Later when she went below to the Master Cabin, which was extremely well designed and more comfortable than any cabin she had imagined possible in a yacht, she saw the Duke.
The Captain had extracted the bullet and now his arm was bandaged and he was lying in bed with his eyes closed.
“I have given him something to make him sleep, my Lady,” the Captain explained, “and that will also make him forget the pain.”
He paused before he said with a note of pride in his voice,
“His Grace bore it like a Trojan while I was removing the bullet. It was a messy job and he’ll be as weak as a kitten for a day or two.”
It seemed a funny way to describe the Duke who had always appeared to Aldora to be so dominating and overbearing.
Now, as she looked at him, his face pale even in comparison to the pillows he was lying on, she thought that he was like a fallen oak tree and no longer intimidating or, as she had felt, positively menacing, but instead rather pathetic.
“Did the bullet strike a bone?” she asked quickly.
“No,” the Captain replied. “It was just a flesh wound, but it’ll leave a nasty scar and His Grace’ll find it hard to use his left arm properly for some weeks.”
“It might have been worse!” Aldora said almost beneath her breath.
“What was His Grace a-doin’, getting’ himself shot?” Hobson asked fiercely. “I’ve never before known him lose a duel.”
“It was not a duel,” Aldora replied.
“Not a duel?” Hobson repeated, his eyes alight with interest.
Because she was aware that the little man loved his Master, Aldora told him the truth.
“His Grace was shot by a highwayman who wanted to take Caesar from him.”
“A highwayman!” Hobson ejaculated. “There’s always riff-raff and vagabonds to be found trampin’ about the place when the races be on. But you’d think His Grace’d have more sense than to be a-ridin’ here through the night.”
Aldora had no intention of explaining why the Duke was doing so and she said swiftly,
“I think we ought to keep him as quiet as possible. Will you show me my cabin?”
Hobson led her into the cabin next to the Duke’s, which was extremely well fitted out and was very pretty with pink curtains over the portholes and a pink bedspread over the large and very comfortable brass bed.
Everything else was set into the walls, the cupboards, the drawers, the dressing table and the washing stand.
The only movable furniture was a very solid armchair and a stool in front of the mirror where she could arrange her hair.
Because Hobson saw that she was interested, he took her round the rest of the yacht.
There were four large cabins for guests and two smaller ones with bunk beds set against the wall.
“They be for lady’s maids or valets,” Hobson explained. “Not that his Lordship’s guests often bring their attendant with ’em. They’re always more nuisance than they’re worth!”
Aldora had heard this before and she gave a little laugh.
“Ladies get seasick and the gentlemen grumble,” Hobson went on. “As I says to His Grace a dozen times, them as likes the sea should be prepared to look after themselves.”
“I am sure you are right,” Aldora replied, “and I promise you, I am very good at looking after myself at sea.”
“I might have guessed that, my Lady,” Hobson replied. “I knows if you’re willin’ to look after His Grace you’d be able to look after yourself.”
Aldora laughed again, then, having taken off her riding hat and because the rising sun was very hot, her jacket, she went up on deck.
Already the yacht was out of Harbour and they were in the open sea.
The sun was lifting the mist over the horizon, making a golden haze of beauty that she wished she could show her father.
She had an idea that the Duke would appreciate it too and she wondered how long he would feel ill and if he had been over-optimistic in informing her mother that he would be returning in a day or so.
‘I wonder what excuses Mama will make for my absence?’ Aldora asked herself.
Then she thought that nobody would miss her particularly, while the fact that the Duke was not there to see his horses run would undoubtedly cause a great deal of comment.
She was quite certain that her mother with her usual diplomacy would smooth over the surprise caused by his non-appearance and it was extremely unlikely that anybody would imagine that because she was not to be seen they were together.
‘When we get back and the Duke says that he definitely has no intention of marrying me,’ she told herself, ‘he will return to London and there will be no reason for me ever to see him again.’
At the same time, after she had been on deck for half-an-hour and then came down to see how the Duke was, she felt guilty.
He was lying so quiet in the big bed and she thought that it was entirely her fault that he was not at this moment looking forward with an eager anticipation to his horse winning the Goodwood Cup.
‘I hope it does!’ she mused.
She wished that the Duke was awake so that she could discuss it with him and perhaps apologise for having run away at the wrong moment.
It had never struck her that he might follow her and, although she had acted on the impulse of the moment, she had quite seriously intended to cross the English Channel to France.
Then she would have disappeared until any suggestion that she might marry the Duke was obliterated from her mother’s mind.
She had brought with her a considerable amount of ready money and also all the jewellery she possessed, which was very valuable.
But despite the fact that she had been carrying a pistol to protect herself with, she knew now that, if she had been alone and had been held up by a highwayman, she might easily have been murdered.
Because she had always travelled either with her father or accompanied by a number of servants, Aldora had never really worked it out for herself how dangerous it could be for a woman on her own.
She had been so confident, because her father had taught her to be an excellent shot, that she need not be afraid of anybody or anything.
What had just happened in the wood had not only surprised but actually frightened her.
“I can look after myself,” she had boasted to the Duke.
But now she was not so certain.
She could still see the highwayman lying on the ground and knew that, while she had killed him to save the Duke’s life, it would have been very different if he had been accompanied by another miscreant as dangerous as himself.
With all her brains and intelligence, Aldora was in many ways very innocent and, only as she sat down beside the Duke’s bed, did she feel suddenly afraid of the future she had chosen for herself.
She realised now that if at this moment she was travelling alone to France, she might be menaced by men who desired not only her money, but herself as a woman.
‘I must have been mad to think that I could manage on my own,’ she thought and was suddenly ashamed to think how stupid she had been.
*
It was much later in the day when Aldora was sitting alone with the Duke that he began to be restless.
Hobson had already worked out some kind of rota for her and himself.
While she had luncheon in the Saloon, he stayed at the Duke’s bedside. Afterwards he had insisted that she rested and, although she protested that it was unnecessary, he replied,
“If His Grace’s been up half the night, my guess is, your Ladyship’s done the same. Now you have a ‘shut-eye’ and then you can watch over His Grace while I do all the things I’ve got to do, before I takes over durin’ the night.”
“But that’s not fair!” Aldora protested. “You will be doing much more than I will!”
Hobson grinned.
“I’m used to hard work, my Lady, which is more than you are! I thinks it’ll be better if you watch over His Grace during the dayt
ime, while I watch while he sleeps.”
“He may not sleep,” Aldora argued, “and you have to rest sometime, so we will take turns both day and night.”
She spoke so firmly that Hobson capitulated.
“Very good, my Lady. You stay with His Grace until two o’clock and then I’ll take over. How does that suit Your Ladyship?”
“It sounds reasonable,” Aldora replied.
Now Hobson had agreed that she should be with the Duke until dinnertime, after which he would get him ready for the night and would make her up a comfortable bed on the sofa in the Master Cabin.
“I might fall asleep and not hear him,” Aldora worried.
“You’ll hear him,” Hobson replied. “When you’re on watch, the slightest sound rings like a bell in your head and it’s instinct more than anythin’ else that makes you aware that you’re wanted.”
Aldora thought that he was speaking of instinct almost in the same way as his Master had done.
It was strange that nobody else, with the exception of her father, had ever discussed with her anything that was not entirely material and which one could see and touch.
She understood what Hobson was trying to say and let him have his own way.
Now, as the Duke gave a little murmur and turned his head from side to side, she rose from the sofa where she had been lying and put her hand to his forehead.
As she suspected, his temperature was rising and knew that Hobson had been right in saying he would run a fever.
He did not, however, show any acute restlessness until about midnight when Aldora was dozing against the comfortable pillows that Hobson had arranged for her on the sofa while she was covered with a warm blanket.
Then she heard the Duke begin to speak.
Quickly she jumped up to go to his side and, when she touched him, she realised that he was very hot and his skin was dry, in fact, burning.
First he began to murmur, then to speak.
For a moment she could not understand what he was saying until his voice seemed to strengthen a little and he said,
“The – Russians! They – must be – stopped! Write to Sher Ali, ask – meet – discussions!”
There was a long pause. Then, as he turned his head restlessly again and she was afraid he might move his arm, he muttered,
“Keep the – Russians out of Afghanistan – important! Must be – done!”
She realised that he was speaking as if he was already the Viceroy of India and trying to repair the damage done by Lord Northbrook and the Gladstone Government.
She knew that they had insulted Sher Ali so that he had accepted the Russian infiltration into Afghanistan.
Then, as she saw that the Duke’s fever was rising, she hurried to the small cabin where Hobson had told her he would sleep rather than in his own quarters so that he would be on call if she wanted him.
She knocked on the door and almost instantly she heard his voice say,
“I’ll be with your Ladyship in two secs!”
She ran back again to the Duke’s cabin.
By the time Hobson joined her the Duke was talking incoherently, although she could recognise the words ‘Russia’ and ‘Afghanistan’ being repeated over and over again and he was obviously running a very high fever.
“Don’t you worry, my Lady, we’ll rub him down with vinegar,” Hobson said reassuringly.
Aldora assisted him to lift the Duke up and put towels behind him.
Then, when Hobson had mixed the vinegar with water, she helped him sponge his Master down knowing that this was a very efficacious method of bringing down a high fever.
Strangely she did not feel in the least embarrassed at the Duke being half-naked.
In fact, as she worked on him dipping the sponge in the diluted vinegar, she felt that he was like a child who needed her assistance and she longed to remove the heat from his body and the fever from his troubled mind.
They worked for over half-an-hour until the Duke’s skin was less hot to the touch than it had been before and, although he still murmured incoherently, his voice was much quieter.
“His Grace’ll be better now,” Hobson said.
He covered the Duke’s chest with a fresh towel and left the sheet below his waist.
He then opened one of the portholes to let in the cool of the night air.
She had been thinking so much about the Duke that Aldora had hardly realised that soon after dinner the yacht had let down its anchor and they were in calm waters.
She guessed, because it was what her father had always done, that the Captain had orders to let the crew sleep peacefully at night and move only in the daytime.
There were so many small harbours and bays along the South Coast that she was aware that, however rough the English Channel might be, there was always some place where they could heave-to and sleep undisturbed.
Hobson looked down at his Master with a smile of satisfaction.
“His Grace’ll be no more trouble tonight, my Lady,” he said. “Now you pop off to bed and don’t worry about anythin’ till the sun’s high in the sky.”
Aldora looked a little indecisive.
“You are quite sure you don’t want some more sleep yourself?” she asked.
“I’ve had all I need,” Hobson replied, “and unlike your Ladyship, I don’t have to worry about me beauty!”
He gave her an impertinent grin and Aldora laughed.
“Very well, Hobson. But call me if I am wanted and I shall be very upset if you omit to do so.”
“If you asks me, His Grace’ll sleep as quiet as a new-born babe!” Hobson replied.
“Then goodnight,” Aldora said, “and – thank you.”
She went to her own cabin, climbed into bed and thought as she did so that she was in fact very tired.
She had had no sleep the night before and only an hour or so after luncheon.
Now she thought that it might be impossible to sleep if she remembered all the dramatic events that had taken place, her escape from home, the thunderstorm, how she had killed a highwayman and the Duke lying in a delirium in the next cabin.
However she was so exhausted that she slipped away into an oblivion that was like sinking into a dark comfortable cloud where it was impossible to think.
*
The Duke, propped up against his pillows, looked at Aldora sitting beside his bed.
The sunshine coming in through the porthole lit her head with a halo of gold and he thought, not for the first time, that she had a strange beauty that was different from that of any other woman he had ever seen.
It had a haunting quality about it that made a man look and look again.
She was reading to him from a book of poetry that she had found in the Saloon and he thought that her voice was very soft and musical and had a kind of lilting quality in it that was unusual.
Aldora finished the poem and then said,
“I don’t think that anybody could describe a storm at sea better than that! Papa made me read whenever I felt seasick and the words were so beautiful that I forgot about myself.”
The Duke, because he had been thinking of Aldora rather than what she was reading, had not really listened but now he said,
“One could hardly feel seasick with the sea as it is today.”
“No, of course not,” Aldora replied. “I wish you could come up on deck to see how beautiful it looks in the sunshine.”
“I will get up tomorrow,” the Duke replied.
Aldora gave a little cry.
“Only if you are quite certain that you will not hurt your arm or bring back the fever!”
She thought that she had not convinced him and carried on,
“Do be sensible! Hobson and I sponged you until if I ever smell vinegar again I shall at once think of how worried we were about you.”
“You can hardly expect me to apologise for something I could not help,” the Duke remarked.
“I am not asking you to apologise,” Aldora said, “only not
to give us any more trouble and Hobson is sure that you should not think of returning to civilisation for at least another four or five days.”
“Hobson clucks over me like an old hen!” the Duke complained. “While you – ”
He paused.
“Me?” Aldora asked.
“You have suddenly become a ministering angel, a role I never envisaged you in when you were scaring me as a very aggressive Amazon!”
Aldora laughed.
“Did I really seem like that?”
“I was too intimidated to tell you the truth about yourself.”
He did not wait for her to reply, but added,
“Now all is forgiven and forgotten and I suppose you realise that, after your saving my life, I am not only eternally in your debt but also your responsibility from now on!”
He spoke lightly, but he saw the colour come into Aldora’s face and a wary look into her eye.
“What we have to decide,” the Duke went on before she could speak, “is how I can reward you. You do not need money and I imagine that you already own a great number of jewels. I suppose therefore the only appropriate present would be a horse!”
Aldora laughed.
“You are very clever! It is not only something I would like above all things, but something I could quite conventionally accept.”
There was a little pause before the Duke said in a different tone of voice,
“If you are talking about the conventions, Aldora, when my head ceases to feel as if it was stuffed with cotton wool, which I suspect is due to some drug Hobson gave me after the bullet had been extracted from my arm, we have to think about you.”
“About me?” Aldora enquired. “What about – me?”
There was not the hostile note in her voice that the Duke had expected, but an apprehensive one.
“Because you so kindly in your new role came on the yacht to nurse me, as Hobson tells me he asked you to do, you must be aware that if anybody heard of it, it would ruin your reputation!”
“I see no reason why anybody should know where I am,” Aldora said quickly.
“I hope that is true,” the Duke answered, “but I am just wondering whether it would be wise to put you ashore somewhere along the coast of England and let you find your own way home from there. Or perhaps you have a better idea?”
The Storms Of Love Page 10