Hide and Seek for Love (5 page)

“
Immediately
?” David echoed in surprise.

“Because I think it is for your own safety as well as what will be expected of you by your family at home.  I have actually booked a cabin for you on the P & O Steamer leaving here tonight.”

David stared at the Viceroy.

“Tonight – ” he muttered.

He was finding it hard to take in first what the cable had told him and secondly the Viceroy's attitude.

As if the Viceroy thought he must explain, he said,

“I have had, as I expect you know, a report from the Colonel at Tibbee telling me how you saved the Fort and undoubtedly his life as well as that of the garrison.”

David made a murmur, but he did not interrupt.

“He described, in rather more detail than you have done, the devastation you caused among the tribesmen and I gather from a further report which reached me yesterday that there were a number of Russians among the dead.”

He paused before he continued,

“This, as you know better than I do, is something they will not forget and which they will be determined to avenge.  I therefore think it important for you and for your family that you should return to England at once.”

“Of course I must depart,” agreed David, “if Your Excellency believes that I cannot stay usefully, as I would really like to.”

“If the Russians avenged themselves against you, it would cause much consternation not only in Calcutta but in the Ingle family in England and in those who live on your grandfather's estate.”

David parted his lips to say something and then he changed his mind and remained silent.

“As you may know, I have not spent much time in England before coming here,” the Viceroy went on, “but I know that the Marquis of Inglestone had a position of great significance and as the new Marquis you will be expected to carry on his duties where he has had to leave off.”

“Actually the situation will be rather different, but if Your Excellency insists, I must go back to England.  But I assure you, I would much rather remain in India, however dangerous such a decision might be.”

“As you are far too valuable to us, Captain, to be wiped out quite unnecessarily, I must insist on you saving yourself.  I intend to ask Her Majesty the Queen to honour you as you well deserve for all you have done for India.”

There was nothing David could do but thank him, so without saying anything further, he bowed himself out.

Only when he was outside Government House did he realise almost as if he was coming out of a trance that he was now the
Marquis of Inglestone
.

Now, although it seemed so incredible, he was in a position to propose to the girl he was deeply in love with.

He was penniless apart from his Army pay.

In his precarious life in
The Great Game
there was always a chance of his having no future and he had not told Stella Ashworth how much she meant to him.

He had kissed her gently when they were in Simla together, when he had called in to see her the night before setting off across the frontier in disguise.

He had not, of course, told her what he was doing – he had merely said he had been sent North by the Colonel of his Regiment and hoped he would not be away too long.

“I will miss you, David,” she had purred softly.

“And I will miss you more than I dare tell you.”

Stella looked at him with her large beautiful eyes.

He had swept her into his arms – he had always known that she was divinely desirable, but now she meant more to him than any woman he had ever met.

He kissed her until they were both breathless and then because he knew time was passing, he murmured,

“I must leave you now, my darling one, but, when I come back, I will have a great deal to say to you.”

“Don't be away long, David,” she pleaded.  “You know that I love being with you and you dance better than anyone else in the whole of Calcutta – ”

David laughed.

“Is that so important?” he asked.

“It is to me and I just love dancing with you.”

David had kissed her again.

Then as time was passing he had to hurry away to catch the night-train to carry him towards his target.

*

Now his brain had cleared a little after the shock of hearing of his grandfather's death.

He told himself that he was at least in a position to now ask Stella to be his wife.

As a General's daughter she lived in great comfort, and her father, David had always understood, had a private fortune, so he was better housed and could entertain in a way that none of his brother Officers could afford.

The General's grand house in Calcutta was one of the most outstanding in the City and the Army did certainly not provide it for him.

When David raised the silver knocker on the door, it was opened by an Indian servant wearing a smart livery.

He enquired if Miss Ashworth was at home and it was with a sense of relief he learned that she was indeed, and, although she was expecting guests, there was no one with her at this moment.

David followed the servant upstairs to the drawing room, which boasted huge French windows overlooking a flower-filled garden.

When he entered the drawing room, it was to find Stella sitting on the sofa with her legs up reading a book.

As he was announced, she threw her book onto the floor and jumped to her feet.

“David!” she exclaimed.  “You are back!  Oh, how wonderful!  I have been desperate at not hearing from you and terribly afraid that you were in trouble or engaged in a battle with those horrible Russians.”

David did not answer.

He merely put out his arms and pulled her close.

“Wherever I have been, Stella, I have missed you and this – ”

His lips were on hers.

As he felt her respond, he thought nothing could be more marvellous or more exciting.

When he raised his head, he said in a deep voice,

“I adore you and you look even more beautiful than when I went away.”

“Oh, David, I have missed you so very much, but now you are back we can enjoy ourselves again.”

David looked down at her lovely face and then he mumbled,

“How soon will you marry me, my darling?”

He thought that Stella would move even closer, but instead to his astonishment, she replied,

“Oh, David, don't ask me that!”

“
Why not
?” David demanded sharply.

“Because,” Stella said hesitatingly, “although I love you and enjoy being with you – I cannot marry you.”

“Why Stella?  I don't understand.”

She moved closer and put her cheek against his.

“It sounds so horrid when I put it into words,” she breathed in a voice he could hardly hear.  “But I could not bear to marry a man who is poor and I know that my Papa would oppose our marriage even if I agreed to it.”

“Why should he do so?”

“Oh, darling, you must be sensible about this.  Papa wants me to marry someone important.  He would prefer a man with a title, but he also wants my husband, whoever he is, to have enough money and that means quite a lot.”

For a moment David was stunned into silence.

He just could not believe what Stella, to whom he had given his heart, was saying.

She was telling him all too clearly that she did not love him, as he wanted desperately to be loved.

Because he was silent, Stella kissed his cheek.

“We will have a lovely time together and you must come to dinner tonight, David.  The Devonshires are giving a ball and I know they will be delighted for you to join us.  We are having a dinner party here first.”

Slowly David took his arm away from her.

“I thought when we were in Simla together that you really loved me.  I fell in love with you, Stella, but I knew it would be difficult for me to take a wife.”

“Of course, it would be difficult,” she agreed before he could say any more.  “And it would be difficult now, but that need not stop us being together and being happy as we have been before.”

She drew in her breath.

“I do love you, David.  I love dancing with you and I love you kissing me, but I really could not face being an Army wife in a potty little house with very few servants.”

“Would it matter if we loved each other?”

The question came from deep inside his heart and he asked it without really meaning to.

Stella gave a little laugh.

“I am afraid it would and I am sure you would find it boring if I was not able to give parties for our friends and had to count every penny before we bought a saucepan, let alone a new dress.”

She was laughing as she spoke and then she threw out her arms.

“Why worry about marriage?  We can be together without it.”

She was about to kiss David again when a servant opened the door.

“Major Watson to see you, Lady Sahib.”

Stella moved quickly from David's side.

“I am afraid I am rather early,” Major Watson said, as he crossed the room.  “But it was too dashed hot to stay outside and wait for the right moment to appear.”

“I am so delighted to see you, Major, and of course you know Captain Ingle.”

David had always thought that Major Watson was a self-opinionated and tiresome man, who did very little in the Army except ingratiate himself with the wives of his superior Officers.

He was, however, invariably invited to every Social function that took place in Calcutta.

He was notorious as a flirt and a failure as a soldier and David, like most of his contemporaries, had no use for him.

“I am afraid,” he now addressed Stella, “I have to say goodbye.  As it happens I am leaving for England this evening, so we will not be meeting for some time.”

Stella gave a cry of dismay.

“Leaving for England, but why?  How can you be going away again so quickly?”

“I think it all amounts to my business and that is something which is very difficult for any of us to avoid.”

As David spoke, he looked rather pointedly at Major Watson.

“If you were to ask me,” said the Major, “business is usually an excuse for making one do something one does not want to do, so I avoid it whenever possible!”

“I am well aware of that,” answered David, “and of course you are very clever.”

There was a sarcastic note in his voice and yet he was certain that the Major was too conceited to notice it.

He walked to the door and Stella gave another cry.

“Oh, David, you cannot possibly go away tonight!  I must see you.”

“I am sorry, Stella, it is goodbye, perhaps for a long time.”

“But surely you know when you are coming back?”

“I am not certain at the moment.”

David reached the door and pulled it open as Stella caught hold of his arm.

“I want you to dine with us tonight,” she breathed.

“It is very kind of you to ask me, but I am afraid it is impossible.  
Goodbye,
Stella.”

He moved away before she could stop him and as he ran down the stairs, he heard her call after him, but he did not look back.

As he walked out of the house, he felt he had learnt a lesson he would always remember.

It was that women like Stella were not looking for love, but for money and position.

He was feeling so furious with himself that he had been deceived into believing that she really loved him.

He had been certain that, if it was possible and he asked her to marry him, she would accept.

‘I was a fool to even think of it,' he told himself.

Then he knew, as he went back to his barracks that the Viceroy was right – the sooner he departed from India and was free of the Russians and Stella the better.

They both had one thing in common – one could
not
trust either of them.

Back at the barracks, he ordered his batman to pack up everything he possessed.

“You going home, Sahib?” the batman asked.

“I am afraid so, Ali, and thank you very much for looking after me for so long.”

“I miss you, Sahib.  You very kind to me and I do hope you not away too long.”

“If I do come back, I will ask for you at once, but it is not very likely.”

He then went to see his Colonel and he found that he was expecting him.  He had already guessed from what the Viceroy had told him that David would have to leave.

“I will miss you, Ingle,” he said, “more than I can possibly say.  But I am sure it is wise for you to be away from India at least for some time.”

“That is just what His Excellency said to me, but you must know, Colonel, I have no wish to leave and I will miss the Regiment enormously”

“What you are really saying is that you will miss the very valuable work you have done in
The Great Game
.  I know I need not tell you to be very discreet about what you say in England, however influential they may be.”

David nodded.

“It is such an exciting story, Ingle, that it would be almost impossible for them to keep it from their wives and their friends.  You know, as I do, that one unfortunate word could mean the end of a man's life.”

“My lips are sealed after tonight, Colonel.”

“I must, of course, congratulate you on coming into your grandfather's title,” the Colonel continued.  “But I am afraid it will mean the end of your Army career.”

“That is what I am afraid of too,” replied David.  “I have the uncomfortable feeling there will be much for me to do when I reach home.”

The Colonel was silent for a moment, then added,

“I have never had an Officer under me with such excellent prospects as yours.  It's not only your work in
The Great Game
that has been outstanding, but also your good influence in the Regiment has helped me greatly.  I can only say that I will miss you every day you are gone.”