The Race for Love

Chapter One ~ 1885-2

It looked very different on Alita from the shapeless ugly gown that she had worn for breakfast.

She did not stop to look at herself in the mirror, but, having put on her riding boots, she picked up her thin whip and once again ran down the corridor.

This time she took a back staircase that led her to the part of The Castle that was nearest to the stables.

It was a crisp autumn day, the leaves were still not off the trees and the gardens contained a few late roses.

But Alita noticed nothing on her way to the stables, as she was deep in thought about the horses she loved.

She spent every moment of her time with them, when her aunt did not demand that she perform a number of household duties, which she found extremely tedious.

“Sam! Sam!” she called.

An old groom came from one of the stable doors.

“What do you think His Grace has just told me, Sam?” Alita said in a lilting voice that she never used when she spoke to her relatives.

“I’ve no idea, Miss Alita!” Sam replied. “But it seems to ’ave pleased you.”

“Marshfield House has been sold!”

“I ’ears that!” Sam replied.

“You never told me!”

“I only ’ears it last night, miss, down at The Green Duck. They was a-sayin’ as the new owner be a Amer-a-cane.”

Sam pronounced the word in a funny way and Alita laughed as she said,

“He is a very rich one, Sam, and His Grace wants to sell him our horses. That means that, if we can get a good price for them, we will be able to buy in new bloodstock and perhaps purchase some outstanding mares.”

“I ’opes as ’ow you’re right, miss,” Sam said and his tone of voice sounded as if he doubted that such good fortune would come their way.

“Mr. Wilbur will be coming over any day,” Alita said, “so we must make the horses look really impressive.”

She paused before adding,

“I wonder if he knows anything about horses. I believe some Americans out in the West are good riders, but from what His Grace said about Mr. Wilbur, he sounds as if he is a businessman from New York.”

“I thinks it’s unlikely as ’e’ll know one end of an ’orse from t’other!” Sam snapped.

“Which means that he will have no idea what they are worth,” Alita observed.

She glanced at the old groom and her eyes were shining.

“Come on, Sam! Let’s go to work. If he is sufficiently dazzled by them, we ought to be able to get a good many of his dollars for them before he realises what has happened.”

She did not wait for Sam to reply, but hurried into the first stall that was open.

The stables at Langstone Castle had been built by the previous Duke, who had squandered a great deal of the family fortune on his horses.

His son, the present Duke, complained bitterly that, if his father had spent the same sum in buying pictures or furniture, there would have been heirlooms to hand down to the next owner of The Castle, instead of horses, which lost their value all too quickly.

It was in his favour that the Duke, while trying to keep up appearances, was deeply concerned that his son Gerald would eventually inherit less than he had himself.

Her cousin Gerald, who was a Marquis, was presently in India, and Alita often told herself stories in which he accumulated a great deal of money there, as other people had done.

When he came home, he could then spend it on filling the enormous stables with thoroughbreds and then watch his horses carry the family colours in the Classic races.

But when Gerald was away there was really no one but herself to be interested in the horses they had bred.

When her uncle was in a disagreeable mood, Alita was aware, he grudged every penny that she and Sam must spend in keeping the stable fit and healthy if nothing more.

As she entered the long building, she thought with satisfaction that they in fact owned some magnificent animals to show to Mr. Wilbur or to anyone else who might be interested.

Sam was, of course, extremely short-handed and, if Alita had not worked as hard if not harder than any stable boy, it would have been impossible for them to keep as many horses as they had at the moment.

The Duchess took it for granted that there would always be carriage horses to carry her anywhere she wished to go in the County.

The animals were also taken to London for the Season to convey her and Hermione to Ranelagh and Hurlingham and to stand for hours waiting for them at night when they were attending some grand ball.

The Duke had found that riding increased the pain he suffered from rheumatism and he had therefore left the hunting to Hermione and Alita.

Alita was well aware that she would not have been allowed to hunt even with an unfashionable pack if she had not been breaking in the horses that the Duke sold at a large profit as soon as she had brought them to the peak of perfection.

She had a perfect seat on a horse, light hands and remarkable expertise in training difficult animals.

It was a talent that the Duchess looked on as regrettable in a young woman.

But the Duke, who realised Alita’s worth, turned a deaf ear to his wife’s suggestion that she could be better employed sewing and running errands for her in The Castle.

“His Grace will be coming here within an hour, Sam, to discuss the prices we should ask. He wanted to talk it over with Mr. Bates!”

Sam chuckled.

“Ain’t no use ’Is Grace askin’ ’im!”

“That is what I told him,” Alita replied.

They both knew that Mr. Bates, the Agent, who had been at The Castle for over thirty years had long since given up interfering with anything to do with the stables.

He knew that Alita could better him in any argument about horses and, as he was growing old and tired, he was only too grateful that one burden at any rate had been lifted from his shoulders.

“I suppose that Double Star will be the American’s first choice,” Alita said as if she was talking to herself.

“Or Red Trump,” Sam interjected.

“They are neither of them as good jumpers as King Hal,” Alita remarked, “but for all we know he may be a gap-seeker!”

They both laughed, despising with the arrogance of experienced equestrians those who waited for a gate to be opened or looked for a gap in a fence.

When the Duke arrived in the stables, it was to find Alita brushing down a horse and whistling as she did so in exactly the same manner as Sam was doing.

He frowned for a moment as he watched her, knowing that it was not the behaviour that was to be expected from a young lady.

Then he told himself that, as his wife had often said, Alita did not really come into that category.

It was, of course, through no fault of her own. At the same time nothing could be done about it and, as long as she was useful to him, it was really of no consequence how she behaved.

He must have stood watching her for a few seconds before Alita, who had been concentrating fiercely on what she was doing, looked up and saw him.

“Hello, Uncle Lionel!” she exclaimed. “I want you to look at Double Star. I think with a bit of luck we might get nearly five hundred guineas for him!”

“Make it a thousand!” the Duke responded.

“A thousand?”

The Duke smiled.

“Mr. Wilbur can afford it.”

“Yes, of course,” Alita agreed. “At the same time – ”

She stopped what she was saying and grinned at her uncle.

“Are you suggesting, Uncle Lionel, that we should sting him for everything we can get?”

‘“Those are not exactly the words I would have used,” the Duke said reprovingly. “I cannot think what your aunt would say if she heard you talking in such a manner. But briefly, the answer is ‘yes’.”

Alita gave a little laugh.

When she and her uncle were alone together, he forgot to be stiff and pompous and they talked without restriction, as if they were contemporaries.

“Very well, Uncle Lionel,” she said. “I will do my best.”

A quick frown came between the Duke’s eyes.

“You suggest that you should negotiate with Wilbur yourself?”

Alita made a little gesture that was very eloquent, despite the fact that the brush was still in her hand.

“Who else?” she asked. “You know that old Sam would ramble on and never get to the point and Mr. Bates would be far too honest to ask anything but the ‘going price’.”

“Very well,” the Duke agreed, “you shall talk to him.”

“It will all be strictly business,” Alita promised, “and, of course, he will not be aware that I am your niece.”

“You are my brother’s child,” the Duke said heavily, “and nothing can alter that. There will be no question of this man being inquisitive about you, but, much as I regret it, you had better call yourself by another name.”

Alita realised that she had touched some pride in her uncle which she had suspected but had not actually known existed.

“Thank you, Uncle Lionel,” she said softly. “I will be ‘Miss Blair’, as I have been on other occasions.”

Then in a different tone of voice she went on,

“Have a look at the others. It is a long time since you have seen them all together. I feel certain that you will notice an improvement in their condition.”

As the Duke walked from stall to stall, he knew that Alita was right and there was a distinct improvement.

He was honest enough to admit that to have raged at her for spending so much money, and sometimes to have categorically refused to spend more had been a mistake.

She had always argued that, as they had the stables and as they also had the progeny from the original bloodstock on which the last Duke had spent a fortune, it was a mistake to waste it.

Now he was seeing that she had been right and the results justified the expenditure even though he had often doubted it.

As they walked on, the Duke noted that, although the stables were spotlessly clean and the horses comfortable, the cloths they wore were tattered and worn and the walls needed a fresh coat of whitewash.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Alita said,

“I have been meaning to do some decorating, but I just have not had the time.”

The Duke put his hand on her shoulder.

“You have done more than anyone else could have done in the circumstances, my dear, and I am grateful. If you manage to bring off some good sales, I will see that you have a new gown as a reward.”

“And when would I wear it?” Alita enquired.

There was a sudden silence and then the Duke’s pressure on her shoulder increased and he turned away with a sigh.

‘Why am I so foolish?’ Alita silently asked herself when he had gone back to the house. ‘He was trying to be kind. I should have accepted the gown and worn it to show the horses!’

She smiled at the thought, but there was a bitterness in the twist of her lips and in the expression in her eyes.

A moment later she was laughing and joking with Sam and then giving instructions to the three half-witted stable boys who were all the help they could afford.

*

Clint Wilbur, riding over his newly acquired Parkland, appreciating the age of the great oaks and the beauty of the deer that scurried away at his approach, had a sudden idea.

He knew that tonight he was to dine with the Duke of Langstone, whose estate marched with his own.

The Duke had spoken of his horses and Clint Wilbur had decided that it might be a good idea to have a look at them before they discussed the possibility of any purchase, perhaps after dinner.

Clint Wilbur was well aware that there were always people in the world who tried to extract money from him by one means or another.

He was surprised to find that the English lived up to their reputation as shopkeepers and were willing to conduct a sale at any moment of the day or night!