“He – took the money from you?” Lupita repeated.
“That’s right, my Lady, every penny of it. And when I tells him I need it for the wages, he said his need were greater than theirs and he shouted rudely at me.”
Lupita wanted to say that this was nothing but stealing, but bit back the words at the last minute.
“Go on,” she prompted him.
“I know also, because they tells me in the ’ouse that ’e’s been collectin’ together all there be of value and layin’ it out on the billiard table.”
Lupita looked at him in sheer astonishment.
“Why would he do that?”
“I understands that ’e intends sellin’ it all to someone who’s comin’ down from London very.”
“But – it is not his to sell!” Lupita exclaimed.
“That be what I was thinkin’,” Mr. Matthews agreed. “And what’s more, he ordered Mr. Briggs to open the safe because he wants the jewellery that’s kept there as well.”
Mr. Briggs was the old butler, who had been at Wood Hall ever since Lupita could remember and he always guarded the safe as he would have guarded his life.
It not only contained all the silver that was very old and valuable but also her mother’s jewellery.
There were as well things like the tiara and pearls that had been in the family for several generations.
“I hope Briggs did not give him the key,” she gasped.
“Mr. Briggs was clever enough to say that your Ladyship had taken it away with you,” Mr. Matthews replied.
“That was indeed clever of him,” Lupita managed to smile a little.
“But Mr. Rufus,” the Farm Manager went on as if she had not spoken, “threatens to blow off the lock!”
Lupita gave a cry of horror.
“I-I don’t believe it! We must stop him. We must stop him at once.”
“That be exactly what I thinks your Ladyship would say,” Mr. Matthews asserted with satisfaction, “and when Mr. Briggs tells me last night what ’ad ’appened, I caught the milk train at five o’clock this very morn to come to London and find you.”
“I think you have been very very clever,” Lupita said. “Now please wait here while I go and find the Earl.”
She rose from the sofa, ran into the hall and down a long passage to the study.
It was where she was sure she would find the Earl reading the morning newspapers and signing his letters.
He was there as she expected and was sitting at his desk.
As she burst into the room, he looked up and then rose to his feet.
“What has happened?” he asked.
“Mr. Matthews is ‒ here. He is our Farm Manager from Wood Hall, whom Papa trusted implicitly. He says terrible things are happening. Please – please – tell me what I must do.”
The Earl wasted no time asking questions.
He followed Lupita into the morning room and shook hands with Mr. Matthews.
He then listened attentively as the Farm Manager related his story all over again.
“You were right to come to her Ladyship for help,” he said as Mr. Matthews finished breathlessly, “and she is most fortunate to have anyone as sensible as you in charge.”
Lupita then saw the Farm Manager beam with pleasure at his praise, but he merely said humbly,
“I tries to do what I thinks be right, my Lord.”
“What I am going to suggest,” the Earl went on, “is that you have something to eat and drink while I make preparations for us to leave for the country.”
Lupita looked at him in surprise but he continued,
“If we are to save the things that belong to your brother no time must be lost. Tell Mrs. Fielding to pack your clothes as quickly as she possibly can while I make the arrangements for the journey.”
The way he spoke told Lupita that she must do what she was told, so she ran upstairs.
She told Mrs. Fielding and the maid who was still in her bedroom what they must do.
Then she went to find Jerry.
“I am sorry, darling,” she said, “but we cannot go to the Zoo today after all. We have to go home.”
“But I want so much to go to the Zoo,” Jerry protested. “I want to see the bears and the elephants.”
“We will do so another day, I promise you,” Lupita said, “but we must go home at once because Cousin Rufus is trying to steal away things that belong to you.”
“What’s he stealing?” Jerry asked. “Not my toys?”
“No, not your toys,” Lupita said, “but money and treasures that belonged to Mama and Papa and perhaps our horses as well.”
“He shan’t have Morning Star,” Jerry cried out angrily. “Morning Star is mine! I will not allow Cousin Rufus to take him away.”
“No, of course not,” Lupita said. “That is why we have to go home now and stop him.”
Morning Star was the horse that Jerry had only just become big enough to ride.
He had been thrilled because Lupita had allowed him to have his own horse.
Morning Star was almost full size and very different from the small Shetland pony that Jerry had ridden since he could walk.
Because her father himself had taught Jerry, he was a very advanced rider for his years and admired by everyone on the estate.
Morning Star was almost black with a white star on his nose.
To Jerry he was a complete joy and delight.
Lupita had been worried when they had first run away that Jerry would miss Morning Star unbearably.
Fortunately, with Mrs. Fielding supplying him with so many and varied toys, he had not been as distressed as she had feared.
Yesterday when she was playing with him he had said,
“If we are to stay here for long can Morning Star come to London so that I can ride him in Hyde Park?”
“We shall have to ask the Earl about that,” Lupita replied, “but I think we will be going home soon. Anyway I think Morning Star would much prefer to stay in the country.”
Jerry considered this for a moment before he said,
“But I want Morning Star with me. I miss him.”
“I know you do, darling,” Lupita replied, “but I am quite sure he is being well looked after, although I expect he is missing you too.”
She knew that Jerry would soon forget his disappointment at not going to the Zoo when he knew that he would be seeing Morning Star again.
To change the subject, she suggested that he should take some of the toys he liked the best back home with him.
“Put them in a pile,” she told him, “for the maid to pack.”
Two hours later Lupita was told that they were driving to the Station in twenty minutes.
The luggage was being taken downstairs by the footmen and she quickly collected the light coat that matched her gown.
Having put on her hat, she was ready even before the carriage came round to the front door.
The Earl was now giving last minute instructions to his secretary. These included, Lupita learned, cancelling all his engagements for the next three or four days.
To her surprise she then saw the Dowager Countess coming down the stairs.
She was dressed in a hat and a cloak and followed by her lady’s maid, carrying her jewel case.
Before Lupita could ask the obvious question, the Earl said,
“Grandmama is coming with us, Lupita.”
“How wonderful,” she replied. “But surely it will be too much for her?”
“She assures me that she will enjoy it,” the Earl replied.
He walked towards the top of the stairs to greet his grandmother.
“I would hope you have everything you want, Grandmama, and you must forgive me for making you get ready in such a hurry.”
“It is something I became accustomed to when your grandfather was alive, my dear,” the Dowager Countess smiled, “only usually he would say we were off to Egypt or India without a thought as to what clothes I needed or giving me time t
o buy anything.”
The Earl laughed.
“At least we are not going away as far as that,” he said, “and Lupita is delighted that you are accompanying us.”
“I am overwhelmed at your doing so,” Lupita interposed, “and it will be very exciting, ma’am, to show you round Wood Hall and which has been the happy home of so many of my ancestors”
“I am so looking forward to seeing your home,” the Dowager Countess answered.
The Earl helped first his grandmother into the carriage and then Lupita.
He and Jerry sat on the small seat with their backs to the horses.
The Earl’s valet and the Dowager Countess’s lady’s maid followed in another carriage with the luggage.
Then they reached Paddington Station.
Here Lupita and Jerry were thrilled to find that the Earl’s private coach was attached to the train that they would be travelling on.
It was very commodious and comfortable and the drawing room had been decorated with crimson damask.
Jerry rushed about examining everything including the tiny pantry where a Steward was preparing coffee for them and he was enchanted with the two small bedrooms that opened out of the drawing room.
It was the first private coach that Lupita had ever seen, but she had, however, read about the luxurious one owned by Queen Victoria.
“It is rather like a dolls’ house,” she said to the Earl.
“I usually use it only on long journeys,” the Earl explained, “but, as my grandmother was coming with us, I wanted to be sure that she would be comfortable.”
“I think it is wonderful of her to come,” Lupita answered, “but I am afraid she will find, because I have been away, that the household is rather upset.”
“Grandmama will not mind,” the Earl said, “and you do realise that it means you will be correctly and properly chaperoned?”
It was something that Lupita had not thought of and for a moment she looked surprised.
Then she said slowly,
“I-I suppose – people would think it – wrong for you to stay at Wood Hall – without one.”
“It is not I who will be chaperoned, but you,” the Earl laughed, “and, of course, we must do what is correct.”
He thought, when it became known that he had stayed at Wood Hall, it would certainly fan the gossip again about their being engaged.
In telling Mrs. Asquith at the Devonshire House Ball that they were engaged, he had just been striking out at Heloise.
He had not really considered in any depth the likely consequences of his action.
Now he knew that it was something that he would not have done had he been thinking clearly because eventually it must hurt Lupita.
She was so young and so unsophisticated.
He was now ashamed of himself for doing anything that might besmirch her reputation.
Then he told himself that he must find her a suitable husband who would look after her and protect her against her dangerous cousin.
As well, he added, as any other man who might in any way upset or threaten her.
The whistle blew and the train started off.
As Lupita sat beside his grandmother, talking to her with shining eyes, he thought what a sweet temperament she had.
She would certainly, he felt, make some man very happy.
‘She belongs in the country,’ he decided, ‘and it would be a mistake for her to become spoilt in London.’
It gave him a feeling of satisfaction to remember that, when Anthony Benson did arrive at the house later in the afternoon, it would be to find that the bird had flown!
‘Serve him right,’ the Earl thought somewhat childishly. ‘He should not have proposed to the girl on such a short acquaintance.’
He could not help wondering how many men in the future would want to marry Lupita.
He had not missed the many looks that she had received at the party last night. Not only from the younger men but also the older ones.
As he had sat down at the card table, the three gentlemen with him had said that without exception she was the prettiest girl that they had seen in years.
One man went on,
“I was extremely fond of her father. He was a gentleman in every possible sense of the word, which is more than I can say for some of the younger generation.”
“I agree with you,” another said, “and his wife was the kindest and sweetest woman that ever graced a dining table.”
The third man laughed.
“That sounds as if you were in love with her yourself!”
“She was older than I was and I think every man at that time fell in love with her. But unlike so many Society beauties, she only ever looked at her husband whom she adored.”
Listening to them, the Earl thought that it was exactly what he wanted for himself.
Judging by his experience with Heloise, however, he doubted if he would ever find it.
Because even to think of her made him angry, he had said,
“Come on. Let’s get on with the game, otherwise we will have to go back to the ballroom before we have finished it.”
Now he decided that he would not have Lupita upset by her ghastly unpleasant cousin.
He would give Rufus Lang a piece of his mind when he arrived at Wood Hall.
They had a light luncheon on the train. It had been provided in a great hurry by the Earl’s cook at Grosvenor Square, but it was very delicious.
Only Lupita found it hard to eat it because she was worrying about what she would find when they reached her home.
It was an irrepressible relief to know that the Earl was with her.
At the same time she was becoming afraid that their treasures might already have been sold and taken away.
And if Rufus had managed to break open the safe, the family jewellery would have gone as well.
Even if the Earl was successful in driving him away, she wondered how she would be able to keep everything intact for Jerry.
There might be other unscrupulous men, apart from Rufus, who would try to cheat him out of his inheritance.
How could she possibly be strong enough to prevent it?
She must have been looking worried for the Dowager Countess said to her,
“Just trust Ingram, dearest child. He will surely put everything right for you.”
“I am sure that it is – upsetting for him to have to – leave London when he has – so many engagements,” Lupita answered.
The Earl was standing at a window pointing out to Jerry a Norman Castle as they passed by it.
The Dowager Countess lowered her voice so that her grandson could not hear and said,
“To be frank with you, my dear, I am so delighted to see him with another interest rather than that fast young woman with whom he has been associating. I always disliked her and the fact that she is to be married to someone else is a great relief for me.”
“She – she made – me feel as if I had – done something wrong,” Lupita said hesitatingly.
“I heard about that,” the Dowager Countess answered, “and I promise you, my dear, you did nothing wrong. You were in fact a great success and your father and mother would have been very proud of you.”
Lupita smiled.
“That is just what I – wanted to hear, ma’am, and thank you – thank – you for coming to Wood Hall. But I do hope it will – not tire you too much.”
“I certainly do not tire when I am enjoying myself,” the Dowager Countess replied, “and that, believe it or not, is what I am doing at this moment.”
As the smile came back into Lupita’s eyes, she thought that it would be impossible to find a more charming girl.
Then she sighed and added to herself,
‘But it is unlikely that my grandson will think so, seeing where his interests have lain in the past.’
*
They arrived at Wood Hall at four o’clock.
Owing to the Earl’s excellent powers of organisation, there were
carriages to meet them from the nearest livery stable.
Lupita was about to exclaim that she should have arranged for carriages to come from Wood Hall.
Then she realised that the Earl intended to take her Cousin Rufus by surprise.
He would through this arrangement have no inkling that they were arriving.
Mr. Matthews had, of course, travelled in the train with the Dowager Countess’s lady’s maid and the Earl’s valet.
As Lupita watched them climb out of the carriage, she was aware that there was also one of the Earl’s senior footmen with them.
‘We will certainly be arriving in style,’ she told herself.
She could not help feeling with a sense of satisfaction that it would be a huge shock to Cousin Rufus to see them.
‘I am – very sure that the Earl will be able to – frighten him away,’ she thought happily.
As she looked at him waiting to get into the carriage, she knew that he was undoubtedly the most wonderful man she could possibly imagine.
CHAPTER SIX
Jerry scrambled into the carriage with his dog.
The Earl looked back to see that the other carriage was being filled up with the servants and the luggage.
He then looked at the inside of the slightly ancient carriage in which his grandmother and Lupita were sitting and said,
“I think to be comfortable, I will now sit between two beautiful women.”
His grandmother laughed.
“I am sure that Lupita and I can make ourselves small enough so as not to crush you,” she said.
The Earl climbed in and sat down between them with a smile on his face.
There was in fact plenty of room, as it was an old-fashioned carriage.
Jerry spread himself out comfortably with Bracken beside him and remarked,
“He knows he is going home.”
Lupita tried to feel excited by the idea, but she was too apprehensive.
She was concerned about what could happen when she did arrive at Wood Hall, knowing that Cousin Rufus would be extremely annoyed at their appearing so unexpectedly.
As they drove off, the Earl must have realised what she was feeling for he put his hand over hers and urged her,
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