Sardos drew a revolver from his pocket and pointed it at the Duc.
“Untie him, Albert,” he ordered. “And make sure that you have your revolver ready. If he tries to escape, shoot him!”
The huge man standing beside the Duc began to unknot the rope he was bound by.
Marcia was afraid that the Duc was going to take the risk of fighting for his liberty.
She knew that it would prove disastrous.
There were two revolvers pointed at him.
While she might be able to shoot one man, she was quite certain if she did so that either Sardos or Albert would kill the Duc.
The rope fell to the ground and the Duc shook his hands as if to bring the blood back into them.
“Are the papers ready?” Sardos asked the Solicitor.
“They are here and in order, exactly as you requested, monsieur,” he replied in a slimy voice.
Marcia felt sure that he was being well paid for his pains.
She thought that he seemed to relish the sight of the Duc in the humiliating position he was in.
“Come over here, Uncle Armond,” Sardos said sharply. “And no tricks or you die!”
The Duc took a step forward.
As he did so, Marcia lifted her revolver and brought it down on the lantern.
The report was shattering as it echoed and re-echoed around the cave.
Then in the darkness she reached out and caught the Duc by the hand.
She pulled him, as Sardos shouted in fury, to the slit in the rocks where they had been hiding.
Without speaking she dragged at his hand and he realised that he could just squeeze through the gap, although it was difficult and somewhat painful.
Only when he was out of the big cave and beside her did Marcia whisper,
“Pierre can get us out.”
The boy was intelligent enough to shield the back of his candle-lantern in his coat as he had done before.
It threw just a little light ahead of him so that Marcia and the Duc could follow him.
Behind them the noise was deafening.
“Shoot him!” Sardos was shouting. “Shoot him! He is escaping!”
He fired his revolver.
There was a scream of pain and then there was the echo of the explosion.
Marcia thought that he must have hit Albert.
There was another shot and yet another.
And then a sound of heavy stones crashing to the ground.
It might have been stalagmites collapsing or it might have been stones falling from the roof.
The only thing that Marcia wanted was to get the Duc away as quickly as possible as she feared that Sardos would pursue him and capture him again.
Pierre moved quickly.
When they were well away from the big cave, the boy held his small lantern high.
They were then able to follow him more easily.
It took only a few minutes, but it seemed to Marcia more like several hours, before they reached the entrance.
Pierre went down on his knees and the Duc waited for her to follow before he did the same.
It seemed very warm outside.
The moonlight made it easy for them to climb over the rocks at the foot of the gorge.
When they had reached familiar ground Marcia said,
“You must get away at once! Aquilin is there waiting for you.”
“And leave you behind?” the Duc asked.
“They are not concerned with me,” Marcia replied.
“They might be,” he insisted.
It was then that Pierre, who was extinguishing his precious lantern, gave a cry.
“It’s Maman,” he said. “Maman’s home!”
Without waiting for anyone to reply he ran off.
Marcia, looking towards the little cottage, saw that there was a cart outside it.
It was a rough cart such as the carriers in that part of the country used to transport their wares from the villages to the market towns.
“If Lisette’s mother is home I can come back with you, monsieur,” Marcia said.
She did not wait for the Duc to answer, but ran after Pierre.
His mother was already inside the house and he had flung his arms round the neck of a woman with a kind rather tired face.
“You’re back, Maman! You’re back!” he was saying. “Some terrible things have been happening!”
“What is wrong?” his mother asked.
She looked in astonishment as Marcia came down the path and into the house.
“I am afraid that Lisette has had an accident,” Marcia explained. “I was riding one of Monsieur le Duc’s horses and jumped a hedge just near to your home without being aware that Lisette was picking flowers on the other side of it.”
She saw the woman go very pale and added quickly,
“She is unconscious, but we think it is only a slight concussion. She is in the bedroom.”
As Marcia spoke, Lisette’s mother opened the bedroom door and went in.
She ran to the bed and, as she bent over her child, Lisette gave a little cry.
“Maman! Maman! I’m hurt!”
Her mother sat down on the bed and held her very closely against her breast.
“She is conscious!” Marcia exclaimed. “And she has spoken – that means that her brain is undamaged. Oh, I am glad – so very – glad!”
Her voice broke on the words.
The Duc, coming into the room behind her, saw the tears in her eyes.
Holding Lisette closely in her arms her mother looked with amazement at the Duc.
When she would have risen to her feet, the Duc said,
“Don’t move. I can only say how sorry I am that this has happened. I can also tell you that I owe a great debt of gratitude to your son, who has saved my life.”
“Saved your life, monsieur?” the woman murmured.
“There is no time to tell you about it now,” the Duc said, “As I must take Lady Marcia, who has been taking care of Lisette, back to the château. I will call on you some time tomorrow and I promise you that, because of what Pierre has done for me, you will all be very much more comfortable in the future.”
Pierre’s mother was too surprised to say anything.
Lisette was murmuring, ‘Maman, Maman!’ against her.
The Duc put out his hand to Marcia.
“Come along,” he said. “We must take Aquilin back to the stables. Jacques can collect your things tomorrow.”
Marcia wiped the tears from her eyes and without saying anything went from the room.
Pierre was standing in the small passage and the Duc put his hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks to you, Pierre,” he said, “I have escaped from those men who had no right to behave as they did. Look after your mother and buy something nice in the village. I will talk to you later about your future.”
He gave the boy two gold louis as he spoke.
Pierre stared at them, unable to speak.
The Duc then drew Marcia out of the house and across the garden into the field.
He gave a low whistle and Aquilin came trotting towards him.
“The sooner we get away,” he said, “the better.”
He lifted Marcia onto the saddle and sprang up behind her.
Putting his left arm round her, he held the reins with his other hand.
Marcia held her breath until they were away from the cottage and had passed the entrance to the cave.
She was terrified in case she could see Sardos and Albert coming out and they might fire at the Duc as they rode past.
She knew that the Duc was thinking the same thing.
But while he made Aquilin move quickly, he did not allow him to break into a gallop.
It was because he knew this would be uncomfortable for Marcia.
She thought that no other man in the same circumstances would think of her rather than of himself.
A few minutes later they had left danger behind and they were now moving quickly
in the moonlight and Marcia could see the château ahead of them.
Only as they drew near to the stables did she realise that to arrive wearing only her night attire would cause comment.
As they drew still nearer, she said quickly,
“Perhaps I had better walk the rest of the way. If anyone sees me they will think it very strange.”
“I am aware of that,” the Duc said briefly.
Instead of going directly to the stables he moved through some trees and shrubs and it brought them to the gardens at the back of the château.
He drew in Aquilin and said to Marcia,
“If you wait here, I will take you in through a door where no one will see you. But first I must put Aquilin in his stall.”
“Yes, of course,” she smiled.
She slipped from the saddle down onto the ground and the Duc rode off.
When she was alone Marcia found herself saying a prayer of thankfulness that she had been able to rescue him.
She knew now that Sardos had been inspecting the cave when she had seen him coming from that direction and the man accompanying him must have been Albert.
‘How can he have thought of anything so wicked?’ she asked herself.
Then, of course, the next question was,
“How soon will he try again?”
She was quite sure that he would not give up easily and he needed money desperately.
Although the Duc had not died tonight, there was every likelihood of his doing so in the near future.
‘How can he possibly live in such circumstances?’ she asked herself.
She was so deep in her thoughts that she was startled when suddenly she found the Duc beside her.
“Aquilin has gone to bed,” he told her, “and the sooner you do the same thing the better! You have had enough shocks for one day.”
“I was just thanking God that I was able to save you,” Marcia stammered. “But – suppose he – tries – again?”
“Then we must be ready for him,” he replied quietly.
As if he thought that it was a mistake to talk about it, he took Marcia by the hand.
He drew her across the garden towards the house.
The whole place seemed to be in darkness and the house was very quiet.
Marcia hoped that everybody had gone to bed.
She had no wish to encounter the Comtesse or, for that matter, her father.
The Duc opened a window on the ground floor where the catch had been broken and not yet repaired.
She thought that it was unlike him to have anything that was not perfect about his house.
But in this instance it was a blessing rather than an error.
The Duc lifted her gently over the sill.
She found herself in a small room that she suspected was not much used.
Outside in the corridor the staircase was only sparingly lit.
On the first floor lights were still burning in the sconces that bore the Duc’s Arms.
When they reached her bedroom, he took one of the candles to light a candlestick beside her bed.
She was aware that she was not expected, because otherwise the candles would have been left burning.
She guessed then that Jacques had told the maid that she was staying away with friends.
The Duc, having finished lighting three candles, blew out the one that he held in his hand.
“We are home and – you are – safe!” Marcia said, “at least – for the – moment.”
“And I have you to thank for saving me,” the Duc said quietly.
“You will have to be careful – very careful,” Marcia warned.
She looked up at him, her hair gleaming golden in the candlelight.
Her eyes were anxious because she was worried that Sardos would strike again.
The Duc put his arms around her and pulled her against him.
As Marcia gave a little gasp of surprise, his lips came down on hers.
He kissed her gently, as if he was thanking her for what she had done for him.
Then his kiss became demanding and possessive.
Marcia at first was unable to realise what was happening.
Then something stirred in her breast that seemed to be part of the moonlight and which moved upwards until it reached her lips.
It was then that the Duc raised his head.
“How can you make me feel like this?” he asked.
Then he was kissing her again, kissing her so that she felt as if the whole château swung round her.
The stars seemed to fall from the sky and the moonlight streaked through her body as if it were lightning.
It was so rapturous, so unlike anything that she had ever experienced before, that she could not believe that it was really happening.
Finally the Duc set her free.
“Go to bed,” he said in a voice that was unrecognisable. “We will talk about this in the morning.”
Marcia swayed because he had taken his arms from her and he then picked her up and laid her on the bed.
As her head touched the pillow, he kissed her once more.
It was a long passionate kiss which drew her heart from her body and made it his.
Then before she could speak he was gone and the door had closed behind him.
Marcia lay back against the pillows thinking that the whole world had turned topsy-turvy.
There was nothing left but the throbbing of her heart.
*
Marcia awoke and was aware that somebody was in her room.
She thought that it must be her father, but whoever it was had pulled back the curtains and the sunshine was flooding in.
To her astonishment she saw that it was the Duc who stood there.
He came towards her from the window and sat down on the side of the bed facing her.
“You look very lovely in the morning,” he smiled.
“What has – happened? Why are you – here?” Marcia asked.
She felt the terror of last night returning.
“It is not – Sardos?”
“It is not Sardos at the moment,” the Duc said quietly, “but you know as well as I do that he will try to kill me again.”
“Oh – no – no!” Marcia exclaimed.
She sat up in bed, her golden hair falling over her shoulders.
The diaphanous nightgown she wore outlined the perfect curves of her breasts.
“You must go away!” she said quickly. “You have to be – protected until there is – something we can do – about him.”
“I will not run away,” the Duc said quietly, “but I have decided what I must do and I need your help.”
“You know I will – help you in – any way – I can,” Marcia replied. “What is – it?”
“The only way I can save myself and also, what is more important, the family name and the estate, is to be married,” the Duc said. “I am therefore asking you, Marcia, to save my life by marrying me this morning in my private Chapel here in the château.”
He paused.
Marcia did not speak, but her eyes seemed to fill her whole face.
“The alternative,” he went on, “is that I can make you mine here and now and any child born of our union will be my legitimate heir replacing Sardos.”
“Can you – really be – saying this – to me?” Marcia asked.
“It is something I have no wish to say,” the Duc answered, “but I am desperate. And if I am to save my family, who would starve with Sardos in my place, that is what I will do. I also have an obligation to the people on the estate.”
He looked into Marcia’s eyes before he added very gently,
“Before you answer me, I should tell you that I love you! That is something I have never said before to any woman and I have never before wanted to marry any woman. If you will marry me, Marcia, I swear it is what I want with all my heart and with my eternal soul.”
He drew a deep breath before he asked,
“Will you save me?”
> Marcia smiled.
“It is not – difficult for me to – give you my answer for – I love you too! I knew last night when you – kissed me why I had been so – worried about you and why I had to – save you. It was because I had – fallen – in love!”
“That makes two of us!” the Duc said softly.
He bent forward and his lips found Marcia’s.
He kissed her gently and tenderly as if she was very precious.
“I have already sent for my Chaplain,” he said. “If we are married at noon no one in the house will know about our Wedding until you are my wife.”
Marcia clasped her hands together.
“Can we – really do that? I could not bear to have them – talking and speculating. And Papa and the Comtesse will say how clever they were to have – brought us together.”
“We will not say anything about Sardos until after you are my wife,” the Duc replied, “and I will be responsible for what we have done or not done. I will certainly not allow anyone to bully you!”
Marcia laughed.
“That is what you are doing and I love it! It is what I want you to do. Oh, Armond, how can this have happened so – surprisingly?”
He moved his lips over the softness of her cheek before he said,
“It is not really surprising. I knew when you walked into the salon that you were not only the most beautiful woman I had ever seen but that you were an angel come down from Heaven about to change my life, even though I fought against it happening.”
“You were very rude and very disagreeable,” Marcia protested.
“It is something that I will make up for in the future,” he answered.
He kissed her again before he told her,
“I am going now to make arrangements. It would be a mistake for anyone to find me here until my ring is on your finger.”
“I think it is a bit late to worry about my reputation,” Marcia remarked, “but tell me, please, before you go – what are you going to do – about those – horrible men?”
“I had a feeling when they were firing off their pistols,” the Duc replied, “that because it was indiscriminate it might dislodge some of the rocks. It is possible that they will be unable to escape until they are rescued.”
Marcia gave a little cry.
“Do you really – think that is – true?”
“I suppose I must behave like a gentleman and rescue them,” the Duc observed, “before they die of starvation. But I cannot help feeling that it would be a blessing to the world if they were left to remain where they are.”
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