Teresa knew only too well how, because her father was so rich and successful, the press were always following him about.
They wrote in the newspapers about everything he was doing and they reiterated over and over again how much money he had and how much more he had made since the last time they wrote about him.
Very much the same thing happened to the Marquis.
His name was mentioned almost daily in The Court Circular and continued to be the joy and delight of the gossipmongers.
They drove a little further.
Then at last Teresa said,
“I will do it, Papa – but you will have to help me – I could not – bear to let you or the Marquis down.”
“Thank you, my dearest,” Sir Hubert answered quietly.
They drove on in silence.
CHAPTER FOUR
When Teresa first saw Stoke Palace, she was speechless.
She had learned that it was magnificent and impressive because she had heard about it so often.
But she had no idea it would be quite so large, or appear to have stepped straight out of a fairytale.
It shimmered in the sunshine and the Marquis’s standard was flying from the tallest tower.
She could hardly believe that it was real.
Because she had heard it said so often she knew of course that Vanbrugh had built it. He had been the architect both for Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, which were renowned for their beauty and style.
The Marquis of the day – in 1726 – was determined to be more important than the Duke of Marlborough, who had been given Blenheim Palace by a grateful nation.
The Marquis therefore gave Vanbrugh carte blanche to do what he considered was really outstanding.
Vanbrugh was delighted.
He had experienced some very difficult and unpleasant years with Sarah, the Duchess of Marlborough. She had disliked him and fought him over every plan and, as he said himself, over practically every brick that was laid at Blenheim.
So he was pleased to be given a free hand and his vivid imagination had conjured up the most fantastic building it was possible to create.
The Marquis was delighted when people were so impressed by it.
Sir Hubert talked about The Palace to Teresa until they arrived at the front door.
The Marquis and Harry greeted them from the top of the steps.
It seemed extraordinary that this was the first time that Teresa had ever met Harry, especially as Sir Hubert was so involved with Stoke Palace. In fact seldom a day passed that he and the Marquis were not in communication with each other.
Teresa appreciated the warmth in the Marquis’s voice when he greeted his friend saying,
“Hubert! I am delighted to see you!”
“And I am delighted to be here!” Sir Hubert replied. “How are you Harry? I hear you have been enjoying yourself in London after being so bored towards the end of your time in France.”
Teresa was looking at Harry as her father spoke.
She thought that he was even better looking than she had expected after all that she had been told about him.
She had been sure that he would be unusual, but she had not thought he would be so handsome in a particularly masculine way.
He was also broad-shouldered and had the narrow hips of an athlete.
She knew without being told that he was as good a horseman as his uncle boasted him to be.
“Come in! Come in!” the Marquis invited them. “As this is Teresa’s first visit, we have a great deal to show her.”
“I trust the horses have arrived safely?” Sir Hubert asked Harry.
“Yes, Sir Hubert, and I am extremely grateful to you,” Harry replied. “They are appreciating their very comfortable stables which my uncle tells me were built from your plans.”
“I left The Palace to him, but I do know more about stables than he does!”
“I am not certain which is the more luxurious!” Harry laughed.
They went into The Palace and the Great Hall immediately impressed Teresa.
It had two tiers of diamond-paned windows rising to a magnificently painted ceiling of a profusion of cupids flitting around Venus.
Teresa thought without seeing more that this made it the most unusual building she had ever imagined.
Later she was to be thrilled by the State dining room and the library, where the Marquis had collected nearly a thousand books.
At the moment, as they were walking into the drawing room, Harry said,
“I have heard a great deal about you, Teresa.”
“Not half as much as I have heard about you,” Teresa replied, “and I made up my mind long ago that if everything that was said was true, you could not be real, but merely the hero out of an adventure story.”
Harry laughed.
“I assure you, I am very real, especially when I have a chance of riding the marvellous horses that your father has sent us.”
“I am looking forward to riding them too,” Teresa said.
She saw Harry look at her and knew he was thinking that they would be too much for her to handle.
She therefore replied quickly,
“It is what I have every intention of doing, if you are thinking of opposing me.”
“I would not dare to do such a thing,” Harry retorted. “At the same time, as they are still young, they undoubtedly need a firm hand.”
Teresa smiled.
Because she was small, a number of people had thought that she should have something quiet and docile to ride.
But what she really enjoyed was a horse that was difficult, like those her father had just purchased being very highly bred, were certain to be.
She did not wish to argue with Harry, but somehow, as her father had suggested, to make him aware of her.
“I will tell you what I would like to do,” she said. “After we have had luncheon, perhaps we could ride the horses, providing they are not too tired?”
“They arrived yesterday,” Harry said, “and although it was a long journey, they have had a good rest with a lot of people tending them.”
“Then please let’s ride them,” She knew he was doubtful that she could manage to ride them and he replied,
“Perhaps you would like to have a look at what else my uncle has in the stable?”
“Are you refusing the challenge I have offered you?” Teresa asked. “I was going to suggest to Papa, because he would enjoy it so much, that tomorrow we have a competition over the jumps, which I hear he has erected on the new Racecourse he is building for your uncle.”
“You seem to know more about it than I do!” Harry complained. “I had no idea he was going to have a Racecourse.”
“Of course he is. You must exercise yourself properly when you are in the country!”
Harry’s eyes twinkled.
“Now you are rebuking me as my uncle has done for staying so long in London!” he said, “but I find it very amusing after being abroad for so long.”
He paused then added,
“And Englishwomen are undoubtedly very pretty!”
He was looking at her in a complimentary manner.
She was sure, however, that he was thinking of the beautiful redheaded Camille Clyde. “That is true,” she agreed. “At the same time I have always been told we are not so witty or so clever as our French counterparts.” Harry had obviously not thought of this before and she noticed he mulled it over before he replied,
“Perhaps it is a mistake for a beautiful woman to be clever. She would be continually contradicting anything one said.”
“She might also be stimulating a man to do more and inspiring him to reach the top of his particular profession.”
She hesitated for a moment.
Then, lowering her voice so that her father would not hear her, she said,
“That is what my Mama did and my Papa’s huge success was, I assure you, in many ways due to her.”
She thought Harry looked surprised.
Then in case he
should think she was preaching to him, she looked around the room they had just entered.
Before he could say anything, she exclaimed with delight at the pictures and they were certainly impressive.
Teresa had learnt so much about art, both from her mother and at school, that she was therefore able to repeat little anecdotes about the artists. She also commented on each one’s particular style of painting.
She was aware that what she said surprised Harry.
When they went in to luncheon, Teresa was thrilled as she examined the tapestries hanging on two of the walls.
She congratulated the Marquis on the beautiful chairs.
She remembered her father had bought them back from someone who had purchased them over twenty years ago.
The Marquis took her appreciation as a compliment.
“You have been very clever, my Lord,” she said, “in making it look exactly as Vanbrugh intended.”
“I like to think that is so,” the Marquis replied, “but why have you suddenly become so formal? I have always been ‘Uncle Maurice’ to you until now.”
“I know that,” Teresa smiled, “but as I have only just met your nephew, I thought he might think I was trespassing on his preserves.”
They laughed at this and Harry said,
“I am delighted to share Uncle Maurice with you, as long as you do not take Stoke Palace away from me.”
“I will try not to do that,” Teresa answered. “And I would like to show you my home or perhaps you would fancy seeing my Papa’s ships more?”
“Now that is something I really would enjoy!” he answered.
“Then you must come with us to Liverpool,” Sir Hubert said, “and I will take you on a grand tour of my fleet.”
“I shall keep you to your promise,” Harry enthused.
Luncheon was delicious.
When it was finished Teresa ran upstairs to change into her riding habit.
She realised everything had gone well so far and her father and the Marquis were pleased with her.
When she came downstairs, she found the three gentlemen in the library.
The Marquis was showing them a new picture he had hung over the mantelpiece. It had come up for sale at Christies and he thought it would be eminently suitable to add to his collection.
Teresa admired the picture, then looked at Harry.
“I want to be out in the sunshine,” she urged, “and to see the horses about which Papa is so enthusiastic.”
“I will come with you tomorrow,” Sir Hubert said, “because now the Marquis and I have some further plans to discuss, so you two young people go ahead.”
“The horses are at the front door,” Harry said, “but in case, Teresa, you have changed your mind, I have ordered them also to bring one of the other horses on which you can have a very good ride.”
“I know exactly what you are saying in a somewhat under-handed way!” Teresa replied, “but I insist that, being a woman, I have first choice of the horse I wish to ride.”
Harry made a hopeless gesture with his hand and it told her he thought she was merely being obstinate.
The horses that had come from Tattersall’s were certainly outstanding.
At a quick glance Teresa appreciated that the horse Harry had chosen for her was exceedingly well bred.
But it was quiet and not at all obstreperous like the other two and the grooms in fact had difficulty in holding them.
Teresa chose the one that was bucking furiously.
Despite a murmur of protest from Harry, she managed to be lifted into the saddle.
She picked up the reins and settled down.
She knew she would enjoy what would be a tussle between her and the animal she was riding.
Then she realised that Harry was already engaged in the age-old battle between man and beast.
He was certainly as good a horseman as she had imagined he would be, but it took him a little time to get his horse under control.
They set off into the Park with Teresa’s mount still bucking to show his independence.
It was an hour later, when they were some distance from The Palace that Harry said,
“I congratulate you! I have never met or seen a woman who can ride as well as you do.”
“Thank you kindly, sir!” Teresa replied in mock humility.
“No, I mean it,” Harry insisted. “How can you control that troublesome horse you are riding and at the same time look as if you could be blown away on a puff of wind?”
“That is very poetical,” Teresa said. “As I have told my father often enough, I may have my mother’s looks, but I inherited his brain as well as his determination.”
She gave a sigh.
“It is a tragedy I was not a boy, but I am fighting with all my strength to persuade my father to let me help him in his business.”
“Do you really mean that?” Harry asked in astonishment. “I have never thought that any woman, especially one as pretty as you, would be interested in business.”
“I know a great deal about ships and their voyages,” Teresa said, “and I intend to learn a great deal more. I find it absolutely fascinating.”
“Now, tell my why?” Harry asked. “Quite frankly, I don’t think that sort of work is suitable for a woman.”
Then they were arguing and fighting each other all the way back to The Palace.
Teresa thought as she went upstairs to rest that she had held her own.
She was also certain that Harry was convinced that in many ways she was right.
When she was dressed she went downstairs, anxious to see more of The Palace.
All four went from room to room, the Marquis thrilled to show them his possessions.
At the same time he made it absolutely clear that the reason why The Palace looked as splendid as it did now was entirely due to Sir Hubert.
As they sat down to dinner, it was Teresa who changed the conversation.
She wanted to discuss the Racecourse and the jumps her father had erected on it.
When Sir Hubert said how high they were, Harry exclaimed,
“I think they will be far too high for any woman and therefore tomorrow we had better have a flat race.”
Sir Hubert smiled.
“I thought you realised this afternoon,” he said, “when you went riding with my daughter, that Teresa is a chip off the old block and I have never yet found a jump that could defeat me.”
“I really think – ” Harry began.
Then he saw that Teresa was laughing at him.
“All right, you win!” he said. “But if you have a nasty fall, it is your responsibility, so don’t blame me!”
“I shall only blame myself,” Teresa said, “and you will have to admit sooner or later that a man is not as superior as he likes to believe.”
“The whole trouble is women!” Harry retorted. “They will intrude on what is essentially a man’s province. Before we know where we are, we will have women jockeys and doubtless women as soldiers and sailors!”
He laughed at this and Teresa remarked,
“Stranger things have happened and I think the truth is that as a male you are afraid that, if we have the chance, we will show you that we are not only your equal but your superior.”
The three men all chuckled, but Teresa went on,
“We shall have to wait and see, but I am sure that one day you will find that women can rule the world just as well as men.”
“They have done it for thousands of years from the pillow,” the Marquis retorted, “and that is as far as it should go.”
They were still arguing and finding it all very amusing and then Sir Hubert suggested that they should all go to bed.
As he walked up the stairs beside Teresa, he said in a voice that only she could hear, “You have been wonderful, my dearest.” She kissed her father a fond goodnight. When she reached her bedroom, she was thinking that it had been one of the most enjoyable days she could ever remember.
And what
was more she liked Harry.
She could understand the Marquis’s horror at the idea of him marrying an actress, with whom, actually, he would have very little in common.
She knew now that all the complimentary words that had been said about him by the Duke of Wellington were true.
He would be a good commander of men and use his brain as well as his rifle in fighting the enemy.
Now he should be in a position, she thought, to help the country during the peace.
It would be a waste for him to spend his evenings watching his wife perform on a stage.
He should put his knowledge to use in amending and improving the laws of England in the Houses of Parliament.
Then, because she was tired, Teresa slept peacefully.
*
When morning came, Teresa rose early to go riding with Harry before breakfast.
Her father had said that he wished to conserve his energy for the race that would take place in the afternoon.
Teresa and Harry set off in the sunshine.
It seemed to her that everything was enchanted.
There were the golden spring flowers under the trees and birds singing among the green leaves.
She turned back to look at The Palace.
It was an attractive background to her joy of the horse she was riding.
And there was the excitement and she admitted to herself that it was an excitement of arguing with Harry.
When they returned for breakfast, she felt that they had fought a duel with words and, while no one had been the winner, they were both proud of what they had achieved.
The rest of the afternoon was a very exciting one.
To Teresa’s delight her father won the steeplechase over the jumps by a head and she had to admit that both men were faster than she was, but she was only half a length behind them.
Sir Hubert was feeling very pleased with himself and Harry congratulated him.
“You have beaten me, Sir Hubert,” he said with just a touch of surprise in his voice.
“Shall I say it is due to having a little more experience, my boy, and that is something you need in everything you do, whether you are riding, running a business or planning an offensive against an enemy.”
“That is true, Sir Hubert” Harry admitted, “and of course, I can understand now where your daughter gets her expertise as well as her brains.”
Love, Lies and Marriage Page 5
