He was her husband!
She was married to him and the only way they could be legally separated would be by a divorce, which would have to go through the Houses of Parliament.
She did not have to imagine how much the Marquis would loathe the scandal, the gossip and the reports in the newspapers.
She knew that it would be horrifying for him and degrading for her.
She remembered her father saying once,
“No lady should appear in the newspapers, except for when she is born, when she marries and when she dies!”
‘What can I do, Papa?’ she asked.
There was no answer.
*
The Marquis drove his horses for twenty miles.
Then he drew in at a Posting inn where his own horses were waiting to change over.
He turned and said sharply to Valessa,
“You have fifteen minutes and don’t keep me waiting!”
Bowers helped her down from the phaeton.
As she went into the inn, a maid in a mobcap took her upstairs to a bedroom where she could wash and tidy herself.
She thought that it was a long time since she had had breakfast and was just about to ask for food when it was brought to her room on a tray.
There were cold meats and a glass of champagne and Valessa was wise enough to realise that food was essential unless she was to collapse.
She was certain that would make the Marquis even angrier than he was already.
She sipped a little of the champagne and found it gave her an appetite. It was difficult, however, to eat very much of the meats, but she managed as much as she could.
When Bowers knocked on the door to tell her that the Marquis was ready to leave, she finished the champagne.
They set off again, this time with a team of bays to draw them.
Valessa sat back in the phaeton and closed her eyes.
Then she realised that, as he was taking her to London, it would be a very long journey.
She was afraid that she might feel again the terrible exhaustion that she had experienced before she left home.
‘I must not be too tired,’ she told herself, ‘so that when we arrive I cannot talk to him about the future.’
She was aware when they reached the next inn where they were to change horses that she was feeling very tired.
Once again there was food, but here it was better than it had been the first time.
This was because an outrider had been sent ahead cross-country. He had got there before them and alerted the publican.
There was warm soup and roast chicken for Valessa and she could have had a choice of apple pie or cheese, but she found it impossible to eat any more.
She had, however, enjoyed a cup of steaming black coffee, which she thought would keep her awake.
Then they were off again.
Now, because there was a faint drizzle of rain, the hood of the phaeton had been put up. There was also a hood over Bowers at the back.
Because they were enclosed, the Marquis seemed to be nearer and therefore more intimidating than he had been before.
It was frightening, Valessa thought, to be shut up in what was almost like a cave with a man who would not speak to her.
She could still feel his hatred and his disgust vibrating towards her.
She hoped that perhaps, when she told him that she was not as lowly born as Sarah had said she was, he would be relieved.
That was, if she ever had the chance to speak to him.
It seemed ridiculous that they could travel together for so many hours without exchanging a single word.
And yet she was far too frightened, after the way he had told her to be silent, to speak again.
They drove on and on and because Valessa was aware how her father travelled, she knew that it would take all of four changes of horses before they reached London.
She was aware that the Marquis was too experienced a driver to push his team. But he kept up a fast even pace and she suspected that he was trying to beat a record.
On and on they went.
When they reached the fourth and what she thought must be the last change of horses, Valessa was half-asleep.
So it was agonising to have to get down from the phaeton and walk into the inn.
The food was ready and again there was soup, a generous portion of salmon and some roast lamb.
She managed to eat the soup and a few mouthfuls of the salmon, but that was all.
There had been champagne at all the places they had stopped, but now there was a bottle of claret on the tray and the maid who brought it in explained,
“We ain’t got no champagne for ’is Lordship, only a red wine.”
“Thank you,” Valessa replied.
Normally she would have drunk nothing, but she felt that her strength was waning and she hoped that the claret would keep her going until they arrived at their destination.
She had felt rather cold during the last part of the journey, so she kept as close as she could to the fire.
She warmed her hands before she put on her gloves, which were too smart and too tight-fitting.
‘I must keep them under the rug,’ she told herself.
It was an effort to go down the twisting oak stairs from the bedroom into the hall and out to where the phaeton was waiting.
Again it was Bowers who helped her in.
She noted, because she loved horses, that the phaeton was now drawn by a jet-black team.
Each horse had a white star on its nose and a white front fetlock.
She sat down and pulled the rug up until it covered her chest.
The food and wine had warmed her and she felt sleepy. She had the idea, however, that it was not just ordinary tiredness she was feeling.
The utter exhaustion she had been afraid of was now threatening to engulf her.
‘I must – reach London – without being – tiresome,’ she told herself desperately.
She felt somehow as if her whole body was disintegrating and, even if she had wanted to raise her hands, it would be an impossibility.
‘If I can go to sleep,’ she thought, ‘then perhaps when I wake I will be able to talk to his Lordship.’
It was difficult to put her head against the hood of the phaeton, because she was wearing a bonnet, so she undid the ribbons and took it off.
She wondered if she should explain to the Marquis why she did so.
Then, as she glanced at him, she was aware that he was looking even grimmer than he had before.
‘He is – hating me! He is – hating me!’ she told herself and shivered because she was so frightened.
She put her bonnet down on the seat beside her.
Because she was so thin and had moved as far away from the Marquis as she possibly could, there was a wide space between them.
Then she pulled the rug even higher, closing her eyes, as she rested her head against the cushioned back.
She felt as if waves of exhaustion were making her feel disembodied.
She was sinking into a strange oblivion that was dark, terrifying and there was no one to save her.
Then she knew no more –
*
Valessa turned over and thought that she was back in bed at home.
She supposed that she should go downstairs and pump some water that she could have some heat for her breakfast.
‘The fire!’
The words seemed to spring into her mind.
She had forgotten the fire. Perhaps the one in her bedroom had gone out in which case she would be unable to light the one in the kitchen.
She was aware that she was moving.
It was then she remembered that the Marquis was driving to London and she thought that he was taking a long time to get there.
‘I must talk to him when we arrive,’ she told herself and knew that it would be a tremendous effort.
“I am – tired, I am so – very tired!” she whispered.
She opened her eyes and then thought that she m
ust be dreaming.
She was in what seemed to be a very small room, but there was movement and she could not think why.
‘I must be – giddy! Perhaps it was the – claret I drank at the last place where we – stopped!’
Then she was aware that the movement was not of wheels and that she was in bed.
In bed and, although it seemed impossible and absolutely incredible, she was in a ship!
She tried to sit up, but it was too much effort.
She lay and looked up at the ceiling that was not very high above her.
It was then she saw that there were two portholes in her cabin.
There were some pretty expensive-looking curtains drawn over them and the rocking of the ship made them move so that the sunshine could be seen beneath them.
‘Where – am I? What is – happening?’ Valessa asked.
She was afraid.
The Marquis must have been determined to be rid of her so he was sending her away.
But where to?
She lay trembling as different ideas kept flashing through her mind.
Now she could hear the slap of the sails and the creak of the timbers.
And there were footsteps as if somebody was moving about on the deck above her.
‘Where – am I? What is – happening?’ Valessa asked again and she was very frightened.
The cabin door, which was opposite the bed, opened very quietly and slowly.
She drew in her breath.
Then she saw a man’s head peeping in at her and realised that it was Bowers.
“Are you all right, my Lady?” he asked cheerily.
“Where – am – I?” Valessa enquired.
Her voice did not sound like her own, but was very small and hesitating.
Bowers came into the cabin and shut the door behind him.
“I thought you’d never wake up,” he said, “but now you have, I suppose it’s a bit of a shock!”
“Where – am I?” Valessa asked again.
“You’re aboard his Lordship’s yacht, TheUlysses.”
“A – yacht!”
Because she was so astonished she sat up in bed.
Then she glanced down at herself and saw that she was wearing the silk chemise trimmed with lace that she had put on under her travelling gown.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Bowers explained.
“You passed out, my Lady, when we reached London and we couldn’t wake you, so his Lordship brought you along, just as you were, so to speak.”
“Brought me along – where?” Valessa asked, trying to understand.
“TheUlysses was anchored in the Thames, just past the Houses of Parliament,” Bowers answered.
Valessa was looking at him wide-eyed, as he went on,
“So we just stops to pick up a few things from Berkeley Square and comes straight on here and was out to sea afore it were dark!”
Bowers made it sound almost like an adventure story and Valessa asked tentatively,
“Where – are we – going?”
“You’ll have to ask his Lordship. On the bridge he be now, talkin’ to the Captain, but I can’t hear what they’re sayin’.”
Bowers grinned at her and then he said,
“Now what you wants, my Lady, is somethin’ nice to eat and, if you take my advice, you’ll stay where you are till we’re in calmer waters.”
He reached the cabin door as he spoke and, as he opened it, he added,
“If your Ladyship wants a wash, there’s a bathroom on your port side.”
Then he was gone and Valessa stared after him in astonishment.
How could she have slept or been unconscious when his Lordship had reached London and brought her away in his yacht?
She supposed when she thought about it that he was running away from Sarah and all those horrible laughing jeering people who had clustered at the foot of the bed in The Towers.
She could see them only too clearly, their flushed faces and open mouths mocking them.
She did not need to be told how humiliating it was for the Marquis and she had wished that the earth would open up and swallow her.
Why had she not known instinctively that what she was doing was wrong and refused to take the part that had been assigned to her?
She knew the answer only too well.
She had either to agree to what Harry proposed to her or else find her way to the river.
Anyway there was no use thinking now what she should have done.
It had happened and she was here in this yacht with a strange man who hated her.
Because she thought that it would make her feel a little better, she struggled to the door on the port side that Bowers had indicated and to her astonishment found that it was in fact a bathroom.
Valessa had heard about bathrooms, but this was the first time that she had actually seen one.
Her mother and father had always bathed in their bedrooms, as she had done.
But when she was alone in the house she was far too tired to carry water up the stairs.
She had them put the bath as near as possible to the kitchen door that led into the yard and she had pumped the water into a can that was not too heavy for her to carry.
She had taken it into the house and poured it into the bath.
She had not been over-generous with the water, finding it too much of an effort.
She had never imagined, however, that in a yacht one could have a bath fixed to the floor in a special cabin of its own.
That was what she was looking at now and she saw that it was rather a strange shape being very deep and not very long.
There was also a basin that was fixed to the wall, which she had expected.
A jug of water standing in it had a top to prevent the water from spilling out.
She washed her face and hands and felt better.
Then very carefully, because the ship was heeling over, she slipped back into bed.
It was a large and comfortable bed and the sheets and pillowcases were of the best linen. The blankets she was aware were new and had never been washed.
She thought as she looked around her that everything seemed new and she suspected therefore that TheUlysses was a new acquisition.
Bowers came back with a tray in his hands. He was moving, she thought very skilfully, considering that he had to walk at an angle.
He put the tray down on the bed and she saw that everything on it had covers so that nothing could spill over.
Bowers looked at her and said,
“Yorr ladyship looks a bit chilly. I think I saw somethin’ when I unpacked that’ll keep you warm.”
He opened a drawer that was fitted into the wall like everything else in the cabin.
After rummaging around, he brought her what she saw was a velvet stole to wear over an evening gown.
As it was a pale blue and trimmed with marabou, she thought it very glamorous and it was certainly warm as she put it round her shoulders.
“Thank – you.”
“Now eat up!” Bowers said firmly, “and when I comes back. I’ll tell your Ladyship what you wants to know.”
He grinned at her and went away.
Valessa thought that he was rather like a kindly Nanny and she did not feel in the least embarrassed by him.
Because she felt hungry she explored what he had brought her to eat. There was plenty of it and very delicious.
As they were breakfast dishes, she thought, although she did not ask the time, that it must be morning and she had therefore slept all night.
Twenty minutes later Bowers returned.
“Feelin’ better, my Lady?” he asked.
“Yes, very much better, thank you,” Valessa answered. “I am sorry to be such a nuisance.”
‘It’s no trouble,” Bowers said, “and what you’ve got to do, my Lady, if you’ll forgive me sayin’ so, is to fatten yourself up a bit.”
He gave a little chuckle as he went on,
“When I take
s off your gown and puts you to bed last night, you looked so thin, I thought you’d disappear!”
Valessa laughed.
“I am sure that I shall soon get fat if I eat such delicious food as you have just brought me!”
“It’ll be luncheontime in a bit over an hour.”
“Do you – think,” Valessa asked hesitatingly, “that – his Lordship will – expect me to dress and – join him?”
She did not know quite how to express it and there was a perceptible pause before she said the last two words.
“I thinks, my Lady, you’d best stay where you be,” Bowers replied, “at least until you feels better than you be now.”
He picked up the tray, steadying himself rather like an acrobat as he made for the door.
Then he said,
“I’d keep out of the way of his Lordship and give him time to get used to it, so to speak!”
He was gone before Valessa could think of anything to say, but she could understand his reasoning.
She was sure that the Marquis was hating her violently and she had no wish to encounter him until things were better.
She remembered how angry he had seemed when they were driving towards London.
She felt her whole being shrinking from the fury, which, when they met, she feared would break over her head.
‘Bowers is right,’ she told herself. ‘I am not well enough to get up.’
She snuggled down against the pillows.
When Bowers came back with her luncheon, she was sound asleep.
*
Afterwards it seemed to Valessa extraordinary that she had managed for three days to stay in her cabin seeing nobody but Bowers.
She slept most of the time.
He woke her up and made her eat her meals, which she did obediently.
Mostly because she did not wish to disappoint him and then actually being far weaker then she had realised, she went back to sleep.
She enjoyed the movement of the ship.
It made her think of the swing that her father had made for her. It had hung on the branch of a large tree in the garden when she was little girl.
He would swing her up and down until it felt as if her toes could touch the sky. She would move so fast that she thought she was flying.
TheUlysses, built to the Marquis’s own specifications, was very large and very sturdily built.
Revenge Is Sweet Page 9