“I think I have heard of him and I seem to recall your name.”
“I expect really you are thinking of my father. He is a diplomat and he is often in the newspapers.”
The Marquis gave a little exclamation.
Now he remembered why the name was so familiar. He had indeed met Roland Shetland at Carlton House and the Prince Regent had been very complimentary about the success he had been in Greece.
“Papa was sent to Russia by the Prime Minister a month ago,” Vita told him, “and I was very upset because he would not take me with him.”
“Do you often travel with your father and were you with him in Greece?”
Vita smiled.
“I was and it was the most exciting of all his recent journeys.”
The Marquis thought she looked too young to have travelled on very many of them.
As if she read his thoughts, she added,
“I know I look as though I have stepped out of the cradle, but actually I am very nearly twenty-one. Papa has promised to be home for my birthday and I am to have a ball in London.”
“I am certain that, as your father is such a success internationally, the Prince Regent will give a party for you at Carlton House.”
As he spoke he suddenly realised for the first time that he was speaking as the Marquis of Milverton and not as plain John Milton.
“I am delighted that you have heard of Papa,” Vita said, “and now please tell me your name.”
“My name is John – Milton. I have read about your father in the newspapers and I can understand that you are very proud of him.”
“Of course I am, but it is very lonely here without him especially as Grandpapa is unwell. My aunt, who had promised to stay here with me, had to go unexpectedly to Cornwall because her son had broken his leg at school.”
The Marquis was silent and then he remarked,
“I quite understand that it might be very dangerous for you when you are all alone here with, as I understand it, only the servants to look after you, if you try and challenge the horse thieves.”
“That is what Evans, our old butler, says and the man who is broken-hearted because his horse was stolen.”
“And what is he going to do about it, Vita?”
He was thinking it strange that this girl had taken the man into the house merely because he was so unhappy.
Vita made a hopeless gesture with her hands.
“What can he do? He has got no money and he was just riding about the country hoping to find employment.”
She sighed and continued,
“He is so upset about his horse, the only thing he possessed. I have not suggested that he should work in the garden or in the stables, but I am sure when he is feeling better, that is what he will be able to do.”
“You obviously have a very kind heart.”
“I would hope so. But now, having introduced ourselves, we should consult our Head Groom as to where we should hide Firefly.”
“Hide? Do you think he is still in danger?”
“I don’t want to frighten you, Mr. Milton, but all the staff here are very old and have been with Grandpapa for a long time. They look after him well, but frankly, I am terrified of those three men.”
“Do you think they will know where I have gone?”
“I am afraid so. You followed me down the road and that man knew that I was out riding. I passed him this morning and realised he was up to mischief.
“I don’t know if I am unnecessarily apprehensive. All the time I am nervous. Those men are doing so well with their thefts that I cannot believe they will let such a beautiful stallion as yours escape their clutches.”
“Now you are really frightening me,” the Marquis said. “Let’s go and look at your stables and see when the horses are locked in if it affords enough protection.”
“Yes, let’s do that,” agreed Vita.
She jumped up and whistled and immediately her horse, which was cropping the grass, picked up his head and trotted towards her.
The Marquis had to fetch Firefly and lead him off the grass and he then followed Vita round the back of the house to where the stables were situated. They were well built and he thought looked fairly substantial.
But when the Head Groom was sent for, he stared at Firefly and gave an exclamation,
“That be real fine ’orse, you ’ave there, sir!” he said to the Marquis. “I ain’t never seen a better.”
“Nor have I, as it so happens, and I am very proud of him.”
Vita told the Head Groom a little breathlessly what had just occurred.
“There’s no stoppin’ them devils, Miss Vita. The only thing we can do is to ’ope sooner or later them Police catches up with ’em.”
“Has anyone made a complaint to the Police?” the Marquis enquired.
“There be only one Policeman in the village,” the Head Groom replied, “and ’e’s too scared to take ’em on.”
Vita looked at the Marquis.
“It’s true! We have talked it over and I did speak to the Policeman about it. But you will understand that he is on his own and Police Headquarters are miles away.”
The Marquis well knew that the Police Force in the country was very slack and it was only after strong protests in Parliament that anything had been done about it
“Where should we put this beautiful horse of Mr. Milton’s?” Vita asked.
The Head Groom scratched his head.
“Short of stablin’ ’im in the ’ouse, Miss Vita, there ain’t be nowhere except the stables.”
“In the house. I never thought of that before. But, of course, Firefly can go into the old pantry.”
Vita smiled as she went on,
“We never use it, but if they were clever enough to look there, which I very much doubt, they would find it far harder to break into.”
“You be right, Miss Vita,” said the Head Groom, I’ll get the boys to make the old pantry ready for ’im.”
He shouted out and two young men came running from the stables.
The Marquis could see there were several carriage horses as well as three which he was sure pulled a phaeton like his own. It was obvious, he thought, that Sir Edward was well off and enjoyed the comfort of a large staff.
The old pantry was as big as any ordinary sitting room might be, but in somewhat of a state of disrepair and as Vita explained it had not been used for a long time.
By the time the boys had filled it with fresh straw and turned the sink into a manger it was really, thought the Marquis, a most impressive stall for Firefly.
One of the grooms was sent into the house with his bags containing his clothes and having seen that Firefly had plenty to eat and drink, the Marquis patted him and followed Vita.
She did not take him in the back way but went to the front door. By now the sun was sinking rapidly and the shadows were increasing under the trees as Vita led the way into a large and pretty hall.
There was a staircase with exquisite carvings and a fine array of ancestral pertraits.
An old butler with white hair informed the Marquis that his bags were upstairs in his bedroom.
“If Mr. Milton is going to change,” Vita suggested, “we had better make dinner a little later.”
“I’d thought of that, Miss Vita,” replied Evans. “Cook is arranging it for eight-thirty.”
“I am very sorry to put you to all this trouble,” the Marquis pointed out.
“It’s no trouble. It’s very exciting you are here. I am so delighted that you are not crying pathetically on the road because you had lost Firefly!”
“I would much more likely be fighting those men.”
“Not if you had been doped the night before.”
The Marquis thought that, like most women, she had to have the last word.
He laughed.
“All right. You win! Now you have saved me, I have every intention of enjoying myself.”
“We shall do our best for you, Mr. Milton.”
They were t
alking as they followed Evans rather slowly up the stairs. Then at the top he turned left while Vita went to the right.
“Don’t hurry,” she said. “There is plenty of time. I am going to tell Grandpapa what has happened.”
He saw her go towards a room at the far end of the corridor which he guessed was the Master suite.
While Evans led him to what he recognised with a faint smile, as being the bedroom, which in large houses was always kept for bachelors.
It was most comfortable and beautifully furnished, but there was only a single bed and he noticed that his bags had already been unpacked by a footman.
“I thinks, sir, you’ll be real comfortable here,” said Evans.
“I am sure I shall and I am very grateful, as you can imagine, for not having my horse stolen from me.”
“These thieves and robbers be really terrible, sir,” Evans replied, “but it’s not right that Miss Vita should be tackling them all alone. They be the sort which sticks at nothing and if anything happened to Miss Vita, I think it’d kill her father when he comes back from Russia.”
“I will do everything I possibly can to stop them carrying on their disgraceful trade,” the Marquis asserted.
He thought as he spoke that he would have to get in touch with the Lord Lieutenant as there was no doubt that he would be able to close the inn and if there was enough evidence, the thieves would be thrown into prison.
At the same time he would have to reveal who he really was and that would put an end to him taking part in the Duke’s challenge.
‘I must think it all over carefully,’ he told himself.
He was delighted as he began to undress that a bath was brought into his room and then set down in front of the fireplace and it was a proper sized one.
It was quite different from the bath he had paid for the night before and there was a can of very hot water and a can of cold. A footman who had clearly been well-taught to be a valet was there to assist him.
Then he put on black trousers and a velvet smoking jacket – his own valet had thought it was good enough for the country and he felt that he looked reasonably smart.
He walked downstairs at ten minutes past eight to find his hostess looking exquisite in a blue evening gown that was very suitable and most decorative.
Evans handed him a glass of champagne and then left the room to see if dinner was ready.
It swept through the Marquis’s mind that this was very different to all that had occurred last night.
He raised his glass, saying as he did so,
“Let us drink to our success in preventing the horse thieves from getting one more into their grubby hands.”
“I will certainly drink to that,” smiled Vita. “But it is not going to be an easy fight.”
“I am aware of that, but I am worried because I can see you are alone here and if they really made themselves unpleasant, I doubt even with your servants, Vita, that you would be properly protected.”
Vita glanced towards the door as if she did not wish to be overheard.
“I know they are old and Papa said when he left me that it was time Grandpapa had some younger men in the house. Even the footmen are over forty and two of them suffer from arthritis!”
The Marquis laughed because he could not help it.
“You certainly have the strangest background when you are so young and so pretty.”
Vita’s eyes twinkled.
“It is a long time since I had a compliment. But when I was in France with Papa they came thick and fast and I appreciated every one of them.”
“So you have been to France with your father.”
“He likes having me with him, because Mama died when I was only fifteen and at times he is very lonely.”
“I can understand that, except as far as I can make out, he is always travelling.”
“That has been absolutely thrilling. I adored being in Greece, I loved Paris and he has promised to take me to Spain when he returns.”
“You must be sorry he did not take you to Russia,”
“I begged him and begged him! But he said that it was to be a quick visit, but a difficult one and quite frankly he did not trust the Russians.”
The Marquis laughed.
“That was the best reason of all! Of course your father was right, Vita.”
“Anyway, he should be back in a month’s time and then I shall be with him in London.”
He was about to say that they would undoubtedly meet there and then he remembered his disguise.
“What did your grandfather say about yet another attempt at horse stealing today?” he asked Vita.
“I wanted to tell him all about it, but he is not at all well tonight. In fact the nurse with him said I was not to disturb him. So I shall keep the story until tomorrow.”
As she finished speaking Evans announced dinner and they went into the dining room. It was a warm room with low windows all with diamond panes looking out over the garden and the table was decorated with flowers.
The Marquis thought with a sense of relief that it was what he was used to and it was so different to what he had endured these last two days of travelling.
What he found so interesting was his conversation with Vita as they ate simple but well-cooked food.
She had not only travelled with her father to places that the Marquis had visited himself, but she had also read a great deal about them, in fact he was pleasantly surprised that a young girl should have acquired such knowledge of the history of the countries she had visited.
He had found in the past that women longed for Paris because of the fashionable clothes and the gaiety of the City itself, but they never troubled to read of its Kings and Queens or the battles that had been fought on its soil.
When they came to Greece he had visited Delos and many of the Greek islands and he was astonished that Vita should know so much about the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus and the influence they had had on civilisation.
“You must find it rather dull here,” he remarked when dinner was over and Evans and his elderly footmen had withdrawn.
Vita smiled.
“I have horses to ride. Papa bought three excellent ones before he went abroad and told me to look after them until he returned. I will show them to you tomorrow.”
“Does your father have a house in the country?”
“Not now. We had one, but after Mama died Papa could not bear to be alone there so he sold it. We have a comfortable house in London. But he did not want me to be there when he was away.”
Considering how pretty she was the Marquis was not surprised.
“But you must find it very dull here?”
“I would if there was not an excellent library,” Vita answered, “and I will show it to you. It is larger than most private libraries and my grandfather collected books all his life and Papa has added to it extensively.”
“When your grandfather dies you will live here?”
“Yes indeed. I am quite certain Papa will wake up this neighbourhood and things will be very different with him around.”
She paused and there was a sadness in her eyes.
“Grandpapa was so amusing and so clever until he grew ill and it was always a pleasure to be with him. Now I can appreciate that the locals only occasionally call to see how he is and have not yet realised I am here.”
“But they would not expect you to be.”
“Of course when my aunt was with me, we visited her friends and they visited us, but when she went off to Cornwall I could hardly write and say ‘can I come to see you?’ when I hardly knew them. So with the exception of the Vicar there is really no one to talk to.”
“What a shame and I hope it will not last for long.”
“No, of course not. Papa will be back and then I shall be in London!”
She looked at him and enquired,
“You haven’t told me where you live, Mr. Milton.”
“I live in Hertfordshire. I can assure you that it’s a far le
ss isolated County than this one.”
“Things happen here, even though you don’t expect it and we must pray that nothing unusual happens tonight.”
“I will drink to that, Vita.”
They were laughing as they walked to the drawing room and then the Marquis commented,
“After the excitement of today, I think we should retire early. Tomorrow I intend to see the Policeman and find out if he realises how dangerous these thieves are to innocent travellers.”
“If you can do that, you will be more successful that I have been, Mr. Milton. I think perhaps we should both have a ride before breakfast?”
It was a question because she looked at him almost pleadingly and he knew that it was what she really wanted and as it so happened he would like to ride out too.
“Of course we will and I am sure that Silver Cloud and Firefly will want to compete with each other.”
“There is a place where we can have a really long gallop as good as any Racecourse – ”
“I shall look forward to it,” replied the Marquis.
They left the room and found the night footman – one of the older of them – was already seated in his padded chair with his eyes half closed.
“Don’t move, James,” Vita said as they appeared. “We are going to bed and I hope you sleep well.”
“I find this ’ere chair be as good as any bed, Miss Vita!” James answered.
“I am sure you do and have happy dreams.”
Vita walked up the stairs beside the Marquis.
“Tomorrow,” she told him, “you will have to meet Mr. Tom Brown. He is staying with the Head Groom, but I am not certain that he will keep him for long because he is always crying and his wife says it depresses her.”
“I am not surprised. Does he still believe he might get his horse back?”
“He wants to find out where it was sold, but it’s not easy and we can hardly ask the thieves outright what they have done with it.”
They moved to the top of the stairs and Vita said,
“Goodnight Mr. Milton. I very much hope you will be comfortable.”
“I shall be more comfortable than I was last night and thank you for a most amusing and delightful dinner.”
He smiled at her and thought that, as she waved her hand, she looked like a Princess from a fairy tale.
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