the Marquis said. “Especially if there is someone like you about.”
“You are quite safe now where I am concerned. I would never do such an unimaginative thing as to perform the same trick twice.”
“You are not going to play any more tricks on me. Let us make that quite certain, otherwise I swear I will throw you overboard!”
“I warn you, I can swim!” Ola retorted, “and I shall either reach the shore or wait for another yacht to come by which, with my good luck, will contain a handsome, wealthy and unmarried Duke. I intend to go one higher each time!”
The Marquis laughed again.
“Perhaps we should confine ourselves to a quieter less eventful life, at least until we reach the South of France?”
There was silence until Ola asked in a rather small voice,
“Then what are you – going to – do with – me?”
“I have not yet decided,” the Marquis replied, “but, of course, much will rest on your behaviour in the meantime.”
“Then I will be good,” Ola said, “Very very good and perhaps if I am – ”
She paused before she said quickly,
“No, I will not say it. It might be unlucky.”
“You are right, it might be terribly unlucky,” the Marquis agreed. “But you are to promise that there will be no more tricks and you have to swear that you have no drugs, poisons or lethal weapons of any sort hidden amongst your possessions.”
“Very well then, I promise,” Ola said. “Do you know what I have been doing while you were asleep?”
“What?” the Marquis asked in an uncompromising voice.
“I have been reading about the Reform Bill. I found quite a lot of papers about it in a drawer in your desk.”
She looked up at him quickly as she asked,
“You don’t mind me reading them?”
“I presume as I am allowed to have no privacy where you are concerned, I have to accept your somewhat highhanded methods. I realise that nothing is sacred from your curiosity!”
“If I had found any love letters or anything like that,” Ola said, “I would, of course, not have thought of opening them or reading them, but printed leaflets are different. I could see quite clearly what they were.”
The Marquis gave up the hopeless task of explaining that he did not expect his guests, whoever they might be, to rifle the drawers in his desk.
Instead he said,
“I should be interested to hear your opinion on what has been proposed so far in the amendments, which I expect you have read, that were included in the second Bill.”
“Quite frankly I did not think they went far enough,” Ola asserted.
Then, almost despite himself, the Marquis found himself defending the Government, and refuting Ola’s contention of ‘too little and too late’ as if he was speaking to a man of his own age.
Chapter 5
The Sea Wolf sailed into a small bay surrounded by high cliffs.
They peaked so high that they looked like a mountain rising from a small sandy beach and Ola, watching every movement, exclaimed with delight when the anchor went down.
“What an ideal place!” she said to the Marquis. “I do wish we could swim in this clear water.”
“I am afraid you would find it very cold,” he replied, “it may look inviting, but the sea can be very treacherous at this time of the year.”
“There is always some excuse for my not doing what I want to do,” Ola pouted and he laughed.
“I don’t intend to be sorry for you,” he said. “You get your own way far too much already!”
She gave him a mischievous glance from under her eyelashes and he knew that she was being provocative in a manner he had grown used to, yet still found alternately irritating and intriguing.
The seamen had already lowered a rowing boat into the water and, as Ola and the Marquis climbed down a rope ladder into it, other men were bringing the empty water canisters up from below decks.
“I want to see this spring,” Ola asked, as they were rowed away towards the shore.
They went to the spring first and it was, in
“You are quite safe now where I am concerned. I would never do such an unimaginative thing as to perform the same trick twice.”
“You are not going to play any more tricks on me. Let us make that quite certain, otherwise I swear I will throw you overboard!”
“I warn you, I can swim!” Ola retorted, “and I shall either reach the shore or wait for another yacht to come by which, with my good luck, will contain a handsome, wealthy and unmarried Duke. I intend to go one higher each time!”
The Marquis laughed again.
“Perhaps we should confine ourselves to a quieter less eventful life, at least until we reach the South of France?”
There was silence until Ola asked in a rather small voice,
“Then what are you – going to – do with – me?”
“I have not yet decided,” the Marquis replied, “but, of course, much will rest on your behaviour in the meantime.”
“Then I will be good,” Ola said, “Very very good and perhaps if I am – ”
She paused before she said quickly,
“No, I will not say it. It might be unlucky.”
“You are right, it might be terribly unlucky,” the Marquis agreed. “But you are to promise that there will be no more tricks and you have to swear that you have no drugs, poisons or lethal weapons of any sort hidden amongst your possessions.”
“Very well then, I promise,” Ola said. “Do you know what I have been doing while you were asleep?”
“What?” the Marquis asked in an uncompromising voice.
“I have been reading about the Reform Bill. I found quite a lot of papers about it in a drawer in your desk.”
She looked up at him quickly as she asked,
“You don’t mind me reading them?”
“I presume as I am allowed to have no privacy where you are concerned, I have to accept your somewhat highhanded methods. I realise that nothing is sacred from your curiosity!”
“If I had found any love letters or anything like that,” Ola said, “I would, of course, not have thought of opening them or reading them, but printed leaflets are different. I could see quite clearly what they were.”
The Marquis gave up the hopeless task of explaining that he did not expect his guests, whoever they might be, to rifle the drawers in his desk.
Instead he said,
“I should be interested to hear your opinion on what has been proposed so far in the amendments, which I expect you have read, that were included in the second Bill.”
“Quite frankly I did not think they went far enough,” Ola asserted.
Then, almost despite himself, the Marquis found himself defending the Government, and refuting Ola’s contention of ‘too little and too late’ as if he was speaking to a man of his own age.
Chapter 5
The Sea Wolf sailed into a small bay surrounded by high cliffs.
They peaked so high that they looked like a mountain rising from a small sandy beach and Ola, watching every movement, exclaimed with delight when the anchor went down.
“What an ideal place!” she said to the Marquis. “I do wish we could swim in this clear water.”
“I am afraid you would find it very cold,” he replied, “it may look inviting, but the sea can be very treacherous at this time of the year.”
“There is always some excuse for my not doing what I want to do,” Ola pouted and he laughed.
“I don’t intend to be sorry for you,” he said. “You get your own way far too much already!”
She gave him a mischievous glance from under her eyelashes and he knew that she was being provocative in a manner he had grown used to, yet still found alternately irritating and intriguing.
The seamen had already lowered a rowing boat into the water and, as Ola and the Marquis climbed down a rope ladder into it, other men were bringing the empty water canisters up from below decks.
“I want to see this spring,” Ola asked, as they were rowed away towards the shore.
They went to the spring first and it was, in
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