Hide and Seek for Love

by Barbara Cartland

  Newman had wanted more candles, but Nanny had said they could not afford them and anyway she had added sharply that no one should be walking about the house after they had all gone to bed.

  In her hurry to run downstairs Benina had forgotten to put on her slippers, so she ran barefooted across the hall and down the passage to the study.

  When she opened the door, it was to see David still sitting at the writing desk with a pen in his hand.

  He looked up at her in surprise.

  She closed the door behind her and ran towards him.

  “You might think I am being foolish,” she panted, “but I am almost certain I saw someone moving in the trees on the far side of the lawn.”

  She looked up at him, afraid that he would laugh at her and tell her not to be so imaginative.

  Instead he muttered,

  “If it is anyone looking for me, they will doubtless expect to find me either in my bedroom or in here.”

  Benina thought for a moment, then she suggested,

  “If there is a light downstairs, they will know you have not yet gone to bed.”

  “That makes sense, and I am wondering how they will get in.”

  Benina gave a helpless sigh.

  “There are many windows on the ground floor and we both know that most of them are unshuttered and are in such a bad state of repair that it would be easy for anyone to open them.”

  David nodded.

  “We will just have to wait and see. You have your revolver with you, Benina?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  As she was holding it down by her side, it had been hidden by her nightgown.

  For the first time since she had left her bedroom, she remembered that she had not put on her dressing gown – in her fright she had run downstairs only in her nightgown.

  It was made of soft cotton and luckily it appeared almost like a dress and was not transparent.

  All the same Benina blushed because she thought that David was looking at her somewhat critically.

  “I am so sorry. I was in such a hurry to reach you, I forgot to dress as I was just getting into bed.”

  David smiled.

  “The way we look is of no importance at present. I suggest we hide behind the curtains which will give us a chance to see anyone who comes into the room before they can see us.”

  There were two big windows in the study and they went to the one behind the writing desk.

  The study was on the same side of the house as her bedroom and David’s.

  It was not possible for them to see the lime trees where Benina had thought she had seen someone moving. In fact from where they were now there was nothing to see but the lawn and the fountain in the moonlight.

  David was intently looking out of the window with his revolver in his right hand and Benina was holding hers.

  She felt she could almost hear her heart beating and as she was scared, it seemed to be thundering inside her.

  She knew that David was trying to hear if there was the sound of anyone breaking a window or moving about the house.

  Newman had closed the windows in the study when he had pulled the curtains, so David put out his hand and very slowly, making no noise, unlatched the window.

  Then he pushed it open and the night air rushed in.

  They were both listening, but could hear nothing.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Benina felt that David was already thinking that she had been hysterical and unnecessarily scared and she was just about to say she was sorry and would go back to bed.

  Then there was just the faintest sound behind them.

  They both turned round.

  David peeped out of the left side of the curtain and Benina the right.

  There was nothing to see by the light of the candles except the room just as they had left it.

  Benina noticed that one of the cushions on the sofa looked crushed and Newman must have forgotten to pat it back into shape after he had drawn the curtains.

  It was then they heard just the slightest creak of the door being opened.

  Benina drew in her breath and she felt sure David was doing the same.

  Slowly the door opened just an inch or so.

  Then suddenly it was flung forward violently and two men burst into the room.

  They were both carrying rifles at the ready.

  For a moment David paused.

  Then he pulled back the curtain and shot at the man facing him.

  He wounded him not in the heart, as it would have killed him, but in the arm that was carrying his rifle.

  He gave a loud scream and toppled backwards and his rifle went off with a deafening bang as he did so.

  The bullet flew upwards towards the ceiling.

  It was then with a swiftness that must have come from a soldier’s training, the other man aimed at David.

  Before he could pull the trigger Benina aimed her revolver and shot him in the shoulder.

  Just as his companion had done, he fell backwards and his rifle went off as he did so with a resounding report.

  Next there came a crash from the window as a third assailant burst in behind David and Bernina.

  David raised his fist and smashed it into the man’s jaw, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

  Even as David and Benina came from behind the curtains, Newman and Cosnet were running into the room.

  They had obviously not gone to bed as they were both fully dressed and carrying their rifles in their hands.

  The men on the floor were groaning and writhing about. Their rifles were lying on the floor beside them.

  David took charge at once.

  “Take these men to the Police Station immediately. Charge them with breaking and entering here with intent to murder anyone who tried to stop them.”

  There were broad smiles on the faces of Newman and Cosnet.

  Cosnet ran back to the kitchen to fetch ropes.

  Looking down at the wounded men as they waited, Benina knew without even hearing them swear in their own language that they were Russians – they were not big men but unpleasant-looking and undoubtedly strong.

  She recognised that if David had not been armed he would have been lying dead at this very moment.

  Cosnet came back with the ropes.

  “Ben’s gone to find a cart to take them devils to the Police. I be thinking, my Lord, if they recovers from their wounds, they’ll be deported.”

  “They will undoubtedly end up in prison for some years, so I don’t think we need to worry about them.”

  “It’s a good thing you was armed, my Lord.”

  Newman was passing through the door dragging the second and third men, while Cosnet had already pulled the first man into the passage.

  Benina guessed that they would stay there until Ben brought a cart round to the front door.

  David picked up the Russians’ rifles and put them on a side table.

  “I expect the Police will need these as evidence.”

  Then, as he turned round, he saw Benina looking at him, her blue eyes wide and frightened.

  For a moment they just looked at each other and then with a little sob, she cried,

  “They would have killed you – ”

  As she spoke the tears ran down her cheeks. David put his arms round her.

  “But it was you who saved me, Benina, when you advised me to carry a revolver and you shot that man who would have killed me.”

  “I was terrified – so very terrified.”

  She looked up at him as she spoke.

  Then David’s lips were on hers.

  At first he kissed Benina gently as if he would kiss away her tears.

  Then, as he could feel the softness and innocence of her lips, his arms tightened.

  His kisses became more demanding.

  He knew, as he had realised already, that she loved him.

  It was a different love from anything he had ever known in his life.

  A love, which, although he
had not really admitted it, he had sought, but thought he would never find.

  He kissed her until they were both breathless.

  Then he suggested gently,

  “You must go to bed, my darling. I must see first to these men being taken away, then we can both rest without worrying.”

  “Thank God – you are safe,” murmured Benina.

  “Absolutely safe and all thanks to you. So now my precious, do what I want you to do and in the morning we will talk about it all again.”

  As he spoke and was about to take his arms from her, he suddenly felt something strike him on his forehead.

  It made him start.

  And then as he looked to see what it could be, he was struck again.

  Benina gave a cry.

  “Look, look!” she cried and pointed to the ceiling.

  David looked up.

  As he did so, another coin would have struck him if he had not stepped to one side.

  As he had fallen, the bullet from the first Russian’s rifle had made a hole in the ceiling and now it was easy to see the plaster of the ceiling was falling gradually away.

  As it did so, more gold coins fell with a crash onto the floor.

  Both David and Benina were speechless.

  Then she called out frantically,

  “It’s the treasure! We have found it! We have just – found it – David!”

  Her voice broke and once again tears were running down her cheeks.

  David put his arms around her.

  “We have found it, my darling, and now everything will be exactly as we want it to be.”

  Then he was kissing her again.

  Kissing her for sheer joy.

  When their lips were not held by each other’s, they were laughing.

  At the eleventh hour everything was wonderful!

  It was a long time later before he could persuade Benina that they must go upstairs.

  By this time a large number of gold coins had fallen into a pile on the carpet.

  She kept turning them over in her hands as if even now she could not believe they were real.

  When they eventually left, the passage was empty and the front door closed. Newman and Cosnet must have driven their prisoners away in triumph.

  They walked together upstairs and David said,

  “I think that neither of us will sleep if we do not see exactly how my grandfather hid his treasure in the floor. I must admit it never occurred to me – ”

  “The floors are so strongly built. I cannot imagine how he managed it.”

  They went into the Master bedroom.

  With a cleverness that no one would have credited him with, the Marquis had succeeded in dislodging one of the heavy beams directly under his bed.

  He had sawn through one of the strong beams used by the Elizabethan builders of Ingle Hall.

  Between the floor of the Master bedroom and the ceiling of the study there was a whole foot of empty space and that was where he had deposited his precious money.

  Then he refitted the beam back so exactly that the Marquis would know that no one would look for his treasure there unless they had taken the whole house to pieces.

  David let Benina look and touch it and then he put the beam back into its place.

  “We are both tired and quite frankly I need help to move that lot, exhausting though it may be!”

  Benina laughed.

  “You will undoubtedly sleep well on top of it and have very happy dreams.”

  “Very happy dreams,” repeated David, “and you, my darling, will have them too.”

  “I love you, David. Do you – really love me?”

  He knew that she was thinking that perhaps he had kissed her only in the excitement of the moment.

  “I have loved you for a long time, my Benina, but I would not admit it to myself because I had nothing to offer you – nothing except a large house and very little food.”

  “That is all over now!”

  “It most certainly is. Now go to bed, my beautiful darling, because I have lots of plans for tomorrow.”

  “I want to help you – with all of them.”

  “They could not be carried out without you.”

  He put his arms round her and drew her out of his room and along to her own.

  When they were inside her bedroom, he lifted her up and placed her gently on the bed.

  “You have been more wonderful, my Benina, than I can possibly tell you, but we will discuss it all tomorrow.”

  He kissed her very tenderly and very lovingly.

  Before she could protest, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

  For a moment she could hardly believe that he had gone.

  Then she began to realise what had happened.

  What was more important than finding the treasure was that David loved her.

  And then she began to pray.

  ‘Thank you, dear God, for Your love and his,’ she prayed over and over again until she fell fast asleep.

  *

  It was Nanny who woke Benina the next morning.

  She came bustling in and pulled back the curtains.

  “I’ve never heard such a to-do and to think I slept all though it and missed the fun. It’s more than I can bear.”

  “Oh, Nanny it is so, so wonderful!”

  “It certainly is. You’ve got to hurry now, ’cos his Lordship wants to be off to Canterbury the moment you’ve finished breakfast.”

  Benina laughed.

  “Of course he wants to take the money back to the Bank. We cannot risk it staying here when anyone might help themselves to it.”

  “If you asks me they’d have to be clairvoyant to do so. When I sees the place where the old Lord has hid it, I have to say it were very clever of him.”

  “Very clever indeed.”

  Nanny helped her into the best of her dresses.

  It was not particularly smart, but at least Nanny had mended it by covering up some of the worst patches with sweet little bows of ribbon.

  Benina’s hat was pretty as it had been trimmed to match her dress and she carried it in her hand as she walked downstairs.

  She had already learnt that David had been up since six and he and Newman had retrieved all the money from its hiding place and packed it into trunks.

  Benina, however, was not thinking of the money as she walked into the dining room.

  She was thinking just how much she loved David and praying that he would still love her as he had said he did last night.

  When their eyes met, she knew she had no need to be anxious.

  Because they were alone, she ran towards him.

  He put his arms round her and held her against him, but he did not kiss her.

  “We have so much to do today and if I start kissing you now, my sweetness, you will never have breakfast and we shall be standing here until it’s dark!”

  Benina laughed.

  “I never thought I would sleep last night, but I did, and when Nanny called me, I thought for a moment it was all a dream.”

  “It was a bad dream and a nightmare we will never experience again.”

  Newman came in with Benina’s breakfast and she realised that David had already eaten.

  “We are going to Canterbury today,” he said, “and everyone is coming with us. Just in case by some ghastly chance we are held up and robbed on the way, we will all be armed!”

  “I cannot imagine it, but don’t let’s take any risks after all that has happened – ”

  “I have no intention of doing so, and that is why I am taking everyone with me and they will be told exactly what they have to do when we reach Canterbury.”

  He thought as he spoke how surprised Mr. Morley would be when after all they appeared with the two million pounds.

  Because she realised he was in such a hurry, Benina ate her breakfast quickly.

  Even so, when she put on her hat and picked up her bag that concealed her revolver, David was already in the carriage outside.<
br />
  Nanny was just joining him and, as she came down the steps, Newman closed the front door and locked it.

  Benina saw that Ben was driving and his father sat beside him.

  Newman and Nanny were inside the carriage with their backs to the horse whilst she and David sat opposite them in the best seats.

  The two trunks of money were on the floor between them and they would have made it rather uncomfortable if they had not rested their legs on top of them.

  Benina slipped her hand into David’s, hoping that Nanny and Newman would not notice.

  “This is so exciting,” she cried.

  “I guessed you would think so and now that we are on our way to Canterbury, I will tell you exactly what we are going to do when we arrive.”

  “I’ve been waiting to hear that,” said Nanny, “and it’s so kind of your Lordship to include me in the party and I’m not pretending it’s not a great experience for me.”

  “If it had not been for you, Nanny, we would not have got through all the work,” David told her. “And in future you will be able to put your feet up, as they are now, and give your orders to cooks, scullions and at least half-a dozen housemaids!”

  Nanny giggled.

  “I’ll believe that when I sees them!”

  “You will see them. Newman is coming with me to the agency to see how many experienced staff we can find for the senior jobs, while all the less demanding ones will be filled by people from the village.

  “Now what you have to do, Nanny, is to take Miss Benina to best shop in Canterbury – I am sure there will be someone to tell you where it is – and buy her a wedding dress.”

  “A wedding dress!” exclaimed Nanny.

  Benina glanced at David and he thought no woman could look more radiant or more ethereal.

  “I have already sent a letter to the Vicar to ask him to marry us tonight at six o’clock.”

  He turned to look at Benina as he spoke and then he breathed very softly,

  “Will that suit you, my precious Benina?”

  She could only just whisper the word ‘yes’ and he realised that there was no need for words.

  With an effort he spoke to Nanny.

  “Benina will want every sort of clothes available, and as soon as we go to London, I will buy her a trousseau which will be better and smarter than any other girl in the Beau Monde has ever possessed!”

  “That’s something I wants to hear, and you can be quite sure, my Lord, we’ll not disappoint you.”