When his father had died she had taken for granted that that privilege would not be taken away from her, but in fact it was not queried because Lord Lanwood was abroad so much or else in London.
That he loved travelling was not surprising and Isa often felt wistfully that she would like to travel too.
If only she was as lucky and as rich as he was.
Now she told herself that being with him had been one of the most thrilling things which had ever happened to her.
She did not like to think that after tomorrow the drama, the excitement and the battle of wits would end and he would only have the memory of it to comfort her.
‘I am asking too much that this should go on for ever,’ she scolded herself severely.
Then she fought back the tears which came into her eyes.
If there was one thing that Lord Lanwood excelled in, it was being prepared and on time for everything.
She knew that the servants at The Castle had been afraid of being late for his father and so they took it for granted that they must always be on time for his son.
The Vicar was seldom at home for his luncheon or dinner. If he should be delayed by someone who was sick, worried or relying on him for comfort, he would never think of himself before the person who needed him.
Isa had therefore become used to keeping his food hot or at times, helping their old cook to prepare another dish at any hour rather than the right one when he should have returned home.
But Lord Lanwood was very different.
She realised as soon as they had set off for France that he expected everything to be exactly as he had planned it and he would be surprised rather than angry if it did not happen.
Isa therefore started to dress for dinner long before there was any need for her to be ready.
She had not gone to the sitting room for tea for the simple reason that she guessed Rose-Marie would still be with him.
So she would not be wanted.
She would, to put it bluntly, be an intruder.
She tried very hard not to think about them.
But she felt her heart almost turn a somersault when there was a knock on the door and Lord Lanwood asked,
“Can I come in, Isa?”
She was in the process of arranging her hair and was wearing her dressing gown and was therefore quite respectable.
“Yes, come in,” she called out and he opened the door.
“Are you now getting ready for dinner?” he asked unnecessarily.
She smiled at him.
“I am trying to decide which of the many glorious dresses you so kindly bought me I should wear tonight.”
“You have to look glamorous,” he answered, “and, of course, very beautiful.”
Isa sighed.
“With the competition you have supplied for me, I expect I will come in last!”
“I think you will be first,” he retorted. “I hoped that you would have joined us for tea.”
“I wanted to, but felt that I would be intruding,” Isa replied.
He laughed.
“Rose-Marie might have thought that, but I missed you. Hurry up and dress so that we can have a minute or two to ourselves before the guests arrive.”
“I will,” Isa answered. “I expect the servant who has been valeting you has put out your clothes ready for you.”
“I hope he has packed as I told him to do,” Lord Lanwood said.
He then left the room, closing the door behind him.
Feeling suddenly as if she was dancing in sunshine, Isa jumped up and gazed into her open case.
She had a long look at one dress which she had particularly liked in Frederick Worth’s shop.
She thought it was the loveliest and more exciting than any gown could ever be.
It was a very pale pink with some silver and the flowers all over it were glittering with diamanté while the diamonds and pearls decorated the low neck.
‘I will wear this one,’ Isa thought. ‘If he does not see me again for a long time, perhaps he will remember the entrancing gown.’
They were both dressed and ready long before their guests arrived.
Lord Lanwood had a few final words with Pierre, who assured him that everything he had told him to do had been carried out.
At a quarter-to-eight when Isa and Lord Lanwood were in the sitting room, their guests began to arrive.
The first were a French couple his Lordship had known for several years and they were obviously delighted to see him again.
Then Rose-Marie joined them.
She was only a few minutes in advance of another couple, who were quite elderly and whose son had been a friend of Lord Lanwood for many years.
“I only wish Jacques could be with us,” his mother said. “I must write and tell him how well you are looking, Lionel.”
She was, of course, speaking in French.
It was then that the last, but the most consequential guest arrived.
The Comte de Roulé.
As he walked across the room, Lord Lanwood held out his hand.
Isa was praying that their first step towards victory was taking place.
There was champagne flowing and the conversation was amusing and at the same time interesting.
It was only when they had sat down to dinner that Isa reckoned that Pierre must by now have approached the Comte’s carriage.
Carrying out his instructions, he would have told the Comte’s coachman and footman that they had orders from the Comte to go to the place in Monmartre where Charles was and bring him back to the hotel.
Because they were well-trained servants, they did not question whether this was really in point of fact their employer’s orders and, when Pierre climbed in to show them the way, they drove off.
It was difficult for Isa to listen to the sparkling conversation round the table that kept everyone laughing.
She knew that she was expected to join in and this she did. At the same time she felt as if she was watching the clock constantly.
As dinner finally came to an end, she knew that by this time Charles should have been transferred from the Comte’s carriage into one at the back of the hotel where Pierre had arranged a special stretcher with soft cushions, on which Charles should now be lying.
The party continued to talk until at last the elderly couple reluctantly informed Lord Lanwood that they must go home, otherwise they would be too tired to do anything they had planned for tomorrow.
There were last drinks for everyone to toast Lord Lanwood’s health.
They were still laughing and talking when the clock had passed the hour of eleven and was moving towards the quarter past.
It was then with a sense of relief that Isa heard the Comte say he too must go home.
Lord Lanwood took him to the front door of the hotel and saw him into his carriage.
It was then that Isa told the rest of the party that they were leaving on the midnight Express for Calais.
“Well, you should be all right at this time of night,” one of the guests said, “and not be delayed as you would be earlier in the day.”
“All the same,” Isa remarked, “I think we ought to go now.”
There was nothing they could say but ‘goodbye’.
And even Rose-Marie had to bid a fond farewell to Lord Lanwood.
With her arms round his neck, she gave him a kiss which he did not refuse.
Isa had earlier arranged for their coats to be ready just outside the door of their sitting room.
When they hurried down the stairs, their luggage had already been put on the carriage that was to convey them to the Gare du Nord.
They actually stepped into it a few minutes after the half hour.
As Pierre climbed up in front with the coachman, Isa and Lord Lanwood got in beside Charles.
“You have been such a long time in coming,” were the words he greeted them with. “I was afraid that they had prevented you from joining me.”
“We have plenty of time,
” Isa told him. “Pierre has made our reservations for us and men are waiting to carry you aboard. We should be there in twenty minutes.”
She was quite right and the streets of Paris were empty at that time of the night.
As they then approached the Gare du Nord, just as Lord Lanwood had ordered, there were three porters to carry Charles onto the train.
A number of other porters attended to their luggage and they had obviously all been told that the traveller was a very generous man.
Everything went smoothly and as his Lordship had ordered.
Charles was in one sleeping compartment with Isa and Lord Lanwood on either side of him.
The porters were all delighted with their tips.
Pierre was almost dancing with excitement over the money that Lord Lanwood gave him.
“You have been splendid,” he told him, “and I am very grateful to you. I will always get in touch with you when I come to Paris.”
“Merci, monsieur, et bon voyage,” Pierre replied.
He stood hatless and bowed until the train moved off.
Then he waved, repeating over and over again,
“Bon voyage. Merci, monsieur, merci beaucoup.”
“You have made him a rich man,” Isa commented, as the train moved out of the station.
“He fully deserved it,” Lord Lanwood replied. “If anything had happened and we had had to leave Charles behind, we would have had to start the battle all over again. As it is, we have won and I could not have done it without your help and your bright ideas.”
“It does seem wonderful that everything has gone so smoothly,” Isa said, as the train began to gather speed. “And, when Charles gets to England, he must see a really good doctor. I am sure that he will soon be his old self again.”
“I think he has been very lucky in having you to attend to him,” Lord Lanwood replied. “And thank you, Isa, more than I can ever say in words, for helping me.”
Isa smiled.
“It has been the most exciting thing I have ever done in my whole life. I am so grateful that I could be with you, my Lord, and help win what you called a ‘battle’.”
“It certainly has been won,” Lord Lanwood agreed. “Now I want you to go to bed and sleep peacefully. We will arrive at Calais at some unearthly hour and then we have the sea crossing. Next by road to The Castle before we can really say that we have won and can celebrate as I dearly want to do.”
“I cannot believe that we will not be held up by the ghastly men who captured Charles,” Isa said. “Therefore once we are in England we will all be safe.”
“Of course we will,” Lord Lanwood agreed. “So goodnight, my dear, and thank you for everything you have done for me.”
Isa wanted to ask him to stay and go on talking to her, but she knew that he was as tired as she was.
She peeped in at Charles to find that he was fast asleep as he had been when they came aboard.
He appeared quite comfortable in the bed he had been carried to.
She then went to her own compartment and started to undress.
When finally she lay down on her bunk and realised that the train was moving even faster than it had been when it left Paris, she knew that their unusual and extraordinary adventure had finally come to an end.
She closed her eyes knowing that it was something she would always remember for the rest of her life.
At the same time, once they reached England, she knew that she would have lost him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lord Lanwood was very much relieved when they reached Calais and that there were two men from the ferry with a stretcher for Charles.
As he was still fast asleep, it took some time to cover him with the thick travelling coat that Lord Lanwood had bought for him in Paris.
He was delighted when he came on board to find that he had a double cabin he could share with Charles and look after him in the night, while Isa had a small cabin next door.
As it happened the ferry was not very full.
They left Calais just as the stars were beginning to fade and the moon was sinking behind the clouds.
Charles had woken up and said to Lord Lanwood,
“You certainly travel in style, Uncle Lionel.”
“I have been very lucky to be able to book the cabin I wanted,” Lord Lanwood replied. “At the same time few people except businessmen travel at night. I only hope that my most comfortable carriage is waiting for us on the quay when we reach Dover.”
“I cannot imagine how you have been so clever as to get me out of that terrible place I was in,” Charles said. “I thought every day before you arrived that the sooner I died the better. It was only a question of offending one of those men to be given a blow that would undoubtedly have killed me.”
“You must not talk like that,” Lord Lanwood told him. “You have been through a bad experience, but, if you had been a soldier, you would have gone through worse. But once you are well you can enjoy yourself. I assure you that there are some very pretty girls in England who will help you to do so.”
Charles laughed.
“I don’t think that any pretty girl would look at me at the moment,” he replied. “But I will be thrilled to be back home at The Castle. I have always thought of it as being ‘home’ and now you say I can stay with you that is all I ask.”
“I want The Castle to be a place for all the family,” Lord Lanwood said seriously. “I realise that we have all been living out our own lives, drifting in one direction or another and really knowing so little about family life and, of course, The Castle itself.”
“It has always been in my dreams,” Charles said, “from the moment I stayed there as a child, it has already meant more to me than anywhere else.”
“That is what I want you to feel,” Lord Lanwood said. “But it is big enough, when I do have a family, to hold you all even if you marry and then have dozens of children yourself.”
Charles smiled.
“I am not likely to do so on my salary.”
“I intend to talk to you about that when you are better,” Lord Lanwood told him. “Actually I have a job for you, which I think you will find interesting and which is well paid.”
Charles looked at him in surprise.
Then he said,
“Tell me what it is before I wake up!”
His Lordship laughed.
“We will talk about it when you are feeling better,” he said again. “If you are not too tired now, then I am and I want to go to sleep.”
“Very well, Uncle Lionel, but it’s just like holding a delicious meal in front of a hungry man and snatching it away before he can eat it.”
Lord Lanwood grinned.
He had always believed that Charles had a good imagination and he wanted to help him as he would have wanted to help a brother if he had one.
*
The two men slept while Isa next door found it hard to go to sleep.
Her longing for Lord Lanwood was increasing hour by hour.
She begrudged every moment when she could not be near him, because in the future it might be difficult to see him often, if at all.
Of course she would have a glimpse occasionally of him in Church, as, when he was at The Castle, he always turned up in Church on Sundays, as was expected of him, and read the Lesson.
But she was quite certain when they reached home that he would go back to London and all the very beautiful women he knew there would be waiting for him.
Her father did not take many newspapers as he had little time to read them.
But in The Morning Post, which he did take, there were always many references to the London hostesses who entertained and whose larger parties and balls appeared in the Social columns.
Isa would search through them every day for news of Lord Lanwood, also for others in the County she knew.
He was invariably mentioned at the smartest parties and balls given by the leading hostesses.
Sometimes he would be reported as being p
resent at Marlborough House if the Prince and Princess of Wales gave a party that was an official one and so not private.
Now she thought, after being with him so closely and intimately these last few days, she would go back to merely reading his name in the newspapers and catching a brief glimpse of him when she was out riding.
‘He has been so kind and so complimentary about everything I have done,’ she thought. ‘But he will forget about me again when he is surrounded by lovely women from London and he has so many interests besides those he has to cope with on his huge estate.’
Even to think of him made her heart seem to beat a little quicker and she had never felt like this in her life before.
Now that she had to admit that she was in love with him to herself and she found herself going over and over in her mind all the conversations they had had together.
As well as the way he had praised her on how she had first managed to reach Charles disguised as a nurse and how eventually it was she who had found a way for him to escape.
“I will be eternally grateful to you,” he had said to her when they had walked towards the carriage at the back of the hotel. “How could you have thought of anything so brilliant as to send the Comte’s carriage to collect him?”
“I think it was in answer to my prayers,” Isa had said in reply.
Lord Lanwood had smiled at her.
“You must go on praying that Charles will soon be well enough to be able to forget the dreadful horrors he has been through.”
They had almost reached the door at the end of the passage when he added,
“I will never forget how wonderful you have been and it is entirely due to you, Isa, that we have been able to rescue Charles from a fate that would have been almost worse than death.”
Isa had not been able to answer him, because a man opened the door for them and they saw the carriage that contained Charles waiting outside.
Their luggage had already been put on the back of the carriage.
With a little stab in her heart, Isa had realised that this was really the end.
They were leaving Paris and they were going home.
After that she would lose the one man who filled her heart and her mind.
A Prisioner in Paris Page 11
