“You might like to give a party like your mother used to do when she was alive. ‘I get to see everybody at least once a year, Nanny’ she said to me once. ‘That means we are free to enjoy in small doses those I really like’.”
The Marquis laughed.
“I will certainly think about it, Nanny.”
“I see you’re goin’ ridin’,” Nanny said looking at his breeches. “Where are you off to?”
“I was thinking of calling on Sedela,” the Marquis replied.
He was watching Nanny closely as he spoke.
He thought if she knew that Sedela had come to his bedroom pretending to be Lady Constance there would be some hint of it in her eyes.
Alternatively a little hesitation before she replied would tell him that she was at least aware of it.
He was using his perception as he watched her, but Nanny only smiled and said,
“Now that’s a good idea. If there’s anyone as has really worried over your Lordship, it’s Miss Sedela. She kept your father’s spirits up though and mine too.”
She gave a sigh before she added,
“When I was most anxious about you, Miss Sedela would say, ‘he’s safe, Nanny. I know he’s safe. Just keep prayin’ and believe the best, not the worst. It is our good thoughts that will protect him’.”
The Marquis rose to his feet.
“As I am going to be here for a long time, Nanny, I will see a lot of you.”
“I hopes so,” Nanny smiled, “but when are you goin’ to fill these nurseries? I’m ready and waitin’, but there’s no sign of your producin’ a baby for me.”
The Marquis stiffened.
“I am afraid, Nanny,” he replied in a harsh voice, “you are going to be disappointed, but I have no intention of marrying anyone.”
He walked from the room as he spoke.
Nanny looked after him with a worried expression in her eyes.
‘Now, who’s been upsettin’ him, I’d like to know?’ she reflected. ‘If it’s that woman in London, I’d like to wring her neck!’
*
The Marquis found that waiting at the front door was one of the new horses he had ridden yesterday.
He was a stallion called Flash, a name the Marquis thought very appropriate.
He swung himself into the saddle and he knew that he was going to enjoy the ride, if nothing else.
He set off at a sharp pace.
As he entered the Park, he slowed down until he reached the gate at the far end.
It was only a short distance from there to Four Gables.
When he saw the house with its ancient red bricks now faded to pink, he thought that it looked even more attractive than he remembered.
As a boy he had always been slightly in awe of the General, but Lady Craven, however, had been kind and sweet to him.
He was now remembering how beautiful she was.
‘I wonder if Sedela resembles her?’ he questioned.
Then he reminded himself of the reason for his visit and the resentment he had repressed up until now began to rise within him.
How dare Sedela come to him pretending to be Lady Constance?
If it came to that, how dare she meddle in his private affairs?
Yet in the long run he had to admit that it had been to his advantage.
As he dismounted, a groom came running from the stable to take Flash from him.
“Mornin’, my Lord!” he grinned, “that be a right fine ’orse you be a-ridin’!”
“That is what I was thinking as I came here,” the Marquis replied.
He walked up the steps to the front door and raised the knocker.
Even as he touched it the door opened and Sedela was standing there.
“I saw you! I saw you from the window,” she exclaimed. “Oh, Ivan, you are back. I thought you had gone to London’”
“I have come to see you, Sedela,” the Marquis replied.
He walked into the hall and put his hat and riding gloves on a chair.
He was thinking as he did so that Sedela looked very different from how he remembered her.
She was lovely.
Lovely in a way that he had not expected.
At the same time she did not seem at all embarrassed at seeing him, which he thought somewhat strange.
Surely she was perturbed in case he should be aware that it was she who had appeared as the ghost of Lady Constance?
Surely she must know that it was reprehensible of her and she should be feeling shy in case he had by now guessed at the identity of his midnight visitor.
He followed her into the drawing room, which he remembered well.
It had always looked very attractive with its diamond-paned windows, low ceiling and Queen Anne panelling painted white.
Every corner of the room appeared to be filled with fresh flowers and they scented the air with their fragrance.
Automatically the Marquis walked towards the fireplace to stand with his back to it.
“I can hardly believe it is you,” Sedela said. “And looking just the same as you were before you went away, except perhaps that you are a little older.”
“That is what Nanny said,” the Marquis replied.
Sedela’s face seemed to light up.
“You went up to see Nanny? I am so glad! She has been desperately worried about you all the time you were away at the War and I was afraid that you might forget to visit her.”
“I hope I should not forget anyone as important as Nanny!” the Marquis responded somewhat pompously.
He knew that he was being a hypocrite.
At the same time he was wondering how he could approach the purpose of his coming to visit her.
“I want to talk to you, Sedela,” he said at length, “because the night before last a very strange thing happened.”
He thought that Sedela looked at him curiously.
Then in a very quiet voice he said slowly,
“Lady Constance came to warn me!”
“Lady Constance?” Sedela questioned.
He could hardly believe it but she seemed perfectly at her ease.
There was just the right intonation in her voice as she said the words.
“Lady Constance came to warn me,” the Marquis repeated, “that I was in danger. The extraordinary thing is that she has never been known to speak before!”
Now he thought that there was a flicker in Sedela’s eyes.
She turned her face away as she sat down on a chair and there was silence until she asked,
“Was it because of Lady Constance’s warning that you returned home today, which I believe was quite unexpected?”
“I came back to ask you how you knew that I was in danger!”
The colour came flooding into her cheeks.
There was a silence during which it seemed she could hardly breathe.
Then she said in a very small voice,
“H-how did you – know it was – me?”
“I could think of no one else who knew of the secret passages,” the Marquis replied, “and who had long fair hair, as Lady Constance was supposed to have.”
He glanced at Sedela’s hair as he spoke, which was neatly arranged at the back of her head.
He knew when it was loose it would fall over her shoulders and nearly to her waist.
Sedela rose to her feet.
“I-I am sorry if it – upset you,” she said softly, “but – I could not think of – any other way of – warning you.”
She walked across the room as she spoke and stood at the window looking out at the sundial in the centre of the Rose Garden.
She had her back to the Marquis and the sunshine turned her hair to gold.
After a moment he walked across the room to stand beside her.
“I want to know the truth, Sedela,” he insisted. “Who told you about it?”
Sedela did not answer and he added sternly,
“I intend to know who your informant was and also who else here in the country is aware of what h
as been happening while I have been in London.”
“I-I can answer your – last question,” Sedela said. “There is only one other person here apart from myself who knows about your situation in London. Because I was – frightened of – what you might do I had to – find a way of warning you!”
“I still cannot understand who would talk to you, of all people, about such matters,” the Marquis continued.
Sedela looked alarmed and, as he thought to himself, innocent and untouched.
Suddenly it infuriated him to think that she knew what sort of woman Esther Hasting was.
Because he felt so angry he spoke more sharply than he otherwise might have done.
“Now, come along,” he asserted, “don’t lie to me! Who told you what I am sure is a quite exaggerated tale about me and why did you take it upon yourself to interfere in my private life?”
His voice seemed to ring out harshly.
Then, as Sedela did not move or reply, he quizzed,
“I think I am entitled to know what you feared.”
There was further silence until in a very small voice that he could hardly hear Sedela said,
“I was – afraid that you – might m-marry somebody – who would – spoil Windle Court and – and those – belonging to you and who are – part of you.”
The Marquis stared at Sedela’s face.
How was it possible, he asked himself, that she could have the slightest idea that he was considering marrying Esther?
Suddenly he put out his arms and took her by the shoulders.
“Look at me, Sedela!” he commanded. “I want you to tell me who has been talking to you, but, before you do so, I can assure you that I have no intention whatever of marrying anybody. Let’s get that quite clear from the beginning!”
Sedela gave an exclamation that was almost a cry.
Her eyes lit up and she asked,
“Is that true – really true? Oh, Ivan, I am glad. I have been so – worried about you! You know how everybody – loved your mother – and how much she – meant to all who knew her. How could you – put somebody – wrong in her place?”
“I will put nobody in her place who is not worthy to be there,” the Marquis replied. “But I still wish to know who told you that I was contemplating anything that might hurt my home or those, and I presume that you mean my servants, who live in it!”
Sedela looked up at him and he thought that her eyes were shining like stars.
“Now that you have told me that you are out of danger there is no need for us to think about it anymore,” she said firmly. “Oh, Ivan, let’s just be glad you are home and there are so many people longing to see you and to tell you how proud they are of your bravery. Papa and Mama would be the first to want to see you, but they have gone away on a visit to see Mama’s sister, who is very ill.”
Chapter Four
For a moment the Marquis thought of replying angrily that he wanted the truth.
Then, because she looked so pretty and was so excited, he found himself saying,
“All right, we will forget all the trouble and decide what is important for me to do now.”
“Do you mean that?” Sedela asked. “And – dare I tell – you – ?”
“I think you have dared quite enough already not to be afraid of overstepping the mark further,” he replied a little sarcastically.
“Then what you have to do,” Sedela said, “is to meet all the people who have been anxious about you and are so delighted now that you have come home.”
“I seem to have heard this before,” the Marquis commented.
He was thinking of what Groves had said when he had helped him dress.
“I suppose from Nanny,” Sedela suggested.
“Nanny and Groves,” the Marquis answered. “And I am sure that Mrs. Benson and Hanson will say the same as soon as they have the chance,” he added with mock resignation.
Sedela laughed.
“Then there is nothing you can do but capitulate and do what we all want.”
“Well, what is it you want?” the Marquis asked her, knowing the answer.
“I have just told you – that you have to meet everybody who thinks you are wonderful – and the easiest way to do that is to give a huge party.”
The Marquis groaned.
“That is exactly what Nanny said, but it is something I have no wish to do.”
“But you must,” Sedela insisted, “because otherwise the people you visit first will be cock-a-hoop, while everybody else who comes later will feel affronted.”
The Marquis thought that in fact this was quite logical.
He wondered if he had made a mistake in visiting two farmers this afternoon unless he could see a number more very quickly.
He was aware that Sedela was watching his face anxiously.
And after a moment he said,
“Very well – it shall be a party. But I cannot quite see how we combine the Lord Lieutenant and all the County bigwigs with the villagers.”
“That is quite easy,” Sedela assured him, “and actually I have thought it out already.”
“I might have guessed that,” the Marquis remarked.
He walked to an armchair and sat down crossing his legs.
“I am listening,” he said. “At the same time I shall resist you if you go too far or expect too much.”
“What I thought,” Sedela began, “is that you should invite everybody whom your mother used to have to her garden parties, which, of course, means all the bigwigs.”
“I am sure there are hundreds of those,” the Marquis observed gloomily.
“Not as many as there were before the War,” Sedela said quietly.
“And what next?” the Marquis enquired.
She hesitated a moment before she answered.
“When your father was alive and I was quite young, he promised me that one day he would have – a circus in the – grounds.”
The Marquis stared at her.
“A circus?” he exclaimed.
“I think everyone would enjoy it,” Sedela continued. “Anyway, if the older people prefer to sit in the garden, their children will be thrilled at what happens in the big top.”
She waited and, when he did not speak, she said pleadingly,
“Oh, – please let’s have – a circus! It is what I have – always wanted myself. And, of course, fireworks!”
The Marquis looked startled, but suddenly he laughed.
“I don’t know what I am letting myself in for, but I see your reasoning and, while we are doing it, we might as well do it properly.”
Sedela clapped her hands.
“I thought, Ivan, you would be as eager as I am to start something new. You know a garden party with people just sitting about is boring and it would be a mistake on your part to entertain just your friends and not the people who work for you.”
“All right,” the Marquis said, “I agree to everything. You arrange it and I will pay for it.”
Sedela looked astonished.
“Do you really – mean for me to – arrange it?”
“Of course I do,” he answered. “It was your idea and you will have to do all the hard work. Anyway, as you are well aware, having been abroad for so long, I would be certain to leave out someone of significance who would then take umbrage and be a bitter enemy for the rest of my life!”
He was talking lightly, but Sedela took him seriously.
“That – unfortunately – is true and I will be very very careful that no one is – omitted.”
The Marquis rose to his feet.
“Now, having settled that problem,” he said, “I must go riding.”
As he spoke, he saw the expression in Sedela’s eyes and added,
“I suppose you want to come with me?”
“Just as I used to do. Oh, Ivan, while you were away I have often thought of our rides and rode alone in the woods and over the fields where I used to try to race you.”
She smiled before she fi
nished,
“And you always – beat me – then.”
“Are you suggesting that it might be different now that you are grown up?”
“Only if I had the right horse,” Sedela retorted. “Papa has not bought any recently and, as you will find, some of the horses in your own stables are getting very old.”
“I had two new ones to ride yesterday,” the Marquis pointed out.
“I know that,” Sedela answered. “I have seen them and they are superb.”
“I rode over on Flash,” the Marquis said, “and I will tell you what we will do.”
He could see that Sedela was listening excitedly as he went on,
“We will go home and I will ride the other horse, which I think needs a little more training, especially at the jumps, and you can ride Flash.”
Sedela gave a cry of joy and flung her arms round him.
“Thank you, thank you!” she cried.
She was hugging him impulsively just as she used to do when she was a little girl.
Then before he could put his arms round her she was running across the room towards the door.
“I will change in two minutes,” she called back.
“Shall I order one of your own horses?” the Marquis shouted after her.
“I will ride pillion back to The Court,” she answered him.
She disappeared and the Marquis laughed.
She might be grown up, but she was behaving just as she had when he had last seen her.
‘I suppose I ought really to be angry with her,’ he thought, ‘but what is the point? And the less I think about Esther the better.’
But because he was thinking of her, he felt a bitterness and anger creeping over him yet again.
With an effort he forced himself to take an interest in the garden and he could see through the window that it was well kept and just as attractive as he remembered it.
Then he walked into the room where the General had always sat.
There was a portrait of him over the mantelpiece wearing his uniform, his medals pinned to his chest.
He had been a very handsome man in his youth. He was dignified and somewhat awe-inspiring in his later years when the portrait had been painted.
There were pictures on the wall of the places where he had been with his Regiment and a few amusing cartoons that had been drawn of his brother Officers and himself.
Warned by a Ghost Page 6