"I'd best go now, miss, in case 'is Lordship sees me."

Amy smiled at her, slipped out of the room and turned the key in the lock.

Ula sat gazing at the closed door.

Then she had an idea.

chapter six.

It was after half past eight when Amy came back with Ula's dinner.

By this time she was really hungry, despite the fact that she was so frightened that she thought the food might choke her.

But then she had eaten nothing since breakfast in London.

She lay in the dark thinking about the Marquis and, when Amy came in to light the candles and pull the curtains, she felt almost as if he was inspiring her to find a way of salvation.

The plate of fish that Amy had brought upstairs was delicious and she watched with satisfaction as Ula ate nearly all of it.

Then, when she had drunk a little of the cocoa, Ula said, "I am going to ask you to help me, Amy."

"You knows I'd do anythin' you ask me, miss, but I can't let you escape and your room with your clothes in it 'as been locked and 'is Lordship asked for the key."

Ula reflected that her uncle was taking every precaution to prevent her from escaping.

Then she said, "Sit down, Amy, and I will tell you my idea."

A little apprehensively Amy sat down on the edge of a chair, looking at Ula with worried eyes.

"I have to get away from here," Ula began. "If I cannot escape, then I shall have to kill myself and that is not an idle threat."

"You can't do that, miss, it'd be real wicked!"

"I know, Amy, and my father would be very upset if he knew. At the same time I cannot marry Prince Hasin."

Even to think of him made her tremble, but she forced herself to go on, "What I want you to do, Amy, if you are brave enough, is to come back here when the others have gone to bed and say, if anybody asks you, that you had forgotten to collect my tray."

She saw Amy was listening, so she continued, "Your story tomorrow will be that I overpowered you, tied you up and escaped before you could prevent me or call for help."

She looked at Amy, who was staring at her wide-eyed as she went on, "One thing I promise, that if my uncle does turn you out, which I think in the circ.u.mstances will be unlikely, you can go to the d.u.c.h.ess of Wrexham or to the Marquis of Raventhorpe and I am certain because they are fond of me that they will give you a position the same as you have here."

"You're sure of that, miss?"

"Quite sure," Ula replied. "Frankly, my only alternative would be to throw myself out of the window, but I don't think I would be killed, only maimed, perhaps for life."

Amy gave a cry of horror.

"I can't let you do that, can I? But, miss, I'm afeared for you and for meself."

"I know, Amy, that I am asking a great deal of you," Ula answered, "but you are literally the only person I can turn to for help."

Her voice was pleading and after a moment, as if she could not help herself, Amy said, "I'll 'elp you, miss. It ain't right you should be treated that badly by 'is Lordship."

"Thank you, Amy. There is nothing I can give you to show how grateful I am, but I feel that one day you will be rewarded for being so brave."

"It'll be in 'eaven, if his Lordship guesses the truth!" Amy replied with a flash of humour.

"If you are clever, his Lordship will think that I overpowered you when you least expected it. After all, you are not very big, and he would believe anything of me as long as it was bad enough."

There was a little pause and then Amy enquired, "Will you tell me, miss, what you wants me to do?"

"I want you to come up before his Lordship goes to bed, but when it is late enough for the other servants not to notice you have disappeared."

"I understands, miss. I'd better go now."

She stood nervously looking over her shoulder as if she half-suspected that somebody was listening to their conversation.

She peeped out of the door and then hurried away, locking Ula in as she had before.

It was an hour and a half before she returned and, as she turned the key, Ula, watching the door, was apprehensive in case instead of Amy it would be her uncle.

But Amy came in quickly and closed the door behind her, saying as she did so, "I tells 'em down below I were a-goin' to bed and they paid no attention."

"Where is his Lordship?" Ula asked.

"Sittin' in the study and Mr. Newman said he were 'drunk as a Lord' afore he leaves the dinin' room."

Ula thought that was encouraging and Amy went on, "Mr. Newman says Lady Sarah were goin' on at 'im to beat you as 'e says 'e would, but 'e tells 'er you 'ad to be well enough to be married as soon as the Prince arrives."

Ula did not wish to hear any more.

"Now, listen, Amy, I want you to lie down on the bed as you will be tomorrow morning when they find you."

Amy did as was suggested and raised her head so that Ula could tie a napkin, which had come up with her dinner over her mouth and knot it at the back.

Then she pulled it down onto her neck and said, "It will not be uncomfortable, for you need not adjust it until just when you think you might be discovered and are shouting for help."

"When'll that be, miss?"

"As late as you can. The longer they a.s.sume I am here and not you, the more chance I have of getting away."

Amy seemed to understand this and then Ula showed her how to tie her ankles together with the silk cord which had held back the long curtains over the window.

"You can put that on easily," she said, "but now, this is the one difficult part."

She had taken a soft linen face towel from the wash basin and twisted it so that it made two holes into which Amy could easily slip her hands.

Then, when she pulled her hands apart, the knots tightened so that it appeared as if she could not move.

"If you put your hands close together," Ula explained, "you can easily release yourself so as to be able to tie your legs and put what is meant to be a gag over your mouth."

She went on speaking slowly so that Amy would understand.

"Then, at the last moment, you slip your hands into the towel and lie down, saying that you have been in that position all night."

She did not say so to Amy, but she thought that when it was discovered that she had run away, there would be so much consternation over her disappearance that they would pay no particular attention to the way in which the maid was tied up.

Ula made Amy rehea.r.s.e what she must do several times before she was quite certain she understood.

Then she said, "Now I am going to leave, but, Amy, I shall take the key so that when they hear you screaming, they will have to break down the door."

"'Is Lordship said as 'ow he wanted the key with 'im tonight," Amy replied.

"When he finds it's not there, he will think you have gone to bed and taken it with you and if, as Newman says, he has drunk a great deal of claret and port, he will not worry about it until the morning."

She had known for some time that the Earl was accustomed to drink heavily when he was worried about anything or was angry.

In fact always before he beat her she knew that he had drunk several gla.s.ses of wine or brandy. This inflamed his feelings so that she thought he was often more brutal than he really intended to be.

Before Amy came back, Ula had put on her dressing gown which was made of very pale blue wool.

It b.u.t.toned down the front and had a small collar edged with narrow lace.

Her mother had made it for her many years ago and, although it still fitted her, it was rather short.

But she had nothing else to wear and she was only thankful that, when the housemaids had fetched her nightgown from her bedroom, they had brought down her bedroom slippers as well.

"I am going now, Amy," she said to the maid, who was watching her with frightened eyes. "Pray as you have never prayed before that I may get away and thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me."

She kissed Amy gently as she spoke.

Then she opened the door and, going out into the pa.s.sage, turned the key in the lock and started to hurry towards the backstairs.

By this time the maidservants, who all had to rise early, would have retired to the top floor, where they slept in small low-ceilinged rooms.

The menservants slept downstairs and she knew they const.i.tuted a danger.

But there was no sound coming from the pantry as she neared the bottom of the stairs and she had no intention of using the back door, but the one that led into the garden.

It was locked and bolted for the night and she opened it as silently as she could, then stepped out into the fresh air.

The sun had sunk, darkness had come and the stars were still coming out in the sky while the moon which was only half full had just begun to rise above the trees.

Even without its light Ula could have found her way through the gardens and down into the Park.

She was wise enough not to run, but moved slowly, keeping in the shadows of the bushes, since because she was wearing a pale colour it would have been easy for anyone to see her.

Only when she was in the Park was she out of sight of the house and ran quickly into a small wood which led to open fields on the other side of it.

She realised that she must put the longest distance possible between herself and the hall before grooms on horseback would be sent out to look for her as soon as it was discovered that she had escaped.

There was also still the danger that the Earl might sense that something was wrong and insist on Amy being wakened so that he could have the key of the oak room door returned.

If Amy was found to be missing, he would certainly be suspicious and the chase would begin, however late it might be.

'Help me, Papa a please a help me!' Ula prayed as she crossed the fields, walked through small copses of trees and found her soft bedroom slippers of very inadequate protection for her bare feet.

The moonlight grew brighter and now, even though it was easier to see her way, she was still terribly afraid of being noticed.

She tried to keep to the woods, of which there were many, but the pine needles and the rough paths made it painful and difficult to hurry.

It was really easier in the fields.

Then at last, when she knew she had come a long way and was feeling very tired, she saw ahead of her a light, which she could not understand.

It was in the middle of a wood through which it was difficult to move swiftly because of the dense undergrowth.

She thought perhaps it was a fire that had been lit by some woodcutters, in which case she must avoid them. They would certainly think it very strange for a young woman to be roaming about alone late at night.

Then, as she moved a little nearer, she saw with a leap of her heart that it was not woodcutters who were in the open clearing but gypsies.

There were four painted caravans and seated around the fire were the dark-haired gypsy men and their brightly dressed women.

Without hesitating Ula moved towards them.

A man noticed her first and gave an exclamation. Then all the gypsies turned to stare at her with their dark and, she felt, hostile eyes.

She went on until she stood beside them, before she said in Romany, "Good evening, my friends!"

Now they looked at her in astonishment and a man said, "Who are you and how do you speak our language?"

"I am your blood sister," Ula said and she held out her wrist on which there was a small white scar.

One of the gypsies, who was a tall man, rose to his feet and she guessed that he was the leader or father of the family.

He looked at Ula's wrist, then he spoke quickly in Romany to the others. Ula knew that he was telling them that what she said was true, she had exchanged her blood with a gypsy and was, therefore, as she had claimed, their sister.

Every year a tribe of gypsies had camped in a field next to the Vicarage when they came to Worcestershire for the plum picking.

Her father's Parish was in the very heart of the plum picking district and Ula had known and talked to the gypsies ever since she was a small child.