A Duke in Danger (14 page)

“I feel I need some fresh air,” the Duke said.

“I thought you were behaving admirably,” Gerald said approvingly. “Our hostess was wildly enthusiastic about you, and she also told me she has promised to take your cousin under her wing. That was a clever move on your part.”

“I thought that myself,” the Duke agreed. “Alvina will certainly get off on the right foot.”

“The Countess, if I know anything of her methods, will have her married and off your hands in a few months.”

The Duke did not respond, and Gerald looked at him enquiringly, then realised he was frowning.

“There is no need for such haste,” he said.

As he spoke, he wondered why the idea of marriage for Alvina as well as for himself made him feel angry.

He had set the wheels in motion, but now that they were actually turning, he thought perhaps he had been too impetuous.

It might have been better if he had left things as they were, at least for a little while longer.

The Duke awoke and realised it was later than he had intended.

At the same time, his valet, having learnt that he had come to bed after dawn had broken, had left him to sleep.

When he had reached his bedroom it was to find that everything had been tidied, and it was difficult to believe that when he had come home earlier Isobel had been lying against his pillows wearing nothing but an emerald necklace.

As he undressed and got back into bed, he could not help thinking with a smile how shocked many of his ancestors would have been at her behaviour and, if it came to that, at his.

Somehow he had saved himself, although now, when he thought of it, he realised it had been a very “close shave.”

It had been clever of Isobel to think out a situation in which it would have been impossible for him to do anything but offer her marriage.

The Duke of Melchester was a highly respected member of the aristocracy and a gentleman of the “Old School.”

He would certainly have demanded that his daughter’s honour be protected, and there would have been no way of refusing to obey what the whole Social World would have thought of as a dictate of honour.

“I am free!” the Duke said to himself as he closed his eyes.

Then, almost as if there were a little devil sitting on his shoulder, a voice asked:

“But for how long?”

As Gerald had warned the Duke, the interview at eleven o’clock the next morning with his cousin Jason was extremely unpleasant.

Jason arrived looking, in the Duke’s eyes, overdressed.

If there was one thing he and the Duke of Wellington disliked, it was the “Dandies” who affected ridiculously high cravats, over-square shoulders, over-tight waists, and pantaloons which had to be dampened before they could pull them up over their hips.

The points of Jason’s collar were high over his chin, and his cravat made it appear as if it was difficult for him to breathe. The shoulders of his coat were too square, and the sleeves bulged high above them, making them appear in the Duke’s eyes almost grotesque.

He carried a lace-edged handkerchief which was saturated with perfume and which he held delicately to his nose.

At the same time, the Duke was aware that his eyes were hard, shrewd, and avaricious.

Jason was five years older than his cousin, and the Duke thought he was increasingly anxious to ensure that his future should be a comfortable one and that he should be very much better off financially than he had been in the past.

He wondered, as he had wondered before, why Jason had not found a rich wife.

But he was sure no decent woman would marry him, and Jason was too snobby and too proud of his Harling blood to consider marriage with some wealthy tradesman’s daughter, who might have been prepared to accept him.

He had therefore relied on borrowing from his friends, and gambling, but he often ran up debts which, as at the moment, he had no possible chance of paying without the help of the family.

The Duke knew when they met in the Library that Jason was wondering how much he could extract from him by blackmailing him with the fear of scandal and adverse publicity.

Somewhat coldly he offered Jason a drink, which he accepted.

Then the cousins sat down, eying each other like two bull-dogs, the Duke thought, each waiting for the other to attack.

The Duke took the initiative.

“I am quite aware, Jason, of why you wished to see me,” he said. “I have already been told that you are in debt, and I think it would be best if you were frank and told me exactly what is the sum involved.”

His cousin named a figure which made the Duke want to gasp, but with his usual self-control his face remained impassive.

“Is that everything?” he asked.

“Everything I can think of,” Jason replied surlily.

There was a short silence. Then, as if he found it intolerable, Jason went on:

“It is all very well for you, Ivar, to walk into a fortune without having to lift a finger for it, but surely you will admit it is the most astounding good luck, and as head of the family you should help those who were not born under the same lucky star.”

His last sentence was spoken in a sneering tone that was unmistakable, and the Duke said quietly:

“I admit I have been very fortunate. I am therefore, Jason, prepared to do two things.”

“What are they?”

“The first is to pay your present outstanding bills,” the Duke replied, “the second, to grant you in the future an allowance of a thousand pounds a year.”

Jason Harling’s eyes lit up on hearing that the Duke would settle his bills for him, but even so he said quickly: “Two thousand!”

“One thousand!” the Duke replied coldly. “And there is of course a condition attached.”

“What is it?”

Now there was no mistaking that Jason’s expression was hostile.

“You go abroad and do not come back to England for at least five years.”

Jason stared at him incredulously.

“Do you mean that?”

“I mean it!” the Duke said firmly. “If you do not agree, the whole deal is off.”

Jason jumped to his feet.

“I do not believe it!”

“Then you can settle your debts yourself, and I shall not lift a finger to help you!”

“I have never heard of anything so diabolical!” Jason shouted furiously.

“I think, actually, that I am being extremely generous,” the Duke said. “The debts you have run up are so enormous that it would not surprise me in the slightest if you end up in the Fleet. But, as there are a great number of other calls on the family purse, it is essential that this sort of situation should not arise again.”

“In other words, you want to spend it all on yourself!” Jason said spitefully.

“That is quite untrue, and I have no intention of arguing,” the Duke replied. “But when you visited the Castle the other day you must have been aware that an enormous amount of money needs to be spent on the Estate: the Schools must be opened, and the Orphanages repaired or rebuilt.”

He paused to say more slowly:

“More important than anything else, the tenant-farmers need funds to bring their farms back to the standard that existed ten years ago.”

As he spoke, the Duke realised that all this meant nothing to Jason and he was thinking only of himself.

“I have no wish to live abroad,” he said like a sulky child.

“I am sure you will find yourself very much at home in Paris or any other town in France,” the Duke replied, “and quite frankly, Jason, I want you out of the country and out of people’s sight when our cousin Alvina makes her debut.”

“I am not in the least concerned with Cousin Alvina,” Jason answered, “but with my own life, and I wish to live in England.”

“Then I hope you will find ways of doing so,” the Duke said, rising to his feet.

Jason, looking up at him, realised that he was up against a brick wall.

There was a long silence before he said furiously:

“Damn you! I have no alternative but to do as you insist, have I?”

“I am afraid not,” the Duke agreed.

“Very well!”

Jason rose and drew from the tail of his coat a sheath of bills.

“Here you are!” he said, slapping them down on a table. “The sooner they are met, the better, otherwise you will undoubtedly have the indignity of bailing me out of a locked cell!”

The Duke thought it would be far better if he was left in one, but he said quickly:

“I will pay the first part of your allowance into the branch of Coutt’s Bank in Paris, unless you prefer some other major city. I shall also make it clear that you cannot draw from that account unless you present the cheque in person.”

Jason did not reply, but as he stood in front of him the Duke saw that his fingers were clenched as if he would have liked to hit him.

Instead, he said in a voice that was fraught with venom:

“Very well, Cousin Ivar, you win for the moment! But never forget that the victor today is often the loser tomorrow!”

He walked towards the door, and as he reached it he looked back and the Duke thought he had never seen hatred so vehement in any man’s eyes or in the expression on his face.

Then, as if words failed him, Jason walked out of the Library and the Duke heard his footsteps going down the corridor towards the Hall.

Chapter
Six

D
riving back at
the Castle after riding, Alvina was humming happily to herself.

It was so exciting to be in a position to engage servants for the house and men to work in the gardens, and to be able to assure the pensioners that their cottages would be repaired and their pensions increased.

Already, because news flew on wings, the villagers were aware of what was happening, and the excitement was spreading all over the two thousand acres the Duke owned round the Castle.

Alvina was quite certain that those on the Duke’s other properties also had already learnt that things were changing, and that servants in every department who
had been discharged after years of service were being re-employed.

“It is all so wonderful!” Alvina said to herself.

She thought the years when her father had declared over and over again that they had no money were like a nightmare from which she had at last awakened.

The Duke had been gone for five days, but time seemed to fly past and Alvina had not felt lonely.

In fact, she had so many people to see, so much to talk about, and so much to do that she was hardly aware of being alone as she had been in the past.

At the same time, although he was not there, the Duke seemed to be with her.

It was impossible not to think of him all the time and be aware that it was due to him alone that everything was changed.

If she had wanted more positive proof of his kindness, she had received it this morning when, after she had breakfasted with a choice of three dishes, which was a new experience, a Post-Chaise had arrived from London.

For a moment she thought excitedly that the Duke had returned.

But instead several large boxes were handed to one of the new footmen, who was learning his duties under Walton.

“These are for you, M’Lady,” the young man said as Alvina came into the Hall, unable to restrain her curiosity as to what was happening.

“For me?” she exclaimed.

Then as she saw the name printed on one of the boxes, she had an idea what they contained.

The footman carried them up to her bedroom.

When she opened them, with the help of old Emma, who seemed to take on a new lease of life since she had help, Alvina saw that they were gowns which she had never dreamt she would have the chance of owning.

There were four of them, two for the day, two for the evening, and a third box contained a smart, thin
summer riding-habit that seemed to her to have stepped straight out of a Fashion-Plate.

Almost before she had time to look at them, Alvina was joined by three of the new housemaids, who all came from the village, together with Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Walton, and even two of the kitchen-maids.

She knew they were acting unconventionally, but she understood that because they shared with her the bad times, they now wished to share the good.

She held up the gowns for their inspection, one after another, and because she was so excited she put on the habit so that they could see her in it.

“It’s just how you should look, M’Lady!” Mrs. Walton exclaimed. “Now we know the old days are back and we can all be happy again.”

The way she spoke was so moving that Alvina felt the tears come into her eyes.