Hide and Seek for Love by Barbara Cartland Page A

surrounded by diamonds.
    They went into the Master Suite but David was not hopeful that there would be a special safe where his grandfather could have deposited his money.
    Most private safes, he thought, were too small and the amount of money the Marquis had withdrawn from the Bank would not have fitted into any he had ever seen.
    Anyway there was no safe to be found in the Master Suite.
    They searched through the cupboards, the cabinets and the drawers and they even looked on top of the canopy over the bed.
    There was no sign of even a sixpence anywhere.
    They stopped for luncheon and ate hurriedly.
    Actually they were both hungry as moving furniture about was much more tiring than even David had expected.
    He had somehow suspected that his grandfather might have hidden some paper money behind the pictures in the picture gallery, but although some of them needed repair, there was no sign of any notes.
    Also the Bank Manager had said that a great deal of the money his grandfather had taken away was in the form of golden guineas and they would require a large amount of space to conceal them.
    They had finished most of the first floor by teatime, and there were still a number of ordinary bedrooms not yet investigated.
    â€œNow what we are going to do,” David said as they took tea in the study, “is to go and look at the horses, and see if we can possibly go riding tomorrow morning.”
    â€œOh, could we ride?” asked Benina.
    â€œI need exercise and fresh air after spending so long in those stuffy rooms that have not been opened for years.”
    â€œThey were rather smelly,” laughed Benina.  “And I suppose you know you have now got white hair!”
    David turned round to look at himself in the mirror.
    It was quite true!
    The dust from the cupboards he had opened and the shelves he had inspected had fallen on his head and he now might have been a man nearing sixty.
    â€œI tell you what I am going to do,” he suggested suddenly.  “I am going to swim in the lake.”
    â€œDo you really think it’s warm enough, my Lord?  I thought of swimming in the summer, but felt it might have annoyed his Lordship.  So I had to be content with carrying water upstairs to have a bath and I found it very tiring.”
    â€œNow we will swim in the lake – and I will race you, so at least we are warmed up before we jump in.”
    Benina thought this a splendid idea, so she hurried upstairs to find Nanny and ask for her best bathing dress.
    â€œYou’ve grown a bit since you last wore it,” Nanny said, “so I thinks it’ll be a bit tight on you.”
    â€œTight or not, I cannot swim naked!”
    However, they found that the bathing dress, although somewhat dilapidated like the rest of her clothes, fitted her perfectly as she had grown so thin.
    Nanny gave her a big bath towel to throw over her shoulders.
    She ran downstairs to find David, also with a towel over his shoulders, halfway down to the lake.
    As she caught up with him, panting a little because she had run so quickly, he remarked,
    â€œThe last time I bathed in India it was even hotter in the water than it was outside!”
    â€œI don’t think you will say that now, my Lord.”
    Actually the water in the lake was not too cold.
    They were regarded angrily by a mallard duck, who collected all her babies and swam away indignantly to the other side of the lake.
    David was surprised to find that Benina could swim well and strongly for a woman, as he was used to women in India wearing elegant bathing clothes, who could seldom do more than stand in the water up to their waists – hoping that the men would be lost in admiration for their elegant but décolleté costumes.
    Benina not only swam beside him but also splashed him with water.
    She laughed when he complained she was blinding him and he ducked her.
    They enjoyed their swim and then wrapped in bath towels they walked back towards