“I am sorry that I neglected you for so long, and I shall certainly find out exactly what money your father has left you, but I think, if you are honest, you will agree that you have been well cared for by my cousin.”
“Aunt Mildred, as she asked me to call her, was wonderful!” Solita admitted. “She sent me to the best school in Naples and I made a great many friends there who were extremely useful.”
“Useful?” the Duke questioned.
Solita smiled.
“The girls were of different nationalities from all over Europe and they each helped me to learn their language.”
“You said you had an aptitude for languages,” the Duke said, “but I am afraid you will not find it a great advantage Socially.”
Again he thought Solita looked at him contemptuously.
This was something which was very unusual where women were concerned.
The Duke did not have to be conceited to realise that he not only attracted women because of his title, but also because he was a very handsome man.
It suddenly struck him that Solita had not recognized him and because he was curious he said,
“As you remember so much about your mother and father who died when you were very young, I am rather surprised that you did not remember me.”
“You have changed!”
“Changed?” the Duke questioned. “Of course – I have grown older.”
“It is not only that.”
“Then what is it?”
He spoke a little aggressively feeling it extraordinary that this young girl should see a great difference in him. Granted it was ten years since they had met and it was not surprising if he did not recognise her.
But he imagined now that he was thirty-one he was very much the same as he had been as a Subaltern who had received his baptism of fire on the North-West frontier.
He realised that Solita was contemplating him in a serious manner which meant she was thinking out how she could explain to him the difference.
After a while she said,
“I think the main difference in you is that when you looked after me in the ship, especially after Mama’s death, I could feel how friendly and understanding you were.”
“And now?” the Duke asked as if he could not help himself.
“You are reserved, cynical, and I suspect, bored!”
The Duke stared at her.
“I want to deny I am any of those things!”
“You asked me a question and I thought you wanted a truthful answer.”
“I think you are prejudiced because you are angry with me for neglecting you.”
“I realise now it was a question of ‘forgetting’ me!” Solita retorted, “and of course, Aunt Mildred, who had been so kind.”
The Duke thought he was tired of apologising. Although he admitted he was in the wrong, he resented being taken to task by someone so young, and, in fact, so pretty.
He rose from his chair and walked across the room to pull the bell.
There was silence until the door opened and Dawson stood there.
“Miss Solita Gresham will be staying here as my guest,” the Duke told him. “Have her trunks taken upstairs and unpacked.”
“Very good, Your Grace.”
The door closed and the Duke looked at Solita.
To his surprise, her eyes were twinkling.
“I am very grateful to be offered a bed for the night,” she said. “I was rather afraid I might have to stay at an hotel, which I cannot really afford.”
“Where did you stay last night?” the Duke enquired.
“In the train that arrived at Calais very late. The passengers stayed in their compartments and boarded the ship at dawn.”
“What happened after that?”
“I took the train to London and went straight to Calverleigh House.”
“You knew I had become the Duke?”
“Aunt Mildred had the English newspapers sent out every week,” Solita explained.
“What did they tell you at my house?” he asked.
“They said you had left for the country and were at The castle, so I drove straight to the station, caught the train with only two minutes to spare and had no idea that you were on it!”
The Duke did not speak and she added after a moment,
“I always thought Dukes, like Royalty, travelled in their own trains.”
“I came to the country at a moment’s notice,” the Duke answered, “and therefore had to be content with just a reserved carriage.”
Solita laughed.
“That must have been quite a come-down!”
“I was not so grand when you first knew me.”
“That is true,” Solita agreed, “I remember you telling me how cramped your cabin was in the ship and that you had to share it with two other Officers.”
She looked round the room and said almost as if she spoke to herself,
“Now you own this magnificent castle!”
“Which will be your home – for the moment.”
Solita looked at him in surprise.
“You are asking me to stay here?”
“I have been thinking,” the Duke said, “that, as both your parents are dead and I promised your mother I would look after you, I am, after all, your Guardian.”
He saw the suspicion of a smile on Solita’s lips and said hastily,
“All right, rather a remiss one, but I intend to take up my duties better late than never!”
“But if I do not want you as my Guardian?” Solita asked.
“I am afraid there is very little you can do about it,” the Duke replied. “The rules of Guardianship are very strict in England, and I think I can prove in any Court of Law that that is my official position where you are concerned.”
“And what is mine?” Solita questioned.
“That is quite simple,” the Duke asserted. “You have to obey me!”
She gave a little laugh.
“Now I see where all this is leading and what you intend to do is to forbid me to go to India so that I can avenge my father.”
“I am certainly going to discourage you from doing anything so stupid as that,” the Duke said, “I intend that you shall take your rightful place in the Social world as my ward, which is a very different thing.”
There was a pause for a moment and then he added,
“I am going to ask my maternal grandmother, the Countess of Milborne, to chaperone you at the weekend, but I have guests arriving today who will chaperone you until we return to London and you can meet her.”
He thought as he spoke that he had coped satisfactorily with the problem of Solita.
The next step was to get in touch with his Solicitors to find out what had been done about Charles Gresham’s estate.
He could not help thinking after Mrs. Gresham had said they were very poor that there was unlikely to be much money for Solita.
That information could wait, however, until he returned to London.
He walked to his desk to find, as he expected, a list of the guests he had invited had been put there by his secretary.
It was only when he picked it up that he remembered the reason for the party.
It had actually been planned for two important guests who were in fact Russian.
He told himself this was certainly unfortunate, in view of what Solita had just said and then he told himself the foolish child could not be serious.
She certainly could not extend her desire for revenge on every Russian she met.
He read the list through, starting with the names of his English friends. He told Solita who they were.
“They are older than you,” he said, “but of course, another time I will include a number of young people in my party. But you will meet three of the most beautiful women in London, which is something I am sure, you will enjoy.”
“I am sure I shall,” Solita replied. “Aunt Mildred used to read me the Court columns, and I think I have seen pictures in English magazines o
f two of the ladies you have just mentioned.”
“There are two other guests,” the Duke added casually, “the Princess Zenka Kozlovski, and her brother Prince Ivan Vlasov.”
There was a silence.
After a moment Solita asked,
“Are you saying – they are Russians?”
“Yes, they are Russians,” the Duke confirmed, “and I hope, Solita, you will have the good manners to behave with propriety towards two important people who are my guests.”
His voice was serious as he went on,
“The Princess is a very beautiful and charming person and, although I have not met her brother, Prince Ivan, I have heard him spoken of in most flattering terms.”
He paused so there could be no mistake as he added,
“You will therefore understand that I would not wish to think that they had been insulted in my house.”
“How can you entertain Russians?” Solita asked, “when you know they are – responsible for – killing so many of our – soldiers on the North-West frontier!”
“Officially,” the Duke reminded her, “it is the tribesmen who are causing the trouble.”
“But you know as well as I do,” Solita retorted, “that it is the Russians in Afghanistan who are inciting the tribesmen.”
“I am well aware of that,” the Duke said coldly, “but we are not at war with Russia.”
“But surely, anyone of any intelligence knows that they want eventually to invade India!”
The Duke looked at her in astonishment.
“How can you know that?”
“I have listened to the Italians, the French and the Spanish talking about it. Their statesmen think that the British are living in a ‘Fool’s Paradise’ in thinking it is ours and that no one can take it from us!”
“I think it is most unlikely.”
“Russia is a very large country,” Solita said. “They are ambitious and also very – resentful of – British power.”
The Duke looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“How can you talk like this?” he asked. “Who has been telling you about these things?”
Solita gave a little laugh and spread out her arms.
“It is only the British like yourself who think that the Europeans are blind, deaf and dumb!”
“I think nothing of the sort!” the Duke said sharply. “At the same time it is a mistake for you to have your head stuffed with a lot of rubbish.”
“What you are really saying is that I should be listening to the exaggerated compliments of young men and thinking about clothes rather than politics.”
The Duke laughed and then he asked,
“Do politics interest you so much?”
“Yes,” she replied, “and certainly where they concern Russia!”
“I think this obsession with Russia is a mistake,” the Duke said crossly.
“Then we will not talk about it and I promise I will be polite to your Russians, even while I want to thrust a knife into them or shoot them!”
“You are not to talk like that!” the Duke admonished. “I don’t believe for one moment that you mean it and I think you are just showing off.”
He thought surprisingly she did not seem in the least abashed at the way he spoke.
He therefore added in an even more serious tone,
“Please behave like a lady and let me hear no more of your animosity towards the Russians as a race.”
“Very well, Your Grace.”
Solita spoke with a humility that he was sure she assumed and to make certain she understood, he said,
“As your Guardian and as I think the only person you have to turn to at this moment, it would be a far more comfortable situation if we are friends.”
Solita smiled at him.
“I am trying to be friendly, but I am missing the happy, charming young Officer who used to play games with me on the deck and who carried me to bed when I was too tired to go on dancing.”
There was something wistful in the way she spoke.
The Duke suddenly had the idea that perhaps all those years ago she had idolised him.
After all, he was the one person after her parents had died who knew anything about her, and to whom she could turn for love and understanding.
He sat down beside her and held out his hand.
“Let’s go back to those days when you trusted me and I promise I will look after and help you, as I did then.”
It would have been very difficult for any woman to resist the Duke when he was appealing to her.
Still a little reluctantly Solita put her hand into his.
She felt the firmness and strength of his fingers and then he said,
“I think your father would be glad that you are here with me and I am sure your mother would be too.”
She looked up at him.
He knew that she was wondering whether she could trust him or whether he would let her down as he had done before.
Then, as if he willed her to do so, she said,
“I will try – to behave as you want although it may be – difficult where the – Russians are concerned.”
“I am sure when you meet them you will realise that they have nothing in common with the Russians who you think are threatening India.”
He felt her fingers quiver in his and he added,
“In the meantime, Solita, enjoy yourself. You have new worlds to conquer and, as you are very lovely, I do not think you will find it a difficult task.”
“Do not be too optimistic,” Solita said. “I am well aware of my shortcomings.”
“I have not noticed any as yet,” the Duke remarked.
He released her hand and rose to his feet.
“You have had a very long journey,” he said, “and what I am going to suggest now is that you rest before dinner which will not be until eight o’clock.”
He paused for a moment to explain,
“My friends will not be arriving at the halt until after six and they will be travelling in my private carriage, which because I did not wish to come with them was why I came ahead.”
Solita rose to her feet.
“I suppose,” she said, “it was not only that you were travelling as an ordinary passenger that I did not think you were the Duke, I was also expecting you to be wearing your coronet!”
The Duke laughed.
“I am humiliated that you think me so unimportant without all the trappings.”
“I would not have been deceived had I seen you against the background of this beautiful Palace,” Solita replied, “or perhaps I was expecting you to look as you did ten years ago, in badly fitting shorts, playing deck tennis with me.”
The Duke laughed and, as she reached the door, Solita looked back to say,
“I thought then that you were the most attractive man I had ever met!”
The Duke tried to think of a suitable retort, but she had gone.
He was aware that she had said ‘then’, making it quite certain that he did not qualify for the description now.
‘She is certainly very unusual,’ he told himself.
He had never expected a young girl to talk in such a way and he must certainly not allow her to carry out her intention of committing murder.
He tried to reassure himself that his explanation was the correct one and that Solita was just ‘showing off’.
Even if the opportunity presented itself, it was unlikely that she would know how to kill a person and he suspected it was just part of her plan to make him feel guilty because he had neglected her.
After all, it was true that her father had saved his life.
It was therefore extremely remiss of him to have forgotten her for so long.
He had, as he had told her, been hurried off to the West Indies.
When he had returned, he had been engaged on the development of a weapon for the Army which was a top secret.
He found himself working nearly twenty-four hours a day and only when he unexpectedly came in
to the title had he resigned from the Army.
He then had a great many personal things to occupy his mind. Although he had no intention of telling Solita about it, he was involved at the moment in a secret investigation.
Three days ago the Earl of Kimberley, who was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had sent for him.
The Earl welcomed the Duke when he called on him at the Foreign Office.
A handsome and very distinguished-looking man aged fifty-seven, he had known the Duke since he was a young boy at Eton with his son John.
The Duke had actually been John Wodehouse’s fag at Eton and he had stayed with him at the family house in Norfolk, where the Kimberleys had always made him welcome.
In the following years the Earl of Kimberley became more and more important.
He was Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Envoy to Russia and to Copenhagen, Under Secretary of State for India, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Lord Privy Seal.
Now, as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, he was, the Duke thought, exactly the right person for a very difficult and intricate job.
“I am delighted to see you, Hugo!” he said, “and thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Your letter sounded rather like the cry of a drowning man shouting for a lifeline!” the Duke replied.
“Come and sit down,” the Earl invited.
He moved from his desk towards some comfortable armchairs arranged either side of the fireplace.
There was a seriousness in his expression that made the Duke feel uneasily that he was going to be asked to do something not only inconvenient but also extremely dangerous.
He had often in the last few years obliged the India Office by undertaking secret investigations on their behalf.
One had involved him in discovering a new weapon suspected of being made in Afghanistan with Russian money. It meant him being away from England for about three months, travelling in the most uncomfortable conditions imaginable.
Finally he had nearly lost his life when he had blown up a gun together with those who had been designing it.
His last mission had taken place only six months ago. Again after a great deal of physical discomfort he had succeeded in identifying a man who had been hiding from the British in Finland and had brought him to justice.
‘Whatever Kimberley suggests,’ the Duke told himself, ‘the answer is no!’
Solita and the Spies Page 3
