She thought the matter over for some time and then knew that the only person she could trust would be Bates, whom she had known for years. He, like Mrs. Davison, had been very fond of her mother and father.
When Mrs. Davison came back into the room, Shenda handed her the reticule. She looked for the tear and exclaimed,
“That’s really clever of you, Miss Shenda! I’d defy anybody to find what I can’t see with my own eyes!”
“I am glad you are pleased.” Shenda smiled.
“Rosie will be!” Mrs. Davison remarked. “I tells her – one more carelessness like that and she goes back to the village!”
“Oh, Mrs. Davison, you could not be so cruel,” Shenda protested. “You know how her mother and the whole family are delighted for her to be here with you, when they were afraid that she might have to go to work in London and perhaps get into trouble.”
“Well, if I say it myself, I looks after my girls!” Mrs. Davison answered, pulling herself up to her full height.
“Of course you do,” Shenda said, “and Mama always used to say how lucky they were to be under you and that being in The Castle was the best training any girl could have.”
“Well, I does my best,” Mrs. Davison said modestly, but she was smiling as, carrying the reticule, she left the room.
Shenda looked at the clock.
She reckoned that by this time the house party would have returned.
They would have had tea and the ladies would most certainly by now have retired to their bedrooms to rest before dinner.
She therefore slipped down the backstairs, peeped into the pantry and was lucky to find Bates there alone, taking the silver ornaments that would be required at dinner out of the safe.
He was very proud of the silver and would trust no one with it except himself.
At night when it was put away, every piece was wrapped specially in green baize and put in its own place in the safe.
He was just placing a magnificent silver basket designed by Paul Lameric down on the pantry table.
Then, when he saw Shenda, he exclaimed,
“Look at this, Miss Shenda! I’ve not been able to use it for three years. It’s nice for it to come out of the darkness!”
He spoke as if the basket had feelings like his own and Shenda replied,
“No one could have kept it looking as magnificent as you have.”
He smiled at her, then, thinking it was rather strange for her to be coming into the pantry, he asked,
“Be there anything I can do for you, Miss Shenda?”
“Yes, there is,” Shenda replied. “I must see his Lordship alone and it is vitally important!”
Bates took off the green baize apron he was wearing and put on his jacket.
“Come with me, miss,” he said. “I think, if I’m not mistaken, his Lordship’ll be in his study seeing to the letters which he’s had no time to deal with earlier.”
They walked along the wide passage that led from the pantry past the dining room and, passing several other rooms, reached the hall.
There were four footmen on duty who straightened themselves as Bates appeared and looked directly ahead, as they had been taught to do.
On the other side of the hall was another wide passage that led past the Rubens room and on to the Great Library, which was as large as three ordinary rooms put together.
They reached the study and Bates paused for a moment outside it.
Shenda realised that he was listening to hear if there were voices coming from inside it.
Then he made a gesture to her to stand back so that if by any chance the Earl was not alone, she would not be seen.
Then he opened the door.
There was a short pause as he looked around the room and then he said,
“Excuse me, my Lord, but could you spare a moment for somebody who wants to see your Lordship – and it’s important!”
“I suppose so!” the Earl said, looking up from the desk at which he was sitting. “Who is it?”
Bates deliberately avoided the question, only gesturing to Shenda to enter the room.
She came in slowly, holding her head high.
At the same time she was conscious that she felt nervous because it was the first time she had seen the Earl, although she had heard so much about him.
He was finishing off a letter he had been writing when Bates had interrupted him.
Shenda had almost reached his desk before he raised his head.
Then, as he did so, she gave a little exclamation and without thinking she blurted out,
“Oh – it’s you!”
Sitting looking at her was the gentleman who had rescued Rufus and who before he had left her had kissed her for the first time in her life.
She was astonished to see him, having been told over and over again that this was the first time the Earl had come to The Castle.
It had therefore never struck her for one moment that the stranger who had lifted her onto the saddle of his horse could be the Earl.
Now they were both staring at each other and, as he recovered first from his surprise, he asked,
“Why are you here?”
He rose slowly to his feet as he spoke.
Then, as if they both found it hard to say any more, they stood looking at each other until Shenda said in a small voice he could hardly hear,
“I-I had to – see you – and it is very – important!”
“You did not know who I was?” he asked.
“I-I had no – idea!”
It seemed as if it was an effort as the Earl said,
“As you wanted to see me, I suggest you sit down and tell me why you have come to The Castle.”
He walked round the desk and indicated a sofa that stood on one side of the fireplace.
As he did so, he saw that Shenda was not wearing a bonnet and looked exactly as she had when he had found her in the wood.
Since she had sat down on the sofa she had not looked at him and he realised that she was shy.
To put her at ease, he asked,
“I trust Rufus has recovered from his ordeal in the wood?”
“Y-yes – he is quite – all right,” Shenda replied, “but – I realise now, my Lord, that it was – your trap that I asked you to – throw away!”
“It was put there on my estate manager’s instructions,” the Earl explained, “but I have now given him orders that there are to be no traps in Knights’ Wood or any other wood around The Castle.”
“Oh – thank – you,” Shenda cried. “That is – kind and – very wonderful of you. I have been – worried in case – Rufus should be caught in another one.”
“I promise you he is quite safe,” the Earl added.
He saw the gratitude in her eyes.
Then, as if he forced himself to speak sensibly, he said,
“Now, tell me, if you did not know who I was, why did you want to see the owner of The Castle.”
Shenda drew in her breath.
Somehow it was even harder now that she knew who he was to tell him about what she had found.
Then she told herself that anyone who was endangering the lives of British soldiers and sailors must be dealt with and quickly.
Without speaking she held out to the Earl the piece of paper on which she had copied the note that had been written in Lady Gratton’s reticule.
He took it from her, looking at her face as he did so, thinking that she was even lovelier than he remembered.
Then he looked down at the paper and stiffened.
He read it and then he asked in a very different tone,
“Where did you get this?”
“I – copied it from a piece of paper I – f-found in a lady’s reticule,” Shenda replied.
“A lady’s reticule?” the Earl enquired. “Where did you handle such a thing?”
“Here in – The Castle,” Shenda murmured.
“But why? What were you doing here?”
There was a distinct pause befo
re Shenda answered in a hesitating little voice,
“I-I am your new – seamstress, my Lord.”
The Earl stared at her has if he could hardly believe what he had heard.
Then he said,
“Who engaged you and why?”
“The – old seamstress died three years ago – and Mrs. Davison did not – appoint anybody else – until she knew that your Lordship – returned.”
“So you have just come here?”
“Yes – my Lord.”
“And you handled this lady’s reticule! What lady?”
Shenda drew in her breath.
“Lady – Gratton!”
The Earl’s lips tightened, then he said,
“I don’t believe it! How is it possible?”
He was, Shenda realised, speaking to himself rather than to her and after a moment she said,
“I – thought it only – right, my Lord – that I should bring it – to you.”
“You can understand it although it is written in French?”
“I-I speak – French, my Lord.”
“Have you any idea what it refers to?”
“Yes.”
“What do you mean – yes?”
There was a little pause before Shenda answered,
“I – have – heard of – the Secret Expedition.”
The Earl stared at her as if he could not believe what he had heard.
“You have heard of the Secret Expedition?” he asked, and his voice was very sharp. “Who could have told you?”
He sounded to Shenda so astonished that she could not help smiling.
“The doctor’s son – my Lord – is one of the Officers being carried with the – members of his Regiment – among the transports that – make up the expedition.”
The Earl put his hand up to his forehead.
“I think I must be dreaming! The whole exercise is meant to be completely secret!”
“I know that,” Shenda said, “but when Lieutenant Doughty came home he told his father what he had been – chosen to do – and the doctor told my – father.”
“Are you telling me that the whole village is now aware and talking of the Expedition?”
“Oh – no – my Lord. Guy Doughty swore his father to secrecy – and my father never – repeated anything that was – told to him confidentially.”
“I suppose I should be relieved about that!” the Earl said sarcastically. “Well, what do you make of it and I suppose you don’t know the answer – ”
“I think I do, my Lord,” Shenda replied.
The Earl stared as if he was past finding words for what he was feeling.
“One of the seamen in – Admiral Nelson’s – ship,” Shenda said, “is married to one of the –village girls who has returned to – live with her parents until – he returns from the – fighting. Knowing that they had to be very careful – he writes to her in a special code.”
“And he told her where Admiral Nelson is?” the Earl asked incredulously.
As if she could not help being amused at his bewilderment, Shenda’s eyes twinkled.
He could see the suspicion of a dimple on one side of her mouth as she said,
“In his last letter he wrote,
“My left hand’s itching and I shall be
thinking tomorrow of the cake that your
mother always bakes on a Sunday.”
The Earl was speechless, waiting for Shenda to explain.
“Because – he loves her – wherever he is, he – stands facing England. If his left hand is itching, it means he is travelling West and the cake her mother always bakes on Sundays is a Madeira!”
“I don’t believe this!” the Earl exclaimed.
He sat down in a chair as he spoke and, holding the paper Shenda had given him in his hand, stared at it.
His brain began to work shrewdly and logically.
If this message, as Shenda had said, had been found in Lucille Gratton’s reticule, then it was her pleading eyes and pouting lips that Lord Barham had warned him about.
She was receiving money for the information she obtained from her lovers, which was of use to the French.
Whoever was communicating with her must have been aware that she was with him.
As he had just come back to England from the Mediterranean and was in touch with the Admiralty, he was more likely to know than anybody else.
For a moment he was so furious at being deceived that he wanted to confront Lucille Gratton with her perfidy and tell her exactly what he thought of her.
Then he knew that far more important than his feelings was to root out the spy or spies that directed her and were working for Napoleon.
He sat for some minutes, although it seemed longer, without speaking.
Then he said to Shenda,
“I presume Lady Gratton does not realise that you have found this?”
“No, my Lord, the maid who looks after her tore the lace on the reticule and Mrs. Davison gave it to me to mend.”
“So she has not seen you?”
“No, my Lord.”
“But you are here, working in The Castle and I presume employed by me!”
“Yes, my Lord.”
She wondered what the Earl was thinking.
“I wonder, Shenda, if you are prepared to do something to help your country? I must warn you, however, that it may be dangerous.”
Shenda looked at him in surprise.
Then she said,
“I will do – anything, my Lord – to – help men like yourself – defeat Napoleon and end this horrible – wicked war!”
“I thought you would feel like that,” the Earl said, “and what I am going to ask you to do is to maid Lady Gratton whilst she is staying here.”
Shenda’s eyes seemed to fill her whole face. She had never imagined that she would be asked to do such a thing.
For a moment she thought it was something she must refuse because she was quite certain her mother would not approve.
Then she asked herself what was more important, that she was a lady, which the Earl did not think of her as being, or that she should fight, as he had fought, against an enemy which at the moment was holding all the trump cards?
With an effort, because she was a little frightened, she said,
“I will do – anything you – ask me – my Lord.”
“Thank you,” the Earl answered. “I am going to be frank with you, Shenda, because I think you are intelligent and will understand when I tell you that what you have brought me is at this moment of inestimable value to the Admiralty!”
“I thought it must be – something like – that.”
“First,” the Earl said, “will you promise me that you will not speak of anything you have told me or repeat our conversation here in this room to anybody else in The Castle, or elsewhere?”
“I promise!” Shenda said. “And I have not – in fact told anybody except – Bates that I even – wanted to – see you!”
“Good!” the Earl said. “Now I will tell Mrs. Davison that as I want Lady Gratton to be exceptionally comfortable and happy, I would like you to look after her.”
“I think, my Lord, that Mrs. Davison is going to think it strange that I have met you.”
“I can explain that to her by saying that when I returned to England, I went first to my house in Berkeley Square,” the Earl said quickly, “which I found in a terrible mess.”
He paused to see if she was listening before he went on,
“I then decided to see The Castle after all the years I had been away and find out if it was just as it had always been.”
He went on with a faint smile,
“I had not seen it for fourteen years and I think that I was half-afraid it would turn out to be an illusion and I would find the walls crumbling, the roof caved in and the way I used to dream of it would be just a mirage.”
“I can understand – that,” Shenda said in a soft voice.
“I rose before dawn,” the E
arl went on, “and, hiring the best possible horse, I rode here from London just to look at The Castle.”
He drew in his breath before he said,
“It was there and just as I had dreamed of it!”
He saw the understanding in Shenda’s eyes, which he thought were very lovely, as he carried on,
“I had no intention of meeting anybody, knowing that it would be a mistake to appear unannounced and unexpected.”
He smiled at her.
“Then you know what happened! I found a very delightful person in the wood and was of service to her.”
“You were – very kind,” Shenda murmured, “and I shall never forget how you – helped Rufus – but I had no idea – it never crossed my – mind that you were the – new Earl!”
“I went straight back to London and found it difficult to believe that you were real,” the Earl said, “or that there was a magic wood I found you in.”
The way he spoke made Shenda blush and she looked away from him.
“Now we meet again,” the Earl said, as if he forced himself to speak naturally, “and if you needed my help, I now need yours! Napoleon’s spies, I am told, are everywhere, but I can hardly believe it possible that they are actually in my own home!”
There was a hint of fury in his voice that Shenda did not miss as he continued,
“Now, as I have said, you and I have to find the spy behind the spy, the man who gives the orders, the man or woman who is in touch with Bonaparte.”
“I am – sure it will be – very difficult,” Shenda murmured.
“I have yet to lose a battle,” the Earl replied, “and with your help, Shenda, I will win this one too!”
He rose to his feet as he spoke and, as she did the same, they looked at each other and then he took her hand in his.
For a moment his eyes were on her lips.
Then, as she suddenly felt very shy, he lifted her hand and kissed it.
“Thank you, Shenda!” he said. “And be careful! These people are dangerous!”
Chapter Five
When Shenda left the Earl, she ran upstairs to find Mrs. Davison.
She was not in her room, so Shenda searched for her and finally found her in the linen cupboard.
Kiss from a Stranger Page 7