The butler and two footmen waited her on and that meant another four were waiting in the hall in case her brother arrived earlier than expected.
She was just sipping her coffee when there was the sound of horses’ hooves and wheels.
The butler called out,
“That’ll be his Lordship!”
Galina sprang to her feet and reached it just as her brother came through the front door.
“You are back, Georgie, and I was so hoping you would not be late!”
She flung her arms round his neck and kissed him.
“I broke all records with this new team,” he said, “they are really excellent and the best I have ever driven.”
“Are they the horses you had bought at Tattersall’s a week or so ago?”
He nodded.
“You must come and look at them later. They are all perfectly matched and it must have broken Fitzhaven’s heart to part with them.”
As he was speaking, the Earl was handing his hat and coat to the footmen.
He smoothed back his hair and walked towards the dining room with Galina beside him.
“Why did he have to part with these horses?”
“For the obvious reason! He is hard up and had to sell them.”
Galina was silent.
She was thinking of the horses they both loved and how terrible it would be if they could no longer keep them.
The Earl sat at the end of the table as the footmen hurried to bring back the dishes already sent to the kitchen.
Without being told, the butler poured him a glass of champagne.
“Two-and-a-half hours,” he boasted. “I believe no one before has ever done it in under three.”
“That was very clever of you, Georgie. But as you have such superlative horses, you are not likely to have any challengers.”
“That is very true, Galina, and when we go back to London and you are with me, you will realise how excellent they really are.”
“Don’t let’s talk of returning to London yet, I was just thinking as I was walking round the garden how lovely and peaceful it is here and how much happier I am at home in the country than anywhere else.”
“You will have to complete the Season in the same style as you began it. Everyone is talking about you and three tiresome young gentlemen have already asked me if they can have your hand in marriage.”
“I know exactly who they are, and the answer is ‘no’!” Galina stipulated firmly. “Do please send them away and tell them to stop worrying me.”
“They are just paying you a compliment, my dear beautiful sister. Most young women would be delighted to be in your shoes at the moment.”
Galina looked at him enquiringly.
“You are the toast of White’s,” he continued, “and for that matter the whole of St. James’s. Only last night His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, stopped me and congratulated me on my gorgeous sister.”
“Did he really?”
“He did and it made me certain that you must be well chaperoned if he asks you to Marlborough House, which he certainly intends to do!”
Galina laughed.
“I am quite safe, His Royal Highness has no use for debutantes. He has more beautiful women around him than most men can find in a hundred years!”
“That is certainly true. At the same time you will find yourself losing your reputation.”
“You need not worry about me, Georgie, I was just thinking this morning that I prefer the lawn to a dance floor and our horses to the men I have met so far!”
“That is not the right attitude, Galina, but then you always see things differently to anyone else.”
“I think we both do, but seriously I want to talk to you when you can spare the time.”
“Why not now, my dearest sister? I don’t want any more to eat and I do like to take my time over a glass of port.”
The port was poured into a glass and the decanter set down in front of him.
As the butler and the footmen withdrew, the pantry door closed behind them.
Then Georgie asked her,
“What is worrying you? Is it a man?”
Galina shook her head.
“No,” she replied, “It is money.”
Her brother raised his eyebrows.
“Do you need some? I thought I had paid all your bills.”
“You have, but I’m quite certain, Georgie dear, that we are spending too much. We ought to try to make some economies.”
“Strangely enough, Galina, you are taking the very words out of my mouth. When I was coming here today, I considered how much opening Ranmore House has cost us. And the bills for food and wine seem extraordinarily high.”
“That is just what I was thinking.”
“It would not have worried me so much, if I had not yesterday bought the Duke of Lockwood’s stud, who if you remember died three weeks ago.”
“You bought all the Lockwood racehorses?” Galina asked in astonishment.
“I have bought everything he possessed, lock, stock and barrel. I achieved a special price because they did not have to be auctioned at Tattersall’s. It’s an amazing deal – but equally somewhat expensive.”
Galina drew in her breath.
“It must have cost you a fortune, but it’s the most exciting news I have heard for a long time!”
“You will be thrilled with them. I went down to the country to see them and I knew that I would be a fool if I missed this opportunity of a lifetime.”
“Of course, you would, Georgie, and the new Duke must have been very pleased with the transaction.”
“He was absolutely delighted, for the simple reason he never cared for racing and thought it would be a bore to sell his horses off one by one!”
“So we have the whole lot,” Galina said in an awed tone. “How many?”
“Over fifty and that includes not just the racehorses, but the hunters and, of course, all his carriage horses, which are nearly as good as mine.”
For a moment there was a silence and then Galina asked in a small voice,
“How are you going to pay for them?”
“That naturally is the most important question, but driving down I had an idea, which, if you can help me, I think will pay for this large new expense.”
He took a deep breath before he continued,
“It could also make it possible to carry out the plans you and I have contemplated for some time – building our own Racecourse and increasing the size of the estate.”
Galina gave a little gasp.
“That is indeed part of my dreams, but something I thought would never come true.”
“As you well know, the land we want to buy will soon be put up for sale.”
Galina shook her head as she cried,
“Oh, Georgie, if we could add not only the land we want but the huge lake and the river with plenty of fish! It would make the whole place perfect.”
“I agree with you and that is why I need your help.”
“I am always ready to help, Georgie, but I cannot see how.”
“I will tell you how and I want you to listen to me very carefully.”
Galina put her elbows on the table to rest her chin on her hands.
“I am listening to every word,” she breathed.
He paused for a moment and then began,
“I expect you know as everyone else does that it is becoming very fashionable for aristocrats who are feeling the pinch to look to America for a wife who is an heiress.”
“Yes, of course. I have heard people talking about it, but I cannot believe that you are thinking of such a course.”
There was a note of horror in her voice that her brother did not miss.
“No, of course not. I am not thinking of marrying anyone let alone an American, who would not understand or even like everything that matters so much to us.”
Galina gave a sigh of relief.
“Go on, tell me more.”
“Well. Two of my frien
ds have gone to New York simply because they just cannot afford to live as they wish to without a great deal more money. No doubt as they both have titles, they will come back with an American wife and thousands of dollars to bless themselves with.”
Galina’s eyes were on her brother’s and there was a worried look in them.
“I was dining, the other night,” he continued, “and one of the guests was a fellow called Craig Farlow. He is an American, an unusually interesting one. I learnt from my host that he is enormously rich – in fact a millionaire several times over.”
Galina gave a little sigh.
“How can the Americans have so much money?”
“The answer to that question is quite simple,” her brother replied. “The answer is oil!”
Galina thought for a moment and then remarked,
“I remember some years ago when oil was found in Pennsylvania and and parts of Europe and it was prophesied that it would be of enormous use to industry.”
“That is correct, and no one knows how much oil is hidden under the earth.”
He took a sip of his port before adding,
“Coincidence really, but everyone was talking about oil last night. One chap said that no physical or chemical property of oil has yet been found that enables it to be detected from the surface.”
“Goodness, that does make things difficult. I suppose that they just have to dig and hope for the best?”
“Yes, so it seems – and very hard work it apparently is. Equally, Farlow was telling us that he had been extremely lucky in finding well after well of oil which, of course, accounts for him being so rich.”
“Then why has he come to England?”
The Earl smiled.
“Need you ask? He has a daughter of twenty and, as he is so fond of her, you can guess what he is looking for.”
Galina looked at her brother.
“I suppose a title. Georgie, you are not thinking – ”
“No, of course not. I have no intention of marrying anyone, as I said before, and certainly not an American.”
“Then how does Mr. Farlow affect us?”
“He was saying at the party how much he disliked staying in hotels and how he found London hotels nothing like as good as New York’s. After dinner I talked to him.”
“And what did you say?”
There was a frightened look in her eyes. It was as if she believed her brother was going to spring something on her that she would thoroughly disapprove of.
“I suggested to Mr. Farlow,” he replied, “that, as we had just reopened Ranmore House in Park Lane, which is much too big for ourselves and our relatives, that he would find it very much more comfortable than a London hotel.
“I told him that the house was filled with servants and the reception rooms were at his disposal. Also there are plenty of bedrooms for any of his friends.”
“Georgie, I just cannot believe it! What use is this to us?”
“That is what I am going to tell you and you must let me do it in my own way step by step.”
“Did Mr. Farlow accept?”
“He accepted with great alacrity. He wants to show off his daughter and somehow ingratiate himself into the Social world. He can do this very much more successfully from our house than from a hotel.”
There was silence for a moment and then he added,
“I think you will find all the expenses of Ranmore House will now be paid for by Mr. Farlow.”
“It is certainly a good idea in one way,” said Galina after a lengthy pause. “But I think we may find it rather inconvenient to have him there all the time.”
“You have not heard the end of my story, Galina. Whilst Mr. Farlow is exploring London and finding an aristocratic son-in-law, I am going to America.”
If he had laid a bomb at her feet, Galina could not have been more surprised.
“America!” she exclaimed. “Why on earth should you want to go there?”
“To find oil,” her brother answered her calmly.
“How can you possibly find oil when there must be millions of Americans looking for oil in the same way as Mr. Farlow?”
“He found it, so why not me?”
“I think you are mad, Georgie, you know nothing about oil. How can you possibly walk into America, say that you are looking for oil and find a well?”
“I am not as stupid as that. Now just listen, Galina, this is where you come in.”
She gazed at him.
Now she was feeling upset and in fact she thought to herself that her brother must have gone crazy.
“Last night,” he began, “Mr. Craig Farlow, having enjoyed quite a lot of our host’s good wine, became very talkative. He was asked how he managed to become so rich. He explained boastingly, but in an amusing manner that made everyone laugh, how he had outwitted other men like himself who were anxious to become millionaires.”
“And how did he do it?” Galina asked in rather a hostile manner.
“He employed spies who located oil fields for him in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Kansas.”
“Spies! What do you mean?”
“They were, of course, men who studied the ground and who had some idea where there might be oil.
“They are the so-called ‘wildcatters’ because they drill for oil more in hope than with knowledge and without any geographical indications.”
“But they succeed?”
“According to Farlow in a most amazing way. One after another the wildcatters seem almost by some instinct to find oil where no one expected it!”
“And you really think this is something you too can do?” Galina asked scornfully. “Mr. Farlow may have been fortunate, but that is just unusual and outstanding luck. For every Farlow who strikes oil, there must be thousands of drillers who fail to find anything.”
“That is indeed true and Farlow said very much the same thing. But he believes in his luck and so do I.”
“And just how does his luck affect you?”
She was feeling somewhat aggressive, thinking that her brother had been deceived or just swept away by Mr. Farlow and his wild dreams.
It was quite ridiculous to think that he might be as lucky. How could he be?
He would be a stranger in a strange land knowing nothing about what he was seeking.
“From what I learnt,” Georgie was saying, “because Farlow talked more and more as the drink flowed, after his first success he organised a whole gang of wildcatters and paid them a fat fee to find the oil he wanted.
“He went on to tell us that even though he is now extremely successful, his wildcatters are still working for him. In fact as far as I can ascertain it is becoming almost a game.”
“A game! What do you mean?”
“Farlow explained that when a wildcatter finds a place he thinks might contain oil, he sends him a telegram telling him of his discovery. Of course, it is in a disguised fashion so that only he knows what the telegram means.”
“Then what happens?”
“He telegraphs back instructing him to go ahead. It seems a somewhat complicated system, but he said that it prevented him from having an unnecessary drilling, which costs money and made it very clear to the wildcatters that he was the boss.”
“It sounds very American to me and it is something which would be quite impossible for you to follow.”
“I agree with you,” her brother replied surprisingly. “But this, my dear sister, is where you come in!”
She stared at him.
“In what way? You are surely not expecting me to go drilling.”
“What I want you to do, my Galina, is quite simple. When a telegram arrives for Mr. Farlow, you telegraph me before he sees it, using a secret code to tell me where the oil has been discovered.”
She regarded him as if she could not believe what she was hearing.
“How can I possibly do that?”
“Quite easily. I will find out before I leave what particular places in America Farlow is currently i
nterested in. I will go there. Once his telegram arrives, all you have to do is confirm that I am in the right place, or not, and if it is where the wildcatters want to drill.”
“But it cannot be as easy as that! Just how can I possibly spy on him, when he is a guest in our house?”
“It is not exactly spying, Galina, it is just reading a telegram before he can see it. Alternatively, because he is only too willing to talk of his discoveries, he is very likely to tell you what he is doing. Therefore you will not have a guilty conscience for passing the information on to me.”
“And when you do know where the oil is, or is thought to be – what are you going to do about it?”
“I shall either buy the piece of land before Farlow can or drill so near to where his wildcatter is drilling that there is every possibility of us both striking oil!”
He spoke firmly with a self-assurance his sister had never seen before.
At the same time she felt that there was something morally wrong with this idea and she did not want to take part in it.
As if her brother could read her thoughts, he added,
“It is quite simple, Galina. If you want the truth, we have overspent our income in the last two years and now I have bought the Duke’s horses, we have to find the money from somewhere or sell everything we possess.”
He spoke quietly yet seriously and Galina asked,
“Is it really as bad as that?”
“I was thinking yesterday before I met Farlow that we might have to give up our racing stable and also forget any ideas of building our private Racecourse.”
Galina gave a little cry.
“Oh, no, Georgie, we cannot possibly do that! We have planned it for so long. How could we part with the racehorses that Papa made one of the finest stables in the whole of England?”
“I agree with you totally, but horses do cost money. You know just as well as I do that we can sell very little of what is in the house that is not entailed.”
This was indeed true and Galina sighed.
“The only possessions of any great value,” he went on, “that are ours completely are our horses. So if it is a question of being really clever and drilling a well in which Farlow is interested before he drills himself, you need not be sorry for him. He has more money than he can spend in a thousand years!”
“I can well believe it, Georgie, but I still think it’s a somewhat sneaky way of behaving.”
Pray For Love Page 2
