“1 want to talk to you about the estate,” she retorted.
“What the estate needs,” the Earl replied, “is money. For with the best will in the world, I cannot repair the houses, employ more people or increase the pensions without the wherewithal to do it.”
He spoke sharply and before she could stop herself Farica said,
“The party you gave the other night when I came to dinner must have cost quite a lot of money!”
The Earl laughed.
“Good God, Farica, you are not suggesting that I should give up the few pleasures that are left to me? Besides a great number of those people were very kind to me when I was poor and unimportant and, as I am certain you will understand, I now wish to repay their hospitality and even offer them a few baubles.”
Farica thought of the lady with the rubies who had left last night, but bit back the words that came to her lips.
They were driving down a smooth grass path that only became impassable when it was very wet.
At the end of it, Farica knew, was the Home Farm which traditionally the Earls of Lydbrooke had farmed themselves and which provided them with milk, cream, butter, eggs, young lamb in the right season and the best beef in the County.
She was, however, surprised when they drew nearer to the farm to see that much of the roofing needed repairing and the windows instead of shining brightly in the sunshine required cleaning.
The Earl drove his team up to the front of the farm, which was a very attractive Elizabethan building, half-timbered and with a gabled roof.
But to Farica’s astonishment, instead of Bradshaw, a farmer she had known ever since she was a child, the man who came to the door was a dark, thin surly-looking individual who did not in any way resemble her idea of a typical farmer.
“Good afternoon, Riggs! I understand you have something to tell me.”
“I have, my Lord, but you’d better come inside to hear it.”
He spoke in an aggressive manner and in a half-educated voice, which surprised Farica and was very unlike the manner in which the farmers on this estate and their own had always spoken to her father.
“I am not getting down for you!” the Earl said aggressively. “I am taking Miss Chalfont for a drive and we cannot stop.”
“I’m sorry you don’t want to hear what I has to say,” Riggs said rudely.
“Well, come round to this side of the phaeton and tell me,” the Earl said, “and if you are asking for more money you cannot have it!”
An unpleasant smile curved the man’s lips before he said,
“You’ll be willin’ to pay when you hears what I’ve got to tell you!”
“What is it?” the Earl asked impatiently.
Riggs walked round to the side of the phaeton and the Earl bent down so that the man could speak almost directly into his ear.
The horses were moving restlessly and it took him a moment to get them under control.
Having straightened himself, the Earl bent again and this time Riggs spoke.
Because she found it embarrassing, Farica actually tried not to listen, having no wish to intrude.
But because she had very acute hearing she could not help overhearing Riggs say,
“He be here somewhere.”
There was a pause.
“Find him!” the Earl ordered.
Chapter Five
The Earl drove on and Farica realised that it was very important that he should not suspect that she had overheard what was said or that she was in any way concerned with his private affairs.
As they drove away, she therefore remarked,
“I thought that people called ‘Bradshaw’ worked on the Home Farm?”
“They did,” the Earl replied briefly, “but I did not think them satisfactory and have given it to a man I can trust.”
“It’s such a pretty farm,” Farica said in ordinary conversational tones and then continued, “but so is your whole estate.”
“That is what I want you to think.”
They drove a little way towards the woods while the Earl, concerned with his horses, at the same time cast many a sidelong glance at Farica, as if he was considering what he should say.
She was determined to be interested in the view and did not look at him directly until he said,
“You know what I am longing to say to you, Farica, and I think it is foolish that we should beat about the bush!”
Farica’s eyes opened wide in surprise as she replied,
“I don’t understand what you are saying.”
“I think you do,” he answered. “You know I want to marry you, and as quickly as possible, and I see no point in our waiting.”
Farica looked ahead for a moment before she responded,
“Why should we be in such a hurry? I think it is essential that we should get to know each other well before we are actually married.”
“I know you already,” the Earl said, “and I know you are everything I desire in a wife.”
Then, as she did not speak, he went on,
“I know, like all women, you are longing to make changes and improvements in the house where you will live and there is plenty of scope for it in The Castle and in my house in Berkeley Square. I am sure too you would like to make the estate a model of its kind and I am certainly prepared to leave that in your capable hands.”
It flashed through Farica’s mind that he was thinking that if she ran the estate he would be free to enjoy himself in London with his friends, like the lady with the rubies and the other noisy guests he had entertained at the weekend.
But she merely said quietly,
“It all sounds very fascinating. Equally, as Papa has told you, I have no wish to be rushed into marriage and I have not yet made my curtsey at Buckingham Palace.”
“Good God! Is that really necessary?” the Earl asked.
“I know it is something my mother would have wanted,” Farica replied firmly, “and I would like to do some of the things she wanted for me before I settle down and undertake the responsibilities that you have just suggested.”
The Earl frowned as if he thought that he had made a mistake.
After they had driven on for some way in silence, he said coaxingly,
“Let’s get married and as soon as possible, Farica. Then I will give you all the things in London you want, parties, balls, Court Ceremonies and a hundred others as well.”
“You are very – kind,” Farica murmured.
“Then you will marry me at once?”
“Oh, no, I did not mean that,” she replied. “Please, I must have time to think – I must be quite certain that we would be happy before we are actually husband and wife.”
The Earl’s lips tightened in a hard line and she realised that he was becoming angry.
He was wise enough not to rage at her as she felt he wanted to do, but, as she had promised her father that she would be home for tea, he drove her back to The Priory.
After a footman helped her out of the phaeton, to her surprise she saw that the Earl was still sitting in the driver’s seat, holding the reins.
“You are not coming in?” she asked.
“No,” he replied, “I have something I need to do at The Castle.”
He paused and then he said as if he was thinking it out,
“Please ask your father to excuse me from having tea with him and suggest instead that he lets me be his host for tomorrow after we have had another drive, which has been so enjoyable today.”
Farica was about to refuse, but thought somehow that it would be a mistake.
It was important, she felt, that he should be kept busy driving her about rather than searching, as he might be doing, for Ivan.
“What time will you be calling for me?” she asked.
“Just after two o’clock and we will have a long drive before your father meets us at The Castle at four o’clock.”
“Very well, I will tell Papa,” Farica said, “and thank you very much, my Lord.”
She dropped him a curtsey and then, as he drove off, she ran up the steps and through the front door.
It was such a relief to be home. But she had not forgotten what she had overheard at the Home Farm and knew that she had to warn Ivan.
She went to find her father, hoping that he would be busy and she would be able to make some excuse to ride into the village.
Unfortunately he was engrossed with his plans for the slate mine and wanted her approval of them.
They were all spread out on the desk in his study and he kept her talking about them until it was time to change for dinner.
It was then she realised that at some time this evening she would have to creep down to the inn in the village and warn Ivan of what she had overheard.
She was quite certain that since Riggs, whoever he might be, somehow knew that Ivan was somewhere in the neighbourhood, the first thing he would do would be to call at all the local inns.
It was after ten o’clock, when she had said ‘goodnight’ to her father and her maid had left her, before she was able to dress herself quickly and slip out by unbolting one of the side doors.
Because it was so late she did not dare to collect Pegasus as she would have liked to do.
She was certain that if she did the stable lads would think it so strange that she should be riding alone at such a late hour that they would undoubtedly mention it, if not to her father, then certainly to other members of the household.
There was therefore nothing she could do but walk the shortest way across the fields and through a small wood to reach the village.
It was not very far, perhaps three quarters of a mile, but because Farica was agitated at the idea of Ivan being in danger, it seemed to take her longer than usual.
It did not tire her to walk because she was always very active and actually as there was a moon in the sky everything was turned to silver.
It looked like Fairyland, she thought, as she hurried between the trees and kept in the shadow of the hedges until she finally joined the lane that passed through the village and went on further to the crossroads where the stagecoaches stopped on their way to London.
Everything was very quiet and most of the cottagers had already extinguished their lights.
When she reached the inn, there was a light in the barroom and she could hear voices.
She slipped quickly round to the back, afraid that Ivan might have been tempted to join Abe and his friends in the bar.
To her delight, as she entered the yard where Abe kept the animals at the rear, she saw Ivan sitting on a wooden seat nursing a black cat on his knee.
Just for a moment she stood in the shadows watching him.
Then, as if he was perceptively conscious of her, he looked up and she moved towards him.
“Farica!” he exclaimed in a whisper. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
“I had to come to see you.”
He had risen as he spoke and now he took her by the arm and moved across the yard onto a piece of wasteland at the back where there were some makeshift stables where his horse was stalled.
There was also a miscellaneous collection of chicken coops, kennels and boxes that Abe used for his sick clients.
Ivan looked round as if to be certain that they could not be overheard and then he said,
“How could you come here and alone?”
“I had to,” Farica answered. “It was too late for me to ride Pegasus – without somebody being curious about it.”
“What has happened? Why do you want to see me?”
Farica told him what had happened when she was out driving with the Earl.
“Who is this ‘Riggs’?” Ivan asked.
“I have no idea,” Farica replied. “But the Bradshaws have been turned out and the way he spoke so rudely made me think that it might be he who tried to kill you and is now blackmailing Fergus into giving him not only money but also the Home Farm!”
“I would not be surprised,” Ivan agreed.
“But you must understand what it means,” Farica insisted. “You cannot stay here. They are certain to search all the inns in the neighbourhood and, although there are quite a number of them – they will turn up at The Fox and Goose sooner or later.”
Ivan sighed.
“You are right. I had better ask Hagman where he thinks I will be safe.”
“Is Hagman with you?”
“He came down to see me tonight,” Ivan answered, “but he thought it wise to pretend that he was calling on Abe and to have a drink in the bar first.”
“Who else is there?”
“Only two men from the village.”
“But they might recognise you.”
“Even if they have no idea who I am,” Ivan said, “this Riggs will ask them if they have seen a stranger and they will point the finger at me.”
“I will take you away from here to where you will be safe for the moment,” Farica suggested.
“I told you I did not want you to be involved in any of this.”
Farica smiled.
“I am mentally involved, you know that! We must get hold of Hagman and tell him where I am taking you.”
“He should be out at any moment,” Ivan said.
His eyes were on Farica’s face in the moonlight and he spoke as if he was thinking of something else.
Then abruptly he turned away and walked back to the gate that let them into the yard.
Farica had the idea that he had been about to tell her something of importance and she wanted to hear it.
But, as she caught him up, she saw Hagman coming into the yard of the inn.
Ivan beckoned him to where they were standing and then he said,
“Has everybody left?”
“All except one man, my Lord,” Hagman said, “and he’s very old and almost blind.”
“Nevertheless, Hagman, tell Abe to come out here. You can say that one of the animals appears to be in pain.”
Without saying anything more Hagman walked back across the yard and opened the inn door and Farica heard him shout,
“Hi, Abe! One of your patients is complainin’ he’s not gettin’ enough attention.”
“I’m a’comin’. I’m a’comin’,” Abe said and then Farica heard him say to somebody else,
“You let yoursel out, Bill.”
“I can do that after nigh on sixty years!” the old man replied.
Then Abe came out of the inn and closed the door behind him.
As if he sensed that he had been called to Ivan rather than to one of his animals or birds, he walked straight across the yard towards him.
“What is it?” he asked. “Anythin’ wrong?”
“It’s only that I have to go away tonight,” Ivan replied, ‘and I wanted to thank you for your hospitality and tell you I shall be back very shortly.”
“You’re leavin’ tonight?”
“At once,” Ivan replied. “But I wanted to give you something that will help the animals, especially the young cygnet you have worked so hard on.”
Abe chuckled.
Farica, who was standing back in the shadows where she could not be seen, saw Ivan put some money into Abe’s hand.
The old man would have refused it, but Ivan insisted that it was for those who needed it, saying even splints, lotions and bandages did not grow on gooseberry bushes.
Abe chuckled again and then he said,
“Now, you take good care of yoursel and you’re welcome to come back any time as suits you.”
“Thank you very much,” Ivan smiled.
He waited until Abe had gone back into the inn and then he said to Hagman,
“Fetch my things and join me at the clearing in the wood. I will wait for you there.”
“Very well, my Lord,” Hagman agreed in a whisper.
He followed Abe and Farica thought that he would tell the old man that Ivan had sent him to collect something for him and that they were travelling together.
Then all she could think of
was that Ivan was beside her again and they moved quickly to the stable where his horse was waiting.
He started to saddle him and as he did so Farica said,
“I did not ask you what you call him.”
Ivan was slipping the bridle over his horse’s nose as he replied,
“Waterloo, of course! What else?”
They both laughed and he added,
“That is what I am facing at the moment, Farica, my Waterloo, and it will either be a great victory or an ignominious retreat!”
“You know the answer to that,” Farica answered in a low voice.
They brought Waterloo out into the moonlight and when she was not expecting it, Ivan picked her up and placed her on the saddle.
She did not, however, protest as he swung himself up behind her and they set off, keeping out of sight of the houses until they reached the path that led towards The Priory.
“How did you know that I was taking you somewhere near my home?” Farica asked.
“I can read your thoughts,” Ivan answered, “and besides I cannot believe that my own land would be very healthy for me at this particular moment.”
There was an inflection in his voice that made her look up at him as if she wanted to comfort him.
As she did so, she was suddenly aware of how close she was against him, that his arm was around her and their faces were only a few inches apart.
She had ridden in front of a man’s saddle since she had been a small child and her father had carried her that way on one of his great stallions.
Now she was aware of how intimate it was and how it was impossible for her body not to touch Ivan’s.
They were riding without speaking, but then she felt in some strange manner that they were saying a thousand things to each other and had no need for words.
Just as she had done on her way to the village, Ivan kept in the shadows first of the hedges and then of the trees until they reached the wood.
He made no attempt to hasten and she knew that it was because he thought to do so would make it uncomfortable for her.
And yet because he was holding her close against him she thought that she had never felt so safe or so happy in her whole life.
Ivan was in danger and she might be as well, but they were together, his arm was around her and she thought that her heart was doing strange things in her breast.
A Victory for Love Page 8
