63 Ola and the Sea Wolf Read Free Page B

enough, the French would be more accommodating about performing the Marriage Ceremony than an English Parson was likely to be.”
    “Your cousin had certainly thought things out carefully,” the Marquis remarked.
    “Only to his own advantage and I hate him! It’s a pity the accident did not – kill him!”
    As Ola spoke, the door of the inn opened and Joe appeared.
    He must have left by another door, because now he returned to say,
    “I’m sorry, lady, but I finds the doctor at The Crown and Anchor and he bain’t in no state to come here tonight. I’ve left a message with his mates to tell him to be here first thing in the morn when he be sobered up.”
    “Thank you, Joe,” Ola replied. “I am very grateful to you.”
    As she spoke, she realised that Joe was waiting for the tip he had been told she had promised him.
    She quickly drew a small purse from the inside pocket of her cape, which was still lying behind her on the chair.
    Before she could open it, however, the Marquis flicked a gold coin from his side of the fireplace towards Joe, who caught it deftly.
    “Thank you, sir!” he said with a grin. “I’ll go upstairs now and see how the patient be. The Guv’nor said as how he’d stay with him till I comes back with the doctor.”
    He disappeared and Ola looked at the Marquis.
    “Can we go now – at once?” she asked.
    “I have not yet said that I will take you with me.”
    “But you will – please – say you will! You can leave me at Calais and I will find my own way from there to Paris.”
    “Alone?”
    “There is nobody else to travel with me unless – Giles recovers.”
    The mere idea made her look up again at the ceiling as if she thought to hear the sound of him speaking.
    “He must not do that – he is determined – absolutely determined – to m-marry me!”
    “You could, of course, tell your story to the Magistrates and ask them to return you to your stepmother.”
    “How can you suggest such a thing when I have told you she hates me?” Ola asked. “No – I am going to Paris even if I have to buy a boat and row myself across the Channel!”
    She gave an exasperated little sigh and added,
    “Oh, why does England have to be an island?”
    The Marquis smiled.
    “It is something that stood us in good stead when Napoleon was trying to invade us!”
    “That was a long time ago and, if there was not the sea between us and France, I could ride to Paris or drive there in a diligence , although I believe they are very uncomfortable. I saw them often enough when I was at the Convent.”
    “I cannot imagine either mode of travel would be particularly enjoyable,” the Marquis remarked dryly.
    “I am not out to enjoy myself,” Ola retorted. “You will not understand that I am trying to escape from a life of such misery that you must be very insensitive not to appreciate how much I have suffered.”
    “I am, as it happens, concerned with my own suffering at the moment,” the Marquis commented.
    “What can that be? Have you lost a fortune at the gaming tables? Or been crossed in love? That is not compatible with your reputation, my Lord Marquis!”
    She spoke sarcastically and was surprised by the expression of anger that contorted the Marquis’s face.
    “You will keep a civil tongue in your head,” he said sharply. “Or I will leave you here to cope with your problems alone, which in fact I am certain would be the most sensible thing for me to do!”
    Ola clasped her hands together.
    “I am sorry – please forgive me – it was I know very rude – and I should not have spoken as I did. Please – please – help me! If you refuse to do so – I think I shall throw myself into the harbour. I doubt if anyone would notice and I should just be discovered floating out to sea in the morning!”
    She spoke dramatically and, although he was angry, the Marquis was forced to laugh.
    Then he said,
    “I accept your apology, but in future, as you are at my mercy, I suggest that you curb