaps he won’t, but I have the feeling that if you are backing me, I will come in first and that is what I want.”

  Because it was impossible for her to go on speaking to him without being rude, Neisa turned away.

  Randolph muttered something she could not hear as she walked to where Carol was talking to Sir Peter, who was riding his own good-looking horse.

  Neisa was sure he would dislike having to borrow one from the Marquis.

  ‘He is a very proud man,’ she decided, ‘and he will never marry Carol if he learns she is so rich.’

  Yet she knew by the way he was talking to her that he found her entrancing.

  Carol was looking up at him with a softness in her face that Neisa had never seen before.

  ‘Why must money matter so very much?’ she asked herself angrily.

  She thought it incredibly wrong that it was money that had turned Randolph into a murderer.

  And money that would break Carol’s heart.

  The Marquis was now directing the riders into line for the start.

  Seats were provided for the spectators in a very fine stand. From the top of it an onlooker could see for a long distance, in fact most of the course.

  The only point that was hidden completely was the fifth jump and that was why, Neisa realised, Randolph had chosen it for his wicked deed.

  The Marquis now finally succeeded in putting all the horses in a line.

  Next the Head Groom, acting as the official starter, held a green handkerchief in his hand.

  “One – two – three,” he counted and dropped it.

  They were off.

  As they all rode past the stand, Neisa felt her whole heart go with the Marquis.

  He looked so very handsome on Champion that she just could not believe anything could hurt him.

  Then, as she saw Randolph riding just behind him, she shivered.

  It was easy to see the first and second jumps, which were quite close to the stand.

  Then the riders began to spread out for the third.

  Binoculars were available on the stand and Neisa raised hers to see that the Marquis was leading the field as Champion took the third jump with six inches to spare.

  ‘There is no one to beat him,’ she concluded.

  Then she remembered the hidden wire in the fifth jump and it was at the fifth that Champion was due to fall.

  ‘Please God, please save them! Don’t let anything awful happen to them!’ she prayed.

  Putting down the binoculars she clenched her fingers together in her intensity.

  Carol was standing a little further away and she too was watching the horses, and in particular Sir Peter.

  He was a good rider and was now in fourth place.

  ‘If he wins,’ Carol was thinking, ‘it will be an omen that his invention will be accepted and he will be in a very good mood this evening.’

  She knew that they were going to dance and she wanted to dance with Sir Peter, as she had never wanted to dance with any other man.

  He was extremely good-looking, but that was not the only reason. When she was near him she felt that they had an affinity together.

  They seemed to think the same on many subjects and were amused by the same things.

  For the moment Carol wanted to think that he was not really serious in what he had said about women having money and that he would never do anything but stand on his own feet.

  More than anything she wanted to think of him as a gentleman who interested her and attracted her – he made her feel in a way she had never felt before.

  It was as if something warm and wonderful went out from her body towards him and it was as if he felt the same.

  ‘Please God let Peter win, because it will make him so happy,’ Carol prayed.

  She tried not to think that on Monday they were to say goodbye to Denholme Park.

  Sir Peter would go to London to see the Admiralty and perhaps after that she would never see him again.

  If he did see her again and learn who she was, what would he think and what would he say?

  She could not bear to think about that question or how to answer it.

  She only wanted to go on talking to him as they had yesterday and she hoped it was how they would talk again when the race was over.

  Neisa was realising that by now the riders had taken the fourth jump and were nearing the fifth.

  She prayed more desperately than ever.

  She became aware that her whole body was rigidly tense.

  What was happening?

  Had the Marquis really made it safe for Champion to jump the fence?

  Was he in some way going to avoid it?

  Would the Berber’s wait there have been wasted?

  ‘Oh please God, please don’t l
et there be a terrible accident!’

  She closed her eyes in fervent prayer.

  Then, as it was impossible not to look, she lifted her binoculars.

  She could only see from the stand when the horses rode towards the sixth fence.

  It seemed to her almost a century had passed before the first rider came into sight round the side of the wood.

  She could not see all that clearly, as when she lifted her binoculars to her eyes they were misty.

  But she was able to count one horse through – two – three – four –

  Then as they galloped on and neared the sixth fence she saw the first horse jump.

  It was Champion.

  She was so relieved that for the moment she could only slump onto her seat.

  She felt as if she was fainting.

  Whatever might have happened at the fifth fence, the Marquis was safe and so was Champion.

  Neisa was not aware that she had been holding her breath and now it came in deep gulps.

  There was no need to watch the race any longer.

  It was then the Viscountess who had been sitting at the Marquis’s side last night at dinner came and sat beside Neisa.

  “I can see our host is winning the race as usual,” she chirped, “and no one will be surprised. He always gets what he wants – he is a very lucky man.”

  Neisa made a little murmur as if she agreed.

  “I expect like all the debutantes,” the Viscountess went on, “you will fall in love with him, but I assure you it is really a waste of your time.”

  Neisa did not answer, but turned to look at her in surprise, as it seemed such a curious remark to make.

  “I have known Sheldon for a good long time,” the Viscountess continued, “and he has told me that he does not intend to marry until he is quite old and then, of course, he must have a son. In the meantime, dear child, I want to save you a lot of heartache and unhappiness by telling you the truth.”

  Again Neisa made a little murmur. Words did not seem to come to her lips.

  “So just take a look at some of the other charming young gentlemen, who are, I know, longing to marry you and I am sure you will be very happy – ”

  She rose as she spoke, saying,

  “And now I must go and tell the conquering hero how proud I am of him.”

  She did not wait for Neisa.

  She climbed down from the stand and walked away towards the finishing post.

  Neisa did not follow her.

  She was still thanking God that the Marquis was safe.

  At the same time she felt as if there was a hollow emptiness in her breast that had not been there before.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Luncheon had been arranged at the house for nearly fifty people.

  When the large central table in the dining room was filled, there were smaller tables arranged to accommodate the overflow.

  Neisa was hoping that she could avoid Randolph.

  She had no sooner sat herself down at a small table, thinking that perhaps she should not push herself onto the large one, when he joined her.

  There was only one other person at the table at that moment.

  Randolph said in a low voice that only she could hear,

  “I still want to know where you slept last night?”

  She was so surprised at his asking her this question again that she looked at him in astonishment.

  “I was with my cousin, as I told you before. We started to talk and we fell asleep.”

  She was not at all certain what the expression on Randolph’s face meant.

  Then she said, because she could not help it,

  “Whatever I was doing, there is no reason for it to concern you.”

  “I wanted to talk to you last night and I want to talk to you today.”

  Neisa did not like the way he was speaking and she replied,

  “I think it will be difficult until all the excitement is over.”

  He was about to respond when several other guests joined them at the table, so without any explanation Neisa rose and walked to the large table.

  The Marquis was already seated at the head of the table and there was one seat left between two gentlemen with their backs to her so she quietly slipped into it.

  They looked round, at first in surprise, and then in delight.

  “We are very honoured you should join us,” one of them piped up.

  “I did not like the company at the table where I was sitting,” muttered Neisa.

  Even as she spoke, she thought it was a somewhat indiscreet thing to have said and yet she felt she could not endure Randolph any longer.

  She had a strong feeling that because his plan had not come off, he would make trouble one way or another and she did not want to be involved in it.

  The gentlemen on either side of her set out to be amusing and interesting and she found the luncheon more enjoyable than she had expected.

  She was aware that the Marquis was looking at her from time to time, but he was being totally monopolised by the Viscountess.

  Neisa thought now she could understand why she had been warned against falling in love with him.

  Of course, the Viscountess wanted him for herself!

  So she had no wish for him to be spending his time with anyone else.

  Neisa was not at all surprised to see that Carol and Sir Peter were alone at a small table, deep in conversation with each other.

  Carol had seen Sir Peter pass the winning post with a number of the other horses.

  She did not realise until the Marquis made a speech that after himself Sir Peter had been the winner.

  “We must now all congratulate Sir Peter Jackson,” he was saying. “He rode brilliantly and he must be all the more delighted that he was mounted on his own horse. So he receives a special cup commemorating his victory and also the five hundred pounds which is the winner’s prize.”

  Neisa knew that Sir Peter would be thrilled and the prize money would undoubtedly go towards financing his brilliant invention.

  There were prizes for the second and third riders.

  The third place had been a dead heat, so the prize of one hundred pounds was divided between the two riders.

  They all seemed very pleased with their winnings.

  The Marquis spoke most generously in his speech of everyone who had taken part in his steeplechase.

  He said he was thinking how he could make it even more difficult next year, if he was alive to do so.

  As he uttered those last words, Neisa could not help looking at Randolph to see if he appeared uncomfortable or guilty in any way.

  She had to turn round a little to look at him and to her surprise she could see that the seat where she had left him was now empty.

  He had obviously gone away and she wondered if he had left Denholme Park altogether.

  This seemed unlikely to her, as he had been there when luncheon had started.

  Then Neisa suddenly felt scared again.

  Perhaps having failed to kill the Marquis at the fifth jump, he was setting a trap for him somewhere else.

  Her partners at luncheon had told her that they all intended to ride over the jumps once again in the afternoon unless the Marquis had some different plan for them.

  ‘Could it be possible,’ Neisa asked herself, ‘that Randolph has found out what they are intending to do and is determined to destroy the Marquis in some other way?’

  She was so terrified that this might be his plan that she felt that she must warn the Marquis, however difficult it might be to do so.

  After the Marquis’s speech was finished, two other speeches were made to thank him most profusely for all his hospitality and most especially for the steeplechase.

  It was then that the Marquis announced,

  “As the day is still young and you are all energetic, we should not waste our time talking about what we have just been doing, but what we should be doing next. I have therefore arranged that we shall have three races on my p
rivate Racecourse, starting in twenty minutes time.”

  There was a murmur of excitement around the table and then the riders began to clap their hands.

  Everyone joined in the applause and the Marquis bowed and smiled before he sat down.

  Neisa had not been aware, being so concerned with the steeplechase, that the Marquis had his own Racecourse.

  Now she learned it was located on the other side of the stables beyond the paddocks and he had constructed it only last year.

  As soon as luncheon was finished, the Marquis told all the riders to set off for the Racecourse and they could either ride their own horses or choose any of his to ride.

  There was great excitement and, as the riders surged to the door, Neisa managed to reach the Marquis’s side.

  “Please be careful, my Lord,” she pleaded, looking up at him and speaking so softly that he could hardly hear her.

  “Of whom?” the Marquis enquired, she thought a little unnecessarily.

  “He left the room in the middle of luncheon and I cannot think why, unless he was up to further mischief.”

  “Thank for the warning, Miss Waverton, but try not to worry.”

  “How can I help it?” implored Neisa.

  He looked down at her and for a moment their eyes met.

  Neisa felt that for some amazing reason she could not understand, her heart turned a somersault.

  Then someone spoke to the Marquis and he moved away from her.

  She next discovered that Carol had already set off in the direction of the Racecourse with Sir Peter and so she attached herself to Lady Sarah.

  “I am not going to walk,” insisted Lady Sarah, “so come with me in the pony cart, although I am sure at your age, it would be good for you to stretch your legs.”

  “I would much rather come with you, Lady Sarah.”

  They climbed into the pony cart that was driven by a young groom and they then set off for the Racecourse by a different route from those who were walking.

  There were chairs near the winning post for those who wished to sit, but no stand as for the steeplechase.

  Lady Sarah climbed out of the pony cart and made herself charming to the other ladies when they arrived.

  Neisa sat in the back row of the chairs and watched the Marquis.

  She became uncomfortably aware that there was no sign of Randolph.