“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” Alnina cried. “I just could not bear them being half-starved, as they have been at times and I am sure that they would feel very lonely in the house if there was no one with them.”
“I will see that Mrs. Brooks has someone to help in the kitchen and that Brooks has a footman.”
Alnina threw up her hands.
“I don’t believe it. I am dreaming all this and will wake up and find that I am alone in bed.”
“You will wake up and find that you are in Tiflis and have a thousand things to do for me,” the Duke said. “Before we leave I am certain that, as my wife, you will want some fashionable and expensive clothes as part of my bargain.”
He paused before he added,
“You had better come to London and stay two or three nights and buy what you want, which, of course, must be suitable for a Duchess.”
Alnina drew in her breath.
“Now I am quite certain that I will wake up at any moment!” she exclaimed.
“In that case William and I are going to leave while you convince yourself you have not been dreaming and are merely being practical! And, of course, earning your salary as our teacher and, as far as Tiflis is concerned, as my wife!”
Alnina then stared at him again as if she could not believe what she was hearing, but William laughed.
“This is John all over! Once he gets going there is no stopping him. So come along, John, it is time we went back to London and you can send a carriage for Alnina tomorrow morning.”
“You are quite right, William, because we have so much to do. Goodbye, Alnina, and remember that you are doing me the kindest turn ever and I am extremely grateful to you.”
He shook her hand.
Then, as she was unable to speak for the moment, he walked ahead out of the door with William behind him.
By the time Alnina had followed them to the front door, they were already climbing into the chaise.
“So we will see you tomorrow,” the Duke shouted, waving his hand.
Then, as the horses moved off, Alnina stopped at the top of the steps and with difficulty waved back.
‘This cannot be true, I am dreaming, I know I am dreaming,’ she sighed to herself, as she walked very slowly back to the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
The very next morning Alnina was astonished when two men arrived, sent by the Duke.
One was a Solicitor, the other one of his Managers.
“His Grace has told us,” they informed her, “that we are to look after your estate and keep Lord Lester’s creditors at bay until you return with him from his trip.”
Brooks had shown them into the study.
Alnina was there at the writing table making notes of what would be required.
She could not help feeling that it might all be a hoax. She was genuinely afraid that His Grace would, at the last moment, change his mind and not take her.
Now she realised that everything had to be done in a hurry and she produced the collection of bills that had not been paid.
To her intense relief the Solicitor did not exclaim with horror, but took them quietly into his possession and he assured her that there would be no trouble while she was abroad.
It was more difficult to explain to the Manager what was required on the estate and that she was trying to save the pensioners from starving and to keep the land in a reasonably good condition without spending too much.
“The sad truth is,” she said, “I don’t have any at the moment. You can readily understand that, although I have managed to sell many items, I still have to find even more for the creditors before spending anything on the estate.”
She gave a deep sigh before she added,
“At the same time I cannot allow people to starve simply because I cannot give them what my father did and my grandfather before him.”
“I understand,” the Manager said. “His Grace has told me that I am to do the best I can for your people and that he will supply anything urgently needed while you are away.
“It is so kind of him,” Alnina smiled.
However, she felt ashamed that she should have to accept what was really charity from a stranger and her only consolation was that the Duke and William had known Charles at Eton.
Therefore they had been to some extent friends of his and so she did have some tie with them.
Almost before she had finished telling the Manager about the estate, a carriage arrived to take her to London.
It was drawn by two horses and it was the kind of carriage that she imagined her mother driving about in.
It was certainly one they could not afford after she was born and her father had begun to find that things were more expensive than they had been.
Mrs. Brooks had helped her pack everything she thought she would need and she could not help wondering if the Duke had been serious when he had told her that he would provide her with the smart clothes she should wear if she was in fact a Duchess.
She was not ready to leave until very late in the afternoon, as she had so much to tell the Manager.
It was only when he and the Solicitor left that she finally said goodbye to the Brookses.
“You will look after yourselves and the house while I am away,” she instructed Brooks.
“Now don’t worry, Miss Alnina. That gentleman gives us the good news that we’re to have our wages and there’ll be food for us to eat. No one could ask for more, especially when he says the Missus is to have help in the kitchen and I’m to have a footman.”
He laughed.
“It’s so long since I’d had a footman, I thinks I’ve forgotten how to teach him.”
“I am sure that you will remember once you have chosen one,” Alnina said consolingly.
“Now all you has to do,” Brooks went on, “is to enjoy yourself while you’re away. I thinks His Grace be a real gentleman and no one can say more.”
“Of course not,” Alnina agreed.
She kissed Mrs. Brooks goodbye and shook hands with Brooks.
Then she climbed into the carriage and waved from the window as it drove off down the drive.
‘Can this really happening to me and it’s not just a dream?’ she thought as she passed the dilapidated gates.
All the way to London she found herself thinking how exciting it all was and she was checking in her mind that she had not forgotten anything.
When she finally arrived at the very grand house in Berkeley Square, it was to find that the Duke and William were waiting for her.
“The photographs are wonderful,” William began. “The printer did them for me today and they are here for you to see.”
He had them spread out on a table and Alnina had to admit they looked as a bride and bridegroom should, but, of course, very much more elegant than any wedding couple she had ever seen before.
Then, as she was looking at them, a sudden thought made her glance up at the Duke and ask,
“Are you showing me these to tell me that after all you will not need me on your trip to Tiflis?”
The Duke smiled.
“Only if you can promise me that the photographs, which I agree are excellent, can speak Russian!”
Alnina gave a little sigh of relief.
“I am afraid that’s not possible, so you will have to put up with me, John.”
“That is exactly what we intend to do,” the Duke said. “I have been talking it all over with William and we have decided it would be far more comfortable to travel by sea than overland.”
Alnina was listening excitedly, but did not interrupt and he therefore went on,
“I am hiring a large yacht, as, although I have been intending to buy one myself, I have not yet done so. My predecessor and his sons were drowned in a boat, which he always used. It was very old and he should have replaced it at least five or six years before it destroyed him.”
“Then what have you hired?” Alnina asked.
“I have fortunately discovered that it is very easy t
o hire a yacht from an owner who does not use it very often. I have found the Marquis of Templeton, who won a prize at Cowes last year, is only too pleased to rent me his yacht as long as it is back in England in time for Cowes Week.”
“And will we be back by then?” William asked.
“I have no intention of staying away from home longer than I can possibly help. When I am exploring, I never linger long, as some men do, in one place.”
“Then you have this yacht available now?” Alnina asked, as she felt that they should keep to the point.
“It will be waiting in the Thames for us the day after tomorrow and by that time you should have managed to buy your trousseau.”
Alnina laughed.
“Most women would scream at being given so little time. But, as I am not really entitled to a trousseau, I shall be very grateful for anything I have time to buy and I will not keep you waiting.”
“I will be very disagreeable if you do,” the Duke said. “I have made a success of my life so far by always being on time and never prevaricating, as so many people do at the last moment, changing their minds when it is least expected.”
Alnina looked at him.
“I wonder why,” she asked, “you are so precise about everything. Was it because you were brought up that way or is it a rebellion against people who were sloppy and annoyed you as soon as you were old enough to understand what was happening?”
“That is a very intelligent question and the answer is both. I remember my father being exceedingly precise and people so often had to sympathise with him when my mother constantly changed her mind at the last moment.”
The Duke smiled at her.
“It might have been a party she was giving, which she would suddenly decide to postpone to a week later or she would want to change her dress when the carriage was already waiting to take them to a ball.”
Alnina laughed.
“I can imagine that being extremely annoying to any man. Perhaps the woman you ought to marry, but have no intention of doing so, is lucky because she has escaped being lectured every time she irritated you.”
“I am making it clear to you as my supposed wife,” the Duke asserted, “that I expect you to be on time. In fact, as William will tell you, I am most disagreeable when and if anyone keeps me waiting, even the dogs.”
“Well, I imagine they at least, will not be with us and I promise I will do my very best not to upset you in any way.”
She looked so pretty as she spoke that the Duke could not help thinking that it would be easy to forgive her, even if she was a culprit.
He was now arranging where she should go for her shopping the next day.
He was certain that she had never entered any of the Bond Street shops herself, but luckily he had a good idea which were the favourite shops of the smartest ladies.
He pointed out that, as they expected everything to be ready in only a few hours, what Alnina bought would certainly be more expensive than if she had more time.
“I will try to get everything that fits me and does not have to be altered,” Alnina said. “And I can sew very well myself and I am sure I could alter any dress which required only a little to be done to it.”
“I am beginning to feel rather nervous about all the things you can do. I quite expect you to tell me at any moment that you can navigate the yacht if the Captain is taken ill and you will also cook for us if the French chef I have engaged does not turn up!”
“You make me sound terrible,” Alnina replied. “I hate pushy, bossy women and I am sure you do too. So I promise to be neither of those things and only obedient to your gracious command!”
She saluted him as she spoke and William clapped his hands.
“No one could possibly say more!” he exclaimed. “You know that you love being Monarch of all you survey, John, and here we are down on our knees in front of you.”
“Quite right too,” the Duke said. “After all, this is my campaign and I am determined that it will be a great success.”
*
They set off two days later after breakfast.
The yacht, which was very large, was, in Alnina’s eyes, the most enchanting ship she had ever seen.
She had once been with her father on board a much smaller yacht and when she was quite young she had been taken down the Thames. It was in a boat that had been hired by some friends of her mother as a birthday treat and so Alnina had not enjoyed herself as much as she had hoped she would.
But now the Duke had managed to find a yacht that was larger and more luxurious than any she had ever seen.
They were piped grandly aboard and welcomed by the Captain.
He introduced his Officers and they also met the three Stewards who would attend to them on the voyage and the Duke insisted on meeting the chef.
Then, as they began to move slowly down the River Thames, Alnina thought again that this could not really be happening to her.
Later they explored the yacht and, when she was shown into her luxurious cabin, she found that the Duke’s valet, Albert, had unpacked her clothes for her.
Afterwards she said rather shyly, because she was not certain how her suggestion would be received,
“I think, John, that you and William should allow me to teach you some Russian while we are sailing towards Georgia.”
For a moment both the men were too surprised to answer and then the Duke enquired,
“Are you really suggesting we should have lessons from you as your pupils?”
“You will find it far more convenient to be able to speak even a little Russian yourself than to rely on me for every word,” Alnina replied.
He did not answer and she went on,
“I often thought that if I have to earn my own living I might become a teacher of children, or better still, teach Russian, French or any European language in a school.”
“It certainly seems a good idea – ”
The Duke looked at William as he spoke.
“I should be delighted,” William said, “to learn Russian from such a charming and attractive teacher. I can only hope that I will prove a clever pupil who will do you credit.”
The Duke chuckled.
“Well, after that what can I say except ‘yes’! But you must not be too severe with us. I like being at sea and I enjoy being on the bridge more than anything else.”
“I can understand that but then your education must come first and I promise you, although it is a very difficult language, it will be an asset when we arrive.”
“Of course it will,” William said, “and we must insist that John attends to his lessons. I have a feeling he will dislike it if I beat him!”
“I have to be first in everything, as you well know,” the Duke answered. “I must make sure that Alnina points me out as her best and most promising pupil!”
Because she had anticipated that they would, when she was not actually teaching them, ask her a number of questions, she had been sensible enough to bring with her a few books on Russia and text books on the language.
Some of them she had used when she was learning it herself and, when she told the Duke and William what she had done, they said that it was very thoughtful of her.
“But,” the Duke said, “today is a holiday and I refuse to have any meals spoilt by being told how I should pronounce food in Russian, which I have always thought was a very ugly language.”
“Not as ugly as German, but you are quite right and we will start our lessons tomorrow morning. I think they should take at least two hours every day. And perhaps you should do some homework on memorising vocabulary.”
She smiled at them both.
“Then when we reach Tiflis,” she went on, “you will be able to give your orders to the servants in Russian and also, of course, to the overseer of your mountain.”
“When it really becomes yours,” William muttered.
“I will look forward to that,” the Duke replied. “Now let’s talk of more interesting subjects.”
> “I have hardly had time yet,” Alnina said, “to read much about Georgia. But, as you know, the Caucasians were always particularly dangerous fighting men.”
“Worse than from other parts of Russia?” William asked.
“Yes, indeed. In one book I was reading it said that the Caucasians wrote love poems to their daggers.”
The two men laughed.
“I hope we will not do that,” the Duke said, “when I become a Caucasian proprietor.”
“I hope not too, John, because my books tell me that they lived and died by the dagger.”
“Now that I think about it,” William said, “I do remember hearing that they are very revengeful people and never forgive anyone who insults them.”
“I read that too. A young Caucasian Prince, who was only twelve years old, boasted, ‘I am at my eleventh head’.”
“I don’t believe it,” the Duke exclaimed.
“It was also reported that he spoke French with a Parisian accent and coveted his father’s bag of twenty-four rebel heads!”
“Now you are beginning to frighten me,” William came in, “and if you do, I will simply stay on the yacht and refuse to set foot on the ground!”
“I cannot believe that they are as violent as they were when the book was written,” Alnina commented, “but there is a vivid description here of the Battle in 1795 when Agha Mohammed, the Persian eunuch, took over Tiflis.”
“What happened?” the Duke asked.
“His troops raped all the women they fancied and, as a memento of their victory, they hamstrung the right leg of every virgin taken.”
“I have never heard of anything quite so appalling,” William said. “I have a good mind to demand that you turn around here and now, John, and go back to nice old comfortable and safe England.”
“It all happened a long time ago,” Alnina said, “and I ought not to frighten you with it. But I must add that the women also knew how to fight and beneath their veils they often wore a dagger.”
“I certainly don’t blame them with that lot about!” William exclaimed.
“They were actually very brave. When they were besieged by the Russian Army in 1837, the women fought beside the men. When their ammunition was spent, they then flung rocks down on the attacking troops and, when there were no more rocks, the men hurled themselves to their deaths.”
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