63 Ola and the Sea Wolf Read Free Page A

our house at a Posting inn.”
    Ola gave a little sigh.
    “I had to trust him. There was nobody else who I felt would make an effort to help me.”
    “What happened?”
    “I crept out of the house soon after dawn and I bribed one of the gardeners, who had always been attached to Papa, to come into the house before the rest of the staff had risen to collect the trunk I had packed and put ready in my bedroom.”
    There was a brief smile on her lips as she said,
    “It was easier than I expected, because when I went downstairs to let him in, there was nobody about as I had been half-afraid there might be.”
    “No nightwatchmen, no night footmen in the hall?” the Marquis enquired.
    “They were all at the other end of the house.”
    “So you ran away with your luggage?” the Marquis said. “What woman would not think of her appearance, even in the most desperate situation?”
    “I have already told you,” Ola replied, “that I had no money. It would be very silly to spend on clothes what I could obtain by selling my mother’s jewellery.”
    “You have some jewels?”
    “I suppose it was rather indiscreet of me to mention them, when I intend to travel alone,” Ola answered, “but they are all I have between me and starvation!”
    “I promise you I will not steal them!”
    “I know that,” Ola said scornfully. “But I was foolish enough to trust Giles and now I will never trust a man again – never – never – not even you!”
    The Marquis found himself smiling at the anger in her voice. Her eyes, which he now saw in the light from the fire were green, seemed to have a glint of steel in them.
    “I am interested,” he said aloud, “to hear what your cousin Giles did that was so reprehensible.”
    “He helped me to run away. Then half way to Dover he – informed me that he – intended to – marry me!”
    The Marquis laughed.
    “That was something you might have anticipated as you are wealthy.”
    “But Giles is old! He has turned forty and as he has always been a bachelor, how could I have – imagined he would want to – marry me?”
    She thought the Marquis was once again going to refer to her money, so she went on,
    “Giles said to me, ‘I shall be delighted, when we are married, to administer your fortune, but as I find you unexpectedly attractive, Ola, I shall also enjoy being your husband’.”
    “What was your reply to that?” the Marquis asked.
    “I told him that I would rather die than marry him and I thought to even suggest such an idea showed that he was a treacherous swine, a Judas whom I should never have trusted in the first place.”
    “Strong words!” the Marquis laughed.
    “You may think it funny,” Ola cried, “but I knew at that moment that I had not only to escape from my stepmother, but – also from – Giles!”
    She drew in her breath before she added,
    “There was something about him which – frightened me – it was not only because he was determined to have my fortune – it was the way he looked at me when we stopped for luncheon.”
    She glanced across the hearthrug at the Marquis and continued,
    “I expect you think if I had been clever that I would have escaped then? But it was only a small Posting inn and there were no other visitors having luncheon except us. If I had tried to run away, Giles could easily have caught me and it would be difficult to run carrying my jewel case.”
    She glanced down as she spoke to where it stood beside her chair.
    “I am not criticising,” the Marquis pointed out mildly.
    “I had originally intended when I reached here to take the ordinary cross-Channel ship to France,” Ola went on. “But to escape him, I must now hire a vessel of some sort.”
    “Why did he not marry you in England?”
    “He had thought of that,” Ola answered, “but he was afraid there might be difficulties as he had not my Guardian’s permission. He told me that he intended to say he was my Guardian and he thought, if he could pay them