They both laughed, and then Ben looked serious.
He rode several times round the huge square.
Finally he found a tree that he could climb without difficulty and, when he descended and mounted his horse again, he rode back the way he had come with a smile on his lips.
He had discovered what Canèda wanted to know.
Chapter 3
The sun was reflected in the wide river and there was the freshness of the morning in the scent that came from the blossoming shrubs that bordered the road along which Canèda and Ben were riding.
She had crept out from the hotel while Madame de Goucourt was still asleep, knowing that she would have been horrified at her appearance.
She had in fact spent a great deal of thought on choosing her habit, which was certainly not one that a Lady of Quality would have worn in Rotten Row.
In fact it would have been too outré and extreme even for the Pretty Horse-Breakers who met at the Achilles statue to show off their mounts and themselves.
If Canèda had wished to be spectacular, she had certainly succeeded.
After changing her mind several times, she had finally chosen a habit made of heavy silk and camellia pink in colour.
It was frogged with white braid and ornamented with large pearl buttons.
The gauze veil that floated behind her was also pink and the only other colour to complete the ensemble were the toes of her highly polished dark riding boots, which peeped from beneath her skirts, and her own dark hair.
That she looked lovely went without saying, but she also looked very theatrical.
She accentuated this impression by reddening her lips with a different salve from what she used sparingly on other occasions.
Her skin was so dazzlingly white that it did not really need the film of powder that she had applied to it.
On Ariel’s back she certainly looked striking and it was fortunate that it was so early in the morning, otherwise she might easily have attracted a crowd.
She was complemented by Ben, who on her instructions was wearing the lavishly gold-braided red coat that he had worn in the circus.
His new cockaded hat set at an angle on his head needed no embellishment, his white breeches were smartly cut and his white gloves had been expensive.
He and Canèda had discussed at some length what horse he should ride, for they had nothing with them to equal the appearance of Ariel.
Harry had recently purchased a black stallion with a white nose and four white fetlocks.
He had christened it ‘Black Boy’ and Canèda thought that the horse added to their theatrical appearance.
They rode quickly and in silence.
Canèda, going over in her mind all that Ben had told her about the riding school, was determined that she would not make a mistake in anything she did, for she knew that everything depended on there not being a snag at the last moment.
Because she was apprehensive she could not help thinking that perhaps the Duc would decide not to attend the school this particular morning or that, when she did appear, he would order her abruptly from the grounds.
Then she told herself that, if she could command the attention, admiration and adoration of so many Englishmen, one Frenchman could not be so very different.
They crossed the bridge over the River Loire and Canèda looked ahead of them to where the Château de Saumac stood like a sentinel above the small town.
She thought that there must be a magnificent panoramic view from its windows over the river and the valley and she wondered if she would ever see it.
Then she told herself that this was the moment when she must have complete and absolute confidence in herself and in the knowledge that what she was doing was right and just.
When they had crossed the bridge, she let Ben go ahead to lead her straight to the riding school.
They twisted their way through some small attractive streets with old gabled houses.
Then suddenly, as she had expected, Canèda saw the high wall that Ben had described to her and at the far end the large buildings that had been built to house the Cavalry Officers.
Now was the moment when they must not waste time, for though there were only a few people moving about the streets, they stared at them in astonishment.
The last thing Canèda wanted was to collect a crowd who would perhaps get in the way.
Ben drew his horse to a standstill beneath a chestnut tree that was just coming into flower and Canèda guessed it was the one that he had observed the school from yesterday.
He tied his reins to an adjacent railing and, with the expertise of a circus performer, climbed agilely up the tree without marking his clothes or making it seem any more difficult than taking an ordinary walk.
There was a moment when Canèda held her breath in case, as she feared, the Duc was not there.
Then Ben smiled and nodded his head and she instantly moved Ariel back some distance from the wall and waited for Ben to give her the signal they had arranged.
As she felt a little nervous and was frightened that it might communicate itself to Ariel, she bent forward to pat his neck with her gloved hand.
“Steady, boy! I am relying on you,” she said softly and Ariel twitched his ears as if he understood what she was saying to him.
Then, as she heard Ben give a low whistle, she rode forward.
The wall was high, but Ariel cleared it with several inches to spare, tucking his legs under him in the way Ben and Canèda had taught him to do over the jumps at Langstone.
He landed on the other side of the wall on sandy ground and Canèda, looking ahead, saw as she had expected a man standing in the centre of the school, astride what she knew was an exceptionally fine grey.
There was no time, however, to do more than recognise him from Ben’s description, for at the word of command, Ariel rose up on his hind legs and moved quite a way towards the Duc before he was back on four.
Then he waltzed round and round as Canèda had taught him to do.
It was the dance that his mother had performed in the circus and he reversed as she had done.
By now they were within ten feet of the Duc and Canèda pulled Ariel to a standstill. At her quietly whispered order he put out his front legs and bowed his head, while Canèda, sitting bolt upright in the saddle, raised her jewel-handled whip in salute.
Now, as she looked directly at the Duc, she saw that he was not in the least what she had expected.
She had thought that he would be small, but he was large with square shoulders. He was dark, but not overwhelmingly so, and she had the idea that his eyes were grey.
She had expected him to look grim and perhaps because everyone had said that he was so reserved and secretive.
Instead he looked raffish and in fact there was almost a Devil-may-care expression on his very handsome face, as if he defied the world and was derisive of anything it could offer him.
Ariel rose to his feet and now Canèda and the Duc were facing each other and for a moment no one spoke.
Then the other riders who had drawn in their mounts to watch Canèda burst into applause and she had no time to notice anything more.
They clapped enthusiastically and until they were finished there was no chance of either Canèda or the Duc saying anything.
As if she took the appreciation as her due, Canèda smiled at them, bowing her head gracefully in first one direction, then the other.
Then her eyes came back to the Duc and she looked at him questioningly as if she wondered why he did not applaud what he must admit was an outstanding performance.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“Bonjour, Monsieur le Duc,” Canèda replied. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”
“In a somewhat unusual manner,” he remarked drily.
“I may be wrong,” Canèda replied, “but I rather doubted if your awe-inspiring gates would open for me and I was so very anxious to meet – you.”
Her voice softened on the
last words and she deliberately made her blue eyes seem flirtatious and inviting as she looked at him and then fluttered her dark eyelashes.
“I asked you a question,” the Duc said. “Who are you?”
“My name is Canèda.”
There was a pause before he enquired,
“Is that all?”
“It is the name I perform with.”
For the first time there was a faint smile on his lips.
“So you belong to the circus.”
“A very superior one.”
“That, of course, I would not doubt.”
Again there was a pause before the Duc said,
“Well, mademoiselle, now that you are here in a somewhat unconventional manner, what can I do for you?”
“That is what I hoped you would ask me, monsieur. I want to know if there is anything you can teach me, anything that my horses do not know already.”
She accentuated the plural and, as she realised that the Duc had noticed it, she said,
“Perhaps you will allow my groom to join me. He has another horse I would like you to see, although he is not in the same class as Ariel,”
“That is the name of your magnificent stallion?”
“Yes, I pronounce it in the English way.”
Canèda smiled.
She felt with a little sense of triumph that the conversation was going exactly as she wished it to do.
“Perhaps I should explain, monsieur, that when I am in England I am English and in France I am French.”
She thought that he was puzzled and she explained,
“My mother was French, my father – so I have always been told – was English.”
Again at the frankness of her words she saw a faint smile on the Duc’s lips.
He had a hard mouth, she thought, it might even be a cruel one, but it was belied by the expression in his eyes, which made her think that he was what the Medieval Knights must have looked like who warred so ferociously over France in previous centuries.
He lifted his hand and one of the men in uniform rode to his side.
“Have the gates opened for Mademoiselle’s groom to join her,” the Duc ordered.
The Officer saluted and rode towards the gateway,
The Duc then turned his face again towards Canèda.
“We appear to have something in common besides horseflesh,” he said. “You say you are half-French and half-English and I am the same. Except my mother was English and my father French.”
Canèda was both startled and intrigued.
Not even Madame de Goucourt had told her that the Duc had English blood in him, but it would certainly account for his height, the breadth of his shoulders and the fact that despite his dark hair he did not look as conventionally French as she had expected.
“Your French is certainly exceptional,” the Duc went on, “and I am not certain that I am prepared to compare my English with it.”
“If we are obliged to speak English, monsieur,” Canèda replied, “Ariel shall be the judge of how intelligible you are.”
She spoke so provocatively and with such a look of mischief in her eyes that the Duc made a little sound that might almost have been termed a laugh.
She was quite sure that he did not laugh often and she felt that, if nothing else, this was a point in her favour.
Then she saw Ben come through the gates and ride towards her and she knew that the Officers in the school were watching him and that his theatrical appearance undoubtedly amused them.
He looked very small on Black Boy’s back. At the same time he rode conventionally until he was halfway between the gates and the Duc.
Then he stood up in the saddle, holding on only to the reins, while Black Boy carried him until they reached Canèda and were facing the Duc.
As the horse came to a standstill, Ben swept off his top hat and made a deep bow, then sat down in the saddle again.
The Duc, however, was looking at Black Boy rather than at Ben and Canèda was sure that it was deliberate.
“A fine animal,” he said at length. “Can he do the same tricks as yours?”
“He is young and still a learner, as I wish to be, Monsieur le Duc.”
“It is doubtful if there is much we can teach you,” the Duc replied, “and, as you have already given such an instructive performance, perhaps it would be unfair to ask for an encore.”
Canèda gave him a dazzling smile.
“It would be a pleasure, monsieur, if that is what you want.”
“I feel that my Officers would be very disappointed if, having aroused their interest and curiosity with an aperitif, you denied them the rest of the meal.”
Canèda gave a laugh that seemed to ring out infectiously.
“We will give a performance, monsieur, but I shall expect payment in kind.”
“Of course, mademoiselle,” the Duc agreed.
Again he summoned an Officer to his side and, as he saluted respectfully, Canèda was aware that the young man was looking at her rather than at the Duc.
“Mademoiselle Canèda has most graciously said that she will show us what her horse can do and I have promised in return that we will show her what we have achieved after two months of hard training.”
There was a bite in the last words as if the Duc challenged the Cavalrymen not to let him down and Canèda was sure that he was a stern taskmaster and that the young Officers would be afraid of him.
However, at the moment she was concerned with looking at the jumps, which were arranged in a circle round the centre of the ground where they were standing.
They were almost as high as the wall that Ariel had just cleared and were arranged in a manner that made it sometimes difficult for a horse to take the second jump as easily as he took the first.
There was also an imitation wall made of loose bricks that would be easy to dislodge at a touch.
Canèda glanced at Ben and knew he was thinking that there was nothing that need make Ariel or Black Boy the least apprehensive.
The ground was cleared and the Cavalrymen arranged themselves on either side.
She smiled at the Duc.
“I hope, monsieur, that you will not be disappointed.”
“I am quite certain, mademoiselle, that would be impossible,” the Duc replied.
His voice held a slightly dry note that did not make his words sound like a compliment and Canèda told herself that she would have to fight to get what she wanted, which in a way made it even more exhilarating.
She had only to look at the young Officers watching her to know that she would see in their eyes the admiration that could so easily be heightened by a glance or a provocative little twist of her lips.
But with the Duc she was not certain.
She had surprised him. He had so far fallen in with her plans, but it might be difficult to extract any more from him.
However, for the moment she was concerned only with giving a performance that would make him admire her horses if not herself.
There was no need for her to touch Ariel with her whip. She had only to speak to him in a voice that he had always obeyed instantly.
Then he was off, sailing over the jumps disdainfully and treating the wall with contempt.
They went round twice and then Canèda drew him up in the centre while Ben rode off on Black Boy.
Black Boy was a good jumper, but there was nothing particularly original about that. It was Ben whom they watched.
He did the Cossack trick of travelling between the jumps at the side of his horse rather than in the saddle.
He stood up as he had when he arrived, but this time without holding onto the reins and he vaulted to the ground and back onto Black Boy without making him slow his pace.
In fact he did a dozen tricks that he had done in the circus, but Canèda knew that it was all the more remarkable because he had only been training Black Boy for the last nine months.
When finally he finished the course and trotted away, there was a grin on
his face that told her he was as pleased as she was that it had gone so well.
Then Canèda made Ariel dance again. He waltzed and polkaed as Juno used to do and, because there was no band, Canèda hummed to him.
There were many other small tricks he could do that Canèda knew would impress the Duc, as only a really good horseman would know how difficult they were to teach and the patience that was required to bring them to the perfection that Ariel showed.
Finally both Ariel and Black Boy went down on their knees and put their heads down on the ground with their riders still sitting in the saddle.
It was then that the applause broke out and this time it was accompanied by cheers and ‘bravos’ that seemed to echo round the riding school.
As the horses rose to their feet, the Duc rode up to them.
“Thank you, mademoiselle,” he said. “There is no need for me to tell you how magnificent your performance was or how much it has been appreciated by me and the Officers of the Cavalry Corps.”
Canèda bowed and he continued,
“You have offered us a challenge and now, if you will stand at the saluting base, we will see what we can offer you,”
Canèda smiled at him and they rode side by side to the saluting base while Ben followed to stand behind them.
As if she had inspired the Cavalry Officers, they took their horses over the jumps in record time, first one man completing the course, then two together and finally three.
It was impressive and Canèda clapped her hands.
“You have trained them well, monsieur.”
“I am glad you did not visit us two months earlier, mademoiselle,” the Duc replied drily.
Then the riders not only completed the course as quickly as they could, but dismounted, changed horses and went round again.
The best rider was incredibly quick and Canèda decided that this was certainly something she would try out with Harry and his friends at Langstone Park.
She thought that it would be a change from steeplechasing and was deciding what prize they would offer to the winner when the Duc interrupted her thoughts.
The race had just finished and he said,
“I would now like to show you, mademoiselle, what the horse I am riding can do. He is one of the best in my stables and, while he has no tricks to compare with Ariel’s, I think you will agree that he is an excellent jumper.”
Love in the Moon Page 5
