"That is for me to say," the Earl replied. "Now, I have no time to waste in arguing, so you will come with me and my carriage is outside."

He spoke so positively that Ula gave a cry of fear.

"I a cannot! I have to a stay here and if you want me to a leave, you must discuss it a with the a Marquis."

"As I have already said," the Earl replied, "I am your Guardian and, if you intend, as I suspected you might, to oppose me, I have brought with me, as you can see, a Bow Street Runner."

There was a sneer on his face as he continued, "He will take you into custody and you will appear before the Magistrates. They will tell you that as a minor you will have to obey me. That is the law."

He paused as if he expected Ula to reply.

Her voice seemed to have died in her throat and she could only stare at him in a stricken manner.

"If that is what you prefer," he said slowly and spitefully, "then, at the same time, when they make it clear to you that I have complete and absolute control over you, I will bring a charge against the most n.o.ble Marquis of Raventhorpe of kidnapping a minor a the penalty for which is transportation."

He spoke maliciously, knowing that after what he had said there was nothing she could do but agree to go with him.

Then, as if he wanted to humiliate her, he said sharply, "Well a what is your decision?"

"I-I will come a with you a Uncle Lionel."

"Then hurry up about it," he ordered.

He took her by the arm, holding her so tightly that it was painful and marched her from the library along the pa.s.sage and into the hall.

The servants waiting there stared at them in astonishment and, as they neared the front door, Ula with an effort managed to say, "Please a Uncle Lionel, I must say a goodbye to Her a Grace and fetch my a bonnet and shawl."

"There is no need for you to make any farewells," the Earl replied, "and I can see a shawl on the chair by the pillar."

He pointed towards it and one of the footmen who had been staring was galvanised into picking it up and bringing it to Ula.

She put it around her shoulders and to enable her to do so, her uncle took his hand from her arm. As he did so, Ula made an effort to dash away from him and up the stairs.

He, however, had antic.i.p.ated that was what she might do and he struck her sharply across the shoulders, causing her to give a little scream of pain and to stagger.

However, she regained her balance and did not actually fall onto the floor.

Then, as the Earl took hold of her once more and, dragging her through the front door and down the steps, he almost hurled her into the travelling carriage that was waiting outside.

He paused briefly to pay the Bow Street Runner before he entered the carriage, the door was shut and the horses started off.

Ula had a quick glimpse of the servants cl.u.s.tered on the doorstep to watch her go.

But, as she sank back on the seat making herself as small as possible, she knew that she was leaving behind the place that had been a Heaven of happiness and returning, as she had told the Marquis, to what was undoubtedly h.e.l.l.

Feeling that she must make one more desperate plea, she turned to the Earl, "Please a Uncle Lionel a listen to me a I cannot a "

"Be quiet!" he thundered. "I have no wish to talk to you until we reach The Hall, when you will be punished for your appalling behaviour. After that I will tell you what I have planned for your future. Until then, be silent!"

He roared the last words at her, then putting his feet up on the seat opposite, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Ula looked at him and wondered how it was possible that anyone so cruel and callous could be her mother's brother.

Yet frightened as she was, she knew that there was nothing she could do but pray that by some miracle she would be saved. Not only from the beating that her uncle obviously intended to give her when they reached Chessington Hall, but also from the way of life that had been so unendurable that she had run away.

'Save me a Mama a save me!' she prayed fervently.

Then instead of seeing her mother's face as she usually did when she prayed, she saw the Marquis's. He had saved her once. Could he do so again?

She felt her whole being crying out to him, telling him of her plight.

Then she remembered that he would be away for the whole day, first racing and then dining with his friends.

She was certain that the party included some beautiful lady, who would amuse him so that he would never give her a thought or have any idea what was happening in his absence.

She recalled that he had said he was dining with the Cavendishes and it was then she remembered that the beautiful lady festooned with rubies he had addressed as Georgina was the wife of Lord Cavendish.

As she felt agonisingly that it would be a long time before he learned what had happened to her, she knew that she loved him.

It was not a shock, but she knew that ever since he had appeared like a Knight coming to her rescue, he had filled her dreams to the exclusion of everything else.

'Of course I love him!' she thought. 'How could I do otherwise, when he is so handsome a so magnificent and so a different from a any other man?'

Because she had been worshipping him as her saviour, she had not thought of him as being in the same category as the men who had paid her extravagant compliments or who incredibly had wanted to propose marriage.

She knew now why it had simply never occurred to her as possible that she might love them or in fact any other man. Her whole being vibrated to the Marquis and he seemed, like the sky, to overshadow everybody else until they shrank into insignificance.

'I love him! I love him!' she thought as the horses, by now on the country roads, moved more and more quickly.

'I love him a although he will never know it and no other man can ever mean anything to me, however long I may live.'

Suddenly the idea came to her that if she had to escape again from the intolerable treatment she would receive at Chessington Hall and doubtless worse than it had been before, the only thing she could do would be to die.

'Then I will be with Mama and Papa,' she told herself.

But she now knew that she would be reluctant to leave the world behind because the Marquis was in it.

It took them nearly two hours to reach Chessington Hall and all the time she forced herself to think only of the Marquis. Somehow it gave her the courage to step out of the carriage after her uncle with her chin held high.

She saw that the servants whom she had come to know so well were staring at her as she walked up the steps looking very different from the way they had last seen her.

"Good day, my Lord!" Newman the butler intoned respectfully as the Earl strode into the hall and one of the footmen took his hat.

There was no reply from the Earl and Newman smiled at Ula as he said, "Nice to see you again, miss!"

She gave him a piteous glance and before she could speak the Earl roared, "You will come with me, Ula!"

He walked, as he spoke, towards his study and she knew with a sudden constriction of her heart that he was going to beat her with the long thin riding whip which cut the delicate skin of her body like a knife.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to run away, but because she knew it was useless and at the same time she wanted to behave with the courage the Marquis would expect her to show, she just followed her uncle.

He walked into the large study where he habitually sat, its dark velvet curtains seeming to exclude the sunlight even when they were drawn back.

He stood in front of the mantelpiece as Ula hovered just inside the door, as if waiting for his command.

"Now that I have brought you back to where you belong," he said, speaking as if he were addressing a large audience, "I will tell you what I have planned for you, after you have been punished for running away and putting me to a great deal of trouble."

"I-I am sorry to a upset you a Uncle Lionel," Ula said, "but I was so a unhappy that I could not a bear it any longer."

"What do you mean, unhappy?" the Earl roared. "And why should you expect happiness? You, an orphan whom I was charitable enough to take into my house when you were left homeless and penniless by your ne'er-do-well father!"

It was the kind of abuse which Ula had had to endure for a year, but she merely drew in her breath and forced herself not to reply.

"After which you have the effrontery," the Earl raged on, "to revive the old scandal that I hoped had been forgotten of your mother's appalling behaviour in running away and disgracing the whole family."

His voice rose as he screamed, "You are no better than she was, and yet despite your ingrat.i.tude, I have, and it is a great deal more than you deserve, arranged your marriage, which will take place immediately."

Ula stared at her uncle in sheer astonishment.

"Arranged a my marriage a Uncle Lionel?"

"G.o.d knows why anyone should want to marry you!" the Earl declared. "But I am thankful, indeed very grateful, that you will be off my hands and, which pleases me even more, out of this country, so I need never see you again."

"I-I don't a understand," Ula stammered.

"Then let me tell you of your good fortune," her uncle replied. "His Highness Prince Hasin of Kubaric has asked for your hand in marriage!"

Ula gave a scream that seemed to echo around the walls of the study.

"Prince Hasin?" she gasped. "It cannot be true a and I will not marry him a nothing in the world would make me a marry him!"

She moved towards her uncle as she spoke, saying, "He is horrible a repulsive a and I would rather die a than be his a wife!"

"How dare you speak to me like that!" the Earl roared. "You should go down on your knees and thank G.o.d that any man, considering your background, would marry you!"

"I will not do it a I will not!" Ula cried. "I hate him a you understand? He is a loathsome!"

She thought that her uncle would now shout at her louder than he had already. Instead, he reached out and hit her hard on the side of the head.

She was not expecting it and she fell down, b.u.mping her head as she did so against the leg of the chair.

For the moment there was nothing but darkness.

Ula slowly came back to consciousness to hear Sarah's voice, "What has happened, Papa? I see you have brought Ula back, but why is she lying on the floor?"

"I suppose she has fainted," the Earl admitted grudgingly. "I will bring her round."

Ula heard him walk across the room and knew he was going to the grog tray that stood in one corner.

"She looks very pale," Sarah remarked.

"I will pour this water over her," the Earl said. "She will soon come round."

Sarah gave a shriek.

"No, Papa, no! You will spoil her gown and, as it is far smarter than anything I own and far more expensive, I want it for myself. I am sure it will only need lengthening."

Ula did not move. She was feeling weak and her head ached and she had no wish to face her uncle or Sarah.

She heard her uncle put down the jug of water on a side table before he said, "d.a.m.n the girl! She is nothing but a nuisance!"

"I hope, Papa, you are going to beat her for the way she has behaved," Sarah said in a spiteful voice.

"I have every intention of doing so," the Earl replied, "but the Prince will be here with the Special Licence he is obtaining from the Archbishop of Canterbury."

"I don't think it right that Ula should be a Princess," Sarah complained.

"She can call herself anything she likes as long as she stays in Kubaric," the Earl said. "I don't expect she will much enjoy herself there with three other wives waiting to scratch her eyes out!"

Ula drew in her breath and realised in horror that what he had just said implied that the Prince was a Muslim.

In which case he was ent.i.tled to four wives and she would only be one of them.

For a moment she could hardly believe that any man could call himself a Christian and at the same time consign her to such a fate.

Then she knew that the Earl would accept anything or anybody so long as she was taken away from England and out of his sight.

Almost as if what she was thinking gave Sarah the same idea, her cousin said, "Well, we need not worry about her once she is gone. Did you see the Marquis when you collected her from his house?"

"No, of course not," the Earl replied. "I knew that Raventhorpe was at Epsom, where he has several horses running."

"That was clever of you, Papa, and, if the Prince marries Ula tomorrow morning, it will then be too late for him to interfere."

"Do you really think he will try to do that?" the Earl asked.

"He has set her up as a beauty only because he is angry with me," Sarah replied. "Once she is out of the way I will get him back."

"I hope you are right," the Earl said dryly. "You cannot 'play fast and loose' with a man like Raventhorpe."

Sarah was not listening.

"I want that gown, Papa," she said.

Ula was aware that Sarah was looking down at her.