“From here you can watch me teach Locke a lesson he will not forget in a hurry!” the Duke almost snarled.
“It would be far more sensible,” Delphine replied coldly, “if you would both stop making fools of yourselves and endangering my reputation.”
“That is something neither of us can do,” the Duke answered. “Of course I know that you will wish me ‘good luck’.”
“Yes – naturally,” Delphine sighed, “but I do beg of you not to hurt Anthony.”
“I hope you will say the same thing to him,” the Duke retorted sarcastically.
He kissed Delphine’s hand perfunctorily and, leaving her to sit in the front row of the balcony, went down the stairs to join the others.
Lord Wilterham, as the referee, then took over.
“Now you both know the rules,” he said. “I will count aloud up to ten, during which time you will walk away from each other for ten paces. Then you will turn and fire.”
There was no need for the Duke and Lord Locke to answer him.
They both, as Lord Wilterham well knew, had taken part in several duels at one time or another and the Duke had never been the loser.
The two seconds went to their appointed places at each end of the school.
Then, as Lord Wilterham now started counting, the Duke and Lord Locke who had been standing back-to-back started to walk away from each other.
It seemed as if the referee was taking a long time.
“ – Seven – eight – nine – ten – Fire!”
The two men turned, two shots rang out echoing and seeming to re-echo around the high-roofed building.
Then slowly, so slowly that it was hard to believe that it was happening, Lord Locke fell to the ground.
The Duke stood still staring at his opponent incredulously, then suddenly John Fellowes, Lord Locke’s second, came running towards him.
“You hit him in the heart, Talbot!”
“It’s impossible!” the Duke exclaimed.
“No, it is the truth. He must have faced you when he fired, but there is no mistake and I am sure he is dead!”
The Duke was frozen in his astonishment.
At the same time his own second, Charles Seeham, who had also been bending over Lord Locke at the other end of the school came up to him.
“You have killed him, Talbot,” he said. “He is still alive, but Hampton says it is not a question of hours but minutes! You will have to get out of the country as quickly as you can! Otherwise you will be arrested and have to stand trial.”
The Duke’s lips tightened, but he did not speak and Charles Seeham went on,
“It’s the only thing you can possibly do. You cannot risk being arrested when Delphine Bramwell’s name will come into it.”
As he spoke, Delphine, who had come down from the balcony came towards them.
“What is happening?” she asked in trepidation. “Is Anthony hurt?”
“I am afraid he is dying,” Charles Seeham informed her sympathetically.
“Oh, God, no! I don’t believe it! How can you say such a thing? I must go and look for myself.”
She would have run to the other end of the school had not Charles Seeham held onto her wrist.
“Don’t look at him, Delphine,” he urged her gently. “It is not something a woman should see. He has been shot in the heart.”
“How could you do this?” Delphine asked in a low voice of the Duke.
“You must know that I did not mean it to happen,” he replied.
“We all know that,” Charles Seeham agreed, “but it has. You must go away, Talbot. Think of the family, think of Delphine and leave. For God’s sake, leave!”
“I suppose it is the only thing I can do,” the Duke said dully.
He reached towards Delphine and took her hand in his.
He drew her towards the farther entrance of the riding school as the other men ran back to where Lord Locke lay on the ground being treated by the doctor.
As they reached the doorway, the Duke said,
“You will understand, Delphine, that for your sake as well as my own, I have to go into exile. In that way there will be very little scandal and by the time I am able to return, what has happened will all be forgotten.”
Delphine was very pale and, as the Duke was speaking to her, she kept glancing over her shoulder towards the other end of the riding school,
“There is one thing I want to ask you, Delphine,” the Duke said quietly. “Will you come with me?”
“With – you?” she repeated rather stupidly.
“I am asking you to marry me. We shall have to live abroad for three years, perhaps longer, but I feel sure that we can find ways of passing the time enjoyably.”
“Three years?” Delphine exclaimed in horror. “It will be as long as that?”
“Three to six years,” the Duke said, “is the usual time in such circumstances and I cannot hope it will be less than three.”
Delphine stared at him, her eyes dark and frightened in her lovely face.
Then, when she would have spoken, Charles Seeham came back to join them.
“Wilterham has told me to warn you not to waste any more time,” he said to the Duke. “In his position he says he will have to report what has happened in the morning and by that time you must be across the Channel.”
“Is there no chance of Locke living?” the Duke asked slowly.
“A chance in a million,” Charles Seeham replied, “and I would not bet on it.”
“Tell Wilterham I am leaving immediately.”
Charles Seeham did not say anything more, but hurried away and the Duke asked,
“It is ‘yes’ or ‘no’, Delphine?”
She gave a little sigh.
“I am sorry, Talbot. You know I wanted to marry you, but not like this – not in exile and away from everything I care about.”
“I understand and I am sorry, Delphine. Once I have gone you must deny any knowledge of what has happened tonight or that you were in any way involved.”
“I shall be very careful,” she replied in a hard voice and the Duke left her.
Once he was in the house he walked quickly up the stairs and along the corridor to where Nerissa’s bedroom was next to her father’s.
He opened the door quietly and saw by the light of one candle that Nerissa was kneeling by her bed in prayer.
For a moment, as she was concentrating on her prayers, she did not hear him.
Then, as if it was his presence rather than any noise he might have made that alerted her, she turned her head.
Surprised and unable to prevent an irresistible gladness illuminating her face, she rose slowly to her feet as the Duke closed the door behind him and, moving towards her, took her hand in his.
“Listen, my darling, I have been involved in a duel with Anthony Locke and quite by accident. I promise you it was not intentional and I have wounded him mortally!”
Nerissa gave a little cry of horror.
“Mortally?”
“He is still alive, but Hampton thinks it is a question of an hour at the outside before he dies.”
“Oh – how – terrible,” Nerissa murmured.
“You will understand that in the circumstances, in order to avoid the scandal that will ensue if I am arrested, I have to go into exile and I am asking you to come with me.”
For a moment Nerissa’s eyes lit up.
Then she questioned almost beneath her breath,
“B-but – Delphine.”
“Because the duel was over Delphine,” the Duke replied, “I asked her if she would come with me as my wife. She refused!”
Nerissa drew in her breath.
“She – really – refused?”
“She said that she could not face exile for three years away from everything that she cares for.”
The light was back in Nerissa’s eyes as if a thousand candles burned within them.
“Then I may come ‒ with you?” she asked almost inaudibly.
“Oh – Talbot – !”
The words were a cry of happiness.
He did not kiss her, he only said,
“There is no time to be lost. We leave as quickly as possible. Dress yourself and I will send somebody to collect your luggage.”
He looked down into her eyes for a brief second.
Then he was gone and Nerissa was alone.
For a moment she could hardly believe that it was happening. Then she knew that they were both free to tell each other of their love and nothing mattered except that they could be together.
Hastily she began to dress, aware as she did so that, because she had told Mary that she was leaving early in the morning, her trunk was already packed except for the gown that she had worn for dinner.
Hanging in the wardrobe for her journey home was only the pretty cape and muslin gown that she had worn on her arrival at Lyn.
She was just tying the ribbons of her bonnet when there was a knock on the door and the Duke’s valet, Banks, came in followed by a young footman.
“Be your trunk ready, miss?” he asked.
“You have only to strap it up,” Nerissa replied.
“His Grace’s downstairs, miss, waitin’ for you.”
He and the footman carried the trunk out of the room and down the corridor.
*
Nerissa looked around quickly to make sure that she had not forgotten anything and then, feeling as if she had wings on her feet, she ran down the stairs to where the Duke was waiting for her.
He too had changed and through the front door Nerissa could see his travelling carriage, drawn by six horses and beside it two outriders.
There was no one to see them off and the Duke, taking Nerissa by the hand, drew her down the stone steps and into the carriage.
As they drove away, she could hardly believe that it was happening and that she had not stepped into some strange dream, which might well turn into a nightmare.
Then she was aware of the pressure of the Duke’s fingers on hers, the closeness of him beside her and the fact that they were alone together.
Only as they turned out of the great iron gates did she cry almost incoherently,
“I-I should have left a – note for Papa – to tell him what – has happened.”
“I have thought of that,” the Duke said. “I have not only left him a letter but also one for Harry.”
“You think of – everything.”
“I think of you,” the Duke answered, “and how much I love you.”
He put his arm around her and drew her against him.
For a moment neither of them spoke, then with his other hand he undid the ribbons of her bonnet and threw it onto the seat opposite.
As she put her head on his shoulder, he said,
“You are certain, my precious, that you will not regret coming away with me in such haste? You realise if Locke dies you will be exiled from England for what may seem a very long time.”
“It does not matter where we are – as long as I can be with you,” Nerissa sighed, “but I shall be – worrying in case you find it – boring to be – alone with only me.”
The Duke did not answer, he merely kissed her and there was no further need for words.
They reached Dover when the sun was rising over the horizon.
It was a little more than twenty miles from Lyn and the Duke’s superb horses reached it in almost record time.
Nerissa expected that they would drive straight to the Harbour where the Duke had told her that his yacht was waiting.
“Will the Captain be expecting you?” she asked.
“I sent a groom ahead,” the Duke replied, “but in any case, the standing orders are that my yacht is always ready to sail at any time. So once we are aboard there will be no delay in leaving these shores for France, where we will be safe.”
“That is – all that – matters,” Nerissa stammered in a low voice.
“There is something we have to do first before we can leave,” the Duke told her.
Before she could ask him what it was the horses came to a standstill and she saw through the window that they were outside a small Chapel that stood at the end of the Harbour.
She looked at the Duke in surprise and he explained,
“This is where the fishermen pray before they go to sea and where their wives pray that they will return safely. I think, my darling, you will find in it the right atmosphere for us to become man and wife.”
For a moment Nerissa looked at him incredulously.
Then to her surprise he opened a leather case that she had noticed during the journey was lying on the seat opposite them.
He took from it the wreath of diamonds and pearls she had found in the secret drawer in the Duchess’s Room and with it an exquisitely delicate lace veil.
Very gently the Duke put the veil over Nerissa’s fair hair and placed the wreath on top of her head.
Then, as the coachman opened the carriage door for them, they stepped out and walked up the few steps that led to the Chapel.
As they reached the open door, Nerissa could hear an organ playing softly.
Inside the Chapel was in darkness save for the light of six candles on the altar, in front of which stood a Clergyman wearing a white surplice.
Nerissa looked up and saw that draped from the round ceiling there hung fishermen’s nets and she thought that they gave the place an air of mystery.
Equally she was conscious, as the Duke had said, that the Chapel held an atmosphere of sanctity and of devotion, which made it vibrate for her with the faith that she had always had.
The Duke lifted her travelling cape from her shoulders and laid it on an adjacent pew.
Then, as they walked slowly up the aisle, she knew that, in her white dress with the lace veil flowing from her head to the ground and the diamonds sparkling above it, she was the bride he had always wanted.
She felt that while the Chapel appeared to be empty, it was in spirit filled with those who loved them and who would not wish them to marry without their blessings.
Nerissa was certain that her mother was there with them as well as the Duke’s.
The unhappy Duchess was there too, just as she had seen her in her dreams, only now because the hidden wreath had been found and the curse was lifted, she looked happy and at peace.
Now she could leave this earth and be with the husband she loved and who had loved her so deeply.
It was strange, Nerissa thought, how she was so certain of this. And yet she knew that it was true and that the Duke would believe it as well when she told him about it.
Then, as the Priest married them, she knew that they had been blessed, as few married couples were privileged to be, by a love that had endured many sacrifices and would continue for Eternity.
The strains of the organ accompanied them as they walked back down the aisle.
As they reached the door of the Chapel, the bright sunshine dazzled Nerissa’s eyes and she knew it that it heralded the happiness that they would find together.
It took only a few minutes for their carriage to reach the Duke’s yacht, which was called The Sea Horse and which was much larger than she had expected.
Then, as the Duke had told her, as soon as they were aboard, the yacht moved slowly out of Harbour on the morning tide.
He would not allow her to watch the coast of England disappear behind them as they sailed for the coast of France.
Instead he took her below into the most comfortable and attractive cabin that she could imagine and told her that she was to go to sleep.
“You have been through a great deal,” he said quietly, “and we now have our whole future in front of us, so now I want you to sleep. We will talk everything over later when you awake.”
She wanted to protest. At the same time she was indeed very tired.
It had all been so dramatic, so unexpected and she had slept very little on Sunday night because she
had been so thrilled and aroused by the Duke’s kisses.
Now he did not kiss her passionately but gently and tenderly, as if she was infinitely precious.
Then almost before she realised what was happening, she found herself alone in the cabin.
Because she wanted to please him, she did as he told her and climbed into bed.
*
“Do you realise,” Nerissa asked her husband, “we have now been married exactly a week today!”
“I thought it was much longer,” the Duke replied.
Then, as Nerissa gave an exclamation, she realised that he was teasing her.
“What do you feel about that week?” he asked.
They were lying side by side in the large bed that seemed almost to fill the cabin.
Nerissa turned to move closer to him and his arm went around her holding her tightly so that it was hard to breathe.
“You must be tired of hearing me say it,” she said, “but – I love you!”
“Tell me about your love,” the Duke commanded.
Nerissa gave a little sigh.
“Every night, after we have spent the day together, I have felt it would be impossible for me to love you more and yet every morning when I awake I know that you have made my love for you more intense and more wonderful than it was on the previous day.”
“Is that really true?”
As he spoke, he swept her fair hair back from her forehead to look down at her.
Because he was so happy Nerissa knew that he looked younger and even more handsome than he had ever done before.
There was no longer that sarcastic twist to his lips or the cynical note in his voice.
Everything he said or did seemed to vibrate with the love that, as she had said, increased every moment that they were together until she felt it impossible that any two people could be so ecstatically happy.
“It is fun to stop at these little French Harbours,” Nerissa went on as if she was thinking it out for herself, “and go ashore to eat such delicious food. The only trouble is that, when I am with you, it is difficult to concentrate on what I am eating but only of how exciting your kisses are.”
“I am glad you are not bored with them,” the Duke said, “because I have a great many more to give you.”
Never Forget Love Page 13