“Come,” he said quietly. “Let us go.”
They climbed quickly aboard and sailors began to haul up the gangway. But at the last moment a figure came flying out of the darkness, shrieking,
“Wait! Stop I say!”
Nightshirt flapping around his bare legs, Colonel Lockwood hurled himself at the gangway just as it was pulled clear of the quay.
“Stop!” called the Captain.
With the gangway halted, he looked enquiringly at the Marquis, while the Colonel dangled absurdly in mid-air.
At that moment the ship began to move, leaving a widening strip of clear water between it and the quay. Now there was no way the Colonel could return.
“What shall I do, sir?” the Captain asked.
“Why not just leave him there?” Lionel enquired. “He can cling on until we reach England.”
A yell from the gangway told him that the Colonel had heard this observation. He began to haul himself up, hand over hand until he could set his feet down.
Then he clambered the rest of the way and climbed over the side onto the deck.
“Good grief!” Lionel said faintly. “You can’t exhibit legs like those in front of the ladies.”
“Ladies? What ladies?” the Colonel raged. “Neither of them are ladies – ”
The rest came out as a gurgle as a pair of ruthless hands lifted him bodily into the air. Jimmy had returned just in time to hear his words.
“You’ve got the wrong ship,” he grated. “that’s yours, over there.”
With one easy movement he tossed the Colonel over the side. There was a splash as he hit the water.
“I have wanted to do that all the way out from England,” Jimmy remarked, observing his victim’s floundering with enthusiasm. “Don’t worry. He can swim.
And look, there’s a boat picking him up already.”
He turned away from the rail.
“That’s that,” he said. “We can forget about him now. Acton’s locked up below and two of your Lordship’s crew are standing guard.
“With your Lordship’s permission I would like to work out a roster, so there are never less than two men outside his door.”
“Do whatever seems right to you,” the Marquis replied. “I will tell the Captain to take instructions in this matter from you.”
“Thank you, my Lord. I will be spending a lot of time on guard myself, of course. But just at the moment I have other urgent business.”
His eyes lit on Effie.
“Oh Jimmy,” Effie said softly, “You came after me.”
He looked abashed.
“I said some things that I didn’t mean, my love.
know you are true to me.”
Effie flung herself into his arms. Lionel watched them with a glum face.
“Well – ” he said, trying to sound hearty. “Well – ”
“Jimmy, this is the Honourable Lionel Hilton, Lord Chilworth’s nephew,” Effie explained, disentangling herself. “Mr. Hilton, this is my fiancé.”
Jimmy gave Lionel an odd look, but shook his hand, then drew his beloved quickly away.
Lionel sighed.
“Mr. Hilton,” he said. “She used to call me Lionel.”
“She was too good for you,” the Marquis told him.
“Yes,” Lionel agreed sadly. “A pearl among women. Ah, well.”
He trailed unhappily out of sight.
Finally the Marquis turned to Shona.
She saw that he looked exhausted.
At the same time, there was something in his face that she had not seen before, as though a huge burden had finally been lifted.
“Is it well, now?” she enquired.
“Yes, it is well?”
“Taking him back to face an English court – will that give you all you want?”
“It will give Angela a kind of justice, and I can finally be at ease.
“But it will not give me all I want, for I want something much more.”
“Yes?” she asked breathlessly.
He took her hand and they began to move along the deck, to where nobody could see them.
“First,” he said, “I must explain something to you.”
He was silent for a long time, but she said nothing.
She knew that what he was about to say was difficult for him and she must let him find his own way.
“I meant to do it,” he said at last. “These past years, while I was tracking him down, I always knew that I might have to kill him, if there was no other way. I told myself that I was ready to do it and to fail would be to betray Angela.
“And then, when I had him in my sights and my finger on the trigger, something happened that I cannot explain.
“Angela was there. I saw her as clearly as I see you now. She was standing in front of Acton, holding up her hand as if to ward me off. And then she spoke.”
He fell silent again.
“What did she say?” Shona asked breathlessly.
“She said, ‘for pity’s sake, stop while you can. Whatever you do, don’t make love impossible’.”
Shona drew a sharp breath, as she recognised the words that were almost the same as her prayer.
“It was true,” he said. “If I had fired that shot, it would have divided us. I would probably have been hauled off toprison, and even if I hadn’t – ”
“We could not have been together,” Shona whispered.
“She knew that. Angela must have known how much I love and need you and that was why she stopped me.
“As she lay dying in my arms, with her last breath she promised to love me into eternity, and watch over me from another world. Now I know that she has kept her word, when she freed me to love again.”
“Are you truly free at last?” Shona asked him.
“Truly free at last. My beloved, there are so many things I have wanted to say to you, but I knew I must not say them while all this hung over me.
“Now I can see clearly, and I know that you are the woman I love, and shall love for all time. If you cannot love me – “
“But I can,” she sighed, laying a finger over his lips. “I can and I do. I always will, my darling.”
“I don’t know how I was lucky enough to find you,” the Marquis admitted humbly. “It seems to me a kind of miracle.”
“It is a miracle to me too,” she agreed. “But I know that we were meant to be together, now and always.”
He drew her close for the first kiss of their new life. It was a promise for the future, the future they would share together.
Then he dropped down on one knee, looked up at her shining face and spoke the words Shona was above all longing to hear,
“My darling will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
Overcome with happiness she flew into his arms, whispering “yes, yes, yes” into his ear, before their lips met in such a passionate kiss that Shona felt her heart and soul joining his in a union of joy and ecstasy.
“We will be married as soon as we reach England” he murmured happily.
Dawn was already beginning to break, casting a soft light over the sea as the yacht ploughed on through the water, taking them home.
Love In the East Page 14
