On those occasions there had been races and steeplechases, but her father was not invited to take part.
The last one had taken place two months ago and Lord Milborne had been annoyed because he thought that if he had been invited and had ridden Orion he would have had a chance, if not of winning, certainly of coming in second or third.
“If I could have shown off his paces,” he said bitterly, “I could get a better price for him.”
“It’s very unkind of the Earl not to ask you, Papa,” Salrina had said angrily.
Her father had then shrugged his shoulders and said good-humouredly,
“Why should he? I am of no account in his life and with the huge sums he pays for his horses he is never likely to be one of my customers.”
Salrina knew that her father had not given it another thought.
At the same time she felt that the Earl was not behaving as a gentleman should towards his neighbours.
‘If Papa was in his position,’ she thought, ‘he would feel a responsibility to those who live in the shadow of such a superb and magnificent house.’
She would not have been human if she had not wondered what it would be like to be a guest at one of the evening parties the Earl gave.
They were described with relish by the countrywomen who would, she knew, walk miles when they knew that the Earl had a party arriving.
They would watch his guests roll through the huge ornamental gates in their elegant carriages and drive down the oak-lined drive to his house over which his Standard would be flying.
Sometimes in the last year when she had time she would tell herself a story of how in a beautiful gown and with flowers in her hair she would go to a ball and dance under huge candlelit chandeliers to the music of a string orchestra.
But there was usually no time for daydreaming because there was so much to do looking after her father and the horses and at night she was so tired that she fell asleep the minute her head touched the pillow.
Fleet Hall had, however, always been an enchanted background for her dreams and now, if she had the courage, she would actually see it for the first time.
When she reached the gates, she pulled Jupiter to a standstill and wondered if she was making a mistake.
She had the distinct feeling that her father would be furious at her for visiting the Earl on her own.
And yet what was the alternative?
She could hardly send Mabel to tell him a second hand story of what had occurred.
Even if the old woman was capable of walking down the long drive, would she be listened to by the butler who opened the door to her?
Would he bother to relay such a fantastic and unlikely tale to his Master?
Salrina sighed.
‘Something has to be done and it’s obvious that I shall have to do it myself!’ she thought. ‘But what will Papa say?’
Then she remembered he had told her that on no account was she to give her real name to anybody.
‘I am Miss Milton,’ Salrina murmured, ‘and all I have to do is to make the Earl realise that he must go at once to London and save the Prince Regent. Then I can go back to Papa first thing in the morning with an easy conscience.’
She rode Jupiter forward and, as the gates were open, she did not have to shout for the lodge keeper. She guessed it was because the Earl was in residence and was perhaps expecting guests.
Salrina felt a little quiver of fear that if they were smart fashionable people from London they might laugh her to scorn and she would be turned ignominiously away for talking a lot of nonsense.
Then sensibly she told herself that if that happened no one could blame her if the Prince Regent was in fact murdered, although she had warned the Earl about the plot.
It was up to him whether he believed her or not.
Then, as she saw the house ahead of her, she realised that it was more magnificent, more breathtaking and indeed more beautiful than anything she had ever imagined in her dreams.
It was not only that it was so impressive but there was something, she thought, that made it appear enchanted.
As Jupiter carried her on, she missed nothing of the sunlight glittering like diamonds on hundreds of windows, the silver of the lake with its black and white swans and the exquisite architecture of the bridge over it, which had existed since the days that Fleet Hall had been a Priory.
The sweep in front of the steps that led up to the front door and the gardens that lay on either side of the house were so tidy and so perfect that Salrina felt it was impossible to think of them in the same category as the wilderness at home, which was also called a garden.
As she approached, she saw a groom come running from one side of the house and knew that this was just one part of the perfection of his Lordship’s domain in which even a casual visitor was immediately attended to by a servant.
As she drew Jupiter to a standstill, the groom was already at his head and, having dismounted, Salrina said to him,
“I don’t expect to be long, but I would be grateful if my horse could have a drink of water. We have come quite a distance.”
“I’ll see to it, ma’am,” the groom replied respectfully and led Jupiter away as Salrina turned towards the steps.
She had just time to walk up them when the door was opened and a quick glance told her that there was a butler waiting for her flanked by four footmen.
She had a sudden feeling of panic and fervently wished that she had not come but had left things as they were.
Then, almost as if her mother was helping her, she knew that she could not rest or sleep if her silence resulted in the death of the most important man in the country.
It was therefore in a voice that was soft and yet at the same time quite composed, she said to the butler,
“I would like to see the Earl of Fleetwood, please.”
“You have an appointment, madam?”
“I am afraid not, but will you please inform his Lordship that it is of the utmost importance that I should speak to him as soon as possible?”
There was, as she expected, quite an argument between her and the butler before finally he showed her across a marble hall decorated with stone statues into what she thought was a very luxurious and beautiful sitting room.
Because she was frightened it was difficult, even when she was alone, to take in everything around her.
And yet she could not help thinking that this was something she would want to remember and it would be a mistake not to notice that there was a very fine Reubens on one wall and a beautiful Poussin on the other.
Lady Milborne had been brought up in a house filled with pictures that had been entailed onto one generation after another. She had therefore made sure that her daughter’s education included an appreciation of painting as well as a knowledge of silver, furniture and porcelain.
After her mother’s death her father had seldom talked to Salrina about anything except horses, but she knew that she could never forget what she had learned from her beloved mother.
Now it gave her a pain in her breast to know that she could not go home and describe to her mother what she had seen, so that they could talk it over together and she would learn more about the artists than she had before.
She thought, although she was not sure, that there was a Rembrandt, although quite a small one, between two magnificent gold mirrors that she was sure had been designed by Chippendale.
Then, when she was still looking around her, the door opened and she stiffened.
She knew that the man who walked in could be nobody but the Earl of Fleetwood.
Never had she expected that any man could look so handsome, so elegant and yet at the same time be almost aggressively masculine.
He was followed by another man as tall as he was and also good-looking.
Salrina was instantly aware that the Earl’s personality seemed to overwhelm her so that it was difficult to look at him and even more difficult to look away.
“You wished to see me?�
� he asked.
There seemed to be a somewhat contemptuous note in his voice as if he thought that it was a tiresome thing for her to have done.
She curtseyed.
“Yes, my Lord, and I must apologise for my intrusion, but it is in fact extremely important.”
“I hope it will not take long,” the Earl said sharply, “as I am going riding.”
“I am sorry to incommode your Lordship,” Salrina replied, “and I will be as quick as I possibly can.”
She hesitated and then she said,
“Perhaps I should see your Lordship alone?”
She knew as she spoke that it was the wrong thing to have said and she thought that there was a definite note of sarcasm in the Earl’s voice as he replied,
“Anything you have to say to me, however personal, can be said in front of my friend – Lord Charles Egham.”
It was an introduction and Salrina dropped a little curtsey.
Equally she did not miss the words ‘however personal’ and she knew that she had been right in thinking the Earl was already contemptuous of whatever she had to say to him.
It made her very nervous and it flashed through her mind that the easiest thing she could do was to leave and say nothing.
Then, as if Lord Charles understood better than the Earl that she was afraid, he suggested,
“I should have thought, Alaric, that however much of a hurry you are in, we might sit down and hear what this lady has to tell us.”
“I suppose so,” the Earl conceded reluctantly.
He indicated a chair that was just behind Salrina and she sank down into it, feeling for the moment that her legs would no longer support her.
The Earl seated himself in a high-backed chair on the other side of the hearth rug while Lord Charles lounged back on a comfortable sofa facing them.
She realised that they were waiting and after a moment in a voice that sounded to her weak and rather foolish Salrina began,
“You may think it very strange that I have come to see you when I am a stranger, but I just don’t know what else to do – and I am very afraid that, if I don’t tell – somebody what has happened, the consequences may be very serious.”
“Suppose before we go any further you tell us your name?” the Earl proposed.
“Salrina – Milton.”
There was a definite pause between her first and second name because for one terrifying moment she could not remember what she had decided to call herself.
“Very well, Miss Milton – continue!” the Earl said.
She thought that he was making it very difficult and, as if Lord Charles understood, he said,
“As you have obviously been riding, Miss Milton, and perhaps for a long distance, could we offer you something to drink? A glass of wine perhaps?”
“No, no – nothing, thank you,” Salrina said quickly. “I am not really thirsty. It’s just that I am so – frightened of what may happen.”
“You have been ambushed, I imagine, by a highwayman,” the Earl said, “and that, may I say, is a complaint that should be taken to the Chief Constable and not to me!”
“No, my Lord, it is – nothing like that.”
The Earl glanced in an obvious manner towards the window as if he was longing to be outside and she said quickly,
“Please – listen, then I will leave. I was on my way when a short distance from here there was a thunderstorm.”
“There certainly was!” Lord Charles remarked. “I said to his Lordship that we were extremely lucky that we arrived here before it broke over our heads. It upsets most horses as I imagine it upset yours.”
Salrina was about to say that it did not worry Jupiter, but the horse she was actually riding and then thought it immaterial.
“I took shelter, my Lord,” she said, looking once again at the Earl, “in a wayside Posting inn. There seemed to be nobody about so I put my horse into the stable.”
“Very sensible of you!” Lord Charles smiled.
“Because I saw that there were people in the inn I decided to stay in the stable,” Salrina went on, “and sat down on some straw.”
As she spoke, the Earl stifled a yawn as if to show that he was bored.
Because she knew that he was making her even more nervous and uncomfortable than she was already, she said quickly,
“It was then that I overheard two men in the next stall – plotting to – kill the – Prince Regent.”
As she spoke, her words almost tumbling over themselves, she saw both the gentlemen facing her stiffen and stare at her incredulously.
“Did you say that they were plotting to kill the Prince Regent?” the Earl enquired.
“Yes – and one was a Frenchman, who I heard being paid one thousand pounds and the same amount was promised to him once His Royal Highness was – dead.”
There was silence for a moment.
Then the Earl said at last,
“Is this a joke? Who sent you here to regale us with this nonsense?”
For the first time since she had come into the house Salrina felt her nervousness leave her and instead she felt angry.
She rose from the chair saying,
“I am sorry, my Lord! I have bored you, but I thought that you were the right person to approach considering it is well known that His Royal Highness honours you – with his friendship. I will leave and try to find somebody more responsible to hear – what I have to say.”
As she finished speaking, she dropped the Earl a little curtsey and walked towards the door.
Almost immediately Lord Charles jumped up from the sofa.
“Stop!” he called out. “You cannot go like this! I believe you and I must hear the end of the story.”
He looked at the Earl in a meaningful manner as he spoke, silently rebuking him for his behaviour.
“Really, Charles – ” the Earl began.
But Lord Charles had moved across the room and was standing in front of Salrina when she would have opened the door.
“Please forgive us,” he said, “if we seem incredulous, but you must see that what you have just said seems almost too dramatic to be credible.”
The way he spoke and the fact that it was now impossible for her to leave the room made Salrina raise her eyes to his.
“I felt the – same,” she said in a low voice, “but it’s – true!”
“I do believe you,” Lord Charles said again, “so come back and tell us the rest of the story. You must realise that, if this Frenchman intends to kill His Royal Highness, we must stop it.”
“That is what I thought,” Salrina said, “but – I think – ”
She glanced back at the Earl, who had not moved from his armchair.
“I-I think perhaps I had better – go.”
There was a poignant silence.
Then Lord Charles said with an edge in his voice,
“Do you want her to leave, Alaric? If she does and the Prince is assassinated, I wonder how you will feel about it.”
The Earl rose from his chair.
“Please come back, Miss Milton,” he said. “I apologise if I was rude, but you must be aware that there have been quite a number of rumours about attempts to assassinate His Royal Highness that have never actually been made.”
“I-I did not know – that,” Salrina said almost beneath her breath.
Then she looked up at Lord Charles.
“I had better leave,” she said piteously. “Perhaps if I ride hard I can reach the Chief Constable tonight. He lives a long way from here.”
“Of course you must do nothing of the sort!” Lord Charles said. “For goodness sake, Alaric, persuade Miss Milton that you are not indifferent to what happens to His Royal Highness. We were saying only this morning that Napoleon Bonaparte is getting desperate. It is therefore quite a possibility that he would hire an assassin to dispose of the ‘First Gentleman in Europe’!”
The Earl gave a short laugh that had no humour in it.
“Very well, Charles,”
he said. “You win! Please sit down, Miss Milton, and continue with your story.”
It was more of an order than a plea and reluctantly, feeling that she hated the Earl, Salrina seated herself once again in the armchair.
“Now suppose,” Lord Charles said sitting nearer to her then he had before, “you start at the beginning and tell us exactly what happened, word for word.”
In a low voice, not looking at the Earl but at Lord Charles, Salrina told him how because she was tired she had fallen asleep and had woken to hear two men speaking in low voices, one with a French accent.
Then she repeated as near as she could remember word for word exactly what she had heard them say and related how, when the Englishman had left, she had known even while she pretended to be asleep, that the Frenchman was contemplating killing her.
“You really thought that?” Lord Charles asked. “It must have been extremely frightening!”
“I was – terrified,” Salrina replied, “but somehow I managed not to move! Then the Englishman’s groom arrived and they took the horses out into the yard.”
“And, after they had gone, you left too?”
“There was no one about and I imagined that the only ostler was inside the inn,” Salrina said. “There was no one to pay and I just came away.”
“Where were you going?” the Earl asked.
He had not spoken since she had begun to tell her tale and she looked at him almost as if she had forgotten that he was there before she replied,
“I had a message to deliver, my Lord.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t think that is of any consequence. My only concern is that somebody in authority should know what is being planned and I will then no longer feel that it is my responsibility.”
The Earl sat back in his chair.
“What you are actually saying is that Lord Charles and I must rush to London to alert the Prince Regent, and, of course, you, Miss Milton, must be invited tomorrow night to the party that His Royal Highness is giving at Carlton House!”
There was a silence after he had spoken while Salrina stared at him in astonishment before he added,
“Very clever, if I may say so! An original way of getting yourself into the ‘El Dorado’ of all young women!”
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