‘When the Earl leaves we shall need every penny for food,’ she thought.
She knew without Lynne telling her that it was going to be very difficult to revert suddenly from the delicious exotic dishes that were sent from Madresfield to their staple diet of rabbit.
Now she went from the Earl’s room to run downstairs and see if the newspapers had arrived, only to find that Hicks had already brought them up and they were lying on a chair outside the bedroom door.
She carried them back into the room to put them down on the bed in front of the Earl.
There was The Times and The Morning Post which she knew were two newspapers he read every day, besides a number of miscellaneous others which he told her were important because they reported what the opposition was thinking.
“Are these the opposition?” Mariota asked, looking at the newspapers called The Political Register, The Courier and The Weekly Reformer. “With all these newspapers here to read it will be very exciting for me.”
“Few women enjoy politics.”
“Then I must be the exception,” Mariota replied. “Whenever I get the chance I look to see what Mr. Wilberforce has said about the scandal of the climbing boys and the horrifying reports about the employment of children in the mines.”
She looked at him a little shyly as she added,
“You are going to support those Bills when they come before the House of Lords?”
“Is it something you would want me to do?”
“Please – you must see how cruel such things are – and how – wrong.”
“Wrong?” the Earl questioned.
Then he said and she thought cynically,
“I suppose you think it is wrong for some people to have money and some none and are applying it to yourself personally.”
“That is untrue!” Mariota answered quickly. “I was not thinking of myself. There are many people far worse off than we are, even though we do find it a struggle.”
“I can understand that,” the Earl said and now his voice was sympathetic. “But the person who has to do the struggling, Mariota, is you!”
“I have to – you do see I have to,” Mariota replied, as if she must excuse herself. “Papa is immersed in his book and I have to think of – Lynne and Jeremy and I worry about what will – happen to them in the – future.”
As she spoke, she thought that, although Jeremy had promised her that never again would he play at being a highwayman, when he returned from London with his new clothes, he would still be bored and frustrated.
Somehow she had to prevent him from doing something else that might lead him into trouble.
The Earl’s blue eyes were on her face.
Then he said,
“Suppose you tell me what worries you and let me see if I can help?”
“No – no – of course – not. What you have to worry about at the moment is getting well. Besides, other people’s troubles are always – tiresome.”
“I would not find yours tiresome.”
He sounded so sincere in the way he spoke that Mariota looked at him in surprise and then found it very difficult to look away.
For a second there was only the Earl’s dark blue eyes and she felt as if they drew her towards him and she was lost in them.
Then, because it gave her a strange feeling in her heart, she hurriedly picked up a newspaper and asked,
“What would you like me to read to you today?”
“I don’t mind very much. I like listening to your voice. You have a very beautiful voice, Mariota. It is soft and gentle while many women have hard and brittle voices which belie their faces.”
“Mama used to read to me when I was very small,” Mariota said, “and perhaps I have copied her.”
“You are being very modest, when actually you are a very positive person,” the Earl said, “and you have a personality which is all your own.”
Mariota looked startled.
“I have never thought of myself like that. Perhaps because Lynne is so beautiful I feel when we are together that nobody wants to look at me. And when you meet Jeremy, you will know that he is very positive, in fact, too much so.”
“I am looking forward to meeting him. What is he doing in London?”
“He is – with some – friends,” Mariota said after a little hesitation.
It was only then that she thought with horror that if Jeremy returned before the Earl had left it was going to be difficult to explain where the money had come from to buy his new clothes.
‘We shall have to – invent a – friend who has been – kind to him,’ she told herself.
Then she felt embarrassed and ashamed that once again they had to lie.
“One lie leads to another,” she remembered her mother saying once and in this case it was all too true.
“Tell me how I can help you,” the Earl said as if he could read her thoughts. “Why do you not trust me, Mariota? I feel very hurt that you should shut me out of your thoughts and feelings.”
“They – would not – interest you – my Lord.”
“Try me and see.”
She gave a little sigh.
“I would like to,” she answered. “I would like to – very much, but it’s – impossible.”
“Now you are challenging me,” the Earl said with a faint smile, “and let me tell you, Mariota, I can never resist a challenge!”
Because he was so strong and overwhelming, Mariota gave a little cry.
“No, please – please don’t try to read my thoughts or – find out what they are,” she said. “They are mine – and you are – frightening me!”
“I think,” the Earl said very quietly, “as you are aware I can read them and can also sense your feelings, we are close to each other in an unusual way. It is something that does not happen very often when two people meet by chance, as we have.”
Because the way that he was speaking was something she had not expected, Mariota looked at him and once again she felt as if his eyes filled the whole world.
Then, almost as if she was afraid he might hypnotise her into telling him what he wanted to know, she said quickly,
“Forgive me, I am almost sure I heard – wheels outside the front door. It may be your – sister.”
She did not wait for the Earl to answer, but hurried from the bedroom.
When she vanished, the Earl lay back against his pillows staring with unseeing eyes across the room.
Although what Mariota had said had been simply an excuse to leave him because she was afraid, she thought her instinct must have told her there was actually a carriage driving up to the front door.
She went down the stairs and by the time she had reached the bottom of them there were two ladies standing in the hall.
One of them was Lady Coddington and the other was a young girl who seemed to be about the same age as her.
She was so beautifully dressed that for a moment Mariota could only look at her pale pink gown trimmed with silk flowers and her high-brimmed bonnet encircled by a wreath of roses.
“Good morning, Mariota!” Lady Coddington said. “How are you, dear?”
Mariota curtseyed and replied,
“Good morning, my Lady. I know you will be glad to hear his Lordship is better this morning.”
“I was so worried when he had such a bad day yesterday,” Lady Coddington said. “Let me present you to Lady Elizabeth Field. This, Elizabeth, is Mariota Forde, who has been so kind to my brother that I can never be sufficiently grateful.”
“Lady Coddington has told me how wonderful you have been,” Lady Elizabeth said. “Is his Lordship really better?”
“Better than he was yesterday,” Mariota replied, “but he still has to be kept very quiet.”
“I am sure he will want to see me,” Lady Elizabeth said.
“I think, dear, we must ask Miss Forde to enquire first if it will not be too much for him,” Lady Coddington interrupted.
Mariota was just about to say she would do so wh
en there was the sound of another carriage approaching and she glanced through the window.
“Here is the doctor!” she exclaimed.
Then she gave a little cry, because Jeremy was with him.
She was so pleased to see her brother that regardless of whether Lady Coddington might think it rude, she ran through the front door and down the steps to greet him.
“I found your brother stepping from the stagecoach at the crossroads,” she heard the doctor say as she flung her arms around Jeremy’s neck.
“You are home! How wonderful! I have been thinking about you so much!”
“And I of you,” Jeremy replied, “and I felt I could not stay away any longer.”
It was then that Mariota was able to step back and look at him and give an exclamation of surprise.
He certainly looked very different from when he had left.
He wore a cut-away coat that fitted without a wrinkle and was in the very latest fashion. His champagne-coloured pantaloons accentuated his slim hips and his long legs ended in a pair of Hessian boots that shone in the sunshine.
The points of his collar reached high above his chin and his cravat, far more elaborate than she had ever seen before, was tied in an intricate style which she was sure must have taken him hours to perfect.
On Jeremy’s head at a raffish angle he had a new top hat of the same style that the Earl had been wearing when he had been flung from his horse.
“You look wonderful!” Mariota cried.
Jeremy’s eyes twinkled.
“I rather thought that myself.”
“You must come and tell Papa you are back,” she began, then remembered who was in the hall.
“Lady Coddington is here,” she said and there was a definite warning in her low voice. “She was on her way to Madresfield to stay with the Duke when her brother had an accident by the roadside.”
She saw from the expression in Jeremy’s eyes that he understood what she was saying.
Yet, as they walked up the steps behind the doctor, she thought that he was quite unabashed and very sure of himself.
“Good morning, my Lady,” Dr. Dawson was saying.
“Good morning, Dr. Dawson,” Lady Coddington replied. “Elizabeth, may I introduce Dr. Dawson, who has been looking after my brother since his accident.”
“I am delighted to meet you,” Lady Elizabeth replied in a voice that sounded musical.
Even as she shook hands with Dr. Dawson, she saw Jeremy behind him and her eyes widened with surprise.
Hurriedly, because she was nervous, Mariota said to Lady Coddington,
“May I present my brother, Jeremy, who has just returned from London.”
“He will certainly be surprised to find his home invaded by a lot of strangers!” Lady Coddington remarked.
“Dr. Dawson has been telling me about his patient,” Jeremy answered.
“Let me introduce you to somebody who has come here for the first time,” Lady Coddington said. “Mr. Jeremy Forde – Lady Elizabeth Field.”
“I have seen you out hunting,” Jeremy said, “and I thought you rode magnificently!”
“I am sure I have never seen you or I should have remembered,” Lady Elizabeth answered.
“I was not riding,” he replied. “The horses we possess are only just capable of walking from one end of the drive to the other. No, I was on foot and envying as well as admiring you.”
Lady Elizabeth laughed.
“I am very flattered, and what a pity there is no hunting now or you could certainly borrow one of the Earl’s superlative horses while he is hors de combat.”
“That is something I would certainly like to do.”
Mariota looked at Lady Coddington.
“Shall we go upstairs,” she asked, “and see if his Lordship feels strong enough to cope with an extra visitor?”
“Yes, of course,” Lady Coddington replied. “I am sure Mr. Forde will look after Lady Elizabeth until we know the verdict.”
“It is something I am delighted to do,” Jeremy affirmed and Mariota thought with a little smile that London had certainly improved his manners.
Lady Coddington was looking very attractive in one of her mauve gowns as she walked slowly up the stairs.
When they were out of earshot of the two people down below, she said,
“Lady Elizabeth insisted on coming with me, but if the doctor thinks it is a mistake, she will quite understand that my brother cannot see her.”
“I am sure he will want to do so,” Mariota replied.
She thought as she spoke that it would be difficult for any man not to think that Lady Elizabeth was very attractive and so exquisitely dressed that it was a pleasure to look at her.
She was not exactly beautiful, but she had a very pretty face with a dimple on either side of her mouth that showed when she smiled.
As they reached the top of the staircase, she looked back and saw Jeremy was taking Lady Elizabeth into the drawing room and she felt sure that it had never crossed Lady Coddington’s mind that she had seen him before.
Nevertheless, as she shook hands with him, Mariota had felt for a moment as if her heart had stopped beating and her voice was constricted in her throat.
She knew how terrifying it would be if Lady Coddington had cried out that here was the highwayman who had stolen her money.
But the expression on Lady Coddington’s sweet face had not altered and Mariota felt now as if she had walked a tightrope and by a miracle had reached the other end of it.
They arrived outside the Earl’s bedroom and as they did so they could hear Dr. Dawson’s voice from behind the closed door, so they stood waiting outside in the corridor.
Lady Coddington looked to where at the end of it there was a diamond-paned window letting in the sunshine that made a pattern of gold on the threadbare carpet.
“This house is so lovely!” she said almost as if she spoke to herself. “Do you not sometimes imagine what it must have been like when it was first built and later when your father tells me it was redecorated and refurnished after the Restoration when the King himself came to stay?”
“That is how I would like to see it now,” Mariota said, “but it’s something that will never happen.”
“I suppose not,” Lady Coddington sighed, “but it is sad to think of all those beautiful rooms closed and the rain coming in through the roof.”
She spoke as if she really cared and Mariota said,
“Papa minds terribly that what is so much a part of history is crumbling about his ears, but, because you have been so sympathetic, he has seemed much happier than he usually is.”
“Thank you for telling me that,” Lady Coddington answered. “I have taken up so much of your father’s precious time and I hate to impose on him.”
“Please don’t reproach yourself,” Mariota pleaded. “It is very good for him to be taken out of himself, so please Lady Coddington, while your brother is here, do spend as much time as you can spare with Papa.”
Lady Coddington smiled and put her hand on Mariota’s shoulder.
“Thank you, my dear, for saying that and I do hope that your fathers book will be a huge success."
“I think it very unlikely,” Mariota answered, “but we must not tell him so.”
“No, of course not,” Lady Coddington agreed. “That would be unkind.”
Dr. Dawson came out from the bedroom and both Lady Coddington and Mariota looked at him questioningly.
The doctor shut the door behind him.
“A rather penitent patient,” he said with a faint smile. “His Lordship to my surprise has admitted that yesterday was a mistake and it’s something that must not happen again. So he must be completely quiet today and he has promised that he will try to sleep after luncheon. It’s up to you, Miss Mariota, to see that he obeys me.”
“I will certainly try,” Mariota answered, “but, as he has told me often enough, he always gets his own way.”
Lady Coddington gave a quiet
little laugh.
“That is true. I am afraid my brother has been spoilt ever since he was a child and it is so much easier to give in to him than to fight a losing battle trying to persuade him to do something else.”
“That I can believe,” Dr. Dawson said, “and my Lady, will you just stay with him for a few minutes, then come again tomorrow when I am hoping he will be back on the road to recovery.”
“Yes, of course, doctor, I will do anything you ask, and thank you for making him behave sensibly,”
She smiled at both the doctor and Mariota and went into the bedroom while Mariota escorted the doctor down the stairs.
“I hope Lady Elizabeth will not be angry with me,” he said, “but it would be a great mistake for the Earl to talk too much at the moment, even with anybody so attractive and charming.”
“You have met her before?” Mariota enquired curiously.
“I do not attend His Grace professionally,” Dr. Dawson replied, “but I have often seen Lady Elizabeth in the distance and admired her. It seems unnecessary when she is so attractive to be also very rich.”
Mariota looked surprised because, although she supposed the Duke of Madresfield must be a rich man, she knew that he had two sons, so it seemed unlikely that his daughter should have inherited a great deal.
The doctor seeing that she looked puzzled said as they went down the stairs,
“You obviously don’t read the local newspapers, Miss Mariota. The Worcester Journal had huge headlines about two years ago when Lady Elizabeth came into an enormous fortune from her Godmother who was an American.”
“Papa never buys the local newspapers.”
“There was a great deal of talk about it in the neighbourhood, as you can imagine,” Dr. Dawson went on, “and Lady Elizabeth is what is popularly called a ‘millionairess’ in her own right.”
“How lovely for her!” Mariota exclaimed.
She found herself imagining how exciting it would be if she had a Godmother who could leave her perhaps only a small fortune, enough to do up the house, make certain that Jeremy had horses to ride and for Lynne to go to London.
Then she remembered she had just recalled the three wishes that she had told the Earl she would make if a genie appeared.
Aloud she said,
Wish for Love Page 8