A Prisioner in Paris

by Barbara Cartland

  ‘If I marry anyone,’ she often thought, ‘I want to be as happy as Papa and Mama. At the same time I want to travel round the world so that I can meet people of other nations and see if their country is run as well as ours.’

  Even as she thought about it, she knew that it was an impossible dream.

  If she did marry it would be someone local and they would then settle down and enjoy having enough money to spend on their house and garden.

  So there would be little chance of travelling to other parts of the world.

  ‘There are so many beautiful places I long to see,’ she mused to herself.

  But she felt that she would have to be content with reading about them and seeing many of the places she wanted to visit portrayed in the paintings at The Castle.

  When she thought of the paintings, she knew that she would do everything in her power to prevent them from being taken away by the French robbers.

  Somehow they had to circumvent the Comte in his wicked plot to take them from him by force.

  It was so very clever of Lord Lanwood to confront him as he did.

  ‘Actually,’ she thought, ‘we would indeed be wise when we return home to do exactly as he said.’

  As there actually was a Barracks only twenty miles away, it would be possible for them to help to save the treasures in The Castle if the Comte did try to steal them.

  Once again she thought how astute Lord Lanwood had been in thinking of a way to stop him attempting such an outrage.

  He was sure that when they returned home it would be wise to have more men on guard than there were at the moment, and certainly, as he had said, to somehow arrange for the Barracks to protect them.

  ‘It is so clever, so very very clever,’ she thought. ‘How could he bear to lose any of those treasures in The Castle, which he loves and which have been collected by his family for generations?’

  She knew that if he did lose any he would be heart-broken.

  How then could she comfort him?

  As she thought about this, she imagined putting her arms round him and holding him as she would have done to a child if it had been hurt and was crying.

  She imagined that Lord Lanwood was crying on her shoulder.

  Then she told herself that she was being ridiculous.

  If anything did happen and he lost the treasures that mattered so much to him, she was sure that he would not cry but make every effort to bring them back by whatever means.

  ‘Of course I would help him,’ she pondered.

  Then she could only think of the woman who had been so pleased to see him and who was with him now.

  If she was someone he admired, then, of course, he would go to her for comfort.

  It was nearly an hour later, although it seemed to Isa as if it was a century, that she heard the door next to her close.

  She then knew Lord Lanwood had retired to bed on his own,

  *

  As it happened he had had considerable difficulty in persuading Rose-Marie that he was tired and so could not go to her bedroom as she suggested so provocatively.

  “I have a great deal to do early tomorrow morning,” he said. “I am sure you will understand that as pleased as I am to see you, my dear, I need my beauty sleep.”

  “I could give you so much more than sleep,” Rose-Marie whispered.

  “I know that, I know it only too well,” he replied. “But the answer is that I have a great deal to do in Paris especially to look after my niece. Therefore, my dear, we must wait for another time. Perhaps I will come over for a weekend a little later on.”

  “Then we will be together,” she cooed softly, “as we have been before. You know how happy I make you.”

  “You have always been so delightful and charming and no man could help being happy with you,” he said, choosing his words with care. “But I am going to leave you now and we will talk again tomorrow if there is time.”

  He kissed her and she put her arms round his neck.

  He deliberately took them away and told her,

  “Now you are not to tempt me. So goodnight, dear Rose-Marie, and let me say again it is delightful to see you looking even lovelier than on my last visit.”

  She was too clever to press him into staying when he obviously wanted her to leave him.

  She merely said as he kissed her again,

  “Au Revoir, mon cher. I only hope the time when we can be together is not too far away.”

  Lord Lanwood escorted her to the bottom of the stairs as she was on the floor higher than they were.

  Then he went back to his suite.

  He had enjoyed a passionate affaire-de-coeur with Rose-Marie two years ago.

  He had to admit that she was charming, amusing and very experienced when it came to love. But he had always thought it a mistake to move the past back into the present.

  If he was honest, although he was fond of Rose-Marie in a way, he had no wish to be involved with her as he had been before.

  It was only when he was undressed and in bed that he wondered why he felt like that.

  But he knew that, once the leaping flames of a love affair had died down, it was almost impossible to resurrect them.

  So he turned over in his bed and five minutes later he was fast asleep.

  *

  Isa, however, could not sleep even though she knew that Lord Lanwood had come to bed and was doubtless now in dreamland.

  ‘Perhaps,’ she thought, ‘he will concentrate more on a way of rescuing Charles. It was so brilliant of him to think of alarming the Comte the way he did.’

  She was sure that, now he thought he knew how strongly The Castle was protected, he would realise that it was impossible for him to possess the paintings he had set his heart on.

  And he would have to look elsewhere to increase his collection.

  Then suddenly an idea came to her.

  Supposing, because Charles was no longer useful to him, the Comte would want to kill him in case he might talk.

  Of course the Comte had no idea that they had been in contact with Charles.

  But Charles was well aware of what he had been planning and how he could steal the paintings and a great many other priceless objects from the Castle?”

  If Charles came back to civilisation and talked, then there was no doubt that he could do the Comte a great deal of harm.

  In that case the Comte would undoubtedly feel that he must eliminate Charles in some way so that he was incapable of doing him any damage.

  Isa was so frightened at the idea that she sat up in bed abruptly.

  She was now beginning to realise that in saving The Castle Lord Lanwood had almost condemned Charles to die.

  She desperately wanted to go and tell him now, at once, what she was thinking.

  Then she realised that it was something she must not do and she must wait until the morning.

  ‘At the same time we will have to save him,’ she thought, ‘we must save him. I am sure that that wicked Comte will somehow try and destroy him.’

  It passed through her mind that perhaps Charles would have an unfortunate accident or one of the ruffians would be ordered to kill him.

  They could suffocate him while he was asleep and it would be impossible to prove that it was murder.

  In fact there were a dozen ways in which Charles could die and there would be no awkward questions asked in Paris and it might be a long time before anyone from England made enquiries as to what had actually happened.

  ‘We must do something, we must,’ Isa determined.

  Then, as it was natural for her to do so, she began to pray, to pray as she had done ever since she was a child.

  She was sure, as she always had been, that God was listening to her.

  She prayed and she prayed.

  Then, almost as if God Himself was listening to her, she knew the answer to her prayer.

  She thought it over carefully, yet she was quite sure that the plan had come to her from God.

  Therefore
it was, in point of fact, the only way to save Charles.

  ‘I must have all my wits about me in the morning to convince Lord Lanwood,’ she told herself.

  Then she lay down on her bed and forced herself to try to sleep.

  *

  She had, as it happened, dozed off just as the sky was becoming lighter and a new day had begun.

  But, when the maid called her as she had told her to do at eight o’clock, she was wide awake.

  The plan to rescue Charles, which had come to her in the night, was still there in her mind.

  She was so certain of the one way that they could save him and then take him back to The Castle where he belonged.

  She had always thought how he must have suffered in having to give to the Comte the information about his family treasures that meant so much to all of them.

  Of course he had known only too well that the Comte was obsessed and why he was being asked so many questions by the ruffians that he had to answer.

  And why the men attacked him forcibly when he tried to escape and had then received the injuries that Isa had treated for him.

  She could only hope, as she dressed herself, that his wounds were no longer so painful and that he could move about as he had been unable to do when she first saw him.

  Isa dressed quicker than usual and was waiting in their private dining room ready for her breakfast some time before Lord Lanwood appeared.

  When he did, she thought, as he entered the room, that he somehow brought the sunshine with him.

  Although she was afraid he might laugh at her plan she would somehow, with God’s help, be able to convince him that it was the one way to rescue Charles.

  “Good morning, Isa,” Lord Lanwood greeted her, as he came into the dining room. “I hope you slept well and were not too tired after the party last night.”

  Isa was about to answer him when waiters came in carrying their breakfast and they laid it on the table in the centre of the room.

  She could see the gold of the croissants and smelt the rich aroma of the coffee.

  When at last they left and Lord Lanwood rose from the chair where he had been reading a French newspaper, she said as they sat down beside each other,

  “I have something new to suggest to you, my Lord. Something you may think strange, but we have to rescue Charles.”

  As she spoke so fervently, Lord Lanwood looked at her in surprise.

  ‘Rescue Charles!” he exclaimed. “But, of course, Isa, that is why we are here! But I am not certain that it is an enterprise that we can succeed in very easily.”

  “I do believe,” Isa said, “that we must do it at once. Otherwise it could be dangerous. That wicked Comte will somehow destroy him!”

  “I cannot imagine that any man would do a thing like that in cold blood,” Lord Lanwood replied. “After all it would make him as bad as the lowest and commonest criminal.”

  Isa paused for a moment before she pointed out,

  “You could hardly think anything else of him if you woke up one morning to find the walls of The Castle bare.”

  “Of course you are right,” Lord Lanwood agreed. “But when he was talking to me last night and behaving, one might say, as a perfect gentleman, it’s difficult to think of him as a thief and a murderer – a man who would stop at nothing to take whatever he desires.”

  “Exactly!” Isa exclaimed. “That is why we have to work quickly now you have alerted him into thinking that his desire and greed for what you possess is unobtainable.”

  “I only hope he believes it. I woke up this morning thinking that we could go home now, taking Charles with us and never think of the Comte again.”

  “How then, my Lord” Isa asked him, “can we take Charles with us?”

  “I have been wondering about that,” Lord Lanwood murmured. “In point of fact I was going to ask you if you think they would hand Charles over to me if I turned up at the place you visited.”

  “I am quite certain they would do nothing of the sort,” Isa told him. “I have seen them and they are horrible, ghastly men. Men who would do anything for money and that naturally also applies to Pierre.”

  Lord Lanwood stared at her.

  “To Pierre! But he is behaving so well. After all he has taken you disguised as a nurse to what must be the inner sanctum of thieves and robbers. As you said, Charles has benefited by your visits. We can only be grateful to Pierre for arranging them so subtly.”

  There was silence for a moment before Isa said,

  “I still think, in fact I am sure, that if we go back to England without Charles he will never leave that dreadful prison alive.”

  Lord Lanwood put down his knife and fork.

  “Do you really mean that?” he asked. “Are you quite certain that those men would kill their prisoner just because he might talk?”

  “I think the Comte will insist on it,” Isa said. “It could so easily be done where Charles is concerned. And if he is dead and buried neither the Comte nor the ghastly men who have imprisoned him will ever think of him again.”

  “Then what on earth can either of us do.” Lord Lanwood asked anxiously.

  “That is exactly what I am going to tell you,” Isa replied. “But we must make quite certain that no one hears us.”

  She rose from her chair as she spoke and walked towards the door.

  It was a little ajar and, as she expected, the waiters who had brought in their breakfast were waiting outside to take it away when they had finished.

  She glanced at them.

  Then she closed the door, saying aloud,

  “You are quite right, my Lord, there is a draught here because the door is open.”

  She then moved back to the table and said to Lord Lanwood,

  “Even though we are speaking English, I think that we should wait until we are outside or somewhere we are quite certain that we will not be overheard.”

  “You are making me very curious,” Lord Lanwood smiled. “But I want to tell you first of all what a success you were last night and you looked very lovely in the dress that Frederick Worth made for you.”

  He paused for a moment before he added,

  “As I have been trying to think of the best way of thanking you for coming here with me and helping me, I am going to order more six dresses from him today. He can give us the ones that are ready and the rest can follow.”

  “Six dresses!” Isa cried in astonishment. “How can you be so kind and when will I be able to wear them?”

  “I also have another present for you,” he went on, “which is only right after all that you have done for me. I intend to give two balls for you, one in London and one in the country.”

  Isa smiled at him and then she said,

  “I don’t believe it. It is all too wonderful, but do you really mean it, my Lord?”

  “It will be very wonderful when you are dressed by Frederick Worth,” Lord Lanwood replied, “and look as you were meant to look.”

  There was a short silence before he continued,

  “I thought last night when you were playing the part of the girl who was about to go to a Finishing School, yet looking exceedingly attractive in that white dress, that no one else would be as brave as you have been nor as helpful in every way. Therefore you must allow me to thank you.”

  “I am overwhelmed,” Isa answered. “I just cannot imagine having two balls given for me and wearing lovely Frederick Worth dresses. It will stun the County!”

  “It will also stun London, I am quite certain of that. I have a number of friends who will be only too pleased to invite you to their dances. You will therefore have exactly the Season you deserve.”

  Isa laughed.

  “You make it sound so like a Fairy story, which, of course, it is. But I am also overwhelmed at the thought of a ball in The Castle Ballroom. But perhaps I will be lost if there is one in London as well where I will know very few people.”

  “But I know everyone who really matters,” Lord Lanwood boasted. “And
they will only be too pleased to dance in my ballroom, which has been closed up ever since my mother died.”

  “Two – balls!” Isa said in a breathless voice. “I cannot believe that what you are saying is true.”

  “It is true and I always keep my promise. Now, if you want to tell me the secret that must not be overheard, let’s go out and sit in the garden at the back of the hotel. I am quite certain that the birds will not lip-read what you are telling me!”

  Isa laughed.

  “The birds can do so, but no one else. You have to promise me that you will listen carefully even though my idea may sound very strange. Yet I know that if we can possibly do it, using all our wits together, we will win and be able to take Charles back to England with us.”

  “I promise I will listen,” Lord Lanwood said, “and, if it’s at all possible, do what you want me to do. When we have finished talking, I will take you to Frederick Worth and buy the dresses I promised you.”

  “That will be one of the most exciting presents I have ever been given,” Isa replied. “I don’t know how to thank you, my Lord.”

  She looked up into his eyes as she spoke.

  Just for a moment neither of them could move.

  Then he pushed back his chair and urged,

  “Come along, Isa. The garden is waiting for us and I am impatient to hear what you have to suggest to me.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Charles was waiting in his usual position hoping almost against hope that Isa would come to him.

  He could scarcely believe it possible that she was brave enough to dress up as a nurse and go among the riff-raff he was surrounded by without being afraid.

  He realised, of course, that to a certain extent her position protected her.

  It would indeed be a brave man who would attack a Priest or a nurse in France.

  He knew that the reason she was respected was that they themselves were often desperately in need of a nurse and they would therefore think it very unlucky if not most foolish to annoy one.

  His arm was definitely better, but he still found it very difficult to move about.

  He knew that it would take a long time to recover from the effect of the wound and his loss of blood.