With a sharp uppercut on the point of his chin from the Duke, Lord Eustace seemed almost to fly backwards in the air before he sprawled unconscious in the snow.
The Duke hardly waited to see him fall and turned immediately to Bettina.
He saw the gag over her mouth, but he merely lifted her in his arms and, holding her closely against him, walked across the garden and up the stone steps and through the French window into her bedroom.
He carried her to the rug in front of the fire and set her down to stand as he supposed on her own feet. But when she swayed against him, he realised that she could not move.
He held her against his chest with one arm and undid the gag at the back of her head with the other.
She was trembling both in terror and from the cold and, turning her face against h
