“Well, not precisely that, but we were brought up together,” Honoria explained. “I came to Vienna to find him.”
“We are not in Vienna,” von Krems pointed out. “We are some hundred miles north of the city now.”
“Then Frank was right!” Honoria exclaimed, incomprehensibly to the other two.
“Who is Frank?” Cassie asked.
“He is my cousin. I ran away from him because I thought he was trying to force me to marry him but he caught up with me a couple of days ago and told me that I – we – were not going the right way.”
“We? Have you been travelling with that man for some time?” Cassie gestured to the fallen Lord Ninfield, who was beginning to stir.
“Yes; I thought he was looking after me, but clearly he was not – or only for his own purposes. Oh, I wish I had not run away for now I can see that Frank meant me no harm – and probably did not care a farthing for my money - and Lord Ninfield – that is he on the floor there – meant to have my money no matter what he had to do to lay his hands upon it.”
Count von Krems, seeing that the two women needed nothing from him just at present, turned his attention to the man on the floor.
“Get up, sir!” he ordered peremptorily.
“I’ll thank you to get out of my room,” his lordship muttered, struggling to stand and finding his legs unsteady beneath him. He would have fallen again if von Krems had not taken him by the arm and led him away from the two women.
“What is your connection to that young woman?” he asked.
“She is my wife. We were accosted by that woman – is she your wife? – on the doorstep of our room. I think your wife must be deranged, sir, for she insisted on coming in with us in an exceedingly interfering manner.”
“The young woman is clearly injured and has – in my hearing – requested assistance to find a male relative in Vienna. I am myself acquainted with Lord Waldron, who is one of the secretaries at the English embassy, and am happy to comply with her wish. Who are you, sir? And, forgive me, but, even if the young woman is your wife, I cannot permit you to ill-use her. She is English, as is my fiancée, who will, I am certain, be able to look after the poor young thing for the time being. Who are you?” he repeated.
“I am Lord Ninfield, heir to Lord Tendring, and I do not take kindly to a foreigner forcing his way into my room and assaulting me,” Lord Ninfield replied, striving to recover something of his consequence.
“It is you, my lord, who is the foreigner. This is my country and I cannot permit any man – no matter whose heir he may be – to assault a woman. If you were the King of England, I would still have knocked you down. She said that you were not yet married,” he added.
“We are about to be; there is a padre awaiting us downstairs unless, with this long delay, he has given up and gone,” Lord Ninfield said, giving way to despondency.
“I daresay he has; in any event, I shall tell him to take himself off for you cannot be married when there is the least doubt about whether the young woman wishes to marry you. I will not be party to a forced marriage.”
The Count turned to the women. “What, young woman, would you like me to do with this man? Shall I throw him out of the window, out of the hotel, or shall we merely leave him here? My fiancée and I have taken a set of rooms for the night, along with my young son and his nursemaid; there will be no difficulty in accommodating you quite securely with us. In the meantime, I will send word to Lord Waldron, who will no doubt lose no time in coming to your assistance himself.”
“Oh, thank you so much,” Honoria said, wondering as she spoke how she could be certain that these people were any more to be trusted than the others on whom she had relied. It seemed to her that, having abandoned the safety of the frying pan and fallen into the fire, she now risked being scooped out of that and flung into some further hell.
“Come, my dear,” Cassie said. “Where is your valise? I can help you to pack.”
“I have nothing but what I stand up in,” Honoria said, “and even that does not belong to me. I came here in my nightgown and have torn it up to bind my wrist. The only thing is that he,” she jerked her chin at Lord Ninfield, who had retreated to the window, perhaps hoping that everyone would forget him, “has taken all my money and, not only do I need it, but I do not see why he should have it.”
“No, indeed,” Cassie agreed at once, looking at von Krems for help.
“You had better restore whatever you took from Miss … What is your name, Fraülein?”
“Ford – Honoria Ford.”
“Miss Ford.”
Lord Ninfield, seeing from the Count’s expression that argument would only lead to further humiliation and possibly pain, emptied his pockets and handed a number of English notes to von Krems, who proceeded to count them.
“Is that the whole sum, Miss Ford?” he asked, looking up at her.
“No, I am sure it is not, although I own I did not count it myself.”
“Fetch the rest,” the Count said coldly.
“It was probably burned in the inn where we spent last night – and from which I rescued Miss Ford – although I own I am beginning to wish I had left her to burn. There was no time to pack her effects.”
“There was no fire,” Honoria said. “You made that up to justify dragging me from my bed. Although I do not doubt that you left most of my clothes behind, I cannot believe that you have not brought my money.”
“Oh, there was a fire,” Lord Ninfield said blithely. “I made sure of that before we left.”
“What?” Honoria jumped up and, pushing Cassie aside, strode up to his lordship, where he stood, leaning his shoulders against the window frame in an attitude of lazy derision.
“Did you set it?” she cried, accusing. “What happened to Frank?”
“I should imagine he burned. He was not in possession of his senses when I had finished with him and it was then that I set fire to the curtains – and took the precaution of locking the door before I came upstairs for you.”
“What?” she repeated, appalled, raising the one fist which she was able to make and beginning to hit him as hard as she could – which was not very hard at all. “If I had the pistol your aunt gave me I would not hesitate to shoot you now although a quick death is more than you deserve.”
“But, fortunately, not within your power to deliver,” his lordship observed.
“It is, however, within mine,” the Count pointed out, removing the safety catch from the gun Lord Ninfield had dropped and pointing it at his lordship’s chest. “But, before I do, I should like a full account of what happened. What is this about a fire? Are you saying, Miss Ford, that this man deliberately set fire to the inn in which you were staying and that, before doing so, he had knocked this Frank senseless and locked him in?”
“I do not know,” Honoria admitted. “I thought the fire was a stupid lie to explain why we were driving about in the middle of the night. But Frank was there – he arrived as I was on my way to bed. It is more than possible that he met his lordship as he was going upstairs and that they had a fight. But to light a fire – to try to burn my – my …” Words failed Honoria.
“The man you love,” Cassie supplied, putting her arms around the girl and drawing her away.
“I do not – I do not love Frank – not like that in any event,” Honoria cried hopelessly, “but to kill him! Why?”
“Because the idiot turned up to rescue you just before I had succeeded in persuading you to marry me and because – from his manner when I met him on the stairs – and yours when you spoke of him – I was convinced – even more so now – that you do in fact hold warm sentiments for him. And don’t talk twaddle about his being like a brother; that doesn’t deceive me for a moment. How the devil did he find you? We went all over the place so as to confuse the trail.”
“I think,” the Count said, having listened and understood with difficulty the gabbled English that was being flung across the room, “that the first thing to do is t
o detain this man for, if he has indeed killed a man, the full force of the law should be brought to bear upon him, whether he is heir to an earldom or not. The second, which can be carried out at much the same time, is to ascertain whether there was in fact a fire at that inn and whether anyone died as a result. There may be more than one casualty.
“Cassie, pray ring the bell and request assistance with this man. I have him covered for the time being.”
Cassie tugged the bell again but said, “I think he issued orders for the bell not to be heeded downstairs for no one came when I rang it before. I will go and find someone to summon help.”
“You had better send whoever you can find up here to speak to me,” von Krems said, “and make it quite clear that it is I, Count von Krems, who is ordering their attendance in this room.”
“Yes; will you stay here, Miss Ford? Ludwig will protect you.”
When Honoria, white-faced and shaking but no longer belabouring Lord Ninfield with her fist, nodded, Cassie ran out of the room.
She returned five minutes later, accompanied by the proprietor and several manservants.
The Count explained the situation in rapid German and the men took hold of Lord Ninfield, although that gentleman, perceiving that he was outnumbered and, already nursing a swollen jaw, made no attempt to resist.
“What was the name of the inn which has apparently been burned down – and where was it?” von Krems asked Honoria.
“It was called Das Gesch something or other and then there was another word beginning with Sch,” Honoria said, “but I do not know where it was. We left in the middle of the night – I don’t know what time - but it was dark for hours and hours while we drove. It was only just beginning to get light when we arrived here.”
“It is of no significance,” the Count said untruthfully for of course it would have been much easier to find out whether a particular inn had burned down than to make enquiries about any inn within six or seven hours’ drive of where they were now.
“What was it called?” he asked Lord Ninfield.
“I cannot recall,” his lordship replied, shrugging.
“And where was it?”
“I have not the least idea; we stopped as darkness began to fall as usual. I did not notice what the God-forsaken village was called; there was nothing remarkable about it.”
“I am certain he knows perfectly well!” Honoria exclaimed.
His lordship was standing, surrounded by lackeys, in front of the window, his face, despite the rapidly swelling jaw, displaying its accustomed mask of weary condescension. She thought that, while setting fire to a building full of people appeared to leave him unmoved, he could be roused to something approaching passion by his desire for money.
She said, “I will give you all the money I have in my possession if you will tell us what we need to know.”
“It’s not precisely a fortune though, is it?” he asked contemptuously.
“It is nevertheless a large amount,” she argued. “I will give you more if you will only divulge what you know.”
“He will very likely give us false information,” the Count put in. “Do not waste your money, Miss Ford. Herr Gelben,” he nodded at the proprietor, “will send men to find out whether – and if - an inn burned down last night. It will not take long.”
Chapter 37
“Come with me, my dear,” Cassie said to Honoria, taking her hand and leading her out of the room. “Have you no belongings whatsoever?”
“No, only what I stand up in – and they do not, in point of fact, belong to me.”
“I would lend you something of mine except that all my clothes are black as I am by way of being in mourning,” Cassie explained, conducting the younger woman across the corridor and into her own room.
“By way of?” Honoria asked, struck by the curious construction of her saviour’s sentence.
“Well,” Cassie admitted. “I have been pretending to be a widow but it is all a lie. I will explain later; just at present, I think we need to concentrate upon you.”
“Black may be the very colour I will need when I know for certain that Frank is dead,” Honoria said in a wavering voice.
Cassie, regretting her flippancy, said in as comforting a tone as she could achieve, “I am persuaded Ludwig will discover the truth in no time. You must not despair; it has not been so much as twenty-four hours since you fled the inn. Will you allow me to look at your wrist?”
Honoria sniffed and nodded.
“It is very likely sprained,” Cassie said when she had unbound it. “How did he do it – I assume it was Lord Ninfield who injured you?”
“Yes; I was pointing a gun at him, one given to me for just such a situation by his aunt. Do you think she can have known, when she informed him of my whereabouts, that I might be obliged to shoot him?”
“It seems odd that she would tell him how to find you if she considered him dangerous,” Cassie suggested.
“I had originally, when I met him in Tunbridge Wells, formed a favourable opinion of him and no doubt made that plain to her. I suppose she may have hoped that I was well on the way to developing an attachment so that he need only to make me an offer in a perfectly respectable manner. I do wonder though if, having written to him and given him my direction, her conscience troubled her and that was why she gave me the gun at the last moment. Unfortunately, when it came to the point, I had not the courage to shoot him.”
When a doctor was ushered into the room some quarter hour later Cassie was reminded of her own consultation when Lord Waldron had acted as interpreter. She was by now sufficiently proficient in the German language to undertake the task herself, although the Count, tactfully withdrawing from the chamber while the doctor made his examination, promised to wait outside in case of need.
Ushering the doctor downstairs later, when he had reassured his patient that her wrist was indeed only sprained, Cassie asked the Count, “Should we perhaps send for Lord Waldron?”
“I have already done so; Ninfield is detained in the cellar and the country is being scoured for news of a burned inn. I have also dismissed the English padre; I gave him his fee because he has spent some time kicking his heels in a saloon downstairs.”
“Thank you. Are there any shops hereabouts which might be able to supply us with a few more necessities for Miss Ford? She has nothing but what she is wearing – and that dress looks as though it would more properly clothe a maid than a young woman of Honoria’s rank. I do not believe she possesses a single pair of shoes either.”
“I will enquire. Meanwhile, I suggest we make our way to the private saloon I have reserved where I am assured we will find Gustav and Gretl consuming quantities of cakes and chocolate.”
Cassie, leading Honoria down the stairs, retailed the story of how she had met the Count and his son, which brought a fleeting smile to the girl’s face.
“I see you have had your adventures too,” she commented, thinking that Cassie had been lucky for her adventure promised a happy ending.
“There is nothing,” Cassie said with feeling, “that has had a happier effect upon my life than being hit by that ball. I thank God for it every day!”
Gustav, introduced to the new English lady and warned not to subject her to an inquisition, refrained with some difficulty from putting too many questions. He stared at her in a way that would have been rude if it were not so clearly admiring and from time to time opened his mouth, only to encounter a stern glance from his father or a beseeching one from his soon-to-be stepmother.
After everyone had eaten a substantial luncheon and Gustav had been despatched to take a brisk walk with Gretl, Cassie invited Honoria to accompany her to choose some clothes to replace the ones she had lost. But the girl declined, saying that she could not face the way everyone was bound to stare at the bruises on her face. So Cassie tucked her up in bed ‘for a rest’ and went out, armed with some of the money which had been found in Lord Ninfield’s pockets and which Honoria insisted was in fact her
s.
When she returned, she found that the girl had managed to sleep a little and looked, as a consequence, marginally improved although her anxiety about Frank was clearly having an effect upon her.
“There was not a great deal of choice in the shop,” Cassie explained, opening one of the many boxes which Lisl had carried up for her. “I hope you do not object to pink, but I always find it such a comforting colour.”
She lifted a dress out of its wrappings of tissue paper and held it up for Honoria to see.
“I have actually bought you three gowns, a pair of kid slippers to wear indoors, some undergarments, a nightgown, a pelisse, a muff and a hat – oh, and another shawl and a pair of boots for you cannot go outside in kid slippers in this weather - but then you don’t want to have to wear boots all the time. One of the dresses is silk, which I thought you might want to wear this evening, and the other is another morning dress because I do not think that you can be expected to manage with only one gown for the next few days,” Cassie admitted, dropping the pink and unwrapping the other. “This one is blue, which is, I am persuaded, a colour you often wear on account of your colouring.”
Honoria smiled sadly. She did not say that she was not accustomed to wearing fashionable, or even becoming, garments and had, until recently, generally worn dull and ill-fitting gowns. It was only in the last few weeks that she had acquired so many pretty new clothes – only to have lost them before she had had the least chance to grow tired of them.
“Oh, it is excessively pretty!” she exclaimed, becoming quite animated as Cassie picked up the pink gown again and shook it out. “Quite lovely! Wherever did you find it?”
“In the most unpromising shop,” Cassie admitted, smiling.
When Honoria was dressed in the new gown and Lisl had arranged her hair properly and tied it prettily with a matching pink ribbon, which Cassie had also purchased, she looked, her new friend assured her, “much more the thing.”
Honoria Or The Safety 0f The Frying Pan Page 30