The Golden Gypsy (16 page)

'It was the only way,' Yasmin protested.

'But it did no good! That bitch still accuses you, and if Sir Edward is going to London, he must believe her!'

That hurt most of all. 'I thought at first he believed me,' she whispered.

'Well, it seems he did not,' Leon said uncompromisingly. 'And from what you overheard it looks as though he thinks I am implicated in some plot too. I knew no good would come of associating with
gaujos
!'

'He did save your life!' Yasmin cried out.

'Aye, and I begin to think that was for what he could get out of me with my carvings! Grandmother warned us to beware of one who would seem pleasant!'

Yasmin stared at him. 'That is Richard!'

'Richard? Is it? How do they differ?'

'She could not have meant Sir Edward! Not him!' Another thought suddenly struck Yasmin. 'When Charlotte had her fortune told, grandmother warned her to beware of a
dark
man, who would cause trouble! Sir Edward is fair! But Richard is dark, and he knows Pedro, it
must
be him!'

'Well, whichever of them she meant, and the warnings need not have referred to the same man, neither of them will make game of us any more! We are leaving here at once!'

'No!' she replied instinctively. 'If we do so it will merely confirm their suspicions,' she said more calmly, knowing as she spoke this was not her real reason for rejecting the idea.

'What is it to us what they think? We know we are innocent, and that is sufficient.'

'Not for me. Besides, if we flee, they will only pursue us.'

'They need not find us. Yasmin, trust me, I will hide you. I will protect you. Oh, my darling, let us go away from here. It has done us no good to accept
gaujo
charity.'

She cried again at this evidence of his love for her, and for the thought she could never return it, and at last she went to bed, exhausted, but with nothing resolved.

* * * *

Somewhat restored by a night's sleep, Yasmin rose in the morning to find Leon was determined to continue the argument. But before they had finished eating their breakfast, Maria walked in. Leon stood up, about to fling angry words at her, but she forestalled him.

'Leon, I am so bitterly ashamed of what happened to Yasmin, and have come to apologise! You must hate us all! And please do not, for I love Yasmin as though she were my sister, and I cannot bear it if she should be unhappy.'

'Have the pearls been found?' Yasmin asked.

'Not yet, but the entire house is being searched.'

'That will not remove suspicion from me, even if they are discovered,' Yasmin pointed out.

'No,' Maria agreed, 'but it is only Charlotte who thinks you stole them, and my mother is exceedingly angry with her. If her father were at home she would send her back at once, but unfortunately there is nowhere else for her to go. Besides, mother feels the awkwardness of having the pearls vanish from the Hall.'

'I accept your assurances,' Leon answered, more calmly than Yasmin had expected, 'but it is nevertheless a slur on us I cannot ignore. I am taking Yasmin away from here.'

'No!' Maria was as horrified at the idea as Yasmin had been. 'That would only make people think you are guilty! It is the worst possible thing you could do. I tell you, it is only Charlotte who even imagines Yasmin could be a thief!'

'And your brother, or why else would he be going to London?'

'He has business there, it is nought to do with this,' she said, puzzled.

'He spoke of thefts, and referred to me in connection with them,' Leon told her, and when Maria demanded to know what he meant repeated what Yasmin had overheard on the previous day.

'I do not understand,' she said at last. 'It must be a mistake. Truly he does not believe Yasmin guilty.'

'It does not seem like that to me,' Leon replied.

'He is gone, and will not be back until Thursday, the day after tomorrow. Please do not do anything rash before then. I will ask him what he means when he returns. I beg you, Leon, do not take Yasmin away now, it would be foolish.'

Eventually she persuaded him, to Yasmin's relief, for she saw this as a reprieve. Then Leon went out and left the girls alone, and Maria repeated her apologies until Yasmin begged her to talk of something else, and asked what dinner was being held on Thursday.

'Frederick is coming tomorrow,' Maria explained, 'and mother is having a small party to introduce him to our neighbours. I had been intending to ask you, but cannot now, when Charlotte must be there '

Swiftly Yasmin reassured her she understood. 'I could not have come in any case, Maria, to mix on terms of equality with the local gentry! You are so kind you would ignore these conventions, but what would they have said, being expected to sit down at table with a gypsy!'

'You may have a gypsy father, but if he is as good as Leon, you are more fortunate in your inheritance from him than most people! Your mother came from an excellent family, and you are a deal better bred than Charlotte! You are never odious as she can sometimes be!' she declared vehemently.

'I am neither gypsy nor
gaujo
,' Yasmin said sadly, but Maria did not hear her.

'Charlotte is being incredibly foolish to display her mean spirit before Ned,' she was saying reflectively.

'Oh?' was all Yasmin could manage in reply to that.

'She is over-confident he will ask her to marry him,' Maria explained.

'Will he?' Yasmin asked, unwilling to hear, but unable to refrain from asking the question.

'I think so sometimes, but not if she gives him a disgust of her, as she is likely to do if she repeats her accusations against you.'

'He loves her?'

Maria shrugged. 'Ned never displays his feelings in that way. I do not believe he has ever been in love, despite all the lures cast for him these many years, so he might not regard that as necessary. I think when my father was alive, and very friendly with Sir John Massey, there was some talk of it. It would be sensible, after all, for she inherits all his land. It is not entailed, and it runs alongside Ned's.'

'But there was no agreement then?' Yasmin persisted, twisting the knife in the wound.

'Not anything settled, but I am sure they, our fathers, hoped for it. And Charlotte has always wanted Ned. She had two offers in town this season and she refused both, though one was from the heir to an earldom! If Charlotte refused to become a countess she must have a good reason!'

She must be very confident, Yasmin thought, and remembered how she had looked at Ned the very first time she had ever seen them. She also recalled the way he had looked down at Charlotte, and the pain of her anguish was almost physical at that moment.

Maria laughed, bitterly, Yasmin thought.

'She was annoyed I had become betrothed first, for she is a few months older than I. When Ned offered to bring her down from London I thought they might have come to some arrangement, but although he has been in a very odd mood lately, if he had said anything to her she could not have resisted telling me!'

'No,' was the inadequate reply.

'She will have to take care. If she shows too much of her unpleasant temper, it will turn him against her.'

Chapter 10

After Maria had gone Yasmin could settle to nothing. Leon was out all day, and morose when he came back late that night. To her relief he did not appear to wish to talk, and after they had supped Yasmin escaped to bed. It was the same on the following day, when she was left all alone with her dismal reflections, apart from a short visit from Maria, who had to hasten back to await Frederick's arrival. On the next day, the Thursday of Maria's dinner party, Yasmin could bear it no longer and went out herself. Unthinkingly her steps took her towards the Hall, and it was not until she came into the park she realised where she was, and wondered how Maria was, and whether she was happily looking forward to showing her Frederick to the neighbours. She might be taking him about the Hall or the grounds now, Yasmin thought, hoping she would not meet them, for she was deeply conscious of how she envied Maria her happiness and her uncomplicated love.

Then Yasmin heard a girl's laugh just as she was rounding a bend in the path, and another step brought her to where she could see Sir Edward and Charlotte a few yards away in front of her. She stopped, for he was standing very close to Charlotte, and they were both very still. Yasmin could see he held his hands framing Charlotte's face, and was looking deep into her eyes. Then he said something and she laughed again. Yasmin knew deep inside her she ought not to be watching them, that she should go away, but for a time she was incapable of movement.

Then Charlotte put up her arms and placing them about his neck, pulled Sir Edward's head down the few inches that separated it from hers, and they kissed. Yasmin turned and ran, not caring whether she made any noise for them to hear. She ran all the way to the cottage, her refuge, and burst in, wild eyed and distraught.

Leon was standing just inside the door, and he turned towards her in astonishment.

'What is it? Yasmin, what has happened?'

'Nothing! It is nothing! I cannot bear it!' she muttered, staring bleakly at him.

He crossed to her and put his arms about her, and she was thankful for the feeling of strength and protection he gave her. He did not speak while she struggled to regain her composure, but when she broke away from him to go and sit on a stool beside the table, he followed and stood looking down at her, a sombre expression in his eyes.

'Yasmin, this cannot go on. You are unhappy. We must get away from here.'

'No! They will think me guilty if I run away.'

'I did not refer to that. I do not care what they think, for I know you are not guilty. Does their opinion matter to you more than mine?'

'That is not the question,' she tried to explain.

'That is not the real trouble, is it my dear?'

She stared at him, unable to answer.

'Will you not tell me? If you do, perhaps I might be able to help you.'

At that she sobbed again. How could she hurt this man who loved her so unselfishly? He knelt beside her and held her hand.

'He is not for you, Yasmin.'

That dried her tears, and she looked at him, startled.

'How did you know?' she whispered.

He laughed, mirthlessly. 'When a man is in love himself, he recognises the symptoms in others,' he said slowly. 'I saw your face when you first set eyes on Sir Edward, long ago, and I knew from that moment. I have been hoping it would be a brief passion, and you would turn from him to me. It was a diabolical accident that brought us here, of all places, and put me in his debt. If you had not met him again you might have turned to me in time. But it is hopeless, Yasmin. Such as he will not think of marrying one with Romany blood. And anything else would be shameful, you would not permit it.'

You do not know me as well as you think, she reflected, but did not permit him to read the answer in her eyes, for she did not wish to lower herself in his esteem by admitting she would have gone to Sir Edward in any circumstances, under any conditions, if only he loved her.

'He will marry Charlotte,' she said tonelessly, and told him what she had seen. He listened silently, then smiled sadly.

'I can accept you love him, and bear that, Yasmin, if I can hope you will one day love me a little.'

Yasmin looked at him, her lips trembling. Why could she not love Leon, who was ready to give up his entire way of life, his family, and, she suspected, a good deal of his contentment, to devote himself to her?

'You must go back to the tribe,' she told him firmly. 'You will never be truly happy away from it. I cannot promise to love you in such a way, Leon, though I have always been very fond of you. It would not be fair to let you hope for more, and so it would be wrong for me to marry you.'

'Let me judge that,' he said softly, and she was very tempted. It would be a safe, uncomplicated life with Leon, wherever they were, and whether they returned to a gypsy life or not.

'Not yet,' she pleaded, 'not for a little while. I must have time to get over this and think.'

'If you think too much you will hesitate again. Yasmin, you are brave, you are ready to face life and all it can bring. Face it with me.'

There was a long moment of silence as Yasmin hesitated, then they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Leon frowned, and then gave Yasmin a quick smile of encouragement as he rose to his feet and went to open it. Richard stood outside.

* * * *

He looked surprised to see Leon.

'Why, I thought you usually spent the days walking and teaching young Joey how to catch poachers?' he said, laughing uneasily.

'Not always.' Leon was curt, suspicious.

'Oh, well, actually it is fortunate you are at home, for I wanted a word with you.'

'Will you come in?'

'No, I just called to say I would be going back to London in a couple of days, and if you have any carvings I will take them back with me. I did not have time to call before I went back on Monday.'

'There are not enough to make it worthwhile. Sir Edward took some recently. But thank you for coming.'

'It was no trouble, I was passing this way.'

He smiled, and after another hesitation, nodded and moved away. Yasmin noticed that although he wore riding boots he was walking. Unless he had left his horse out of sight, she thought, but why should he do that?

Leon stood just inside the door watching him as he walked away.

'That was odd,' he murmured, then swung round to Yasmin. 'Has he been here often when I have been out? Has he made up to you?' he demanded urgently.

'He has come occasionally, but although he looks at me – you know what I mean, how men look at a girl they admire – he has never made any move to touch me, for he told me he hoped for Maria!' she finished, as puzzled by Richard's odd behaviour as Leon was. They stood together just inside the doorway looking after him until he was out of sight amongst the trees, and then, just as Yasmin was turning away to re-enter the cottage Leon gave a gasp, and pushing her in front of him, moved swiftly to close the door.