The Marquis did not answer.
He merely went from the room.
The Dowager sat back with a smile on her lips, praying that what she wished for would come true.
*
The Marquis drove his team faster than he had ever driven them before.
He remembered the countryside well and he therefore had no difficulty in finding Letty Green.
The first person he asked on entering the village directed him to the house where Matthew Hollington lived.
The Marquis drew up his team with a flourish just after four o’clock.
He handed the reins to his groom and, jumping down, walked up to the front door.
It was open and without ringing the bell the Marquis walked inside.
There was a door at the end of the hall, which was open and he could see that there was nobody inside.
As if his instinct was guiding him, he walked down a passage and opened a door at the end of it.
He saw as he entered that the walls were lined with books.
He felt that this was the most likely place where he would find Ursa.
He was not mistaken, although at first glance the room was empty.
Then he saw her.
She was lying on a sofa, her head on a cushion, fast asleep.
The Marquis stood looking down at her thinking it was impossible for anyone to look lovelier.
At the same time she was young, unspoiled, and, as he now knew, untouched.
Slowly he moved towards the sofa and then went down on his knees beside her.
Her eyelashes, he saw, were still wet with tears.
Unable to prevent himself, he bent forward and gently his lips touched her.
He was aware of the little tremble that went through her.
Without opening her eyes she whispered,
“I – love – you – I – love – you!”
‘That is what I want to hear, my darling,” the Marquis answered.
His voice roused her and she looked up at him in bewilderment.
“I-I was – dreaming,” she said, “But – you are – real.”
“I am very real,” the Marquis answered, “and I am here to prove it.”
He bent forward and now his lips were more demanding.
It was a long kiss and to Ursa, it was as if the heavens had opened and the stars were falling down.
She could feel them on her breast and moving through her body.
She could not think.
All she knew was that the Marquis was there and there was nothing in the world but him.
Only when he raised his head did she manage to say a little incoherently,
“Why – why are you h-here? – H-how did you – f-find me?”
“How could you go away without letting me know?” he asked. “Do you really think I could lose you?”
“B-but – Penelope –” Ursa stammered.
“Your sister has gone back to London with her husband,” the Marquis said, “and now there need be no more pretence, no more lies.”
He saw the colour come into Ursa’s cheeks and her eyes looked shy.
“I-I am – s-sorry,” she said. “I was – pretending – at first to h-help – Penelope –”
“And then to help me!” the Marquis finished. “Now we can just be ourselves. What I want to know, my lovely one, is how soon you will marry me?”
Ursa’s eyes opened wide.
“M-marry – you? You are – asking me to – marry you?” she whispered. “But – how can I – after I have – pretended – to be Penelope – and she – will be – very angry.”
“I am not concerned with your sister’s feelings,” the Marquis said. “I think, my darling, that in all this mix-up and pretence we have found something more important than anything else.”
His lips were very near to hers as he said softly,
“It is called love, the real love I have been searching for all my life.”
Ursa gave a little gasp.
“I love you – I love you – with all my heart – and soul!” she said. “B-But how – can I – marry you? What would your – grandmother say?”
“My grandmother will be delighted!” the Marquis replied. “It was she who told me where you live and that she knew you were not Penelope from the very first.”
“H-how could – she have – known that?” Ursa questioned in dismay.
“Because you are so very different in every way from your sister,” the Marquis said, “and you must forgive me, my darling one, for last night.”
Almost as if she had forgotten what had happened last night, Ursa gave a little gasp.
Then she was blushing and hiding her face in the Marquis’s shoulder.
He held her very close to him.
“You are so very different from what I expected,” he said, “but my mind had been poisoned by the gossip I had heard about you, or rather your sister, and because I wanted you more than I have ever wanted anyone before, I was foolish enough to frighten you.”
“I-I have been – crying,” Ursa whispered, “because I – sent – you away – and I thought that – now I would – never see – you again and it was a – stupid thing to – have done.”
“It was the right thing to do,’’ the Marquis said, “and I cannot imagine you ever doing anything wrong.”
Then he asked in a different tone of voice,
“How many men have kissed you?’’
“No – no one except – y-you,” Ursa replied.
“That is what I thought,” the Marquis smiled, “and, my darling, no one else ever will and I will kill any man who tries!”
“I would never let – another man – touch me,” Ursa said, “when I love – you. I was so – lonely and unhappy – when I came home – I was sure you – hated me.”
“I was bewildered by you,” the Marquis admitted. “Why did you say you were lonely when you came home?”
Ursa hesitated for a moment and then she handed him her father’s letter.
The Marquis read it and remarked,
“Well that certainly makes things easier for us.”
She looked at him in surprise, and he said,
“How soon will you marry me?”
Ursa gave a little gasp.
“Have you – really asked – me to marry – you?”
“I will put it a little clearer,” the Marquis smiled. “I want to marry you, I intend to marry you and you are the only person I have ever proposed to in the whole of my life.”
Ursa clasped her hands together.
It sounded too wonderful, but at the same time she hesitated.
“What is worrying you?” the Marquis asked gently.
In a very small voice she answered,
“You know your – reputation of being – very dashing and – making love to lots of sophisticated and – exciting women – in London.”
The Marquis did not say anything.
After a moment Ursa went on in a voice that could hardly be heard,
“How – could I – compete with – that?”
The Marquis put his arms around her and said,
“Now listen to me my darling, I suppose I expected this question to come up sooner or later as far as you and I are concerned. Although, as I have said, you intrigue and excite me until it is difficult for me to think straight.”
“But you – have to,” Ursa insisted. “Loving you is – one thing, but being – married – ”
She gave a little shiver.
“If I – bored you and you – left me – there would be – nothing for me to do – but wish – to die.”
The Marquis pulled her closer to him.
“You are not going to die. We are going to live together and be supremely and utterly happy so that everyone will be astonished.”
“How can – you be – sure?” Ursa asked.
“I will tell you exactly,” the Marquis said. “I am asking you to marry me, my precious, because you are the most attractive, the
most beautiful and quite the most adorable woman I have ever met.”
He paused before he said in a very different tone of voice,
“I am also asking you to be something else in my life, something that no other woman could ever be.”
Ursa looked at him in astonishment.
“What is – that?” she asked.
“I think the right word,” the Marquis said slowly, “is my partner.”
“Your partner?” Ursa repeated. “I don’t – understand.”
“Now let me think it out clearly,” the Marquis said. “When you were pretending to be your sister, you were so clever and so diplomatic with Mr. Orestes, I told myself that was exactly the sort of woman I wanted in my life to help me with all the things I am doing.”
He gave a little laugh before he continued,
“I must admit I have never thought of having a woman before but I have often wished I had someone to help me and someone to discuss all my problems with and could be quite certain that my secrets were safe.”
“I still do – not– understand,” Ursa murmured.
“As I was saying,” the Marquis answered. “You were marvellous with Orestes and he genuinely wanted you to come with me to Greece. I am quite certain that at the back of his crafty mind he thought that you would be a distinct asset in what I was doing for them with their Battleships.”
“You – cannot mean – that,” Ursa sighed.
“I do mean it,” he answered. “Since then I have talked to you about on a great number of subjects and you have astounded me with your intelligent questions and also your knowledge of foreign affairs, which I certainly never expected to find in your sister.”
“How – could I – tell you,” Ursa asked, “that I had – travelled to many strange places – with Papa and met so many – interesting people.”
“I have a feeling,” the Marquis said, “that you speak quite a lot of foreign languages.”
“Quite a number,” Ursa admitted.
“That is another thing where I want your help. My French is good, my Italian passable and that is all.”
“You know I – will help you – if I possibly can,” Ursa answered.
“That is what you are going to do,” he insisted firmly.
“My partner, who is also my lovely wife, will have to do her share of the business whether it concerns Greece, other parts of the world or in making Charnwood as perfect as I want it to be.”
“Now you are – frightening me,” Ursa said. “How could I – possibly do all – those things?”
“Very easily,” the Marquis answered. “And I promise you I shall work you very hard.”
Ursa looked up at him.
There was a pleading look in her eyes, which he thought was very touching.
“Promise me – you are telling me – the truth,” she said, “and not just – saying it because – you know it will – make me happy.”
“I am saying it because I mean every word and I want you desperately,” the Marquis said. “You have already inspired me with great ideas of what I might do in the future.”
Ursa made a little sound of delight and he went on,
“If you are not there to prod me along and at the same time make me lift my eyes to the stars, I might easily fail.”
Ursa laughed.
“Now you are being modest. You know that you are – brilliant and I have – a feeling you will – never fail in anything you – undertake.”
“There is one thing I am not going to fail at,” the Marquis said, “and that is marrying you. Now tell me, my darling, how soon will you marry me?”
Ursa turned her face against his shoulder.
“You know – so little – about me,” she whispered. “Only the – pretend – me.”
“I have adored the pretend you,” the Marquis said, “and I am quite certain that I shall adore the real you, when I get to know her. We cannot waste time.”
“There is not – really so much – hurry,” Ursa said tentatively.
“There is,” he corrected her. “For one thing I am not going to have you living alone here now that your father is away and not coming back for a long time. So I am taking you back to Charnwood Court and the sooner we are married the easier it will be.”
“Easier?” Ursa questioned.
“Certainly very much easier for me,” he said, “than lying awake, wanting you, loving you and knowing that I have to put a ring on your finger first before I come into your bedroom.”
Ursa blushed.
He thought that it was something he had seen happen to very few women of his acquaintance.
“Suppose,” she said, “when you do – marry me I cannot do – everything you – want and you – find you have been too hasty in – making up your mind.”
The Marquis laughed,
“I made up my mind a long time ago, it seems to me, although I suppose it was not very long in days and hours. You are everything a man desires in a woman and, as you are unique and the only woman in the world for me, I am not going to risk losing you.”
His arms tightened as he said,
“You are mine, Ursa, mine completely already. Our brains work together, we know each other’s thoughts and all we have to do now is to get married without causing any comment.”
“The – servants at Charnwood,” Ursa murmured, “must be aware that Penelope took my place.”
“The senior servants will know that,” the Marquis said, “but, as they have been with my family for so long, they will not talk to outsiders. If they were shocked at your sister’s behaviour, that does not affect you. You came as Ursa and as Ursa you will return.”
He kissed her forehead before he added,
“I know that as my wife they will welcome you with open arms, as will my relatives when they know about it.”
“Have you – a great – number of – them?” Ursa asked nervously.
“Too many,” the Marquis replied. “But I am not going to inflict them upon you until we have had a long honeymoon and, of course, visited Greece where you will have to help me with my plans.”
Ursa did not speak and after a moment he said,
“Well, that is settled, I will send my secretary to London tomorrow to obtain a special licence. We will be married in the Chapel with only my grandmother present.”
“That is just the sort of wedding I would like,” Ursa cried, “but I am sure your friends will be very disappointed and – expect you to have a big Reception with hundreds of people with whom you must shake hands.”
“Something I have always dreaded,” the Marquis said. “If anything bores me, it is people who talk and talk about a wedding before it takes place and argue as to who are the most important members of the family.”
“At least you will – not have to – worry about that,” Ursa suggested.
“The only thing I would want,” the Marquis answered, “is for you to remember your wedding as one of the happiest moments of your life.”
“It – all sounds – too wonderful to – be true,” Ursa murmured.
“It will,” the Marquis said firmly, “be very, very wonderful, my darling, and something we shall always remember.”
When he finished speaking, he kissed her.
He went on kissing her until they were both breathless.
Then he said in a rather unsteady tone,
“Fetch your hat and we will go back to Charnwood.”
To his surprise Ursa did not immediately move from his arms.
Instead she said hesitatingly,
“I have – something to – ask you.”
“What is it,” he enquired.
“You said you wanted to be – married – at once – but could you – please give – me time to buy – just a few new gowns.”
The Marquis looked surprised, but she went on quickly.
“What you have seen me wearing up to now – is what I was lent by Penelope,” Ursa said. “When she arrived – she just gave me the dress she was
wearing to leave in. All the things – I brought to Charnwood were left behind.”
The Marquis laughed.
“I had forgotten,” he said, “how important clothes are to a woman and, of course, my darling, you must have a trousseau even if we have to buy it very rapidly and augment it at every place we stop at on our honeymoon.”
“Do you mean – that,” Ursa asked. “I know it makes me feel a little better – but this is the first time you have seen me as – a country bumpkin and you might be very – disillusioned.”
The Marquis looked down at her and thought,
‘How could any woman look so lovely?’
He also actually preferred her without the artificial touching up that had been done to make her look like her sister.
Because there had been a number of smart sophisticated women in his life, he understood exactly what Ursa was feeling.
He knew it was something that must not trouble her in the future.
“You shall have the most beautiful clothes from the best shops in Bond Street,” he promised.
“We are not going to London?” Ursa exclaimed nervously.
“Certainly not,” the Marquis replied. “But they will send their best gowns down for us to choose from and you can leave that to me. I will help you look as lovely as any Greek Goddess when she stepped down from Olympia.”
Ursa laughed.
“I can hardly believe that. But doubtless Mr. Orestes will be very – flattered if we – tell him that is what I am – trying to do.”
“I shall make certain,” the Marquis said, “that Mr. Orestes keeps his conversation with you on Battleships and the improvements we are making to them!”
Ursa gave a little laugh.
Then he said,
“I am serious, I assure you I will be a very jealous husband and make quite certain that there is no other man in your life except me.”
“You cannot – believe I would – want one?” Ursa asked. “How could I? No one could be so superb or so – wonderful as – you.”
“That is what I want you to believe,” the Marquis said. “And now that we have settled that problem, have you any more?”
“No,” Ursa said, “except I find it difficult to – believe that this is really – happening.”
The Marquis stood up from the sofa and when Ursa did the same he pulled her close to him.
“I love you,” he said, “and it is difficult to think of anything else. But we have to be very practical and sensible about this. I am sure that we are right in thinking it would be a great mistake for anyone to know that we are married until we are out of England and safely on our way to the Mediterranean.”
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