Deliberately the Marquis, without turning Ula around, moved her to one side and, following the Prince into the pa.s.sage, he said, "Your Highness must allow me to show you to your carriage."

He closed the door behind him and, Ula, as she sank down in a chair, heard them walking down the pa.s.sage towards the hall.

She was still trembling and feeling as if she had pa.s.sed through a terrifying experience and had been saved from utter destruction only by the intervention of the Marquis.

She hated the Prince and feared him in a way that she had never been afraid of anyone before, not even her uncle, in the whole of her life.

She was sure that he was evil, she was sure that he personified everything that was debauched and wicked.

And yet she had no valid reason for thinking this, only an instinct that made her still tremble at the thought of him kissing her.

The Marquis came back into the room.

"How can you have been such a little fool a " he began.

Then he saw Ula's face looking up at him and his anger seemed to evaporate as he asked, "I realise you did not expect him. That is the truth, is it not?"

"I had a no idea he a would call on me," Ula answered. "I-I hated him last night a when I had to dance with him a and if you had not saved me a he would have a kissed me!"

The terror in her voice was obvious.

The Marquis walked to stand with his back to the mantelpiece.

"Forget him," he said. "I should have been sensible enough to refuse the Turkish Amba.s.sador's request that he should be included among my guests last night. I shall now give instructions to the servants that if he ever comes here again, they are to say that no one is at home."

"Thank a you," Ula whispered.

Then after a moment, as if she had thought it over, she said, "It was a stupid of me to have been so a frightened, but I did not a know there were a men like him in the world."

"There are unfortunately quite a number of them," the Marquis said coldly, "and you will have to learn to take care of yourself."

"I-I will try," Ula said humbly, "but I cannot help thinking I a might have encountered somebody like him a rather than you a when I ran away."

"Prince Hasin is not the sort of man you will meet as a general rule in anyone's house, unless you are particularly unfortunate," the Marquis said. "I know his reputation, and once again I can only say that I made a mistake in allowing him to come to the ball last night."

"It was such a a wonderful ball," Ula sighed.

"You enjoyed it?"

"More than I can ever tell you. It is something I shall always remember."

"I hope it taught your uncle and your cousin a lesson they will never forget."

There was a note in his voice that made Ula say involuntarily, "No a please a don't speak a like that!"

"Why not?" the Marquis asked.

"Because it a spoils you."

He looked at her in astonishment and she explained, "You will think it very a presumptuous and perhaps very a impertinent of me a but you are so magnificent in a yourself, so kind and so wonderful, that it spoils a you when you are a vindictive and too petty to be a worthy of what you a really are."

She spoke hesitatingly, stumbling a little over the words.

Then she added quickly, "I-I am not putting it very well a but it is what I feel is a true."

The Marquis looked at her for a long moment, then he walked to stand at the window looking out into the garden.

The gardeners and a number of servants were busy removing the Chinese lanterns from the trees and lifting up the fairy lights that had edged the paths.

He did not see them.

He was looking back into the past, when he knew he had been a very different person from the one he was at the moment.

Then he had been young and idealistic, and had believed, as his mother had taught him, that in his position he had to set an example of everything that was fine and n.o.ble to those who served and looked up to him.

He wondered now if he had lost that ideal, when behind him he heard a very small voice ask, "Y-you are not a angry with a me?"

He turned around.

Ula was looking at him somewhat piteously and he realised that she was afraid of what she had just said.

"I am not angry," he said quietly, "and I have an uncomfortable feeling that you are right."

chapter five.

Ula awoke with a feeling of happiness.

She had gone to bed after a quiet dinner with the d.u.c.h.ess and the Marquis and they had laughed a great deal as they talked over everything that had happened the night before.

There were so many things to amuse them.

One of the guests had held a wine gla.s.s under the fountain spraying perfume and said, "I am sure this wine is delicious!"

Then, as he took a large gulp from the gla.s.s, he had not known whether to spit it out or to swallow it!

There were some very amusing incidents in the garden when, trying to catch the balloons that were floating down from the top of the house, several ladies and gentlemen had fallen into the flowerbeds and a lady's gown had been set on fire by one of the fairy lights.

It was very quickly extinguished and only scorched a frill of her gown, but she screamed and made enough noise as if she had been burned at the stake!

They also laughed over the many compliments the Marquis had received. The d.u.c.h.ess had found many of her friends with debutante daughters had tried to be congratulatory about the magnificence of the ball, but found it difficult.

When dinner was over the d.u.c.h.ess said, "I have never enjoyed your company more, Drogo, or known you in better form, but now, unfortunately, as I am so old, I must retire to my bed."

"Of course you must rest," the Marquis said, "for I believe there is another ball tomorrow night at which Ula must consolidate her position as a great beauty."

"I am quite certain she will do that," the d.u.c.h.ess said, patting Ula's arm affectionately.

"Will you be accompanying us?"

"It is unlikely," the Marquis replied, "as I shall not return to London until late in the evening."

"Where are you going?" the d.u.c.h.ess asked.

"To Epsom," the Marquis replied. "Have you forgotten that there is racing there tomorrow?"

"Oh, of course and I suppose, as usual, you will win all the major races."

"I sincerely hope so!"

"I wish I could come with you!" Ula exclaimed impulsively.

The Marquis looked at her and then he said, "I never thought of it, but, of course, another time I will take you racing, especially when I am sure that my horses are going to win."

"That will be wonderful!" she enthused.

But, as they walked out of the dining room, she had the feeling that tomorrow he would be accompanied by one of the beautiful women who had been at his side last night.

It was nothing he had said and yet she was sure it was the truth and somehow she felt suddenly lost and alone, as if no one really wanted her.

"So you will not be in to dinner tomorrow?" the d.u.c.h.ess was saying as they moved along the pa.s.sage.

"No," the Marquis replied, "I am dining with the Cavendishes, so if I don't turn up at the ball, you will realise that the dinner finished too late for me to appear."

"I understand," the d.u.c.h.ess said, "and Ula and I must not complain, for you have been very generous in dining with us tonight. I suppose, unlike us, you do not intend to go to bed early."

"I promised His Royal Highness I would look in at Carlton House," the Marquis replied, "and after that I have several other invitations."

He spoke slightly mockingly and again Ula was certain that the invitations came from lovely women who would be waiting anxiously for him.

She went up the stairs with the d.u.c.h.ess, who, on reaching her room, said, "Goodnight, my child. My grandson is delighted with the successes of last night and how beautiful you looked."

"Does he a really think a that?" Ula asked a little wistfully.

"He told me this morning that you exceeded all his expectations."

She saw the light that came into Ula's eyes and the sudden radiance on her face.

She did not say anything, but merely kissed the d.u.c.h.ess goodnight and went into her own room.

'I don't want the child to break her heart over Drogo,' the d.u.c.h.ess murmured to herself, 'but what can I do about it?'

When she climbed into bed and her maid had turned out the lights, she did not sleep at once, but lay worrying over the two young people who filled her life at that particular moment.

Ula had gone to bed with the d.u.c.h.ess's words ringing in her ears and she thought that nothing else mattered if the Marquis was really pleased with her.

'I must be very very careful,' she thought, 'to do everything he wants and not make any mistakes.'

When she said her prayers, she thanked G.o.d that the Marquis had come in time to save her from Prince Hasin and she added a little plea that she need never see the Prince again.

She had been told not to hurry in the morning, but to rest while she had the chance.

She therefore had her breakfast in bed and was not ready to go downstairs until it was nearly eleven o'clock.

It was a luxury she had never known to be waited on and be able to do exactly what she wanted.

All the last twelve months at Chessington Hall, she had been expected to be down as early as the servants, knowing that there were a dozen tedious jobs waiting for her which she had been unable to finish the night before.

She put on one of the pretty morning gowns that the d.u.c.h.ess had bought for her. This particular one, which was a very pale blue like the sky in the early morning and trimmed with broderie anglaise threaded through with matching velvet ribbon, was not only very pretty but also very smart.

As she walked downstairs, she took with her an attractive shawl in case when she went out into the garden the sun was not as warm as it looked.

She felt it was unlikely to be necessary and she therefore, when she reached the bottom of the stairs, put it on a chair in the hall.

Then she went as if drawn by a magnet into the library, hoping that today she would not be interrupted in her desire to read as she had been yesterday.

Because she thought that it reminded her of the Prince, she did not take from the shelf the book he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from her arms and thrown onto the floor.

She chose another one, this time a book of poems by Lord Byron.

She had only just settled herself comfortably in the window seat and started to read one of her favourite poems, when the door opened and the butler announced in a rather strange voice, "The Earl of Chessington-Crewe, miss!"

For a moment Ula was frozen into immobility.

Then, as she looked across the room at her uncle coming through the doorway, she saw that following him was a Bow Street Runner.

She thought her eyes must be deceiving her, but there was no mistaking his red coat and his official hat, which he carried in his hand.

As the Earl reached the centre of the library, he stood still and said in a voice of command, "Come here, Ula!"

Because she was so frightened she rose a little unsteadily to her feet and walked very slowly towards him.

When she reached him, he looked down at her with an expression on his face that she knew was one of contempt before he said, "I have come to take you back to where you belong and we are leaving immediately!"

"But a Uncle Lionel a I cannot do a that!" Ula cried. "I am staying here a as you know a at the invitation of the d.u.c.h.ess of Wrexham, who is a chaperoning me."

"I am aware of that," the Earl replied, "but you appear to have forgotten when you ran away in that disgraceful manner, for which you shall be severely punished, that now your father and mother are dead, I am your Guardian."

"I-I know that, Uncle Lionel, but you a did not want a me."