A Shooting Star

by Barbara Cartland

  “That’s just what you should do, miss. You can be sure your mother will hear it wherever she be.”

  It took some time to reach the Grosvenor Chapel in South Audley Street and the doors were open.

  Flavia could see that there was no one in the lower part of the Church.

  “I am going up to the Gallery,” she said to Molly. “But you are to stop down here and not try to walk up those narrow stairs.”

  “They be too much for me,” Molly admitted.

  “I thought so,” said Flavia. “I will just say a prayer then I will come back to you.”

  The old maid moved into one of the pews at the back of the Church, as Flavia hurried up the stairs to the Gallery.

  When she reached the top, she looked round and for a moment she thought that the Earl was not there.

  Then she saw him at the very back of the Gallery and he was the only person present.

  She moved along the back row of seats until she reached him.

  He did not rise as if he thought that it might draw attention to them, although there was no one in sight.

  As she sat down beside him, he began,

  “It’s clever of you to think of this. There is no one to see us here.”

  “Touch wood,” she exclaimed, “but I remembered that eleven o’clock is not a fashionable time.”

  “You realise I had to see you,” the Earl said. “I could hardly go on worrying night and day over what you said.”

  Flavia smiled.

  “I don’t believe it’s worrying you as much as that.”

  “I hate a puzzle I cannot solve,” he replied almost petulantly. “I cannot understand what is going on and I assure you it’s giving me sleepless nights.”

  “Very well, I’ll tell you the truth and perhaps you will think of a better solution than mine.”

  “I certainly hope so, Flavia.”

  Then slowly and quietly in case her voice should carry, Flavia told him all she had overheard her father and Lord Carlsby saying that night when she had left the dining room.

  “I did not know there were holes in the bookcase,” Flavia added, “but when I heard my name mentioned, I listened.”

  “Of course you did,” the Earl agreed. “But I had no idea that your father and Lord Carlsby thought that I was undermining their position at Court when I talked with the Queen.”

  “You must have upset them quite a lot.”

  The Earl smiled.

  “Only because I made suggestions which had not been thought of before and I did not think for a moment that Her Majesty took them seriously.”

  “She certainly discussed them with Papa and Lord Carlsby and they thought you were interfering. Everyone has told me that if Her Majesty gets an idea into her head, nothing will make her change it, except of course someone like you.”

  The Earl wanted to laugh but prevented himself.

  “Do you really believe,” he asked “that your father would agree to you being pushed into marriage with me, rather than lose what he believes to be his control over the Queen?”

  “It sounds somewhat unpleasant put like that, but you know as well as I do that people consider you a great Social catch. So my father would think I was very lucky if I married you and I should jump at the chance. But you will understand I much prefer to choose my own husband.”

  “As I want to choose my own wife, if I ever take one!”

  “Well, we agree on that, if nothing else.”

  “We agree on everything. I think you have been exceedingly clever and have done the only possible thing you could have done under the circumstances.”

  Flavia smiled at him.

  “Thank you, kind sir, for your considerate words.”

  “No, I am serious. It was a terrible predicament to find yourself in and you have dealt with the situation very astutely. What we have to decide now is just how we will manage to avoid being caught out in circumstances which they can claim are compromising.”

  Flavia gave a sigh.

  “That is what I hoped you would say. It has been so worrying being pushed onto you by Papa and I cannot be expected to change my seat at every party!”

  “We will have to talk this over again some time or another,” the Earl suggested.

  “We can come here, but if we do, the servants will think that I have suddenly become very religious and they will talk about it in the servants hall, if nowhere else.”

  “Servants! Servants!” the Earl cried. “They have changed the course of history more often than people are ever aware.”

  Flavia gave a little giggle.

  “That is true. So what are we going to do?”

  “I will think of something, but, of course, we can come here occasionally, if things are desperate. If I send a note with just a time on it, you will know what I mean.”

  “And I will do the same, but we will have to leave the notes somewhere, otherwise our staff are bound to talk, and if we carry on avoiding each other, then Papa may get suspicious.”

  “I think that Lord Linwood and Lord Carlsby are fussing quite unnecessarily. I would hate to just disappear from Windsor Castle and leave the Queen wondering what had upset me.”

  “No, of course you cannot do that. It must be very nice for Her Majesty to have someone young and of course handsome, to talk to.”

  She exaggerated the word handsome and he said,

  “If you tease me too much about that, I will grow a beard, wear dark glasses and dye my hair white!”

  “That would be sensational and would doubtless cause headlines in the newspapers.”

  “No seriously,” the Earl protested, “I am sick of people going on about my looks, while naturally you are only too willing to listen to people eulogising about yours.”

  “I am delighted that people think I am pretty. It would be awful if I was so plain no one ever noticed me!”

  “I suppose you are right, Flavia, and we should be grateful for small mercies.”

  “I think these are particularly big ones. The trouble is that it gives my father ideas and it is doubtless tedious for you that all the ambitious mothers pursue you.”

  “Not because of my looks, but because of my title. I assure you that I have no wish to marry anyone, including you.”

  “I can say exactly the same,” asserted Flavia. “But I expect we will both be trapped sooner or later and the best solution is to avoid it for as long as possible.”

  “If you talk like that,” the Earl said, “I will leave England immediately and go to Timbuktu or perhaps one of the deserts I have not yet visited. The Arab women, I assure you, keep their faces and themselves well hidden!”

  Flavia giggled again.

  “Don’t make me laugh, as my maid, although a little deaf, might hear me.”

  “Did you bring a maid with you, Flavia?”

  “Of course I did. I am a young lady and I therefore have to be chaperoned.”

  “I had forgotten that piece of protocol. How would you like to roam over the desert or the mountains of Tibet without anyone to bother about you?”

  “It is the sort of venture that will never be possible unless I was with my husband,” replied Flavia. “I assure you that I would then enjoy it enormously.”

  “One day perhaps I will be able to tell you about it and how wonderful it is, but now it looks unlikely that we will be able to have a sensible conversation of any sort.”

  “It’s a subject I would so love to hear about and I have read a great number of books about it. I would love to go to Tibet and, if you ask me my greatest ambition, I would like to be the first woman to climb Mont Blanc.”

  He began to laugh, then quickly stopped himself by putting his hand over his mouth.

  “That’s not the right answer,” he smiled. “What you should really be saying, as a nicely brought up young lady, is that you wish to marry a Marquis or a Duke and open a Flower Show every day for the rest of your life!”

  It was Flavia’s turn to stop herself from laughing o
ut loud.

  “Can you think of anything more boring? But I imagine most young women who are making their debut at the moment would think it the nearest thing to Heaven.”

  “Of course they would,” he agreed, “and perhaps the only way we could escape from being married without our consent is to run away to one of the places where no white man or woman has ever been before.”

  Flavia sighed.

  “That is what you can do only too easily, but I am unfortunately a woman and therefore I have to obey the conventions, whether I like it or not.”

  “Of course you must. And you must help me to be clever enough not to be caught in this very uncomfortable whirlpool which I now know is threatening me.”

  “If you send me a letter, don’t give it to a servant, just address it to me,” Flavia suggested, “and then drop it through the letter box, preferably when no one is looking.”

  “I will do that, but how can you communicate with me?”

  Flavia thought for a moment.

  “I have just thought of a better way for both of us. There is a statue in the gardens of Grosvenor Square. I noticed when I was looking at it yesterday that a heel of the statue has cracked and it would be quite easy to slip a note underneath it.”

  The Earl nodded and she continued,

  “When you are passing this way, just go into the gardens. Then look under the heel at the foot of the statue to see if I have left anything there for you.”

  The Earl smiled.

  “I will and leave my note for you there.”

  “That will make it exciting for me – ”

  “You are very clever and I am beginning to suspect this is a game that will amuse us for some time to come.”

  Flavia was silent for a moment and then she said,

  “To be married to someone you don’t love is not at all amusing! Remember, if we are caught in what they will call a compromising situation, as they intend us to be, it will be impossible for either of us to object to becoming publicly engaged or else cause a fearful scandal.”

  “You are right, Flavia, we must take this seriously.”

  “Indeed we must, but at this very moment we are laughing at it. And if you are forced to take me as your wife, you will not be laughing, nor will I.”

  The Earl looked at her.

  “That is a funny thing for you to say. I have always thought that all the women I met longed to marry me and it was only I who was in opposition to the idea.”

  “I assure you that I have no wish to marry you or anyone else I don’t love,” Flavia insisted. “I will be very critical and suspicious of anyone who says he loves me.”

  She spoke earnestly and the Earl was thinking she looked very lovely.

  Then he held out his hand and took hers.

  “I promise you that I will play this game seriously and we must both contrive with everything in our power to outwit those who are threatening us.”

  Flavia took her hand from his.

  “Thank you, now please wait for five minutes while I collect my old maid and walk away.

  “I think ten minutes will be safer,” the Earl replied. “I am not in the habit of dropping in here and anyone who sees me coming out of the Chapel might think it strange.”

  “You are so clever, you think of everything,” Flavia said. “That was stupid of me.”

  “You have been very canny so far and good luck in the future.”

  “And the same to you.”

  Then she rose and left him.

  As he heard her footsteps going down the stairs, he reflected that never in his whole life had he been in such an extraordinary situation.

  Nor had he ever had a partner who was so beautiful, at the same time so out-spoken and definitely intelligent.

  As he thought of Lord Linwood and Lord Carlsby, he smiled.

  ‘We will now give the old gentlemen a run for their money,’ he told himself. ‘It will certainly be something new and a situation I could never have expected in my wildest dreams.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  Flavia found herself overwhelmed with invitations.

  She had to consult her father as to which ones she should accept and he was most helpful by describing his friendship or association with each hostess.

  She attended three very large balls and to her relief the Earl was not at any of them.

  Equally she could not help thinking it was much more amusing talking to him than with any of the young gentlemen she danced with.

  They were either the same age or only a little older than she and after they had paid her fulsome compliments, she found there was really very little else to talk about.

  Some were in the Army but posted only in London Barracks and others had been studying at University and none of them had travelled.

  People she was really interested in were those who had visited far-off countries she hoped one day to see.

  However, to please her father she made herself as pleasant as she could.

  At the end of the week she confided in him,

  “I have had two proposals of marriage, Papa, and another is only on the horizon at the moment but is coming nearer every day.”

  Her father looked surprised.

  Even before he spoke she knew he was worried that she might accept someone other than the Earl.

  “You should not be in a hurry,” he replied after a moment’s silence. “You must remember, my dear, that the man you marry will be with you for the rest of your life. Therefore you have to be very sure that he is the right one before you accept him.”

  “That is just what I have thought, Papa, and when I remember how happy you and Mama were, I knew at once that I would never be happy with any of the men who have proposed to be.”

  “Of course, I also want you to make an important marriage,” he added.

  She realied at once that he was thinking of the Earl and answered him innocently,

  “Do you mean me to marry someone with a title?”

  “Of course I do. I want you to marry someone of importance socially, who has an estate as large as our own and naturally outstanding horses.”

  Flavia realised that he was describing the Earl very accurately, so she responded,

  “I don’t think I know anyone like that. In fact the gentlemen who asked me to dance last night all had healthy fathers who are not likely to pass on their Coronets, if they have one, for another forty or fifty years!”

  Lord Linwood laughed as if he could not help it.

  “I hope it will not be as bad as that, my dear, but the eldest son of a Peer is always someone of significance. As you are so exceptionally beautiful, I feel that only the very best is good enough for you.”

  Flavia’s eyes were twinkling as she answered,

  “You must really be thinking about the Prince of Wales, Papa. But he, as we both know, is married with five children!”

  He laughed again.

  “I was not referring to the Prince of Wales, but when he was a young man he was undoubtedly the greatest catch in the matrimonial calendar.”

  “I think Princess Alexandra must be a Saint to put up with the way he goes on now.”

  She was recalling how engrossed he was with Mrs. Langtry and she felt that, if her husband behaved like that, she would be extremely angry.

  “The Prince of Wales is a law unto himself,” Lord Linwood continued. “What I am thinking about, my dear, is that you should have the best of life in the future and I hope that when you do fall in love, which you undoubtedly will, it will be with a gentleman of title and authority, who will look after you when I am no longer here.”

  Flavia longed to say that the people she needed to be protected from were him and Lord Carlsby!

  Instead she declared innocently,

  “I am sure, Papa, that this wonderful suitor will fall down from Heaven eventually. But I assure you up to now I have not met him.”

  She knew that he was longing to contradict her, but he was too wise to do so.

  Sh
e kept wondering what would be the next step he and Lord Carlsby would take to bring the Earl and herself together.

  *

  For the moment he seemed to have disappeared out of her world and she suspected that, when her father came back from Windsor short-tempered and disagreeable, that the Earl was stirring things up there with the Queen.

  Every day she made the same excuse to go into the Square.

  She looked eagerly to see if there was a message for her under the statue.

  By a stroke of luck she had found out Mr. Wilson had a dog.

  When her father was in residence, he was left at home, but otherwise Mr. Wilson brought him to his office.

  “Bracken is very good,” he told Flavia. “I take him for a run either in the garden or into the Square. He meets dogs there who belong to other residents and, as he is such a very friendly creature, they never fight.”

  “I must see him,” said Flavia. “So please bring him in every morning when you come to do our letters. I will take him for a run, so that you don’t feel you are wasting Papa’s time.”

  Mr. Wilson was delighted at the idea, as she knew he had worried because he had to leave his dog for many hours alone in his small flat.

  It was an excellent excuse for going into the Square with Bracken and while he enjoyed himself with the other dogs, she looked eagerly under the foot of the statue.

  This was now the fourth day since she had talked with the Earl.

  She thought that, if there was nothing there for her soon, it would be very disappointing.

  She had been enjoying the intrigue, even though it was serious, with a man who was a good bit older than her.

  The young men she danced with were all brainless and the Earl played the ‘game’, as he called it, with a quick intelligence.

  She had hoped to see him in Rotten Row.

  But, after the first day they had met there, he had not appeared again.

  She had the idea he either went much earlier in the morning or to another part of the Park and it was somehow disappointing when he did not come riding towards her.

  He looked, she had to admit, magnificent on one of his superb thoroughbreds.

  She went first to Mr. Wilson’s office.

  “Good morning, Miss Flavia,” he said. “There is another pile of invitations for you and I am prepared to bet that no other debutante has ever received so many in such a short time!”