Читать книгу Running Away to Love - Barbara Cartland - Страница 3

The Hackney carriage finally stopped outside a large impressive-looking building.

For the first time Ivana looked nervous and was feeling nervous.

“Come with me, Nanny,” she begged her.

Nanny shook her head.

“No, dearie,” she said. “That would be a mistake. Secretaries don’t have chaperones with them. I’ll wait out here. We’ll be ever so extravagant and keep the cab.”

Slowly Ivana descended the steps of the carriage and then walked in through the door of the War Office.

A soldier in very smart uniform with highly polished brass buttons was standing beside a desk.

Ivana realised that he was waiting for her to explain why she was there. She held out the card that Mrs. Hill had given her.

He looked at it and, because he was reading it slowly, it seemed as if minutes passed before he said,

“I’ll have you taken to his Lordship.”

He snapped his fingers and another soldier, who looked very young, almost a pageboy, rose from where he was sitting in the background.

“Take this applicant to the Earl of Lorimer,” the first soldier said sharply.

The boy took the card from him and started to walk ahead, obviously expecting Ivana to follow him.

They walked for what seemed to her for miles along corridors, up staircases and along more corridors.

Then they went down some stairs again before they came to what she thought must be the more important rooms on the ground floor.

She was sure of it when she saw two soldiers obviously on duty in the next corridor that they approached.

They walked past them and then, almost at the end of this particular corridor, the soldier who was guiding her stopped.

He knocked on a door and a deep voice called out,

“Come in.”

The soldier went in by himself and Ivana realised that she was not to follow him.

He half-closed the door, leaving it open just enough so that she could hear what went on inside.

She heard him click his heels and she thought that he must have saluted.

The same deep voice that had said ‘come in’ then asked the soldier,

“What is it?”

“An applicant from the Agency, my Lord,” the soldier replied.

He must have handed over the card because there was silence for a moment.

Then the deep voice ordered,

“Send him in.”

Ivana realised at once that he was expecting a man and her heart sank.

As Mrs. Hill had said, the request had been for a man and she was sure that as a woman she would be rejected before any interview could even start.

The soldier came back to the door and opened it and then Ivana’s chin went up and she walked into the room.

The soldier went out, closing the door behind him and she stood just inside the doorway, not certain whether she should wait or go forward.

The room was small and well-furnished with several comfortable chairs clustered round an empty fireplace

The Earl was sitting at a very large desk, piled high with copious papers.

When Ivana looked at him, she was surprised.

She had somehow expected him to be an old man with perhaps grey or white hair.

She had the idea that anyone in the War Office would be old because the young men would all have gone to fight the War.

But the Earl of Lorimer looked about thirty and was extremely handsome with dark hair brushed back from a square forehead.

As he went on writing, she could look at him without embarrassment. She thought at once that he had a hard face.

There was a squareness about his jaw and a firmness to his lips that told her he would be intent on getting his own way and his orders must be obeyed instantly. He would certainly fight to the end for anything he desired.

It seemed to her to be a long time before the Earl looked up and turned towards Ivana.

“Come and sit down,” he said, indicating a chair on the other side of his desk.

He spoke sharply as if he was giving an order.

Then, when he saw to whom he was speaking, there was an astonished look in his eyes.

“I understand,” he said after a moment, “that you have come here from the Agency.”

“That is right,” Ivana agreed. “Mrs. Hill sent me ‒ to you.”

She had reached the desk by this time and, as she was feeling shy, she sat down quickly on the chair as if she needed its support.

The Earl was still staring at her.

“Is this some sort of joke?” he asked and now his voice was hard, as if he thought that she was an intrusion on his space.

“No, no, of course not,” Ivana replied quickly. “I came in response to your request for someone ‒ who could speak French.”

She then saw what she thought was an unbelieving look in the Earl’s eyes.

Then, with hardly a pause, he started to speak to her very rapidly in French.

He asked her where she came from and how, when she was obviously English, she had learned to speak such good French.

Then he said he thought that she must be under a misapprehension regarding the whole matter. He spoke very fluently, but with just a trace of an English accent.

As soon as he had finished speaking, Ivana replied in what she knew was perfect Parisian French.

She told him, as she had told Mrs. Hill, that she had been brought up with some French children and she said that she had spoken French almost as soon as she could speak English.

She could read French and write in French and, if necessary, think in French.

“That was the sole reason,” she explained, “why, since Mrs. Hill could not find a man for the position, she had come to see him.”

As she finished speaking, she sat there with a defiant look on her face, knowing that it was impossible for him to find fault with her French.

The Earl unexpectedly laughed.

“You have proved your point,” he said, “but now let us begin. Perhaps you will introduce yourself as there is no name on this card.”

He dropped it on the desk as he spoke and Ivana thought that Mrs. Hill had deliberately not put her name on it in case, as a woman, she was turned away at the door.

“My name, my Lord,” she replied, “is Ivana – ”

She stopped.

It suddenly shot through her mind that it would be a mistake for her to give him her real name.

If she was to disappear completely, her name could be a certain clue that would put her once again into her stepfather’s hands.

In the passing of a second she said the only name that came into her mind – and that was Nanny’s.

“ – Tate,” she finished.

“Well, Miss Tate,” the Earl replied, “you have very certainly proved that you can speak French, but I doubt if you could comply with the other attributes I require in the person I wish to engage.”

Ivana drew a deep breath.

“What you are saying, my Lord, is that I should be a man, but Mrs. Hill made it clear that she has no man on her books who can speak French, nor did she think it likely that she would be able to find one.”

The Earl frowned.

“It cannot be an impossible thing to ask,” he exclaimed.

“I think, if you will forgive me saying so,” Ivana replied, “that, even if people can speak French, they are not particularly keen at this very moment to advertise the fact. After all we are at war with France.”

“I am aware of that,” the Earl said coldly. “At the same time perhaps it does not trouble you.”

“I had not thought of speaking French being an asset,” Ivana answered, “until just a short while ago when I was in Mrs. Hill’s Agency.”

“And what position were you looking for from Mrs. Hill?” the Earl enquired.

“I thought,” Ivana related frankly, “that I might be a reader to an old lady or perhaps a secretary. I have done quite a lot of secretarial work in the past in one way or another.”

“I should have said,” the Earl remarked, “looking at you, that either of those positions were most suitable.”

There was silence between them and then Ivana began to feel that she had failed.

Then she pointed out,

“If you are thinking that I am too young to do what you require, it is something that will be rectified in time.”

The Earl laughed.

“That is certainly true. Yes, Miss Tate, I was thinking that you are too young and so it would be difficult for anyone looking as you do to carry out my requirements.”

“But you need somebody who can speak perfect French,” Ivana argued.

“That is most unfortunately true,” the Earl said, “and, as you already know, I am finding it hard to find anyone.”

“Then, please – please,” Ivana insisted, “give me a chance. I promise you that I am quite intelligent. I have been well educated and I am at present desperately in need of employment immediately.”

The way she spoke was very revealing.

The Earl looked at her speculatively before he asked,

“Why should you be in such a hurry?”

“Because I have no money and nowhere to go,” Ivana replied.

“Can that really be true?” the Earl enquired.

“I am an orphan,” Ivana explained, “My mother died recently and my father was killed fighting Napoleon in the Peninsula.”

“So your father was in the Army?”

“Yes.”

“In what Regiment?”

Again it flashed through Ivana’s mind that it might be dangerous to tell him the truth.

Then she told herself that the Army was a very large one.

It was highly unlikely that the Earl, even if he was in the War Office, would know the name of every acting Officer in every Regiment.

After a little hesitation, she answered him,

“The Fourteenth Dragoons.”

“That is my own Regiment,” the Earl informed her with a smile, “so perhaps I knew your father.”

Too late Ivana realised that she had made a serious mistake.

“What was his name?” the Earl asked Ivana as she did not speak.

There was silence until she said,

“Please – we are not concerned with my – father – but with me.”

“If you are to work for me,” the Earl replied, “then I am concerned with every aspect of your life and past.”

Ivana clasped her fingers together.

“I-I would rather remain – anonymous.”

“I am afraid that is impossible,” the Earl told her. “The position that concerns you is in fact a very important one. I would not be allowed, even if I wanted to, to employ anyone who I knew nothing about.”

There was another long silence until Ivana, knowing that he was waiting for her to say something, replied,

“If I tell you – the truth – will it remain strictly secret?”

“It will remain a secret from everybody except myself and the Secretary of State for War who, as you will know, is Viscount Palmerston.”

“You promise,” Ivana insisted, “promise by everything you hold sacred?”

She saw an expression of surprise in the Earl’s eyes.

Then his eyes twinkled before he responded,

“I give you my word as an Officer and, I hope, as a gentleman. I cannot believe that you will refuse it.”

“No, of course not, my Lord, but it is very very important to me that no one should ever know where I am and what I am doing.”

“So you have run away!” the Earl exclaimed.

“Yes, I have run away – from something horrible, disgusting, degrading and very very wicked!” Ivana retorted.

She spoke so violently that the Earl realised how much it meant to her.

Quietly he persisted,

“I have given you my word and, when you tell me your father’s name, I promise that, with the exception of the Secretary at War, no one will know of it.”

“My – my father was a Major, the Honourable Hugo – Sherard,” Ivana said almost in a whisper.

“Then, of course, I knew him! Only not well, but I remember him being killed. We lost two other very fine Officers in the same engagement at Salamanca.”

“My father was not afraid to die,” Ivana said, “but it nearly destroyed my mother.”

“And you say your mother is now dead?”

“She died two years ago,” Ivana answered, “but not before she had married again.”

The way she spoke made the Earl look at her penetratingly.

Then, as she did not say anything more, he quizzed her,

“I believe I am not mistaken in thinking that it is your stepfather who you are running away from?”

“I-I have to – I have to run away – so please – please let me work for you – but no one – no one must ever know where I am.”

“I have already given you my promise,” the Earl said, “but I suppose you would not like to tell me why you are running away from your stepfather?”

Ivana shook her head.

“I don’t want to – speak of it to anyone – but I have to hide and – if you will not employ me – I must go back to Mrs. Hill – but she told me she had – nothing at all suitable for me on her books.”

There was silence.

Then, because she was desperate, Ivana carried on,

“Please – please help me – if you knew Papa, you would know that he would tell me I was doing the ‒ right thing in asking you for your help, my Lord.”

The Earl smiled.

“You are making it difficult, Miss Sherard, for me to refuse you.”

Ivana looked up at him with hope in her eyes.

“Do you mean you – really will employ me? Oh, thank you – thank you! I know that Papa would thank you too if he was still alive.”

“I am not certain he would do that,” the Earl said slowly, “because what I am going to ask you to do is both difficult and dangerous.”

“Nothing could be more dangerous than the position I am in at the moment,” Ivana said. “Nothing – not even if it was going into battle against the French cannon.”

She spoke so vehemently and looked so lovely as she did so that the Earl guessed that there was a man concerned.

Aloud he said,

“Now let me explain to you, Miss Sherard, exactly what I want you to do. You must be absolutely frank with me and tell me if you think it is impossible or too frightening. I will understand and will promise to do my best to find you some other form of employment that would be suitable for you.”

“I-I am listening,” Ivana tried to smile.

The Earl rose from the chair that he was sitting in.

“As I wish to speak very confidentially,” he began, “I suggest we sit on the sofa where we can be comfortable, although it is well-nigh impossible in the War Office where no one can overhear what we are saying.”

He moved round the desk as he spoke and Ivana saw that he walked with a limp.

“You have been wounded!” she exclaimed.

“I should not be here otherwise,” he said sharply. “I was wounded four months ago and I can assure you that as soon as I have recovered I shall return to my Regiment.”

Now she could understand why anyone so young was working at the War Office.

She guessed that he had been given an important job because he was such an outstanding Officer and was obviously extremely intelligent.

The Earl, having reached the sofa, waited for Ivana to seat herself before he sat down as well.

She saw that one leg, which was in plaster, was stretched out in front of him.

He walked without a stick, but she was aware that he had touched two chairs as if for support on his way to the sofa.

Now she looked up at him and saw an expression in his eyes that she did not understand.

Then he said in a very quiet voice, almost as if he was speaking to himself,

“You are very young and very beautiful! Perhaps it is wrong of me to involve you in this.”

“You have not yet told me what it is,” Ivana retorted.

“I am thinking of you,” the Earl replied. “But I know that my country must come first. I am therefore going to offer you this position, but don’t forget you have the absolute right to reject it.”

“I-I know.”

“Then let me start from the beginning, I am sure you realise, as we do here at the War Office, that the end of the War is now in sight.”