An Introduction To The Eternal Collection Jubilee Edition

by Cartland, Barbara

  “Do not try to frighten me, Maria, or I shall start trembling and fluttering like Miss Wantage.”

  Maria snorted and Caroline, moving beside her under the great oak trees, said,

  “Don’t fuss me, Maria, I have troubles enough upon my mind at the moment.”

  “I know that, m’lady,” Maria said, her voice softening, “and I am praying every moment of the day and night for your ladyship’s happiness. If only there was something I could do!”

  “Dear Maria. I know I can always rely on you,” Caroline said.

  They had reached the end of the drive by now and Caroline saw the small gate which led into the gardens. She looked at the huge Castle lying ahead of them. For a moment she had the impression that it was like some monstrous beast crouching for a spring. She gave a little shudder.

  “It is early, Maria, and a lovely night. I will go into the. gardens. You return to the house.”

  “Very good, m’lady,” Maria answered.

  “I shall not be long,” Caroline promised, and turning aside, she opened the gate and let herself into the garden. She threw back the hood from her head and let the soft night breeze play among her curls. It was very quiet and still, yet there was the occasional rustle of wings, the coo of a startled wood pigeon, and the scuttling of small animals among the undergrowth.

  Caroline was not frightened of the noises of the night. Ever since she had been a child she had loved the peacefulness of the world when most people were asleep. At Mandrake she had sometimes walked for hours in the darkness and from long experience found it easy to find her way even when there was no moon.

  “I have cat’s eyes, Mama,” she had told Lady Vulcan laughingly when her mother had said that she thought it was dangerous to go about at night without a light.

  But Lady Vulcan’s expostulations had no effect on Caroline. The night called her, she felt something within her respond to the thrill of the darkness, to the sense of adventure which changed the most familiar objects into strange, mysterious shapes.

  Caroline turned along the grass walk which led to the little Temple. She felt a desire to go there again, to recapture those moments of her first day at the Castle, as she sat on the stone steps when her reverie had been interrupted by Lord Brecon. How gay and light-hearted they had been during that brief encounter! Caroline could well remember the way their eyes had spoken words which never passed their lips, how the magnetism of Lord Brecon had aroused a strange fire within her which at the time she had not understood. She felt as if in the space of but a day or so she had grown immeasurably older. It was almost as if she had left her youth behind that day in the little Temple, her youth and also an innocence to which she could never return.

  She gave a little sigh and, as she did so, stopped suddenly. She had heard a sound, the sound of voices. Someone was talking. Swiftly drawing to the side of the walk Caroline pulled the dark hood over her hair again and gathered its folds so that her dress was hidden. She listened, then recognised the voice.

  It was Gervase Warlingham who spoke, she was sure of it. There was no mistaking the harsh, metallic tone of his voice which seemed a fitting complement to his expression. Now someone else replied, but Caroline could not hear what was said.

  Very carefully, keeping close against the bushes which bordered the grass walk, she drew nearer to the Temple. The bushes and trees gradually thinned until they stopped abruptly at the edge of the water-lily pond, beyond which stood the Temple. Now Caroline could see clearly, for the moonlight revealed the speakers.

  She pressed herself against the trunk of a tree being certain that the darkness of her cloak and the shadows from the leafy branches above her rendered her invisible, and saw standing in front of the Temple four people. One was Mrs. Miller. Her neck and bosom were very white in the moonlight, and the shadows played strange tricks with her expression so that her long nose and dark eyes were almost grotesquely witchlike. For a moment Caroline could not recognise two of the men who had their backs to her. Then with a start she remembered that she had seen that hunched figure with its shabby, full skirted black coat before.

  The hunchback turned his face sideways and she saw, as she suspected, that it was Jason Faken. Another man was a stranger with broad shoulders and from the look of his square head set on a thick neck and deformed ear Caroline guessed him to be a bruiser.

  “That is agreed then,” she heard Gervase Warlingham say, and to Caroline’s intense disappointment she realised that the conversation was at an end.

  “Careful how you go to the stables, Jackson,” he added to the bruiser.

  “I’ll go by the fields, sir,” the man answered in a low voice. He turned and disappeared into the shrubs which flanked the Temple. The hunchback watched him go then he asked,

  “You can trust him?”

  “He dare not fail me,” Mr. Warlingham answered. “I have information regarding him which would take him to the gallows any day and he knows it.”

  “Then I will bid you good-night, sir, and you, madam,” the hunchback said and, turning abruptly on his heel, he also disappeared behind the Temple.

  Mr. Warlingham stood for a moment as if lost in thoughts. Mrs. Miller put out her arm and linked it through his.

  “ ‘Tis well done, Gervase,” she said. “We have no-time to lose. If she should be with child, we will be undone,”

  “That is true enough,” Mr. Warlingham said, “but I dislike all schemes that are conceived too hastily.”

  Mrs. Miller gave a little laugh.

  “Better be too hasty than too late,” she said.

  They were moving forward as they spoke and Caroline realised that they were going to pass her as they came down the grass walk towards the house. With an effort, because she was fascinated by the very danger of their nearness, she forced herself to turn her head aside and to press herself, if possible, even closer to the trunk of the tree.

  She heard them move past her. They were so close that she could have put out her hand and touched Mrs. Miller’s arm. And then she waited for several seconds, holding her breath.

  Very slowly, very cautiously she turned her head. They were some way away now, but she could still see them clearly, still hear the soft tread of their feet, the sound of Mrs. Miller’s skirt which dangled behind her, sliding silkily like a snake over the grass as she walked.

  They were out of sight before Caroline felt it was safe to move. Now at last she told herself that she had something to go on. One thing was certain, she had been right in her supposition that by spurring Mrs. Miller to anger she would speed up their plotting and force them into action. It was something to know that whatever they were planning to do they would do soon. It was better than waiting in fear and apprehension, not knowing when the blow might come. But how careful Vane must be, how completely they must both be on their guard!

  Keeping to the shadows and not hurrying for fear she would overtake Mrs. Miller and Mr. Warlingham, Caroline made her way back to the Castle. She guessed that they would re-enter the drawing-room from the terrace, so she sought the side door which she and Maria had used earlier in the evening.

  Once in the Castle she did not go up the stairs which led to the first floor. Instead she followed a passage which joined the main corridor so that she found herself walking past the dining-room and on towards the library. She was certain that she would find Lord Brecon there, and instead of knocking she opened the door boldly and went in.

  He was sitting in front of the fireplace, his legs stretched out before him, a bottle of brandy at his elbow. Caroline noticed that he was still in his riding clothes. His boots were dusty and the expression on his face was of tiredness and depression.

  He was staring into the fire as she entered and for the moment he did not turn his head. Caroline thought that he imagined she was but a servant come to tidy the room. After she had closed the door behind her, she stood for a moment looking at him, then she said softly,

  “I would speak-with you, Vane.”

&nbs
p; The sound of her voice seemed to galvanise him. He turned his head swiftly and rose to his feet.

  “Your pardon, Caroline,” he said. “I was not expecting you.”

  Caroline crossed the room to his side. She had forgotten that the hood was still pulled low over her head and now she flung it back with a gesture of impatience. Lord Brecon looked at her in surprise.

  “Where have you been?” he asked.

  “I have been assisting at an elopement,” Caroline answered. “Harriet has this moment left for Gretna Green with Mr. Stratton.”

  “For Gretna Green!” Lord Brecon ejaculated in astonishment.

  “Yes, yes,” Caroline said impatiently. “It is a charming story, but, I will tell you later. There is something of far greater import that I have to relate.”

  Lord Brecon looked at her.

  “Surely that is my cloak?” he asked. “I recognise the clasp, and I remember buying it to wear at a masque in Venice.”

  “Doubtless for a clandestine visit to some fair charmer,” Caroline said, adding, “Listen to me, Vane this is not the moment for jesting. I was coming back from speeding Harriet on her way and walked through the gardens. I heard voices by the little Temple and I saw there your cousin Gervase, Mrs. Miller and a hunchback called Jason Faken,”

  “Who is he?” Lord Brecon asked.

  “You may well ask,” Caroline answered. “He is a man who has come to live in the village and I have encountered him once before. He is an evil man and I should imagine that no one would employ him or seek his acquaintance unless they required evil done for them. There was another man with them besides, a man I did not recognise, but who spoke of returning to the stables. Vane, they were plotting.”

  Lord Brecon looked at her with an air of supercilious amusement.

  “Still believing in the dramatics, Caroline?”

  “But they were, I promise you,” Caroline said earnestly “and as they passed me, Mrs. Miller said “And if she should be with child, we shall be undone”.”

  “You think they referred to you?” Lord Brecon asked. “They need not perturb themselves unduly.”

  “Oh, Vane, do not be so stupid,” Caroline said. “Can you not understand that you are in danger, grave danger, and that we must be prepared for it.”

  “Prepared for what?” Lord Brecon asked.

  Caroline stamped her foot.

  “You are being deliberately obtuse, Vane, and you know it. Your cousin Gervase has committed one murder in the effort to put the noose around your neck. What is to stop him committing another?”

  “Are you still inferring that Gervase Warlingham murdered Rosenberg?” Lord Brecon asked.

  “Of course I am,” Caroline said. ‘He was there that night at The Dog -and Duck. I saw him as I entered the parlour but of course I did not know then who he was. When I saw him here the other evening, I reasoned that there was time for him to leave the Inn, to go to the ruined cottage and commit the murder. It must have been him I heard moving away after that terrible cry which frightened me out of my wits.”

  “Dear me, how interesting!” Lord Brecon said. “What adventures you do have, to be sure, my dear Caroline. Who would have thought, when you set out on a romantic drive with such a charming companion as Sir Montagu Reversby, that you would end up beside a corpse? But you must tell me more about that evening, it must have been vastly entertaining.”

  Caroline stamped her foot again.

  “I vow there are times when you make me hate you, Vane,” she said. “Can you not be serious about what is of real importance and forget a stupid triviality which is of little consequence?”

  Lord Brecon’s mouth curved.

  “I have never looked upon Sir Montagu Reversby as a triviality.”

  Caroline made a gesture of impatience.

  “Oh, I am sick and tired of this talk of Sir Montagu,” she said. “Once and for all, Vane, I am prepared to admit that I made a fool of myself in agreeing to his suggestion that I should race Lady Rohan to his sister’s house at Sevenoaks. I doubt now if he has a sister or that Lady Rohan knew ought of the matter. I was tricked and duped, but like a dolt I believed him simply because I was vain enough to wish to make a show with the ribbons. When Sir Montagu forced us to stop at the Inn because he said there was a cracked axle I learnt from the landlady that he had sent a messenger there earlier in the day and had booked a bedchamber for me as his wife!

  “I was an idiot and I have paid for my idiocy, but I have thought since that, if it had not been for Sir. Montagu’s treachery, you might at this moment have been standing trial for your life.”

  “I should, in fact, be extremely grateful to him,” Lord Brecon said sarcastically.

  “I am grateful to him,” Caroline said softly, “because if I had not driven with him that night, I should never have met you.”

  Lord Brecon turned abruptly away as if he could not bear to look at her.

  “I have been thinking things over,” he said and his voice was suddenly harsh. “You have admitted, Caroline to making a mistake, and I can also admit to having made one. When I married you the night before last, I was blind with rage and anger because you had deceived me, because I believed that you were mocking at me, making a fool of my finer instincts. It was a crazy action, I see that now but what we have done is not irrevocable, because to obtain a special licence from the Bishop I was forced to lie to him. I told him that I had your parents’ consent to our marriage and he believed me. As you know, it is illegal to wed with a minor without the full consent of her parents or guardian. If you doubt my word, you can ask Thomas Stratton who is forced to travel to Gretna Green to wed the lady of his choice. And so, Caroline I propose to inform the Bishop that I was mistaken! Your parents have not given their consent to your marriage and therefore the ceremony can be declared null and void. You will be free - free to return to your old life.”

  For a moment Caroline did not speak, the blood drained slowly away from her cheeks leaving her, very pale, and then in a voice of repressed fury she said,

  “How dare you insult me! Do you imagine for one minute that where I am concerned you can chop and change your mind as if I were a light o’ love whom you could discard at pleasure? You married me with my full consent, and I would not under any circumstances consent to a dissolution of our marriage.”

  Lord Brecon sighed wearily.

  “Caroline, you are crazed! What can a marriage such as ours mean to you, now or ever? In this you must allow me to be the best judge. I shall ride over to the Bishop tomorrow.”

  “And if you do,” Caroline said, “I shall swear that I am your wife in fact as well as in name.”

  Lord Brecon looked down at her.

  “That would be untrue and unmaidenly,” he said sharply.

  “It is better than being unmanly,” Caroline snapped back.

  For a moment they stared at each other, their tempers rising.

  “One day, Caroline,” Lord Brecon said, “someone will give you the beating you fully deserve.”

  “And why not you yourself, my lord?” Caroline answered, throwing back her head.

  Then suddenly, lifting her hand, she undid the glittering clasp which held the cloak round her shoulders. It slid from her shoulders to the floor revealing her in all the beauty of her sparkling dress, her shoulders and arms bare, the white column of her throat held proudly as she faced Lord Brecon in her defiance.

  He stood looking at her, but she was too furious to notice that some of the anger faded from his eyes.

  “Beat me then,” she said in a low voice, “or are you afraid to touch me?”

  Lord Brecon made no movement but it seemed to Caroline as if he towered above her.

  “You are deliberately tempting me, Caroline. You will be sorry if you go much further, for you play with fire.”

  “Indeed, my lord, I should not have suspected it,” Caroline said tauntingly.

  He took one step towards her, then checked himself.

  “I am warn
ing you, Caroline,” he said, and now his teeth were clenched. “If you tempt me further, I shall take you in my arms and if I touch you, I shall bed with you, for there is a limit to any man’s control.”

  “And why not?” Caroline asked very softly, “I am your wife.”

  “Yes, you are my wife,” Lord Brecon said. “I have not forgotten that, but have you remembered, Caroline, that the consequences of your being so in fact as well as in name, as you said just now, might result in your bringing into the world another Cassy? Have you forgotten that?”

  The brutality of his question and of his voice broke Caroline’s defiance. She gave a little cry and put her hands to her eyes.

  “No, you have not forgotten Cassy, I see,” Lord Brecon said. “She is not far away from us now, Caroline. She is here in this Castle. Would you not like to pay her a second visit and then tell me if you wish our marriage to continue, or whether you will not avail yourself of the freedom I offer you?”

  Caroline did not reply. Her hands covered her eyes. For a moment she could only stand trembling, for Vane’s words had conjured up too frighteningly the vision of Cassy, her fat fingers outstretched, her dribbling mouth whimpering for blood.

  “There is no need to answer me,” Lord Brecon said. “Your silence is answer enough. Go to bed Caroline, and lock your door, for I intend to seek forgetfulness in the brandy bottle. Sometimes, under the influence of wine, men do strange things for which they are sorry when the morning comes. Go to bed, and may I wish your ladyship an undisturbed night?”

  He bowed to her mockingly, and when Caroline did not move he threw himself down in the chair from which he had risen at her entrance and taking up the decanter, filled the glass on the table by his side until it was full to the brim. Without looking at him, hardly conscious of where her feet carried her, Caroline turned and left him.

  She went upstairs as he had commanded her. She knew that even her prayers had failed her now.

  CHAPTER 13

  Caroline awoke with a start and remembered that she had not told Vane about Harriet. She must warn him, she thought, that Harriet had no idea of Mr. Stratton’s real circumstances so that, if the Vicar questioned Vane about his friend, he should not say what an extremely advantageous marriage it was.