CHAPTER ONE - 1859-1
2015 Words
CHAPTER ONE
-
1859Lord Waincliffe took his horse at a very high jump.
He was delighted when Starlight cleared it without any difficulty.
At the same time, when Starlight threw his head up, pleased as he was at his prowess, Lord Waincliffe saw that the bridle was almost broken in one place.
Knowing it would be dangerous to ride such a high-spirited animal if the bridle broke, he looked for help.
To his relief he could see just ahead of him a pretty house and then he remembered it had been let by his father on a very long lease to a University Professor, whose name was Peter Stourton.
He rode carefully towards the house.
As he drew near, he saw that on the lawn in front of it there was a girl bathing a small dog.
Believing that it would be risky to continue riding in case the bridle broke completely, he called out,
“Excuse me, but can you possibly help me?”
The girl then looked up, smiled and walked towards him.
“Good morning, my Lord, I saw you go by just now and thought what a splendid horse you were riding.”
“You are Rosetta Stourton, are you not?”
“Yes, I am Rosetta, my Lord.”
“Starlight has just taken the highest jump I could find for him, but unfortunately his bridle looks likely to break at any minute and I will then have very little control over him.”
The girl gave a cry.
“I will go and find what you need, my Lord, and I should stay where you are, mounted on him, otherwise he might become restless and break the bridle completely.”
“That is just what I thought myself and thank you very much,” replied Lord Waincliffe.
The girl ran into the house and he patted Starlight to keep him calm and quiet until she returned.
She was even quicker than he expected and came running out with some special tape he recognised at once as being sticky on one side – he had used it himself on fishing rods.
She seemed breathless when she reached him and he stretched out to take it from her, saying,
“Thank you very much, I am most grateful.”
“Let me help you, my Lord, I can do it more easily standing here than you could sitting on the saddle.”
She wound the tape round the bridle and then cut it with a pair of scissors she had brought with her.
“I’m sorry to have interrupted you when you are so busy,” he murmured politely. “I hope your dog will not dirty himself again while you are attending to me.”
“I don’t think he has wandered far away.”
Then she stood back and added,
“I’m sure this will hold firm at least until you reach home.”
Lord Waincliffe looked at her.
He thought that she was exceedingly pretty and she reminded him of someone.
Then he was aware that she was very much like his sister Dolina and in fact, there was a remarkable likeness and he reflected that if they were side by side it would be difficult to know which was which.
“I am extremely grateful to you, Miss Stourton,” he said aloud. “I hope your father is well.”
“He finds it extremely annoying that his eyesight is failing. Although I read to him as much as I can, he prefers to ‘explore a book’ as he calls it, himself.”
Lord Waincliffe laughed.
“I know exactly what he means. You must tell him how sorry I am that he has this affliction, which affects so many older people. I shall doubtless suffer from it myself when I am his age.”
“Papa is wonderful in other ways. He can garden, which he loves, and exercise our dogs in your beautiful woods.”
Lord Waincliffe hesitated before he exclaimed,
“Please keep them under control! You know I shall want to enjoy my shooting in the autumn.”
“I promise you they behave very well, my Lord. They are model dogs and other people could learn a great deal from them if they could see how obedient they are.”
“Thank you again and I will now take Starlight home without being afraid I might lose control of him.”
“He is a beautiful horse,” she sighed, as she patted him. “I am not at all surprised that you are proud of his appearance apart from his skill.”
“I think he will be the best jumper I have ever had.”
Lod Waincliffe raised his hat.
Then, as he rode off on Starlight, he was thinking how extremely pretty Professor Stourton’s daughter was.
It was strange that she should be so like his sister.
He rode towards his house, which had been in the Waincliffe family for generations.
He was thinking, as he had so often thought before, how much needed doing to it. Yet it was impossible for him and his brother to find any money to spend on it.
The sun was shimmering on the windows and it made the pink of the Elizabethan bricks of its façade look even more attractive than usual.
‘I do love my home,’ Lord Waincliffe mused, as he drew nearer.
He hoped as he had hoped a thousand times already that the scheme he and his brother were currently planning would materialise.
When he reached the stables, the old groom came hurrying towards him.
“Did you ’ave a good ride, my Lord?” he asked.
“Splendid! Starlight jumped even better than I ever anticipated, Brown. But then he nearly broke his bridle.
“There now, I shouldn’t ’ave given you that ’un. I noticed yesterday it were crackin’, so to speak, and now I see you’ve ’ad to bind it up.”
“I asked Professor Stourton’s daughter to do it for me, but I hope you will be able to mend it properly.”
“There be a saddle-maker in the next village. I’ll take it to ’im, but ’e be gettin’ a bit older and it takes ’im longer than it used to.”
Lord Waincliffe did not answer Brown.
He dismounted and after patting Starlight, he turned and walked towards the house.
He was thinking that there were so many things in the stables in urgent need of repair and indeed several of the mangers needed completely replacing.
‘It’s all a question of money,’ he told himself, ‘but I am sure that, if only the Marquis will collaborate with us, we shall make a fortune from the Racecourse.’
He walked in through the front door.
Because he was economising, there was not the liveried footman there used to be in the hall to take his hat and whip.
He threw them down on a chair and went into the study. It was a most comfortable and cosy room where his brother and sister sat unless they had visitors.
There were some fine pictures on the walls, but the sofa and armchairs needed recovering and the curtains over the windows were deeply faded.
As Lord Waincliffe entered the study, his brother, Henry looked up from the writing table.
“Oh, you are back, Gordon! How did you get on?”
“Starlight went like a dream,” his brother answered, “but I nearly had an accident as his bridle was on the point of breaking.”
“That was dangerous,” remarked Henry.
“It could well have been, but I stopped at Professor Stourton’s house and his daughter, Rosetta, kindly stuck it together for me so that I could ride home safely.”
“I suppose it will have to be repaired, but I am certain that saddler in the next village overcharges us.”
“I’d expect he is in need of money as much as we are,” Lord Waincliffe replied. “But the Marquis is coming this evening and I am just keeping my fingers crossed.”
“So am I,” said Henry. “But if he refuses to help with the Racecourse, what shall we do, Gordon?”
“I will face that jump when I come to it, but at the moment I am exhausted and very thirsty. Is there anything to drink in the house?”
“There is always water,” Henry said mischievously, “and, of course beer, which the servants always drink as their right.”
His brother made a grimace.
“What I would really like,” he muttered, “is a glass of champagne.”
Henry laughed.
“‘If wishes were horses then beggars might ride!’ You know as well as I do the cellar is empty.”
“When I think how full it was in our grandfather’s day, I feel like crying.”
“I daresay cook has a lemon in the kitchen. Shall I tell her to make you some lemonade?”
“Don’t bother,” his brother answered, “I will wait until luncheon. I think her lemonade is rather nasty.”
“Just as you please,” Henry replied. “But we will need to have something for the Marquis when he arrives tonight.”
“Yes, of course, and indeed I have thought of that already. I have bought some bottles of champagne and an excellent white wine. And I have purchased a bottle of the same whisky I saw him drinking the other day.”
“Well, let’s hope he is satisfied with that,” Henry sighed.
He walked from the writing table across the room to stand in front of the fireplace.
As it was summer there was no fire and his sister had therefore put a pot of geraniums in the fireplace and they gave a touch of colour to the room.
Because the Marquis was coming to dinner tonight, Dolina had arranged flowers in front of the windows.
There was no point in opening the drawing room for just one guest.
Besides the designs for the Racecourse the brothers hoped to build were in the study laid out on a table against one of the walls.
Gordon was thinking he would have another look at them when the door opened.
His sister came in.
Dolina was very beautiful and had been acclaimed in London as one of the beauties of the Season.
That had happened last year when she had been presented at Court and this year they had not been able to afford to open the London house.
As Dolina entered, the two brothers looked at her in surprise.
She was dressed in one of her smartest dresses and there was a blue driving cape over her shoulders. On her head was an elaborate hat trimmed with feathers.
“Where are you going?” Gordon asked. “As you are dressed up to the nines, it must be somewhere grand.”
“I am going to London,” replied Dolina.
“London!” Henry echoed. “But you cannot leave us. You know that the Marquis is coming here tonight.”
“I really cannot help that. I have been invited by the Countess of Leamington to a big dinner party tonight and a ball at the Duchess of Devonshire’s afterwards.”
“You realise as well as I do,” Gordon interposed, “that it all depends on you whether the Marquis will help us with the Racecourse or not. You know only too well that he likes pretty women.”
“I have heard more than enough about that tiresome roué. He would not look at me when I was a debutante and it’s very doubtful if he will do so now. What he likes are married women with complacent husbands!”
She spoke scornfully, but Henry asserted,
“Do be sensible, Dolina. We are relying on you to amuse the Marquis and make him happy to be here. No one knows better than you do that we don’t have enough money to buy ourselves a donkey, let alone new horses and build a Racecourse.”
“I know. You have not talked of anything else for the last two months, but I am not going to miss this ball.”
She tossed her head, then added in a defiant tone,
“Besides there will be someone there tonight I am very interested to see again. And he is definitely not like that tiresome Marquis and his reputation with women.”
“Please listen to me – ” Gordon began.
But his sister gave a little cry.
“I think I can hear the carriage. They told me they would pick me up at twelve o’clock and we are having luncheon with friends on the way.”
She walked defiantly towards the door, saying,
“Goodbye boys. I wish you good luck with your Marquis, but I will be dancing, I expect, with someone far more enchanting.”
She then pulled open the door before either of her brothers could move and they heard her running down the passage towards the hall.
For a brief moment, Gordon considered going after her to beg her again to stay with them.
But he knew it was hopeless.
Even as he hesitated, he could now hear a carriage moving away.
Now he thought about it, he remembered that when he came in he had seen a trunk in the hall, but he had not paid any attention.
With her, he then told himself dismally, went their chance of the Marquis helping them.
The Marquis of Millbrook had indeed, as Dolina had indicated, a very bad reputation.
He was tall, dark and handsome and had come into his title when he was only twenty-two.
- Writer
