“You want more – ring bell.”
He spoke hesitantly as if each word was difficult.
Then before she could reply he went quickly out of the cabin shutting the door and locking it behind him.
Davinia found that the drink was indeed lemonade and she drank a little of it which took some of the dryness from her throat.
By now the ship was well out to sea.
She could only wonder apprehensively where it was going and who had snatched her away from The Castle and from everything she knew and loved.
And she could not help hoping that they would not forget Prince and someone would feed him in her absence.
Then once again she was thinking of the Duke and feeling that he must be wondering where she was.
She could only hope and pray that he was thinking of rescuing her.
‘Come to me! Come to me!’ she called to him.
When there was no reply, she felt for the first time the tears of fear coming into her eyes.
The ship must have been well down the English Channel before there was a knock on the door, which was very different from the rather timid one that she had heard before.
“Come in,” Devinia said, sitting up in bed.
She wondered who her visitor could possibly be.
When he appeared, she knew at once from the way he was dressed and the way he walked, that he was the Captain of this ship and well aware of his position.
As he came to the bed, she realised that, if she was eyeing him anxiously, he was doing the same.
“Are you comfortable?” he asked abruptly in a way that showed he spoke English well and could understand it.
“Yes, I am comfortable, thank you,” Devinia said. “But you will understand that I wish to know where I am going and who this ship belongs to?”
The Captain smiled.
“You be quite safe,” he said. “We look after you well. You a present for His Highness.”
“And who is – His Highness?” Devinia asked.
For a short moment there was hesitation and then the Captain answered,
“He very great man, the Sultan of Istanbul, and you a present to him.”
Devinia drew in her breath. Now she understood exactly what had happened to her.
There was no doubt as to who had arranged it.
When Devinia had been with her mother’s cousin, Penelope’s father was negotiating on behalf of the Sultan of Istanbul over a ship he was having made in England.
Apparently, although she had not heard of it before, Penelope’s father was an acclaimed expert on the building and equipping of cargo boats and had received orders from many countries for those made in English shipyards.
Because she had been interested he had told her of the number of ships he had built for different countries and the many ways that they had been furnished if they were to carry passengers.
“The majority,” he had told her, “require only ships that convey what they buy in one country to their own, but occasionally the Sultan or whoever is important, wants one for his own personal use.”
He paused for a moment and then continued,
“That, I can assure you, makes a lot of difficulties because, although he admires our furniture and our form of decoration, he also wants it to be partially Eastern and that, of course, causes problems not only where he is concerned but for the guests of his country.”
Devinia had listened attentively because anything new was interesting for her.
She particularly wanted to know how the countries that had a Sultan differed from those that had a King.
She was therefore surprised when the Captain said,
“This ship belongs to the Sultan of Istanbul and he uses it to bring the English to his country and to make them comfortable during the journey.”
The way he spoke made Devinia understand all too clearly that the Sultan of Istanbul had copied the English in some ways.
However there was definitely a foreign touch where the bedclothes were concerned and Devinia was to find out later that the majority of the food and furniture on board was very Oriental.
But what she had heard already was enough for her to realise all too clearly what Penelope had planned for her.
She was quite certain that, as her father’s daughter, it would be easy for her to have someone carried aboard the Sultan’s ship if it was in harbour at Dover and there was no reason for her to consult her father.
Devinia guessed that, while he was busy inspecting the ships that were being made under his orders, Penelope had sent the men from the ship to kidnap her and to take her aboard without her father having the least idea of what was happening.
There was no need for Devinia to ask the Captain why she should have been taken for the Sultan of Istanbul.
Her father had often talked about the present Sultan who he saw quite often.
On more than one time he had teased his daughter by saying if she became even more famous than she was already as a beautiful debutante, the Sultan would hear of her beauty and, as he had a penchant for blondes, would undoubtedly send a ship to carry her to him in Istanbul.
She really could not believe that any Englishman, especially one accepted by the most influential people in London, would capture an English girl and then, because she was fair, send her to the Sultan.
But that was exactly what Penelope was doing.
While she was using her father’s name to make it possible, it was very doubtful if he would learn what had happened, at any rate not until it was too late to rescue her.
“We make you very comfortable,” the Captain was saying. “You just ask for anything you want and we go straight to Istanbul and not stop anywhere.”
Devinia knew that it was no use appealing to him to save her from the fate that awaited her when she arrived.
But he was well aware that she was a present for the Sultan and so she would be added to his harem, which according to Penelope’s father was already a large one.
When the Captain left after again saying that she had only to ask for anything she wanted, Devinia lay down.
She told herself that if she was not rescued then she must die before she was made one of the Sultan’s many concubines simply because she was so fair and fair-haired women were more to his liking than dark girls who were of the same blood as his own.
‘Help me, God! Please help me!’ Devinia prayed.
But she could not think how God could do so. Or how once they had passed through the Mediterranean and reached Istanbul, there would be anyone she could appeal to to save her.
As the ship seemed to go faster and faster, she told herself that, if neither God nor the Duke heard her prayers, then she must die.
When finally that night she fell asleep, she felt as if the Devil himself was carrying her towards a Hell she had not thought existed until this moment.
*
The Duke, having ordered that his yacht should sail night and day as fast as it possibly could, was calculating that, as far as he was concerned, Devinia had left ten or more hours earlier than he had done.
He had, of course, lost time when he had gone first to London to see Penelope.
He had then driven at what was an amazing speed to Dover, only to be quite certain that Devinia was several hours ahead of him.
As he had travelled so much in the past, he was well aware of the fascination that Eastern men felt for fair-haired, blue-eyed English girls, who often, when they went abroad unprotected, found themselves in a most unpleasant situation.
They had, of course, no idea how they could save themselves.
He had been friendly with the Sultan of Istanbul who he had met on several occasions and thought him a well-educated and, on the whole, intelligent man.
At the same time he was well aware that he boasted a very large harem.
It was talked about not only in the East but in many other countries where the Sultan was not only a visitor but accepted by a great number of other Rulers as being
a man who was making Istanbul, over which he ruled, far more advanced physically and intellectually than a good number of other Eastern countries.
But they had remained somewhat hostile towards Europeans.
It was well known that the Sultan of Istanbul had a penchant for fair girls and it was no secret that he collected them as other Rulers might collect weapons or jewels.
But to think of Devinia being a concubine of the Sultan was something that made the Duke’s blood boil and want to kill anyone who prevented him from saving her.
But he was clever enough to realise that it was not going to be an easy task to save Devinia from the Sultan.
He would need to use all his brains as well as his charm, unless he was not only to lose her but every respect he had for himself.
‘How could I have possibly thought, how could I have guessed for one moment,’ he asked himself a million times, ‘that Penelope would punish me in such a manner for insulting her and how could Devinia have thought it dangerous to go to an injured dog outside my Castle.’
All these questions kept forcing themselves into his mind until he thought that he would go mad if he could not catch up with the Sultan’s ship ahead of him.
He wqas well aware, as the Captain had pointed out to Devinia, that the Sultan’s ship was a larger vessel.
Thanks to the Company who had built it under the supervision of Penelope’s father, it had engines, which if required could go very fast especially with a small cargo.
And much faster than the Dulce’s yacht.
“You just have to move quicker than you are at the moment,” the Duke told his Captain, “simply because it is a matter of life and death. I have to reach Istanbul, if it is at all possible, before the Sultan’s ship ahead of us goes in to Port.”
“We can only hope, Your Grace,” the Captain said, “that they stop to refuel or to buy food. Otherwise we will be a day or perhaps two days behind them.”
“You just have to go faster,” the Duke urged him.
Without waiting for the Captain to reply, he walked on deck as if he hoped to see the Sultan’s ship ahead.
There were a great number of ships at Gibraltar and Marseilles and also at Naples.
The Captain and did not stop at these Ports. He and the Duke merely inspected them through binoculars.
They made quite certain each time that there was no sign of the Sultan’s ship and it was still ahead of them.
*
If the Duke was regretting that the Sultan’s ship was moving so quickly, Devinia was feeling the same.
She was aware that it was most unusual for a ship carrying friends or guests to sail on without stopping so that they could sleep quietly at night in a small bay.
It was also usual to pick up fresh water and food and, of course, to refuel at regular intervals.
The Sultan’s ship moved ahead rapidly.
To Devinia and the Duke following her, it was the luck of the Devil that they had no reason to stop.
When they entered the Aegean Sea, it was early in the morning.
When they docked in the Port of Istanbul, it was well before the average person’s breakfast time.
“There is no reason for you to hurry,” the Captain said to Devinia. “As soon as we arrive, I will send to The Palace to inform them that you are here and they will send a carriage for you.”
“I must point out to you,” Devinia said, “that I have no clothes and I have no wish to arrive in my nightgown which is how I was taken away and why, ever since I came aboard, I have not left this bed.”
The Captain threw up his hand in a typical gesture of helplessness.
“How could we know when we were not told until we reached England that a beautiful lady like yourself, who was to be taken to His Highness the Sultan, would have no luggage with her?”
Devinia did not wish to argue and did not point out that she was lured downstairs by the yelping of a dog that they were torturing and then carried away.
“So I will tell those at The Palace that you require clothes before you leave ship,” he said.
“Thank you,” Devinia replied.
She wished that she could think of a reason to delay her arrival still further.
But it took two hours before two women arrived with a large box containing the clothes that they thought Devinia should wear.
She lay in bed as she watched them unpack what they had brought and, because she had no wish to meet the Sultan, she refused most of the clothes they offered her.
She was only persuaded with great difficulty which took time, before she finally dressed herself in the Eastern fashion.
She wore a veil so that only her eyes were showing when eventually she condescended to leave the ship.
Even then she sat in the ship’s Saloon for a long time talking to the Captain.
She told him that she was hoping the Sultan would be kind enough to let her return home to England and she knew, even as she spoke to him, that he was quite certain she would not be allowed to do so.
At least it gave her a chance to express her feelings at being kidnapped and being forced as an Englishwoman into the Sultan’s harem.
“It is a disgrace to my country,” Devinia said. “I am hoping that the Sultan will be reprimanded by Her Majesty Queen Victoria for behaving in such a disgraceful way.”
She had not said all this when he had come to see her aboard the ship for the simple reason that she had felt weak lying in bed, while he merely asked her if she was comfortable and if there was anything she required.
Now dressed, even though it was as a native, she felt stronger in herself.
Although she thought miserably it would do her no good, she was determined to let the Captain know that she thought he and the Sultan were behaving appallingly.
She was well aware as she was talking to him that he was thinking of asserting his authority and making her leave immediately as the carriage was waiting.
“You understand,” he said, “I only take orders from His Highness the Sultan. If he say bring lady to Istanbul, I have to bring you. If I don’t do what I’m told, I’m thrown out, finished – you understand?”
“I understand exactly,” Devinia said coldly. “At the same time I am shocked that in the world today the people of Istanbul should behave like barbarians.”
As she said the last word, she then walked down the gangway, her head held high, and stepped into the carriage.
To her surprise there was a woman inside it.
Not one of the women who had brought her clothes as they were in a different carriage, but an elderly woman who spoke very little English.
She was there, Devinia discovered, to point out the places of interest in the City as they passed through it.
And to inform her, in case she was upset, that the Sultan was away and did not return until late that night.
Devinia did not make a comment but her heart leapt in case, although it would be a miracle, there was a way of saving herself before he arrived.
She had to admit, although she would not say so aloud, that the City was very attractive in the sunshine
She could see many colourful shops and she had a feeling of satisfaction she could not explain as there also seemed to be very few beggars or badly dressed children.
The horses and dogs, and there were quite a number of them, were obviously well fed and not harshly treated.
The Sultan’s Palace was only a short way outside the main City of Istanbul and the olive trees surrounding it made it look enchanting.
There were quite a number of people waiting to greet Devinia as she stepped out of the carriage, hoping that she looked confident and at the same time dignified.
Only to herself did she acknowledge that her lips were dry and her heart was beating rapidly with fear.
With much bowing she was led into the Palace, but not through the main door, but one which she soon realised was used by those who were the Sultan’s concubines.
As she knew that the
Sultan was away, she was not so frightened as she would have been otherwise.
She was also well aware that the elderly women who were to look after her, were bowing and scraping as if she was an English Princess rather than just a girl whose most important attribute was her golden hair.
She was taken to a bedroom that she had to admit looked comfortable and larger than she expected and she was shown a sitting room opening out of it which she was told she would share with two of the Sultan’s favourites.
One of them was a German who was fair and the other, Devinia gathered, was from Southern Russia.
As neither could speak a word of English, she felt that their conversation would be somewhat limited.
But they were obviously anxious to be pleasant and they bowed and smiled in a manner, which made it very obvious that they were anxious to welcome her.
She went into her bedroom and found, as she might have expected, that the wardrobe was full of clothes, all of Oriental style. They were attractive and not in any way degrading.
When she was asked if she had any jewellery, she replied that she had been taken away at night and brought to Istanbul with nothing of her own, except her nightgown.
This was explained with the help of a woman who spoke good English.
She had been, Devinia learnt later, a Governess at one of the Universities where some of the pupils required foreign languages as they hoped to work with Companies in England and America.
“You are very lucky to come here,” the woman told Devinia. “Our Sultan like English girls very much.”
She did not answer her, but later she was told that the Sultan had three Palaces and this one was his Summer Palace.
It was then she learnt that she was to have lessons in how to approach the Sultan and how he expected her to make love to him.
It was with difficulty that Devinia prevented herself from saying that it was something she would never do.
In fact she would rather die than attempt it.
But because she was sensible she forced herself to listen while the Teacher told her how the Sultan expected his concubines to start by kissing his feet and rise gently up until they had the great privilege of making love with him.
160 Love Finds the Duke at Last Page 11