The Tree of Love

by Barbara Cartland

  ‘I love him, I do love him,’ she cried out to herself despondently, ‘and I will never see him again.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Shenda waited patiently in her room until she heard Higgins walking along the corridor at a quarter to eight.

  She knew that at this time he would wash and shave the Captain before bringing him his breakfast.

  She waited very quietly until she heard the door of the Master bedroom click shut.

  Then she ran down the stairs.

  There were two footmen brushing the hall – one of them was Pierre and she called out to him,

  “Please fetch me a fiacre quickly.”

  He turned obediently to the front door and then she addressed the other footman,

  “My two trunks are inside my bedroom, please will bring them down for me.”

  She knew that the two footmen would not ask any questions, but undoubtedly Higgins would tell the Captain if he realised that she was leaving the house.

  Pierre found a fiacre quicker than she expected and her luggage was loaded into it.

  She instructed the driver to take her to the Duke of Wellington’s house in the Champs Élysées.

  As the horses started off, she looked back and there were again tears in her eyes as she said goodbye forever to the place where she had been so happy.

  When they reached the Duke’s house, she saw there was a carriage waiting outside drawn by four black horses.

  She guessed that he must be leaving Paris, perhaps for Cambrai where she knew he would be moving shortly.

  She thought that she might have to wait and it would be expensive to keep the carriage, so she told the driver to put her trunks down outside the house.

  Then she rang the bell and when the door opened she said to the butler,

  “I wish to speak to His Grace. Please tell him that Miss Linbury is here.”

  He seemed surprised that she was calling so early, but he showed her into the salon by the front door.

  She only had to wait five minutes before the Duke walked into the salon.

  “Miss Linbury!” he cried. “What on earth are you doing here? What has happened?”

  “The Captain has sent me away – ”

  She tried to speak calmly, but her voice broke and there were tears in her eyes.

  “I am having my breakfast. Come and sit down and tell me all about it.”

  The Duke spoke in a calm manner that helped her to bite back her tears.

  He took her into the salle-à-manger where he was eating alone and ordered Shenda to be brought breakfast.

  The man hurried away and the Duke asked,

  “Now tell me what has occurred.”

  Slowly, in a broken voice, Shenda told him how the Vicomte’s friend had arrived and how she had thought it right to allow him to stay at least for the night.

  When she related to the Duke how he had paid her fulsome compliments, he nodded as if it was to be expected from a man such as the Comte.

  Then she explained how the key of her door had been on the outside and she had not been sensible enough to take it into her room with her.

  She could not go on as her tears were choking her.

  “I can imagine what happened,” the Duke chipped in. “The Comte came into your room.”

  “I had heard him outside my door – and then ran to the Captain’s room – to ask him to save me.”

  With great difficulty, faltering over every word, she managed to tell the Duke the next part of the story.

  How the Captain had driven the Comte out of the room by threatening him with a revolver.

  “Good for him! What happened then?”

  “The Captain accused me – of encouraging the man and – told me to leave,” Shenda faltered.

  Now it was impossible for her to say any more and she wiped her eyes copiously with her handkerchief.

  The Duke was thinking quickly.

  He was about to leave for England and could hardly leave Shenda alone in Paris. But it was too late to find anyone else to look after her.

  As she finished wiping away her tears, he said,

  “I am going to England because the Prince Regent is giving one of his special parties for me. Thus the only suggestion I can make is that you come with me.”

  For a moment Shenda could only stare at him.

  “Come with – you, Your Grace?” she asked.

  The Duke smiled.

  “It will doubtless ruin your reputation, but when I reach London I know there are a number of people who will be only too ready, if I ask them, to take care of you.”

  Then he gave an exclamation,

  “I have just remembered that the Earl and Countess of Richmond will be staying with me at Apsley House.”

  He carried on as if he was thinking aloud,

  “Of course, as they are two of my oldest friends, the Prince Regent will have invited them and their girls if they are free to his party. So you can stay with me there until we have time to think of somewhere else you can go.”

  “Are you quite sure I will be welcomed.”

  “Considering how brilliantly you have cured Ivan, I think there must be many who would welcome you as their nurse! But we will talk more about it later, now do finish your breakfast as I want to be off.”

  Shenda’s breakfast had arrived by this time, but she could only eat a few mouthfuls and drink some coffee.

  Then she piped up,

  “I am ready now, Your Grace, and are you really sure you do not mind taking me with you?”

  “I shall be delighted to have you on the journey.”

  She knew that the Duke was only being polite, but it somehow made her feel better.

  Her luggage was placed on the carriage outside and she jumped in to find herself sitting beside the Duke.

  They drove through the Place de la Concorde and left Paris with the horses moving at a tremendous pace.

  They only stopped for a short time for luncheon at a roadside inn.

  However, there was a château waiting for the Duke where they were to stay the night – it was a château that had been taken over by the Army when its owners had fled from the war.

  The Duke and Shenda spent a quiet dinner together, and she was glad that he made no mention of the Captain.

  Then they both went upstairs to bed.

  “I want to leave early, Miss Linbury, and if you are wise you will rest while we are travelling as it is difficult to talk when we are moving at great speed.”

  Shenda thought he was telling her politely that he did not want her to chatter to him on the way.

  The next day she kept quiet and only spoke when he addressed her, as he had a great number of papers with him requiring his attention.

  When he was not reading them, he closed his eyes and she felt that he slept a little.

  When they reached Calais, Shenda thought she had never travelled so fast before and it was an experience she would always remember.

  There was a British warship waiting to transport the Duke to London.

  On any other occasion she would have wanted to explore the ship and enjoy being at sea, but she remained alone in a cabin that was surprisingly comfortable.

  Yet she could not believe she was leaving France and the Captain behind her and would never see him again.

  ‘I love him, I love him,’ she repeated to her pillow brokenly over and over again all through the night.

  *

  It was not until the early afternoon of the next day that the warship sailed up the Thames and moored on the Embankment.

  Thanks to the Duke’s superb organisation there was a carriage waiting to take him to Apsley House.

  Now that they had actually reached London, Shenda was feeling more composed and no longer so tearful.

  The Duke told her about the Earl and Countess of Richmond, who he had said would chaperone her while she was staying with him.

  He said he was certain they would help him to find someone to look after her when he retu
rned to France.

  “The Richmonds have lately been living in Brussels, because at the moment they are hard-up,” he told Shenda, “which is not surprising as they have fourteen children!”

  “Fourteen!” Shenda exclaimed.

  “Yes, indeed, fourteen children and their eldest son, Lord March, fought with me at Waterloo.”

  He was thinking that their daughter Lady Georgiana had never married, even though she was undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed beauties in London and Brussels.

  If he was honest, he knew it was because she loved him and in her eyes no man could ever equal him.

  This, however, was something he could not say to Shenda and he rather hoped that Georgiana would not be waiting at Apsley House with her parents.

  She might be jealous, as Shenda had been travelling alone with him and take a dislike to her.

  Shenda, as they drove away from the Embankment, was thinking just how exciting it was to be going to Apsley House.

  Of course, she had heard of the Duke’s magnificent house and how it was built at the entrance to Hyde Park.

  “It is the first house to be seen after passing the toll gates at the top of Knightsbridge,” her father had told her. “In fact its popular nickname is No. 1 London.”

  Shenda had expected it to look very impressive and when she arrived at the entrance with its lofty pillars, she thought it really was a fitting background for anyone with so brilliant a career as the Duke of Wellington.

  The butler who opened the door bowed respectfully when the Duke appeared and intoned,

  “It’s delightful to see Your Grace. All of London’s waiting to greet you now you’ve come home.”

  “Only for a short time, I’m afraid, Watkins, but it’s nice to be back. Who is here?”

  “The Earl and Countess arrived yesterday evening. They expect Lady Jane to join them for the party tomorrow night.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “No, Your Grace.”

  “Miss Linbury will be staying here, Watkins, so tell the housekeeper to arrange a comfortable bedroom for her and see that her luggage is taken up.”

  He walked into the drawing room where the Earl and Countess of Richmond were waiting for him.

  The Countess gave a cry of delight and held out her arms. He kissed her affectionately and then shook hands with the Earl.

  “I see that you have someone with you, Arthur,” the Countess questioned before he could explain.

  “Let me introduce Miss Shenda Linbury,” he said. “She has been in Paris nursing one of my Officers who has been very badly wounded at Waterloo. I expect you knew her father – Lord Linbury.”

  “Of course I did!” the Countess exclaimed, “and it was very brave of Miss Linbury to go to Paris.”

  “Linbury left his daughter in my charge,” the Duke explained. “But now her patient is well and she is ready to return to London. I want you to help me find somewhere suitable for her to stay.”

  “There are plenty of rooms with us at the moment,” the Countess smiled, “as only one of my brood could come to His Royal Highness’s party.”

  “I am going to see him this afternoon, and of course I will arrange that we take Shenda with us when we go to the party tomorrow.”

  Shenda had not expected this.

  “Oh, are you certain, Your Grace?” she asked. “His Royal Highness will not mind?”

  “Of course he will not mind. He was very fond of your father and I am sure he will be delighted to see you.”

  “Pretty girls are always going to be welcomed at Carlton House,” the Earl added, “just as they are here!”

  They all laughed and then the Duke said quickly,

  “I must go now to Carlton House. When I return I do not mind telling you that both Shenda and I will be very hungry. The food in France was superb, but not so on His Majesty’s ship of war!”

  The Countess walked to Shenda’s side.

  “Come with me,” she suggested. “We will find out where you are sleeping and then we shall have to plan which gown you should wear tomorrow night for the party at Carlton House.”

  “I am afraid I don’t have anything smart,” Shenda remarked as they walked up stairs. “I lived in the country with Papa until he died and when I went to France, I took only what I thought were sensible dresses with me.”

  “I can understand, my dear.”

  “To be completely honest, I don’t have anything at all suitable.”

  The Countess gave an exclamation.

  “I think I can help – in fact I am sure I can. I have a dress with me, which is one of my daughters. It was her wedding gown. I was going to have a little colour added to it, as she does not like it being all in white. But it would be a perfect gown for you to wear tomorrow night at Carlton House.”

  “Are you quite certain that it will be all right for the Duke to ask His Royal Highness for me to be his guest?” Shenda asked nervously.

  The Countess smiled.

  “As my husband said, His Royal Highness is always prepared to welcome a pretty woman and I am really not flattering you, my dear, when I say you are very beautiful, just like your mother, who I remember as being one of the loveliest women I have ever seen.”

  “Oh, you knew Mama? Please tell me about it.”

  “Of course I will, but first let’s see where you are sleeping.”

  The housekeeper was waiting for them and Shenda was shown into a very pretty room, not unlike the room she had occupied in Paris.

  The servants brought Shenda a most welcome bath before she dressed for dinner and she enjoyed being able to luxuriate in the hot water and not have to hurry.

  The Duke had said he was going to Carlton House to have a word with His Royal Highness and dinner would be served at nine-thirty.

  When he returned, he was overcome by what he had been told that the Prince Regent had arranged for him.

  “He has really gone to town,” he told the Earl and Countess. “He is having a special polygonal building put up in the garden – it’s a hundred feet in diameter and built with a lead roof. I am not allowed to see the inside until tomorrow night, because it is to be a surprise.

  “But I had a glimpse of a covered promenade which leads to a Corinthian Temple where the guests can admire a marble bust of myself placed on a column!”

  “I don’t believe it,” the Countess laughed.

  “It stands in front of a large mirror engraved with a star and the letter ‘W’. I am really quite overcome and feel the best thing I can do is to hide my blushes and not come to the party!”

  He was only joking, but the Countess commented,

  “You do know nothing amuses His Royal Highness more than an excuse to hold a fête at Carlton House? I do not know if he told you what he has organised in the Parks.”

  “In the Parks?”

  “In St. James’s Park there is a Chinese Pagoda and a picturesque yellow bridge ornamented with black lines and a bright blue roof.”

  “Good Heavens, it doesn’t seem possible!”

  “And in Green Park,” the Earl joined in, “there’s a huge embroidery of a Gothic Castle and then in Hyde Park, there are ornamental booths, stalls, arcades, kiosks, swings and roundabouts.”

  “You are making me more and more embarrassed,” the Duke murmured.

  But the Countess carried on,

  “The trees are all hung with coloured lamps and lanterns are lining Birdcage Walk and The Mall. Railings and low walls have been torn down to widen the entrance.”

  The Duke held up his hands in horror.

  “Five hundred men have been at work for a month,and His Royal Highness is absolutely certain to produce the most brilliant fireworks ever seen in this country.”

  Shenda was listening to all this attentively and she added excitedly,

  “I think the Prince Regent is quite right – after all no one but the Duke could have won the Battle of Waterloo when Napoleon’s Army was larger and more experienced than ours.”

&nbs
p; “That is indeed true,” the Earl agreed, “and there is no doubt, Arthur, you deserve every ounce of it.”

  “You are still making me feel embarrassed – ”

  “Nonsense!” the Countess exclaimed. “You know you will enjoy being the hero of the evening with everyone telling you how wonderful you are.”

  “I only hope that is true. Incidentally, His Royal Highness is delighted that we will be bringing Shenda with us. In point of fact he is anxious to see if she is any more beautiful than the other beauties he has invited who from the way he spoke run into thousands!”

  They all laughed, but Shenda felt shy.

  She had no wish to embarrass the Duke in any way and only hoped that the dress the Countess had promised her was worthy of such an occasion.

  She need not have worried.

  The next day, after she had slept until it was late in the morning, the Countess brought the gown to her room to see if it fitted her.

  It was just a trifle large in the waist, but when she looked at herself in the mirror, Shenda knew that she had never worn anything more becoming – and certainly not more fashionable.

  The Richmonds might well be living in Brussels to economise, but where their many children were concerned, it seemed that they were always open-handed.

  The gown was from one of the best shops in Bond Street and was made of exquisite French lace and chiffon.

  It revealed Shenda’s young and perfectly shaped figure and at the same time it flowed out round her feet, making her look almost as if she was walking on the waves of the sea.

  In the evening, when the Countess came to her room, she gave an exclamation of sheer delight as she saw how attractive Shenda appeared.

  The Countess herself was certainly dressed for the occasion wearing the Richmond tiara, which was very large and glittered with endless diamonds.

  She also wore matching necklace and bracelets and she brought Shenda a pretty necklace of pearls suitable for a young girl.

  “You are so kind to me,” Shenda told her. “I only wish that Papa was still alive. He would be so pleased to think that I was going to Carlton House.”

  “I am sure that you will enjoy every moment of the party, my dear, and I myself am curious to see what else the Prince Regent has thought up.”

  It had been quite impossible all day for Shenda not to think constantly of the Captain.