She patted Jimmie as she spoke.
Then she bent and kissed Johnny.
“Now say your prayers,” she insisted. “I am sure you have not forgotten the one we said together last night.”
“No, I remember every word, but I think we should say a prayer for the poor ’ighwayman. If ’e’s dead ’e’ll go to Hell, won’t ’e?”
“He’s not dead!” Velina assured him. “So that need not worry you. He will have a very sore arm and perhaps after that he will stop being a highwayman.”
“I wonder what ’e’ll do?” Johnny asked. “It must be difficult for an ’ighwayman to get a job ’cos people’ll be scared of ’im.”
“I don’t suppose he will say he is a highwayman,” Velina told him. “As you know, you have been told not to talk about him, so you must not mention him again. Just forget he ever existed.”
“I can’t do that, miss. I keep thinkin’ about ’im and ’ow ’e fell off ’is ’orse.”
“Well, you heard what Mr. Neil said about him. He said we were not to mention him in case people made us talk about what happened,” Velina reminded him.
“I’ll only talk about ’im to you,” Johnny replied.
She kissed him again, saying,
“Now I am going downstairs for dinner. If you are frightened in the night or want anything, you know I am in the room just opposite you.”
Johnny nodded and she kissed him again.
“You have been wonderful on this long journey,” she told him, “but I don’t want you to be too tired before we arrive at the big house.”
She pulled the curtains across so that the room was in darkness.
Then she went out of the door and she was aware as she did so that Johnny was almost asleep and that Jimmie had jumped up onto the bed to lie at the end of it.
She thought wistfully to herself that she would miss them both when their odyssey was over.
Then she went down the stairs to find the Marquis waiting impatiently for her because the first course of their dinner had already arrived.
“As it is our last night on the road,” he said, “I have ordered champagne.”
Velina’s eyes widened.
“Are you quite sure that you can afford it, Neil?” she asked.
“I think it important for us to have something with which to drink our health. Also to congratulate ourselves on having achieved what I think anyone would describe as an unusual and intriguing journey.”
“It is certainly something I did not expect,” Velina replied. “I am sure that if we told people about it no one would believe that we could find such a delightful little boy as Johnny in such a strange way.”
There was silence between them for a moment.
Then the Marquis said,
“You are not to worry about him, although I know you are. I am sure that I will find a couple who can look after him and treat him as if he was their own.”
“I was thinking the same,” she added. “Of course we will have to decide who can make the best offer.”
The Marquis laughed.
“That is true, but I suppose being a woman you are sure to think that your choice is better than mine.”
“I think everything you have arranged so far has been absolutely splendid,” Velina said. “When I say my prayers, I thank God every night that I was brave enough to ask if I could ride beside you.”
“Well, we have most certainly had an adventure,” the Marquis smiled.
He thought as he spoke that was what he had set out to find from the very beginning.
And it had certainly come true.
In fact there would be no argument about whether or not he had won his bet with the Duke.
“You are looking so serious, Neil” Velina observed. “What is worrying you?”
“Actually it is what has been worrying me for some time,” the Marquis replied. “It is what I am to do about you.”
“About – me?” Velina asked.
“Well, it appears to me, although I might be wrong, that your stepfather, if he really does want you to marry this man he has chosen, will undoubtedly not give up his search for you. Even though the first effort failed.”
Velina shivered.
“I have thought of that, too,” she said. “But I am sure that my aunt will stand up for me and tell him that he has no right to force me into matrimony with anyone.”
“Is your aunt married?” the Marquis asked.
Velina shook her head.
“No, she is a widow. She is my father’s sister, not my mother’s.”
“Do you really think that she will be able to control or better still refute your stepfather’s wishes?” the Marquis quizzed.
Velina was quiet for a moment.
Then she said,
“Please will you come with me to meet my aunt? I think that you are intending to leave me at the door, but you are so clever and so wise I feel that you will save me if she insists that I go back to my stepfather.”
“Why should she do that?” the Marquis asked.
Velina shrugged her shoulders.
“She is rather impressed by him and then she might think that he knows better than she does what is good for me.”
“It could not be good for any woman to marry a man she does not love,” the Marquis replied.
He was thinking that so many women did so, either because the man in question, like himself, boasted a title or because he was rich.
“You may think – it very silly of me,” Velina said in a hesitating voice, “but I always thought that one day I would find someone I loved who would love me. Then we would be married – because what we have for each other is the real love that people write about in books.”
“Which sometimes really does happen in real life,” the Marquis added.
“Do you sincerely believe that?” Velina asked. “It is what I want to believe, but I have been so frightened in case it will never happen.”
There was silence for a moment and then he said,
“We know very little about each other. In fact, I do not know your real name any more than you know mine. But suppose I said I was in love with you.”
Velina’s eyes widened.
Then, as she looked at him, she looked away shyly.
“I am waiting for your answer,” the Marquis said.
“I think you would only say something like that if it was true,” Velina replied.
“You are quite right. I would never say anything important to you that was not true.”
Before she could say anything more, the publican, who had been waiting on them, brought in the coffee and a liqueur that he thought the Marquis would like.
“Both of us have enjoyed our dinner enormously,” the Marquis told him, “and thank you for all the trouble you have taken over it.”
“It’s been a real pleasure to cook things that most of the people round here don’t even know the name of,” the publican replied.
“Then why do you stay here?” the Marquis asked.
He had known while he was eating the meal that it would certainly not have appealed to the average traveller even if they had heard of it.
But the majority of people travelling North would take the main road and not wander, as they had done, round the lanes where there were small villages.
“It be a long story, sir. I had the chance of takin’ over this inn from a man who owed me money and it was that or nothin’, so I took the inn.”
“Of course you did,” the Marquis approved, “and it is very charming and very comfortable. In fact, I will tell people about it when I return to London. I feel sure that you will have a lot more visitors one way or another.”
The publican flushed with excitement.
“That be real kind of you, sir,” he said, “and I can see you’re a gentleman who’ll keep your word.”
“You must not expect them to come immediately,” the Marquis answered, “but, as there are a great number of people going North, especially if th
ere is racing or shooting in the autumn, I will certainly tell my friends to stay here with you.”
The man was clearly overcome with the Marquis’s kindness and, when he withdrew, Velina commented,
“It was wonderful of you, Neil, to tell him that. He has tried to please us in every possible way.”
“If nothing else he is an excellent cook and that is what pleases most people when they are travelling.”
“Yes, of course it is,” Velina agreed. “I am sure if he has even a few guests every month, he will be able to keep his head above water.”
“I will make sure that he does,” the Marquis said. “I know a lot of people who come North in the autumn for the grouse shooting and the salmon fishing.”
“Because my father has been dead since I was very young,” Velina told him, “I had forgotten that was the fashionable way of enjoying the autumn.”
“Well, now I think that you should go to bed,” the Marquis said, “because I agree it has been a very tiring day and I am certain that young Johnny is fast asleep by now.”
“He was almost asleep before I left him and so was Jimmie who, of course, was sleeping on his bed.”
“Then I am certain that neither of them will worry you in the night,” the Marquis said, “and nor will I.”
He thought as he spoke that many of the women he knew would think that an insult.
But Velina merely replied,
“I expect that you will fall asleep as soon as your head touches the pillow, as I know I will.”
They walked up the stairs together.
Velina peeped into Johnny’s room and saw, as she expected, that he was fast asleep.
She shut the door very quietly and then he said,
“Now you have nothing to worry about.”
He opened the door of her bedroom for her to go in.
She stopped in the doorway.
“Goodnight, Neil,” she whispered, “and thank you for being so kind.”
“And I want to thank you most sincerely, Velina, for saving my horse and perhaps my life.”
He spoke very quietly.
Then he put his arms round her and pulled her close to him.
“There is only one way I can really thank you,” he murmured.
Then his lips were on hers.
It had given her a strange sensation when his lips had touched hers earlier that day.
But at this moment when he was kissing her gently but determinedly and his arms were round her, it was the most exciting and thrilling thing that had ever happened.
She only knew that it was as if her heart turned a somersault.
At the same time the Marquis was carrying her up into the sky.
Then, when she felt that it was impossible to feel more than she was feeling already, the Marquis raised his head.
In a voice that did not sound like his own he said,
“I love you, Velina, and I want to know if you love me?”
“I love you, I love you,” Velina whispered. “I did not know that love was so marvellous and sublime.”
The Marquis kissed her again.
Then, almost before she could be aware of it, she was inside her bedroom, the door was closed and she was alone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The sun was streaming through the window when Velina woke.
As she did so, she felt a sudden brilliant happiness, almost as if the sunshine was inside her.
She had taken a long time to fall sleep because she was thinking of Neil and how wonderful he was.
‘He is so kind and understanding and he is so much a man,’ she thought.
She had never met anyone like him and she just knew instinctively that he was everything a man should be.
No one else would have behaved so kindly to her and prevented her from being frightened on such a long and arduous ride.
The door opened a little and then Johnny peeped into the room.
“Can I get up, please, miss?” he asked.
“Yes, of course,” she answered. “Don’t forget to wash yourself and you have to look very smart today.”
“Why?” he questioned.
“Because we are coming to the end of our journey and there will be people who will want to meet you.”
Johnny stood hesitatingly for a moment.
Then he asked,
“Suppose they don’t like me and send me back to my uncle?”
“No one will do that,” Velina insisted firmly. “You know that Mr. Neil has said that he will find you a home if I cannot find you one myself.”
Johnny stood looking at her for a moment.
Then he said rather hesitantly,
“I – want to stay – with you.”
“And I want you to stay with me, but it may not be possible. Anyway we need not talk about it now. Hurry up, Johnnie, as I expect there will be a delicious breakfast downstairs.”
Johnny went away.
Velina wished she had not put into his mind that he would have to leave her.
‘But I am not certain yet where I will go myself,’ she thought.
She knew, however, just where she wanted to go.
But suppose by this morning that Neil had changed his mind and did not want her after all.
‘I love him so much!’ she thought. ‘I would scrub the floor and keep the smallest cottage nice for him if he cannot afford anything better.’
Then she was thinking that Samson must be a very valuable stallion.
Yet, if that was all he possessed, he would have to find some way of making money for both of them, if they were to be married.
Then she told herself that nothing mattered except that he loved her and she loved him.
‘This is exactly what I have always wanted,’ she told herself, ‘and why I ran away.’
She said a prayer of thankfulness to God that she had found anyone as wonderful as Neil.
Then she began to dress herself quickly because she was going to him again.
He was downstairs in the dining room and Johnny was with him when she joined them.
The Marquis rose from the table and greeted her,
“Good morning, Velina. You look like spring itself and no woman could be more entrancing.”
Velina gave a little laugh.
“Now you are spoiling me with flattery and I am enjoying every word.”
Colour had come to her cheeks and she was smiling as she sat down beside the Marquis.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“Of course I did,” she replied.
“I hope you dreamt of me.”
She did not answer him because her breakfast was brought in at that moment and placed in front of her.
It was a far better breakfast than anything they had had on their journey so far.
As she finished up with toast and marmalade, she hoped that the bill was not too much for Neil to pay.
Johnny, who had finished, ran from the room to see if the horses were all right.
Velina turned to Neil and said,
“Please let me pay for what was spent last night and now. I am afraid it will be much larger than anything you have had to pay before. I think that we have been rather extravagant.”
The Marquis smiled.
“Most women would expect a man to pay for them whether he could afford it or not.”
“Not if they love him,” she said without thinking.
Then, as she realised that she had used the word ‘love’, which was something he had not said this morning, she blushed.
He thought that nothing could be more attractive than the flush against her white skin and the shyness in her blue eyes.
“I love you! I do love you,” he said very quietly. “And I will never allow any other man to pay for anything you require.”
“I am only thinking of you,” Velina replied quietly.
“It is something that I find very unusual,” he said, “and it makes me love you more than I do already.”
Because she had
no words to answer him, Velina blushed again.
Then she murmured,
“We still have quite a long way to go and I think we should leave as soon as you are ready.”
“I will go and pay the bill,” the Marquis told her.
As he went off to do so, Velina hurried up to her room to collect her bag and hat and then she looked into Johnny’s room to make sure he had left nothing behind.
There was only his old shirt and jumper that she had thrown into the waste-paper basket last night and he thought that he would certainly make a good impression on her aunt.
Perhaps if she was staying with her, he would be allowed to stay too.
Then she thought of Neil and wondered if he would want to marry her at once or perhaps wait until they went South again.
It seemed extraordinary that having been with him so long, she had no idea where his home was and whether his parents were still living and if he had any brothers and sisters.
It was almost as if they had made a pact with each other not to talk about themselves. But he had not asked her questions just as she had not asked him any.
However, there was still Samson to say that he was certainly not completely penniless.
Unless he had won the stallion as a bet in some way or other, he must have cost him a large sum of money even if he had bought him when he was merely a foal.
All these thoughts passed through her mind.
At the same time her heart was still singing because Neil loved her.
To be near him made her feel head-over-heels in love with him.
When she walked down the stairs, Neil and Johnny were bringing the horses from the stables.
They had saddled and bridled them and Velina saw that they would need a really good brush-down when they reached her aunt’s stables.
When the publican came to say goodbye to them, Velina thanked him profusely for his delicious food and very comfortable bed.
“I hope you’ll come again,” he said.
“Whenever we are going South, of course we will,” Velina replied.
“You can be sure of that,” the Marquis added. “As I promised you, I will tell my friends how comfortable we have been and how excellent your food is.”
The publican was delighted.
As they rode off, Velina said,
“You have made him very happy. I hope you have enough friends coming North to show that you have kept your promise.”
A Road to Romance Page 12
