An Introduction To The Eternal Collection Jubilee Edition (140 page)

For a moment Caroline did not speak, the blood drained slowly away from her cheeks leaving her, very pale, and then in a voice of repressed fury she said,

“How dare you insult me! Do you imagine for one minute that where I am concerned you can chop and change your mind as if I were a light o’ love whom you could discard at pleasure? You married me with my full consent, and I would not under any circumstances consent to a dissolution of our marriage.”

Lord Brecon sighed wearily.

“Caroline, you are crazed! What can a marriage such as ours mean to you, now or ever? In this you must allow me to be the best judge. I shall ride over to the Bishop tomorrow.”

“And if you do,” Caroline said, “I shall swear that I am your wife in fact as well as in name.”

Lord Brecon looked down at her.

“That would be untrue and unmaidenly,” he said sharply.

“It is better than being unmanly,” Caroline snapped back.

For a moment they stared at each other, their tempers rising.

“One day, Caroline,” Lord Brecon said, “someone will give you the beating you fully deserve.”

“And why not you yourself, my lord?” Caroline answered, throwing back her head.

Then suddenly, lifting her hand, she undid the glittering clasp which held the cloak round her shoulders. It slid from her shoulders to the floor revealing her in all the beauty of her sparkling dress, her shoulders and arms bare, the white column of her throat held proudly as she faced Lord Brecon in her defiance.

He stood looking at her, but she was too furious to notice that some of the anger faded from his eyes.

“Beat me then,” she said in a low voice, “or are you afraid to touch me?”

Lord Brecon made no movement but it seemed to Caroline as if he towered above her.

“You are deliberately tempting me, Caroline. You will be sorry if you go much further, for you play with fire.”

“Indeed, my lord, I should not have suspected it,” Caroline said tauntingly.

He took one step towards her, then checked himself.

“I am warning you, Caroline,” he said, and now his teeth were clenched. “If you tempt me further, I shall take you in my arms and if I touch you, I shall bed with you, for there is a limit to any man’s control.”

“And why not?” Caroline asked very softly, “I am your wife.”

“Yes, you are my wife,” Lord Brecon said. “I have not forgotten that, but have you remembered, Caroline, that the consequences of your being so in fact as well as in name, as you said just now, might result in your bringing into the world another Cassy? Have you forgotten that?”

The brutality of his question and of his voice broke Caroline’s defiance. She gave a little cry and put her hands to her eyes.

“No, you have not forgotten Cassy, I see,” Lord Brecon said. “She is not far away from us now, Caroline. She is here in this Castle. Would you not like to pay her a second visit and then tell me if you wish our marriage to continue, or whether you will not avail yourself of the freedom I offer you?”

Caroline did not reply. Her hands covered her eyes. For a moment she could only stand trembling, for Vane’s words had conjured up too frighteningly the vision of Cassy, her fat fingers outstretched, her dribbling mouth whimpering for blood.

“There is no need to answer me,” Lord Brecon said. “Your silence is answer enough. Go to bed Caroline, and lock your door, for I intend to seek forgetfulness in the brandy bottle. Sometimes, under the influence of wine, men do strange things for which they are sorry when the morning comes. Go to bed, and may I wish your ladyship an undisturbed night?”

He bowed to her mockingly, and when Caroline did not move he threw himself down in the chair from which he had risen at her entrance and taking up the decanter, filled the glass on the table by his side until it was full to the brim. Without looking at him, hardly conscious of where her feet carried her, Caroline turned and left him.

She went upstairs as he had commanded her. She knew that even her prayers had failed her now.

CHAPTER 13

Caroline awoke with a start and remembered that she had not told Vane about Harriet. She must warn him, she thought, that Harriet had no idea of Mr. Stratton’s real circumstances so that, if the Vicar questioned Vane about his friend, he should not say what an extremely advantageous marriage it was.

Caroline was convinced that it was essential at least until Harriet and Thomas Stratton were firmly established in their relationship to each other that the Vicar should continue to breathe the fire and smoke of vengeance.

“I must warn Vane,” Caroline said to herself and then remembered how she had left him the night before. Instantly she was angry with herself, for above all things Caroline despised weakness and she had indeed been weak when she had let Vane frighten and bully her into an indecisive frailty which was very foreign to her nature.

It was the reference to Cassy which had defeated her yet now with the golden fingers of the morning creeping between the drawn curtains Caroline told herself that Cassy should not prove a battle-ground on which she would acknowledge defeat. If there were a thousand Cassys in existence, she would still love Vane and he would still love her. Let the future take care of itself! If later they must live in the shadow of fear with a ghostly horror of what might be continually in their minds, at least they might enjoy a fool’s paradise for as long as they could.

Caroline pulled the bell-rope and got out of bed.

“I will not be frightened, I will not be intimidated,” she said aloud, “for above all things I love Vane.”

And the very reiteration of her love for him seemed to give her a new strength, a strength which would overcome all devils.

She remembered then that he had said that today he would visit the Bishop. She must prevent that at all costs. She must win him round to her way of thinking, for she was determined there should be no dissolution of their marriage even though that marriage so far had been only a duel of bitterness and conflict.

“You are early, m’lady,” Maria exclaimed from the door.

“Take a message to his lordship,” Caroline commanded. “Inform him that I desire to see him on the most urgent matter before he goes riding this morning. Find out what time his lordship intends to step forth, and bring me my chocolate immediately.”

“Very good, m’lady,” Maria answered, and she hurried from window to window drawing the curtains.

The sunlight came flooding into the room. Caroline felt its golden warmth on her body. She raised her face to it, closing her eyes and imagining for the moment that it caressed her as Vane had done before he had become angry and incensed with her.

Engrossed in her thoughts, she did not realise that Maria had left the room and it was with a sense of surprise that she realised that she had returned, her errand accomplished.

“His lordship has received your message, m’lady, and will await your pleasure in the library. I understand the grooms have instructions to bring his horse to the door at half after nine.”

Caroline thought for a moment and then exclaimed,

“Maria, I have an idea. I will ride with his lordship. My habit came yesterday, did it not, in the trunks from Mandrake?”

“Yes, m’lady, ‘tis here.”

“Very well, put it out for me,” Caroline instructed, “but first send a message to the stable for a horse to be brought round for me at the same time as his lordship has ordered his.”

“Very good, m’lady.” Maria answered, and Caroline began to dress with a rising sense of excitement.

If Vane insisted on visiting the Bishop, she thought, then she would go with him. At least it would be a change to ride beside him over the countryside rather than to argue and bicker as they had done these past days in the gloomy atmosphere of the library.

How she hated that room, as indeed she hated the whole Castle! It might be her future home, it might be against this background that she would have to create her happiness. But she knew that she detested the whole building. It was tainted, impregnated with gloom, misery and a sense of evil which was inescapable.

Never, she knew, would she be able to look at the towers without remembering whom they imprisoned, never would she be able to enter the Great Hall and see the long line of family portraits hung on its panelled walls without remembering that Vane’s dark-eyed ancestors, looking down with a pictured benevolence, were in reality, the cause of the monstrosity which was Cassy and were responsible for her murderous instincts.

No, she hated Brecon Castle though she loved its owner to the exclusion of all else. If was no use, Caroline thought, in a situation like this trying to argue what would be a sensible course of action, for even if she allowed Vane to dissolve their marriage, he would still be living in the world, still be overshadowed by his horrifying secret, still contemplating the misery and loneliness of a future isolated from all that could make a man’s life happy.

Could she face the thought of that? She knew it was impossible. Not under any circumstances could she take up the threads of a separate existence, knowing that she must abandon Vane and leave him to his most unjust deserts. No, for good or evil, for better or worse, their lives were linked together. The vows that she had made at the marriage ceremony came to her mind. She repeated them to herself and knew that they were as sacred to her now as at the moment she had made them.

Cassy should not be allowed to interfere. Cassy should not render the Sacrament of Marriage null and void because of fear. Caroline recalled that last night Vane had given her a choice. She knew now, as she dressed, that her choice was made, her mind made up. This was the turning point. Now there would be no going back, no hesitating.

With a light in her eyes and a smile on her lips Caroline descended the stairs to the library. She was wearing a riding habit of pale green velvet trimmed with braid in a darker tone the facings of her coat and cuffs were of shining satin and a long red feather curved from her high-crowned hat on to her shoulder. She looked lovely, and she was aware of it even before she saw the admiration in Vane’s eyes as she entered the room.

He looked tired but otherwise his looks were unimpaired by the way he had spent the night. He bowed to Caroline and waited for her to speak. Crossing the room, she stood close to him, raising her eyes, her lips curved in a smile.

“May I come with you this morning, Vane?”

His hesitation was too brief to be a reality.

“I would be honoured,” he said quietly. “I have never seen you on a horse.”

“I hope you have something spirited to offer me.” Caroline said, “my father’s mounts are famous for their Arab strain.”

“That is a challenge which I must do my best to answer,” Lord Brecon said, and there was a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

“I have sent a message to the stables that I am riding this morning,” Caroline said, “But it was on another matter that I wished to speak with you. It is about Harriet.”

“I remember you told me last night that she had eloped with Thomas Stratton,” Lord Brecon said. “Do not tell me they have returned already?”

No, of course not,” Caroline answered. “It is only that the reason for their elopement was that the Vicar objected most forcibly to Mr. Stratton. This was perhaps in part my fault, for I informed him quite truthfully that Mr. Stratton was the sixth son of his father who is impoverished.”

Lord Brecon looked at her and then burst out laughing.

“Caroline, you are incorrigible. In other words, Thomas was interested in Harriet because she was forbidden fruit.”

“Exactly!” Caroline answered. “I collect that things had been made too easy for him this past year, an eligible young man always has a following of hopeful spinsters.”

“But how does this concern me?” Lord Brecon asked.

“Well, I have the idea that, when the Vicar discovers that Harriet is missing, he will come post-haste here to discover if you have any knowledge of her whereabouts. Do not tell him of Mr. Stratton’s real circumstances, for I believe that the longer he makes things difficult for the young people, the firmer will be the foundation on which they will build their future happiness.”

Lord Brecon laughed again.

“How many nefarious plots are evolving in that small head of yours?” he asked.

He spoke caressingly, but as Caroline glanced up at him quickly, he remembered what lay between them and stiffened. Caroline laid her hand on his arm.

“No, Vane, do not continue to be incensed with me,” she pleaded. “Later I have many things to discuss with you, but it is too early for dramatics and heart-burnings. Let us go riding together and forget that we are anything but two carefree people who have met – and taken a liking for one another.”

.Lord Brecon’s face softened. He raised Caroline’s hand to his lips,

“Shall we have one last day of pretence?” he asked. “Let. us pretend then, that we have met, found happiness together, and that the future will be always fair.”

There was something in his voice and in the look in his eyes that made Caroline catch her breath and instinctively her fingers tightened on his.

“Yes, let us, pretend just that, Vane. You do not intend to visit the Bishop today?”

Lord Brecon shook his head.

“No, tomorrow,” he answered. “I have just read in the Morning Post that his lordship leaves Canterbury this morning and repairs to Knole as the guest of my Lord Sackville. Knole is but a few miles from here and so I will visit his lordship there. I read also that Lord Milborne, the Chief Justice, will be among the guests.”

“Uncle Francis!” Caroline exclaimed, deciding in that moment that nothing should prevent her accompanying Lord Brecon on the morrow.

But this was not the moment for arguments. Fate in the shape of the Bishop’s movements had made it possible for Vane to offer her a truce. She was only too ready to accept any olive-branch however slender and to snatch at the chance of a delay, however short, in his plan to seek the dissolution of their marriage. She smiled at him, a sudden happiness illuminating her face.