He let himself out of the front door and walked round to the stables, expecting his groom, if no one else, to be on duty, but obviously no one had thought that he would be awake and active at such an early hour.
Just as Rosetta had done, the Marquis saddled one of his own horses and he was thinking, as he did so, he had chosen the best of his magical team.
He then rode into the paddock and only then did he notice that a groom had appeared at the other end of the cobbled yard, yawning as he did so.
The Marquis rode away and following his instinct, he rounded the house and garden.
Then he was in a field in the right direction for the area where the Racecourse was to be built.
As he did so and looked down into the valley, the horse he was riding began galloping, almost instinctively the Marquis thought, in the direction of The Castle.
Because he was already enjoying his ride, he gave the horse its head. He wanted to see how fast it could cover the ground that fortunately was not soft or boggy.
He had galloped for quite some way before he saw ahead of him that there was another rider, who was at that moment putting his horse over what appeared to be a very high and dangerous jump.
Yet that horse landed without any difficulty at all and started off in the direction of another jump.
It was then that the Marquis became aware that the rider was sitting sidesaddle and obviously was a woman.
He could hardly believe his eyes as the first jump was so very high – and so was the second. He would have hesitated before attempting either of them with the mount he was riding.
Feeling curious, he rode towards her and soon saw to his great astonishment who it was – the girl who had, he thought, pushed him last night into committing himself to something he had never even considered before.
Then Rosetta sailed over the second jump in the same brilliant way she had managed the first.
The Marquis felt, as he had last night, that she was the most extraordinary young woman he had ever met.
How could she ride as she was riding now, he asked himself, looking so soft and feminine and seeming almost ethereal rather than just human?
As he drew nearer, he could see she was patting her horse and she was quite obviously making a fuss of him because he had performed so well.
And then without looking back, she set off towards Monkswood.
The Marquis followed her.
As she was now not riding so fast, he was slowly catching her up.
The Marquis’s antecedents and the Lord Waincliffe of the time had agreed together that they would each have the use of Monkswood, but the Marquis seldom shot there. He had concentrated on making the woods on the other side of The Castle better for holding his pheasants.
His half of Monkswood had been neglected and he had never wondered if the present Lord Waincliffe ever used his right to intrude on The Castle half of the wood, but he had never been particularly interested in it and had wasted no time making enquiries.
Now, as Rosetta disappeared amongst the trees, he thought it might be a bit difficult to find her.
Fortunately, however, there was, although he had not seen it before, a path leading into the very heart of the wood.
When the Marquis reached the path, he had a quick glimpse of the girl moving ahead of him.
He rode on and then he came to what he supposed was actually the centre of the wood and in a clearing there was a small pool surrounded by kingcups.
Rosetta was dismounting.
As he appeared, she turned round.
He saw by the surprise in her eyes she had no idea that he had been following her.
He rode up to her and then he dismounted as well.
“I never expected to see you here, my Lord,” she said, “and so early in the morning.”
“I had a desire, as you must have had,” the Marquis replied, “to be out in the sunshine. That is an exceedingly fine horse you are riding.”
“It belongs to Gordon. When he asked if he could give me a present, I told him the one thing I wanted was to ride Starlight.”
“So that is his name and one he certainly deserves. I have been watching you jump and I had no idea that any ordinary horse could take such high jumps, especially if it was ridden by a woman!”
Rosetta laughed.
“In some ways we can be as good as a man and, as it happens, I have not ridden a finer horse than Starlight.”
“I am not surprised. Still I can hardly believe that you were brave enough to take him over such high jumps.”
“I could not resist it. My own horse, much as I love him, could never have attempted anything so high. Nor could he have galloped as fast as Starlight has just done.”
“I was watching you, Dolina, and I am puzzled why you have come here. Is there something special about it?”
“Of course there is, my Lord. Surely you are aware of it.”
She pointed behind him with her hand.
When he turned to look, he saw that there in the middle of the wood was a small dilapidated building and for a moment he wondered why it should interest her.
Then he exclaimed,
“Of course! That was where the old monk lived! I remember being told about it when I was a small boy.”
“Yes, that was where he lived and where he fed the birds, the squirrels and the rabbits. Usually when I come here, I bring them food just as they were given all that time ago by the monk.”
The Marquis smiled sardonically.
It was the sort of thing, he reflected, she would do.
He could not possibly imagine any woman of his acquaintance bothering about anything as mundane as birds and squirrels especially when they might be talking to him.
“I have come here this morning,” Rosetta said in a very soft voice, “to say a prayer of gratitude that you are building the Racecourse. I have a feeling that it was the monk who changed your mind when you were just about to say ‘no’.”
“I think rather it was you who changed my mind,” the Marquis countered.
“At any rate it was the monk who has always loved this wood and who I believe has blessed our side as well as yours.”
“Can you really go safely inside that building?” the Marquis asked. “It looks as though it needs a great deal of attention.”
“That is another thing I have longed for,” Rosetta said. “But, as we cannot afford to repair our own ceilings which are falling down for want of attention, it is not likely there would be enough money to repair the Chapel.”
“Are you suggesting this is another cause I should undertake?” the Marquis quizzed her.
Rosetta shook her head.
“No, it’s definitely not your business. Not unless the Racecourse is such a huge success that you feel you must thank someone and who better than the monk who inspired it?”
She spoke with such sincerity that he sensed she believed in every word she was saying.
As she tied Starlight’s bridle to a bough of a fallen tree, he did the same with his horse.
Rosetta glanced at him as he did so, but she did not say anything and when she turned to walk towards the little Chapel, the Marquis followed her.
It was larger inside than he had expected, although half the roof had fallen in and the windows were broken.
Yet it was easy to see that it had once been a small Chapel and it was a miracle it had survived for so long.
The floor was covered with moss and although the stone altar was still there, there was no cross.
The Marquis unexpectedly found himself, just like Rosetta, conscious of a feeling of sanctity.
As they entered, a number of small birds flew from the beams out through what had once been a window.
There were small creatures scurrying over the floor and they disappeared either out of the Chapel or into the overgrown weeds.
The Marquis stared about him.
Then Rosetta went down on her knees in front of the altar and he could see that she was praying fer
vently.
Her eyes were closed and her hands were clasped together.
She made, with her curly fair hair and white blouse, a picture the Marquis felt was incredibly moving – and so beautiful that any artist would find it irresistible.
It was a good long time since he had seen a woman praying or had been with one who was so oblivious of him personally that she did not even turn round to see if he was kneeling behind her.
When she raised her head with her eyes still shut, a bright shaft of glorious light seemed to stream in through the battered window over the altar.
For a moment it turned her hair to gold.
And it enveloped her as if it was a blessing from God Himself.
As the Marquis then drew in his breath, unable to believe what he was witnessing, Rosetta rose to her feet.
Smiling at him, she said,
“I have thanked the monk. I know he will bless the Racecourse and it will be a huge success.”
Without waiting for him to answer, she walked out of the Chapel towards the horses.
Starlight was straining against his ties and, as she released him, she turned to the Marquis,
“When I come here on my own horse, he is so well trained that he just waits for me without being tied up.”
Even as she spoke, she realised that she had made a bloomer – she had spoken not as Dolina but as herself.
She hoped, however, the Marquis was not listening to her or thought her remark in any way strange.
When she turned again towards him, he picked her up in his arms and set her on Starlight’s saddle and then as she began to ride slowly back along the path, he mounted his own horse and followed her.
It was impossible for them to talk, as the path was very narrow and the Marquis was obliged to ride behind her and, instead of going out of the wood the way she had come in, she suddenly turned to the left.
Soon the Marquis was aware that they were on the ground on which the Racecourse would be built.
It was quite flat over a large area and he knew there would be no reason to disturb Monkswood, although there were some small copses that would have to be demolished, but otherwise it was a natural site for a Racecourse.
The Marquis then drew alongside her, saying,
“It looks most attractive just as it is – ”
Rosetta glanced at him, then realised he was teasing her, enjoying his own little joke.
“A gentleman’s word is his bond,” she retorted just slightly sternly.
“You can hardly suspect me of going back on all I promised last night. Also you have just sealed it with a blessing from Heaven and anyway I am far too cowardly to defy anything so masterful as your prayers!”
“I am very glad of that, my Lord, and you do have to admit it’s all very exciting and something so different from what has ever happened in this part of the world.”
“I think the historians would disagree with you, but I am quite sure that, if nothing else, Dolina, you have given our people something to talk about – ”
He glanced at Rosetta before he finished,
“Instead of me!”
She gave a little laugh.
“I wondered if you realised that you are the prime topic of conversation from the highest to the lowest in this County.”
“I would imagine that they have nothing better to interest them, but it has never troubled me what they say or don’t say. And I am very glad that you are not despising me as much as you did when I arrived last night.”
Rosetta looked at him in surprise.
“What made you think that?” she asked.
“Perhaps I am perceptive when it concerns myself, but I sense your thoughts and your feelings and they are so different from any I have received from a pretty woman.”
“But now, in a few months, you are going to be the most popular man who has ever lived at The Castle!”
The Marquis laughed, but he did not reply at once.
After a moment, he asked Rosetta,
“Shall we race our horses? I think the winning post should be that tree you can just see on the horizon.”
“You tell me when to start, my Lord.”
They drew in their horses, as the Marquis intoned,
“One, two, three – go!”
They swept forward.
Even as they did so, the Marquis realised that she was without exception the most brilliant female rider he had ever known.
In addition Starlight was indeed an exceptionally fine thoroughbred and he was carrying, the Marquis knew, a much lighter weight that his mount was bearing.
They were neck-and-neck until shortly before they reached the tree he had selected for the winning post.
By an almost superhuman effort Rosetta managed almost to pass him.
It was then that the Marquis by sheer outstanding riding drew level with her just as they reached the tree.
“A dead heat!” he exclaimed as they pulled in their mounts.
“I thought for a moment I was going to beat you,” Rosetta exclaimed. “But you are too good a rider. In fact, without exaggeration I can say I have never known a man ride as well as you do.”
“That is exactly what I was going to say to you. In fact for a woman you are terrific and there is no other word for it, Dolina.”
“I think you should really say that to Starlight. It’s extremely easy to be a good rider when you are on a superb horse and far more difficult when your horse does its best but is really not, as you might say, first class.”
She was thinking of her own beloved stallion as she spoke and as he was growing older he would not have been able to compete as she had done with the Marquis’s horse.
“I would say one thing,” the Marquis said quietly, “that, while we are building the Racecourse, you must have entrée to my stables.”
He thought as he spoke that it would please Rosetta more than anything else he could offer her.
She turned to look at him as if to question whether he really meant it and then he saw the light and excitement in her eyes that he felt were very touching.
Then, for no reason he could understand, she turned away and replied to him in a rather strange tone,
“That is very kind of you, my Lord, and of course I am most grateful.”
Because he was so perceptive, the Marquis knew at once that something was wrong and yet he did not have any idea what it could be.
How could he possibly know that for one moment Rosetta had felt as if he carried her up into the sky.
And then she had remembered he was speaking not to her but to Dolina.
It would be Dolina who would be able to ride his horses – not her.
She was already resigning herself to the fact that, once the work began on the Racecourse, she would have to make herself very scarce.
It meant of course that she would have to ride in the opposite direction to where either the Marquis or Gordon and Henry were likely to be.
It would be fatal if he caught a glimpse of her when Dolina was at home.
They rode in silence for a short distance and then Rosetta remarked,
“I think we should be going back. It must be nearly time for breakfast and I know that the boys will be wanting to talk to you.”
“For the moment I am quite content to talk to you,” the Marquis replied. “And I am much looking forward to showing you my Castle this afternoon, Dolina.”
“And I am looking forward to seeing it, my Lord. If it is anything like as marvellous as I am told it is, then it will be very difficult to make ourselves concentrate on the Racecourse. So we should get that over this morning.”
“There are so many things I want to show you and ask your opinion on that I am sure some of them will have to be left for another day.”
There was silence for a moment and then Rosetta commented rather provocatively,
“What will they do in London if you stay too long in the country and give them nothing to talk about?”
“Now you are bei
ng unkind to me. I am well aware I am talked about, but I have no wish for you to look at me as you did last night. So naturally I will have to mend my ways and spend my time concentrating on the Racecourse.”
Rosetta laughed.
“I am quite certain you will do nothing of the sort. As I have already said, if you suddenly become obsessed by the country, London will have nothing to gossip about, whilst we will have you for breakfast, luncheon, tea and dinner!”
The Marquis thought that the way she teased him was something he had not known for many years.
Women had always loaded him with compliments, or else were pleading almost frantically for expressions of love from him.
“If you say much more,” he said, “I will spend all the money I have to spare on building myself a Church where I can repent of my sins and the Racecourse will have to be forgotten!”
“That is cheating, my Lord. At the moment the Racecourse is far more important for us than any Church could be for you.”
“That is your opinion, Dolina, but of course I am entitled to mine.”
“You will have to be very astute and very subtle to convert me!” Rosetta answered.
The Marquis thought again how different she was in every way from any woman he had ever known.
Now they were fencing verbally with each other and making it, he considered, far more amusing than any conversation he had ever had with any female.
The Hall was now in sight and he suggested,
“I think before you exhaust your mind trying to get the better of me, we should now exhaust our bodies with another race. How about it, Dolina!”
Rosetta’s eyes lit up.
“We have about half a mile ahead of us and so I challenge Starlight to reach the gate into the orchard before I reach it!”
Rosetta gave him a smile that seemed to illuminate her whole enchanting face.
Then her head was down and she was galloping Starlight away from him.
The Marquis caught her up.
At the gate, it was once again a dead heat.
“I thought I had won,” Rosetta sighed.
“Fate has answered the question quite clearly,” the Marquis observed. “We are inseparable.”
Even as he spoke, he thought that Hermione or any of the other beauties would undoubtedly have made the most of that statement.
The Winning Post Is Love Page 9
