A Road to Romance

by Barbara Cartland

  He ran down the stairs and Herbert followed him more slowly.

  As the Marquis was expected to do, he slipped out of the back door and across the small garden which led to the Mews.

  There was no one about at this early hour and when he reached the Mews, he found that there was only one sleepy groom in charge of Samson.

  The Marquis wasted no time in mounting his horse.

  As he did so, he saw Herbert coming through the garden door.

  He saluted him with his whip and Herbert waved his arm. They did not speak and the Marquis rode off into the street at the bottom of the Mews.

  It did not take long to reach the Duke of Dunstead’s house in Berkeley Square.

  When he reached it, he saw tethered outside a horse that was almost as good as Samson and he knew that it was one that his friend Alfred especially prized.

  ‘He must,’ the Marquis thought, ‘be anxious to win this bet. Otherwise he would not take that particular horse on such a lengthy journey.’

  A groom appeared to take his horse from him and he walked into the house.

  The Duke was waiting for him in the dining room where Lord Alfred was already eating a hearty breakfast.

  “I thought that you must have forgotten us,” Alfred said as the Marquis walked in.

  “Is it likely that I should?” the Marquis asked. “I have my eye on one of His Grace’s horses which I am very anxious to own.”

  The Duke chuckled.

  “Optimism will get you a long way,” he said. “But remember that your adventure has to be real and not part of your imagination.”

  “If you are suggesting, Your Grace, that we could become liars,” the Marquis cajoled, “then you are much mistaken. We would never lie over anything as important as a bet made in White’s.”

  They all laughed at this and then the Duke said,

  “I should hope not, but I am sceptical and before I part with any of my best horses I will want proof of what adventure you have encountered and perhaps someone to assure me that it was, in fact, a real adventure.”

  “But you may have to take our word for it,” the Marquis said lightly. “But I can tell you I will be strictly truthful. If I lose, I lose! All the same I intend to win!”

  “So do I,” Alfred chimed in.

  “What really pleases me,” the Duke remarked, “is that you both seem very enthusiastic. I rather expected that you might back out at the last moment.”

  “How could we ever do such a thing,” the Marquis asked with mock severity, “if the bet was made at White’s, although secret at this moment, it will later appear in the famous Betting Book.”

  “I had not thought of that,” the Duke said. “But undoubtedly it should have a place there if, in fact, you are successful.”

  “I have every intention of being so!” Alfred said. “Although I cannot imagine how I will find an adventure on the road to Land’s End, but then one never knows one’s luck.”

  “That is exactly what you two are trying to find,” the Duke affirmed.

  They laughed and talked on during breakfast which was certainly an impressive meal to start the day with.

  As they were joking away, the Marquis saw the Duke look speculatively at the clock and realised that they should be off.

  “Come along, Alfred,” he suggested. “Let’s start our adventure and the quicker it is over the quicker we can come back to civilisation.”

  “Of course,” Alfred agreed, “with our heads held high and the banners unfurled to show that we have won a victory.”

  “That is just what I hope you will do,” the Duke said. “But do remember I don’t want you to take any risks. That is why, looking as you do, I don’t think that you will be captured by footpads or, indeed, be pursued by beautiful women!”

  The Marquis and Alfred both laughed.

  “One thing is quite certain,” the Marquis said, “no one would take us for millionaires and I would not be at all surprised if we came back to tell you that we have not only failed to find adventure but we have been ignored by every woman who looked in our direction!”

  “Which will be very good for both of you if it really happens,” the Duke observed.

  Equally he thought to himself that the Marquis was so handsome that women would be looking at his face and not at his clothes.

  They were still laughing amongst themselves when the Duke urged,

  “Come along, it’s time you were off! Good luck to you both. I will pray that you will come home safely with an exciting story to tell me.”

  “The trouble is that you are more optimistic than we are,” the Marquis answered. “I believe that you should be taking part in this game and I am quite certain that you would have a real tale to tell while we will be hard-pushed to impress you.”

  “If I was thirty years younger, I would undoubtedly accept your challenge,” the Duke replied. “As it is, I will stay at home and speculate as to what is happening to you.”

  When they reached their horses, he then shook their hands warmly and said,

  “Good luck and God bless you! As I am certain that you will be successful, I will keep my best horses out of sight!”

  “If we are not allowed to cheat, you are not allowed to either,” the Marquis cautioned. “I promise you that my story, if there is one, will be true from start to finish.”

  “And I promise the same,” Alfred agreed. “But I bet that Neil’s story will involve a very pretty girl. They will drop down from Heaven for him, while I will be left to search the bushes for mine!”

  “Now you are trying to seek false sympathy and understanding,” the Marquis teased him. “That is strictly forbidden in the rules, is it not, Your Grace?”

  “Quite right,” the Duke said. “I will be waiting anxiously for your return.”

  By this time they were both mounted and, as they rode away, the Duke waved to them and they waved back.

  “He really is a sporting old boy,” the Marquis said when they were out of earshot. “I believe we are giving him a great deal of pleasure if nothing else.”

  “I thought just the same,” Alfred replied. “We will have to make up some sort of story to please him if no one else.”

  “Oh, I am sure something will turn up. As far as I am concerned, the quicker I can get to Northumberland the better.”

  “I feel the same about Land’s End,” Lord Alfred answered. “I was remembering last night that it is well known as a refuge for smugglers. So perhaps you will find that I have been smuggled to some European country!”

  The Marquis laughed.

  “I think they are far more interested in goods that can be sold than in young men who usually want money without any attachment to it.”

  “That is exactly what I want,” Alfred agreed.

  “Then goodbye and good luck!” the Marquis said. “This is where we part company and I take the road to the North.”

  Just for a moment Alfred looked rather gloomy at the South road ahead of him.

  “I wish we were going together,” he said. “That would be fun and we would be able to joke.”

  “Why did you not think of it before?”

  “Because I knew that the Duke had thought it all out in his own mind. He expects that we should be more likely to have some dramatic encounter if we were alone than if we were together.”

  “I suppose you are right, but I agree with you that it would be fun to go together. If this expedition fails, I will take you on a trip to the top of Mont Blanc or we could be less arduous and enjoy ourselves with the ‘soiled doves’.”

  “I am not overwhelmed at either invitation,” Alfred replied.

  He turned his horse and called out,

  “Goodbye, old boy, and don’t get into mischief!”

  “Goodbye,” the Marquis replied. “See you in two or three weeks’ time.”

  He thought as he spoke and pointed Samson in the other direction that he was being optimistic.

  There was no chance of them completing thi
s rather ridiculous bet in under three weeks to say the least of it.

  It might easily take over a month.

  Then, as he could see that the winding road ahead was empty and it was not yet as hot as it would be later in the day, he started Samson off at a good gallop.

  The stallion was only too eager to show his paces.

  They travelled for over a mile without the Marquis drawing him in.

  Then, as they slowed down and the sunshine made everything seem so inviting, the Marquis began to hum to himself a tune he had enjoyed at Drury Lane Theatre a week ago.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Marquis was feeling hungry when he reached a small village.

  At the top of the village green he saw a rather nice-looking old inn. He rode up to it and then found when he entered the yard at the back that there was a stable available for horses.

  He put Samson inside and saw that he had plenty to eat and fresh water.

  Then he walked into the inn and, as he expected, it was quite small and obviously built a century or so before.

  There was an elderly publican in the bar and the Marquis asked if he could order some food for luncheon.

  The publican was delighted at having a customer and he enquired whether he would rather sit outside or in.

  The Marquis decided that inside was likely to be quicker and more comfortable and the publican showed into a small room where there were three tables, each one able to seat three or four people.

  He asked the publican to bring him whatever they had available and this turned out to be a good dish of meat, potatoes and an array of green vegetables.

  When he had finished, there was then cheese and he found one which he thought must be local and which was as good as anything he had eaten in London.

  The Marquis had made a golden rule a long time ago never to drink when he was riding and so he asked for cider that the publican told him proudly was made nearby.

  When he had finished his luncheon, he asked the publican if he was busy.

  “We does fairly well on a Saturday night,” he said, “but as you can see it’s quiet durin’ the week. The old ’uns come in later on in the evenin’ to ’ave a glass of beer, but otherwise, sir, there ain’t much excitement in this part of the world.”

  The Marquis paid for his luncheon and tipped the publican generously who was astonished.

  Then he collected Samson, who was now obviously well rested and so he set off at a good pace and must have gone for nearly two miles and seen little traffic on the road.

  Then on a straight stretch, where he could see for nearly half a mile, he became aware that there was a horse behind him.

  The Marquis was not riding at a particularly fast pace at that stage and a moment or so later the horse drew level with him.

  He turned his head to see a young girl riding what he recognised at once was a well bred horse.

  She was close beside him and he looked at her in some surprise, thinking that there was plenty of room on the empty road for both of them.

  Then she spoke in a hesitating and shy voice,

  “Would you mind – very much, sir, if I rode beside – you?”

  The Marquis looked at her again.

  “Is there any reason why you should ask that?” he enquired.

  She looked over her shoulder in an anxious way.

  “It seems as if you are running away,” the Marquis then remarked.

  “That is exactly – what I am doing,” she replied, “and it will help me considerably – if I can ride with you up this long straight road.”

  The Marquis was curious and then he said,

  “I do not wish to seem impertinent, but I would like to know why.”

  “I will tell you if we can – go a little faster,” the girl answered him nervously.

  The Marquis’s horse was only too willing and so was hers. They rode on for half a mile without speaking.

  Then, as the road ahead twisted and turned a little, the Marquis pulled in Samson and suggested,

  “Now I think you are safe from prying eyes, if that is what you are afraid of. You did promise to tell me why you wished to accompany me, for which, of course, I am very honoured.”

  He spoke somewhat sarcastically thinking it odd for a young woman, who was quite obviously a lady, to be out on the road alone.

  And certainly to be talking to a strange man she did not know.

  He realised as he looked at her again that she was, in point of fact, extremely pretty.

  She turned her head and looked back anxiously.

  “I feel I am safer – now,” she sighed. “But, if I had been riding alone, it would have been obvious to anyone looking for me – that it was me.”

  She put it in an almost childlike way and then the Marquis laughed.

  “Why are you running away?” he quizzed her.

  “I am running away – as quickly as I possibly can,” the girl replied. “I am afraid that my stepfather will have sent his men – to bring me back.”

  “Your stepfather?” the Marquis echoed. “What is he doing to frighten you so much that you ran away?”

  The girl drew in her breath.

  “He is determined I will marry – one of his friends who is a horrible beastly man and I have no wish to marry him – or anyone else for that matter.”

  The Marquis rode on a little while before he asked,

  “So you are running away from your home. Is that wise?”

  “I am going to one of my aunts, who has always been very kind to me and is, in fact, also my Godmother. She lives in Yorkshire.”

  The Marquis stared at her.

  “You are riding to Yorkshire alone!”

  “It is the only way I can get there and I did not dare take a servant with me for fear she would tell my stepfather that I was leaving.”

  “But you do realise that Yorkshire is a very long way away? And it is most certainly not safe for any young woman, especially one riding a well bred horse, to be alone on such a long journey.”

  “I know that, sir. Of course I know that,” the girl replied. “But what else – am I to do? If I had stayed at home, I would have been engaged – to this dreadful man, whether I liked it or not. Then there might have been – no way of escape.”

  She spoke with a distinct note in her voice that told the Marquis she was really frightened and she obviously loathed the man her stepfather had chosen for her.

  They rode for a little while in silence, although not as fast as previously, because the road twisted.

  Then the Marquis observed,

  “I would suspect, as you are under age, that your stepfather is your Guardian.”

  “Yes, and I must obey him until I am twenty-one,” the girl answered. “He has told me that often enough. He made it quite clear this morning that the man I loathe and detest was coming to stay and I had to accept his offer of marriage, whether I liked it or not.”

  “Under these circumstances,” the Marquis said, “I think you have been very wise and brave to run away.”

  “Do you really think so?” she exclaimed. “You are so kind and sensible. Everyone else keeps telling me what I should do and it’s always – just what I don’t want to do myself.”

  The Marquis smiled.

  “I am afraid that happens to all of us.”

  “I will not marry the man my stepfather has chosen for me! I hate him and I would much rather die than be his wife.”

  She spoke with a violence that made the Marquis look at her.

  She had a small build and was very light on her horse. And she was exceedingly pretty.

  He could easily understand any man being eager to make her his wife.

  Aloud he asked,

  “Are you quite certain that your aunt in Yorkshire, who you are going to, will protect you?”

  “She has never got on well with my stepfather and will, I am quite certain, when I tell her what is happening, be shocked at him behaving in such a hard and cruel way. She has asked me to sta
y several times, but he would not let me go to her because they did not get on together.”

  She paused before she added positively,

  “I know that she will fight him for my sake and ask the rest of the family to support me.”

  “Then we must make certain that you travel safely to Yorkshire,” the Marquis replied.

  “You are very kind to let me ride with you,” the girl said. “I can only hope that if, as I think very probable, my stepfather has sent his men to search for me, they will be looking for a woman alone.”

  “I think it is very clever of you to think of that,” the Marquis remarked. “As I too am alone, I am delighted to have your company.”

  She smiled at him.

  “I knew from the horse you were riding that you were the sort of gentleman I could ask such a favour from.”

  The Marquis laughed.

  “It is indeed the first time that Samson has been a representative of my behaviour. Of course, I am sure he is very flattered!”

  The girl laughed too and then she asked,

  “Please help me if you can to get to Yorkshire very quickly. I have travelled on this road before, but I did not notice the way particularly and I am frightened of taking the wrong turning.”

  “I will not let you do that. I am going to Yorkshire and then on to Northumberland. Now I suggest, as you are running away, that we ride as fast as we can for five or so miles. Then, if you are being followed, they will probably think you have turned off and are not heading North.”

  “I hope they will think that,” the girl said. “At the same time I have a feeling that Step-Papa will guess where I have gone and will therefore be following me.”

  “Then the quicker we move the better,” the Marquis answered.

  He gave Samson his head and they set off at a good pace and the girl was having little difficulty in keeping up with him.

  They must have ridden for about four miles before the Marquis slowed down and cautioned,

  “I think that we should be very careful where we stay tonight.”

  The girl drew in her breath.

  “I thought of that and I know it would seem very strange for me to go to a hotel or inn alone. I was thinking perhaps I would have to sleep in a ditch or in a wood.”