Enchanted

CHAPTER ONE ~ 1870-1

CHAPTER ONE ~ 1870As the door of the library opened, Lady Elfa Allerton immediately lay down on the floor of the balcony.

The library in the Duke of Northallerton’s house was one of its outstanding features and every visitor exclaimed over its imposing proportions and the intricate brass balcony that ran round two walls and was reached by a spiral brass steps.

The bottom part of the balcony rail was of such a close design of flowers and leaves that when Lady Elf lay down it was impossible for her to be seen by anybody in the room below.

Silently pushing her book in front of her she went on reading, hoping that whoever was below would soon go away.

She suspected that it was her mother and she knew only too well that if she was seen she would immediately be sent into the garden on some errand or to work amongst the flowers.

The Duchess of Northallerton was obsessed by her garden and she could not understand why her children found it boring to cut off dead heads, to plant new acquisitions from various parts of the country or worse still to weed the flower beds.

She had long been convinced that her second daughter, Elfa; spent far too much time reading, which resulted in her head being in the clouds and her living as the Duchess often said to whoever would listen in ‘a dream world of her own’.

Elfa very gently turned over a page and concentrating on what she was reading, which she found of absorbing interest.

She started when she heard her father’s voice saying sharply,

“So here you are, Elizabeth. I have been looking for you everywhere. I expected you to be in the garden.”

“I was looking up how to spell the Latin name for the new azalea that has just arrived,” the Duchess replied. “You must come and see it, Arthur. It is a very rare species and I am so excited that it has travelled so well.”

“I have something to tell you, Elizabeth,” the Duke said, “that is far more exciting than a new azalea or any of the rest of your plants.”

“What has happened?” the Duchess asked a little apprehensively.

She was aware that her stolid rather prosaic husband was rarely excited about anything and it was certainly unusual for it to sound in his voice.

“I have settled the question of Magnus Croft once and for all,” the Duke declared.

“Magnus Croft?” the Duchess repeated.

“Don’t be so stupid, Elizabeth! You know just as well as I do that I am referring to the ten thousand acres of land that has been a bone of contention between us and Lynchester for the last twenty years.”

“Oh – that!” the Duchess exclaimed.

“Yes, that!” the Duke said positively, “and I think that nobody except myself could have thought of such an excellent and amicable compromise.”

Elfa was listening now because she knew even better than her mother how this dispute over the ownership of Magnus Croft had engendered such a feud between two Ducal houses.

While it had amused the County, it had resulted in a bitterness that had prevented the two Dukes from enjoying each other’s company.

That the two largest and most important landlords in the whole neighbourhood should be engaged in a violent squabble had not only been the subject of endless gossip but it had even resulted in references being made to it in the newspapers.

The latest had just infuriated the Duke of Northallerton who had a contempt for what he termed ‘the gutter press’ and thought that the only justification for any decent Nobleman to appear in print was on the occasions of his birth and his death.

Because of the enmity in the district known as ‘the Dukery’, Elfa and her sister Caroline had suffered in that they were never invited to any of the parties that took place in Chester Hall, the residence of the Duke of Lynchester.

This had not worried them when they were children for there were a great many other neighbours who were glad to entertain them.

But now that Caroline was grown up and Elfa was to make her debut this year, it was infuriating to know that the new Duke, who had inherited two years ago, gave large parties of every sort and description from which they were always excluded.

“You would not enjoy the parties anyway,” the Duchess had said positively when they complained to their mother. “The Duke’s friends are very much older and more sophisticated than you are and you would feel out of place amongst them.”

The way she spoke in a somewhat repressed manner told Elfa at once that her mother disapproved of the Duke’s friends.

Yet she could not help thinking that they would be more amusing and more interesting than the elderly hunting Squires and County dignitaries who were often at Allerton Towers.

Although Caroline had now ceased to be interested in the Duke, Elfa used to see him occasionally in the distance when she was out hunting and thought that he looked exactly as a Duke should.

She was therefore listening intently as her mother asked,

“What have you done about the land, Arthur? I am tired of hearing about it and I should have thought the most sensible thing would be for you and the Duke of Lynchester to divide it between you.”

“You never listen to anything I say, Elizabeth!” her husband roared. “If I have told you once, I have told you over and over again that, when the late Duke suggested it to my father, he categorically refused to even consider such an idea. He said that the land was his and he was damned if he would give it up even if he was down to his last penny piece!”

The Duchess sighed.

“I had forgotten that, Arthur.”

“Well, you must remember arguments about it. Lynchester always insinuated that my father won it off him at cards when he was too drunk to know what he was doing. All I can say is that, if a man gambles when he is in that condition, he deserves all he gets!”

The Duchess sighed again.

She had heard all this dozens of times before. In fact she could not remember any time during her marriage when the subject of the land that lay between the two Ducal estates had not somehow crept into the conversation.

The whole problem was that the ten thousand acres of Magnus Croft had been some of the best shooting land on the Lynchester Estate and its woods held more pheasants than any of the Allerton coverts.

She knew now she thought of it that the present Duke had started as soon as he inherited to try to persuade her husband to allow him to buy back the land that had belonged to the Lynchesters for centuries.

The Duke of Northallerton was not particularly short of money and also Magnus Croft was on the extreme edge of his estate and therefore difficult to farm.

But he had no intention of relinquishing what was undoubtedly his by right.

The new Duke of Lynchester was, however, known for his determination.

“I have not told you because you never listen,” the Duke went on, “that Lynchester has been at me about this land every time we meet in White’s Club and at every County meeting we both attend. He even approached me on the matter in the hunting field, which is not a place where I would wish to do business.”

“No, of course not,” the Duchess agreed meekly.

“Then today,” the Duke went on, “when Lynchester started again after we had discussed the temerity of that new fellow wanting to start another pack of hounds, I had an idea.”

“What is it, Arthur?” the Duchess asked as her husband paused for breath.

As she spoke, she glanced at the sunshine outside and hoped she could soon get back to the garden. It was an ideal day for bedding out and she was already late with the plants she had been keeping in the greenhouse until they had grown strong enough to be outside.

“I replied to Lynchester,” the Duke said, ‘“I think these arguments between us have gone on long enough. What I suggest is that we should share the land in a very different way’.”

‘“What do you mean by that?’ he enquired.

‘“If you marry my daughter,’ I said, “she can have Magnus Croft as part of her dowry’.”

The Duchess gave a little gasp.

“You suggested he should marry Caroline? Arthur, how could you do such a thing?”

“I thought it extremely astute of me,” the Duke answered. “Everybody has been saying that at thirty-four the Duke should be married and produce an heir and what could be more logical than for Caroline to become his wife?”

“But, Arthur, she is in love with Edward Dalkirk, as you well know.”

“The fellow has not a single penny to his name!” the Duke retorted, “and Lynchester is undoubtedly the biggest matrimonial catch in the whole country.”

“But, Arthur, you promised Caroline that, if Edward could make a big success with his horses, you would permit them to be married.”

“I did not promise,” the Duke said loftily, “I merely said that I would consider it and now my answer is ‘no!’ Caroline will marry Lynchester and the land will be part of the marriage settlement. She will make a very beautiful Duchess and will show the Lynchester diamonds to their advantage.”

The Duke’s rather hard voice had now softened a little.

He had never disguised the fact that his elder daughter Caroline was his favourite child.

Although he was proud of his two sons, who were at Eton, it was Caroline who filled his heart, if he had one, and she had managed without much difficulty to coax him into saying that she could marry the man she loved.

“But, Arthur!” the Duchess protested, “Caroline is in love!”

“Love! Love!” the Duke said contemptuously. “What has that to do with it? Love comes after marriage, Elizabeth, and Lynchester is not likely to spend very much time with his wife, we all know where his interests lie.”

“Really, Arthur, I do not know how you can say such a thing – ” the Duchess began.

“Now, Elizabeth, be sensible,” the Duke interrupted. “Lynchester has been pursued by every pretty woman from here to the North Pole ever since he left school but, as you are well aware, all of them, smart, sophisticated and experienced, are married and he is not likely to cause a scandal by running off with one of them.”

“But, why Caroline?” the Duchess exclaimed plaintively.

“Must I put it into words of two syllables?” the Duke asked. “Because he wants Magnus Croft and if he has to marry sooner or later, which he must, what could be more suitable than to take a wife who can bring him a dowry he would really appreciate? Ten thousand acres of good land that his father lost because he was too drunk to hold his cards straight and that he badly wants and is determined to recover.”

“I suppose you realise that Caroline will be broken-hearted?” the Duchess pointed out.

The Duke made a sound that was almost a snort.

“She will get over it,” he replied sharply. “Young girls always fancy themselves to be in love with somebody unsuitable and that is what Edward Dalkirk is in my opinion.”

“You have never thought so until now.”

“Whether I did or not is quite immaterial,” the Duke said angrily, “Caroline will marry Lynchester and you will persuade her not to make a fuss, but to obey me in this matter. I have no intention of changing my mind.”

“But – Arthur – !” the Duchess began.

“That is my final word!” the Duke interrupted before she could say any more, “and, as Lynchester is coming over tomorrow afternoon, you had better tell her today what to expect.”

“But – Arthur – !” the Duchess began again.

There was the sound of the library door closing sharply and the Duke had gone.

Elfa did not move. She had lain rigid on the floor of the balcony ever since her father had begun to speak.

She felt as if she had been holding her breath for the whole time and that only when she heard her mother also leave the room was she now gasping for air.

Could it be possible that her father had arranged anything so cruel and utterly diabolical?