Haunted

by Barbara Cartland

  *

  Mimosa had been deeply asleep and, she thought later, dreaming of the Marquis when she awoke with a stifled scream because a hand was placed over her mouth.

  For a moment she could hardly believe that it was happening.

  Then, as her whole body felt the shock, which had first frozen her into immobility, she felt a gag pressed into her mouth and she was turned over with her face in the pillow so that it was difficult to breathe while it was tied tightly behind her head.

  A rope also encircled her body over her thin nightgown and her hands pulled back behind her and then the ends of the rope tied her wrists together.

  While this was going on, somebody was tying her feet together.

  It seemed impossible that this was actually happening, and as the horror of it seeped through her, she tried to scream but found it difficult enough to breathe, let alone make a sound.

  Then she was turned round so that she lay on her back and now she could see by the light of a very small lantern the outline of two dark figures.

  They were masked and were very indistinct owing to the fact that they held the lantern close to her as they inspected first her gag and then the ropes around her body before they pulled a blanket off the bed and enveloped her completely in it.

  She could not see either of them as the two men picked her up in their arms and carried her away.

  As they did so, she was aware that Hunter was snarling ferociously at them, but they paid him no attention, except occasionally to kick out at him savagely so that he yelped with pain.

  Then, as they carried her out of the room, she realised as they shut the door that they had left Hunter inside and she could hear him scratching to get out and whining at being left behind.

  Then she was being carried swiftly away and what was terrifying was that the men moved so silently that she could barely hear their footsteps.

  In the darkness she felt as if it was almost as if she was dead and being carried from this world into a far more sinister one.

  Then they were going down the stairs and, feeling the blood going to her head, she thought it at least prevented her from fainting.

  Not a word was spoken, but she knew that they must have reached the ground level and were outside because now there was just a faint sound of their footsteps which had not been there before.

  She had the feeling that they were either wearing slippers or had wrapped some material over their shoes to deaden any sound.

  They carried her for a short distance before Mimosa felt herself being lifted into what she thought must be some kind of vehicle and laid down on the floor.

  Then there was the sound of a door being softly closed and a moment later there were wheels turning beneath her and she knew that horses, two of them, were pulling her away, although where she was going she had no idea.

  She lay still, feeling shocked and extremely uncomfortable with her hands tied behind her and enveloped in the blanket.

  They drove on and on, the wheels beneath her rumbling over rough roads and then smoother ones, the horses moving at an unusually quick pace considering that they were pulling what she thought now must be quite a heavy carriage.

  Finally when they had been going for what seemed a long time, she moved her head first one way then the other until the blanket which covered her fell open and she found it easier to breathe.

  She could still see nothing but darkness, except that high up, and it seemed strange, there was just a faint glimmer of light, which she thought must come from a window or perhaps a grating of some sort.

  She looked at it for some time, then to her relief it became stronger and she realised that the dawn was breaking.

  A little while later she could see that what she had thought was a window was in fact an open grating through which the light percolated between iron bars.

  It was then she turned her head further round and with a leap of her heart, she saw, although it was indistinct, that she was not alone in whatever was carrying her.

  There was another bundle a foot or so away from her and she knew at once that it must be Jimmy.

  Chapter Four

  The ground beneath the wheels grew rougher and rougher and now they were bumping as if there were deep ruts in the road they were travelling along.

  Occasionally the wheels seemed to go over something large and heavy like a stone or a large piece of wood.

  When this happened, Mimosa was thrown from side to side and finally after one particular lurch she found herself against Jimmy.

  Like her, he had managed to move the blanket off his face so that now in the light that was growing brighter through the grating overhead she could see his eyes, dark and afraid.

  She longed to say something to comfort him, but she was as terrified as he was, knowing they had been kidnapped and by whom.

  They were still travelling over very bumpy ground, at the same time going slower and slower, and now there was the swish of what sounded like branches of trees against the sides of the vehicle.

  There was also the occasional crunch as if they were hitting something very heavy.

  It was difficult to think clearly because she was so frightened, but Mimosa tried to reason to herself where they might be going and what was happening.

  She found it impossible, however, to have any clear idea of where she and Jimmy were being taken.

  Then, as the light overhead increased a little, she realised and thought that she might have guessed it sooner, that they were in a horsebox.

  These were used by every owner of a racing stable in order to convey horses from one Race course to another or from the Saleroom to their home.

  Suddenly the wheels stopped turning and there was the sound of movement, although what was happening Mimosa could not imagine.

  What made it so eerie was that there were no voices, no one giving orders, and yet something was happening.

  She felt herself jump as something was thrown heavily on the roof above them and was followed by another crash and a bump.

  Now some dust from between the wooden planks came floating down on her and Jimmy.

  The daylight that had made the inside of their prison a little lighter was now almost obscured by what she thought were trees, although she could not be sure from the angle where she was lying.

  If it was trees, this meant they were in a wood of some sort, but why? For what purpose?

  If they had been kidnapped, surely by this time they would have reached whatever hiding place Norton Field had chosen for them and the vehicle that had brought them from Heron Hall would have been abandoned.

  Mimosa had a sudden longing for the Marquis with his clear concise voice planning what they should do, giving orders and knowing that they would be obeyed instantly.

  Instead, gagged and bound, she felt not only utterly helpless but also humiliated and she knew that Jimmy would be feeling the same.

  Now there were more bumps on the roof and crashes against the sides of the horsebox as if something was being piled against them. She thought too that trees were being felled, but she could not be sure.

  With a sudden terror Mimosa wondered if in fact, having brought them to some spooky place, Norton Field intended to set them on fire.

  Then, as she wanted to scream and go on screaming, one door of the horsebox opened and there was light.

  But, almost before she could look or see anything, two men climbed into the box.

  She just had a quick glimpse of a face in which the only things uncovered were two eyes before she was turned roughly over to lie on her face as she had on the bed when they gagged and bound her.

  She wondered desperately what was about to happen.

  Then to her astonishment she felt the rope around her legs being loosened and next the one around her body.

  Her hands were left tied, but she was aware that the rope that had encircled her wrists had been cut with a knife from the rope that had encircled her.

  She tried to understand what was happ
ening and then, as she was left with only the gag over her mouth, she felt the man who had been removing the rope, run his hand down the one side of her body.

  It was a caress and she was suddenly afraid now in a different way and she stiffened as he touched her first on one side and then on the other.

  Then his hands went reluctantly to the back of her head, which held the gag in place and, as he touched it, he spoke.

  Because there had been only silence until then, his voice was terrifying.

  “I’m taking off your gag,” he said, “but if you scream or make one sound for at least an hour after we’ve left, I swear we will come back to kill you both. Do you understand?”

  It was impossible to answer because he had not yet taken the gag from Mimosa’s mouth.

  He must have realised that she acquiesced, however, for he then undid the knot at the back of her head and pulled the handkerchief roughly from the front of her face.

  As he did so, he moved swiftly and she could see another man going with him out of the vehicle and the door then slammed behind them.

  There was the sound of a heavy bar being dropped into place, then footsteps moving over twigs that snapped as they did so before faintly Mimosa could hear the sounds of horses being ridden away.

  She listened, still straining to hear if they had really gone, when Jimmy whispered,

  “What is going on? Where are we?”

  She turned her face round to look at him and then with difficulty, because her hands were tied, she managed to sit up.

  “I think it is all right to speak,” she said, “as I heard the horses leaving. But we must not scream. They might have left someone on guard.”

  “Why have we been brought here?” Jimmy asked. “And what is this strange carriage we are in?”

  “It’s a horsebox,” Mimosa said.

  She looked around at the wooden walls of it as she spoke. She could see it was very old and she somehow thought that it had not been in use for a long time.

  In fact, the horseboxes she had seen recently and even the ones her grandfather used were all of a different design from the one they were in.

  Feeling that she must be practical, Mimosa said,

  “They have left us free except for our hands, and I think, Jimmy, if we sit back-to-back, I will be able to release you and then you can do the same for me.”

  “Yes, of course,” Jimmy agreed.

  They did as Mimosa had suggested and sitting with her back to his, she managed, although it was difficult and took a long time, to undo the knot at Jimmy’s wrists.

  Then by shaking and wriggling his hands as much as he could, he set them free.

  It took only a few minutes for him to release Mimosa. Then, as she shook her hands, feeling the blood coming back into her wrists and knowing how stiff her arms were, she said,

  “I wonder why, if they are leaving us here, they took off our gags and the rest of our ropes?”

  “I am jolly glad they did,” Jimmy replied. “It was very uncomfortable and I was frightened.”

  “I am sure you were,” Mimosa agreed, “and so was I. But you have been very very brave and now we have to think about how we can get out of here.”

  She looked around the horsebox and saw, despite the fact that it was old, that it was very stoutly made.

  She rose a little unsteadily to her feet and going to the door to try to push it open she soon realised that the bar she had heard being dropped into place was a strong one.

  She was certain that, however hard she and Jimmy might push against it, it would not break.

  Then for the first time she had an idea of what her cousin intended to do with them.

  For a moment it was so horrifying that she could not bear to work it out in her mind and yet she knew almost as if she was seeing it clairvoyantly what he intended to do.

  She and Jimmy had been brought in the horsebox to some isolated place where it was very unlikely that they would be found for at least a long time, if ever.

  The noise she had heard on the roof and round the sides of the box had been the branches of trees being thrown over it in order to hide it.

  This then was where they were to stay until they died of starvation and with no chance of being rescued.

  The idea was so horrifying that, as it came into her mind, Mimosa wanted to scream for help and go on screaming.

  Then she remembered the threat the man had made before they left and she thought that, although it had obviously been said to intimidate them and it was unlikely anyone would hear them scream, she dared not take the chance of being wrong for Jimmy’s sake.

  She knew that they had to escape, but she had no idea how they could do so.

  And how long would it take them to die?

  She closed her eyes from the sheer horror of it.

  Then she heard Jimmy say and she knew that he was afraid,

  “How are we to – get out of here, Mimosa?”

  As she dared not tell him that she had no idea, she merely replied,

  “I think the first thing to do is to try to see if we can climb out by that grating. Perhaps if it is at all loose we might be able to pull it out.”

  She reckoned that somebody as small as Jimmy might be able to wriggle through the opening, but she was sure that the iron bars were firmly embedded in the wooden walls and it would be impossible without the right tools even for a man with unusual strength to move it.

  However, this was something she had no intention of saying aloud, so she merely suggested,

  “If you can climb onto my shoulders, Jimmy, perhaps you could shake the bars and see how firm they are. At the same time you could look outside to see where we are.”

  Jimmy started to do as she proposed.

  He climbed onto his sister’s shoulders and, with Mimosa holding his ankles to steady him, he reached up to hold onto the grating.

  Even as she heard him touch it, she knew without being told how strong it was.

  Then Jimmy exclaimed,

  “The bars are quite firm and made of iron. All I can see outside are the branches of trees and some of them seem to be on top of us.”

  It was what Mimosa had already guessed and, when she did not speak, Jimmy gave the bars of the grating another shake and said,

  “I cannot budge these! We shall have to find another way out.”

  He jumped down as he spoke and Mimosa, looking at him in his white flannel nightshirt, thought how small and vulnerable he was and that, unless by some miracle they were rescued, the horsebox would be turned into a tomb from which there was no escape.

  She did not say this aloud, but sat down again on the blanket and began to pray fervently that with the help of God the Marquis would find them.

  Even as she prayed, she thought that to search for them over the whole countryside would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

  The men had hidden the horsebox under the branches so that anybody passing through the wood, even close to where they were, would be unlikely to notice them.

  ‘Then at least we can scream!’ she told herself.

  But this was little consolation and she had the feeling that, if she and Jimmy started to scream, it might make them even more afraid than they were at the moment.

  ‘I must keep calm,’ Mimosa thought, ‘and not let Jimmy know how desperate our situation really is.’

  Jimmy sat down beside her.

  “If we cannot go through the grating, Mimosa,” he said, “how are we going to get out of here?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that question,” Mimosa replied, trying to speak lightly.

  Then because she was frightened, desperately frightened, she began to pray again, knowing as she did so that there was nothing else she possibly could do.

  *

  By the time the Marquis had reached the stables, he was having the greatest difficulty in dragging Hunter with him.

  As they walked out into the inner courtyard, the dog pulled with all his strength on the lead
in his anxiety to rush ahead out into the drive outside.

  It was only as they passed through the stone arch that the Marquis saw wheel marks on the gravel and realised that there had been a vehicle waiting here into which the kidnappers must have bundled Mimosa and Jimmy.

  Hunter confirmed what he was thinking by sniffing round the wheel marks and then pulling once again in an effort to set off down the drive in the direction that they must have gone.

  The Marquis dragged him into the stables while he gave orders to the first groom he saw for two horses to be saddled immediately.

  By the time they were led out of their stalls, Charles had joined him.

  “How can all this have happened without our hearing anything?” he asked.

  “What we ought to have heard was Hunter,” the Marquis replied, “but the walls are very thick and it was only during the night that I decided I would move Jimmy into my dressing room.”

  “Well, it’s too late to do that now,” Charles said. “Where do you think they have been taken?”

  “I have not the slightest idea,” the Marquis answered. “We can only rely on Hunter.”

  He handed the dog’s lead to one of the stable boys and, only when he and Charles were in the saddle, did he tell the boy to let the dog go.

  Hunter rushed, as the Marquis had expected he would, back to the inner courtyard and starting there with his nose to the ground began to move as quickly as his legs could carry him down the side drive.

  Unlike the main drive, this led them through several grazing fields and out of the Park onto a dusty lane with high hedgerows on either side.

  The Marquis and Charles followed closely behind Hunter in silence.

  The Marquis was scowling and Charles knew that he was extremely angry, not only for Mimosa’s and Jimmy’s sakes but also because he was blaming himself for underestimating his opponent.

  It seemed extraordinary now that neither of them had thought for one moment that Norton Field would strike so quickly.

  He had, in fact, been exceedingly clever.

  As soon as he had realised where Mimosa had gone for help, he had spirited Jimmy and his sister away before the Marquis could be prepared for such immediate action.