The Castle of Love (16 page)

 The Earl arranged for the upkeep of the graves of both Felice and Madame Gravalt. He ordered fresh flowers to be placed there every day. Then he and Jacina took their leave of Father Lamont.

The Earl had chosen not to tell the old priest of his belief that Lisette had come to Castle Ruven in the guise of Felice Delisle. He felt Father Lamont had burdens of care enough.

The Earl seemed lost in thought. He walked swiftly and Jacina hurried to keep pace with him.

A tavern was open on the square. The Earl took Jacina's elbow and guided her towards it. The door opened into a fug of warmth and pleasant odours. The Earl sat Jacina down at a table by the tiny latticed window.

He ordered hot milk for Jacina and a brandy for himself. Then he took out the letter from Felice that the priest had given him earlier. He handed it to Jacina and she looked questioningly at him.

"Read it," he said. His eyes gave nothing away.

Jacina saw that the letter was dated March 24th 1857. The day before the avalanche!

'Dear Hugo', she read,

'I know you are honouring both the memory of your

grandfather and your brother in pursuing marriage with meand indeed I have been a willing accomplice in this plan. Ibelieved that you might come to replace my beloved Crispianand that in time I would forget him.

 Now that I have recovered fully from my illness and amhere in this peaceful place I have had time to reconsider. Thetruth is I have come to believe I could not make you a goodwife. I do not believe I could be happy so far away from thiscountry. It is after all the country where Crispian and I met.

It was amid these mountains that we fell in love and itis amid these mountains that I have now found a measure ofserenity. I wish to remain here and train to be a teacherunder the guidance of my kind friend, Madame Gravalt.

I hereby release you from any obligation you maybelieve you owe me.

Your affectionate friend, Felice Delisle.'

Jacina's eyes rose slowly from the page.

"You have read it?" the Earl asked gruffly.

"Y-yes, my Lord. I cannot help but believe that – Felice has now found peace and tranquillity – buried here amidst her beloved mountains."

The Earl nodded. "Let us hope so." He took the letter from her and put it back in his waistcoat pocket.

For a moment he and Jacina sat in silence, Jacina with her eyes cast down. Finally the Earl spoke,

"Had things run their natural course and this letter had been sent – I should have been a free man when I arrived back at Castle Ruven."

"Yes, m-my Lord."

"But for now I am still yoked."

Jacina looked up and caught the Earl's gaze. She thought she saw a yearning expression in his eyes, but if she did it was quickly stifled. He gave her in its place a bitter smile.

"Still yoked," he repeated, "until I have brought that fiendish pair to justice."

 He drained his glass and rose from the table.

"It is noon," he said. "We must leave for Savrin at once."

This time the Earl placed Jacina behind him in the saddle. His body shielded her from the cold wind that arose as they left Rougemont. It began to snow lightly and the village was soon lost in a white, fluttering veil.

The sky overhead that had seemed so bright and unsullied that morning now loomed heavily. It was swollen with snow. The Earl urged the horse on anxiously. He feared a blizzard, though he said nothing to Jacina.

In their separate minds they were each adjusting to the pieces of the same, strange puzzle.

It was clear that Lisette knew all about the fortunes of Felice Delisle. What she did not know before the avalanche she learned afterwards, for she was at liberty to read every single letter Felice had ever received, while Felice herself lay in a helpless coma.

She knew that Felice was to make an excellent marriage to a man she had never met. She knew that the old Earl had bequeathed a generous sum to Felice should her husband die without issue. She even knew what Felice never knew – that Hugo Earl of Ruven had been wounded at the siege of Delhi and was blind.

The letter containing this information had arrived in June. The news must have later seemed particularly fortuitous, for who would know what accurate description of his fiancée, Crispian, had written to his brother out in India?

When Felice died Lisette knew everything she needed to know in order to step into the dead girl's shoes. Once she was married to the Earl, she only had to arrange an 'accident' to her husband and she was in possession of a title and a large sum of money – not to mention the Ruven diamonds and other jewels that she had been given.

 Jacina shivered as a cold blast of wind roared through the ravine ahead and beset the travellers with a wild flurry of snow.

Lisette and Fronard could not deny their evil machinations. The Earl had a village full of witnesses as to their true identity.

Suppose however the Earl should die before he managed to unmask them publicly?

With this new thought Jacina felt fear run through her veins like icy water. She regretted now that the Earl had not told Father Lamont the full story. If Fronard and Lisette believed the story was already public, they would not dare to do anything to the Earl. If however, only the Earl knew, then killing him was as urgent a matter as ever.

Jacina did not for a moment consider her own position. All her fears were for the Earl.

The Earl urged the horse on. It bent its head low against the gathering wind. The travellers entered the ravine. Jacina rested her forehead against the Earl's back. She was comforted by the warmth she felt through his greatcoat.

Despite her rising fear, despite the bitter cold, she was almost happy. Her body swayed with his to the undulating motion of the horse's flanks.

When the wind died down for a moment the ravine was as silent and icy as a tomb. The only sound came when one of the horse's hoofs struck a stone that jutted above the snow line.

Their progress was slow. The sky seemed to press down on them.

As suddenly as it had ceased, the wind started up again. It came screaming down the ravine carrying a blinding mass of snow.

They rode out from the ravine into a full blown blizzard.

 The road to Savrin was buried in snow. The blizzard whirled and shrieked about them. The horse baulked at the force being hurled against him. He could barely move forward. The Earl dismounted and took the reins.

He would have to lead the horse and Jacina the twenty miles to Savrin.

Then, through the icy mass in the air, the shape of a coach loomed.

The Earl turned his face up to Jacina. "We are saved," he breathed.

The coach-driver who had brought them from St. Moritz to Savrin and then on to the ravine, must have anticipated their difficulties. The Earl helped Jacina from the horse as the coach drew up a few feet away.

The coach driver was heavily muffled in a cloak and scarf. A hat was pulled low over his forehead. Only his eyes were visible. He gave no sign of greeting and some instinct made the Earl suddenly quite still, moving neither his head nor his eyes.

The window of the coach was rolled down and a gloved hand appeared, beckoning.

Jacina turned questioningly to the Earl. She was startled at his apparently unseeing gaze and slowly looked back at the coachman.

Were the coachman and his companion bandits? Was the Earl playing for time?

The hand at the carriage window still beckoned. The coachman jerked his head at Jacina.

"You, mademoiselle!" he shouted. "You're wanted."

Jacina hesitated.

"You – Monsieur – tell her to approach the carriage."

"I will not," exclaimed the Earl.

 "What's that?" The coachman raised his whip and it lashed through the air. The Earl recoiled and put a hand to his face. Jacina gasped as she saw a thin line of blood appear on his cheek. The coachman raised his whip again, but Jacina cried out.

"That's enough. I – I'm going."

"No, Jacina!" cried the Earl, but she was already moving towards the coach. In a second she was at the carriage window.

The gloved hand opened the carriage door and a low voice whispered, "why don't you come in out of ze cold?"

Jacina reeled. A rush of scent reached her from the depths of the carriage, sickly sweet as funeral lilies. In her shock she could not help but cry out,

"M-my Lord!"

The Earl made a move towards her, but was stopped in his tracks by the report of a gun. The sound shattered through even the hiss of the wind and the snow. The packhorse reared on its hind legs, then turned and fled back into the ravine. Jacina stared after it in despair.

"Move another inch," cried the voice from within the carriage, "and your little helper here dies."

The gloved hand was pointing a pistol directly at Jacina.

The Earl was unable to hide the contempt in his voice as he replied,

"A shot from one of my own pistols, I presume?"

Lisette Gravalt leaned from the carriage window and looked up at the coachman.

"Mon cher," she called, "did you steal a pistol from zis gentleman's castle?"

"Ma chère, I did," replied Fronard mockingly. "Such a pretty one with a pearl handle."

 "You are a blackguard, sir!" shouted the Earl.

"It is you who are the blackguard, monsieur," snapped Lisette. "Last night you had a date with me but you did not keep it. This morning we went to ze hotel to find out why. Ze concierge tells us that you had a little visitor yesterday and that today you had gone in a coach together. I did not need to ask where. Rougemont, I thought. And now I find you in ze company of this – what is she in those ridiculous clothes? An old gypsy woman? You would jilt your wife for this creature? Oh, but of course – you cannot see how laide – how ugly she looks!"

"I do not doubt," said the Earl recklessly, "that whatever she is wearing, she has more grace, more beauty in her little finger than you have, madam, in your whole body."

Jacina raised her eyes in wonder to the Earl.

Lisette's voice blazed. "Ha! Fronard! Do you hear this fool?"

"I do," sneered Fronard. "Tell him I will take great pleasure in spoiling that grace, that beauty, when the time comes – "

"What do you mean, sir?" cried the Earl.

Lisette had collected herself. "Enough about this mademoiselle nobody. Jaceeeeeena! Just tell us, monsieur. What did you find out about us from ze helpful citizens of my little village?"

"I found out," said the Earl through gritted teeth, "that you are as dastardly a pair of villains as ever walked the earth."

Lisette regarded him with steely eyes. "Zat is a pity, monsieur. Because now I must definitely kill you and your little friend. What a poor, grieving widow I will be, with nothing but a title and money to console me."

"If I am found with a bullet in the head," replied the Earl quickly, "there will be no money. I would not have died, I would have been murdered. Until it was discovered by whom, the will could not be executed."

 Lisette and Fronard exchanged a glance.

"The authorities will think it is bandits," said Fronard. "The mountains are full of them."

"It is still murder," said the Earl. "As the beneficiary of the will, madam, you would still be investigated. The authorities – would pay their own visit to Rougemont."

Jacina listened with mounting terror. She knew the Earl was fighting now for her life and his own, but she could imagine no way out of this dilemma.

Lisette regarded the Earl with a worried frown, biting her lip all the while. Now suddenly she reached out and prodded Jacina with the pistol.

"You. Get in."

Jacina cast a wild look at the Earl. She did not want to be parted from him. Their destiny now, terrible as it might be, was surely together.

"My – my Lord?"

"Get in, Jacina," said the Earl firmly.

Still Jacina hesitated, her heart thumping in her breast. Then she felt cold fingers sink into her hair. She gave a cry as she was yanked brutally backwards and flung onto the carriage floor.

"Do not harm her!" cried the Earl. He lunged for the coach but the whip came whistling from above. It cut across his brow and he staggered back.

Jacina gave a cry and tried to rise but Lisette pushed her down. Then Lisette leaned from the carriage window and laughed at the Earl.

"I am not going to shoot you after all, dear husband,"

she sneered. "I am just going to leave you here. No one will travel in zis blizzard. Your horse is gone and you cannot see. Night is coming on. You will freeze to death – or fall over ze edge of ze mountain and it will not look like murder. There will be no investigation."

 "And – Jacina?" asked the Earl in a desperate voice.

"Oh, we cannot leave her here with you. She has eyes, monsieur. She could help you survive. No, no, she must come with us. We will find another way of – dealing with her. Au revoir, mon cher!"

Fronard cracked the whip and they were on their way.

Jacina struggled up to gaze from the window. The figure of the Earl stood like stone in the swirling snow. Then he was gone.

She sank miserably onto the seat opposite Lisette Gravalt. Her back hurt where she had fallen onto the carriage floor. Loose strands of hair hung about her face. Her mind was feverish as she tried to think of how she might help the Earl.

Lisette was watching her, the pistol still in her hand.

"What a pleasure to be alone together," she smirked.

"Believe me, the pleasure is all yours," responded Jacina stiffly.

Lisette gave a shriek of laughter. For the first time Jacina wondered if she was not perhaps a little mad.

"You don't like my company? It is not good enough for you? That is what they were always thinking. At ze school in Geneva. All ze pupils were 'Mademoiselle' this, 'Mademoiselle' that. I was only ever 'Lisette'. 'Lisette, bring ze tea. Lisette, clean ze blackboard'."

Jacina brushed a strand of hair back. She was thinking quickly. If she kept Lisette talking – if she managed to distract her – perhaps she could wrest the pistol out of her hands.

"I am sure it was not as bad as all that," she said.