Read Online The Keys of Love by Barbara Cartland - Free Book Online Page A

before.”
    Henrietta waited, but Eddie shook his head.
    â€œNope. I can’t place it. But it wasn’t New York. It must have been somewhere out West.”
    Henrietta settled back against the plush upholstery, her eyes turning to the window and the unfolding scene.
    Field after dank field, small cottages, a face raised here and there at the passing of this odd procession.
    Nanny was already asleep and now Henrietta’s own eyes began to close, lulled as she was by the steady clop of hooves and rattle of wheels on the road beneath.
    She slept and dreamed.
    The Duke of Merebury held out his hand and drew her to dance to the strain of the Eddie Bragg Orchestra.
    She was in his arms and yet at the same time she was at the piano looking on, dressed in garish colours, her lips as red as new spilled blood
    Henrietta started up with a cry.
    The carriage lurched to a halt and Nanny had been thrown against her shoulder.
    From the road came sounds of shouts and whistles.
    Eddie sprang to his feet and threw open the door.
    â€œI’ll see what’s going on,” he said and jumped out.
    â€œDearie me,” moaned Nanny. “An accident?”
    Eddie returned in a few minutes.
    â€œSomething of a drama,” he reported. “A criminal has escaped the clutches of the law!”
    â€œW-which criminal?” asked Henrietta faintly.
    Eddie glanced at her.
    â€œThat fellow from the ship, who tried to stab a card player in a poker game. He was in the back of the Police wagon with just one guard.
    â€œSeems he had a weapon a penknife or something secreted in his boot. He managed to overcome the guard and get away. Threw himself off the moving vehicle, but escaped unhurt.”
    â€œWill we be held up long?” asked Henrietta.
    â€œNot if Lady Butterclere has anything to do with it,” chuckled Eddie. “She’s even insisting the Police move their wagon to the side of the road so that she can proceed. I better go and let the troop know what’s happening.”
    Henrietta and Nanny sat in silence, listening to the rain drum on the roof.
    It seemed like an age before they started moving again.
    â€œHey, wait for me!” cried Eddie, wrenching open the door and scrambling up as the coach jolted into action.
    As the procession wound its way deeper into the drenched countryside, no one on the wayside stopped to look carefully at the last vehicle of all.
    There, wedged between the back of the coach and an unwieldy trunk, was the dripping figure of a man.
    Hat low on his forehead, cape wrapped around his face, he hid from his pursuers and the world, the steel hilt of a knife gleaming at the top of his boot.
    *
    It was mid-afternoon before the first of the coaches rumbled through the gates of Merebury Court.
    Henrietta leaned from the carriage window in awe.
    Two miles of stately elms led up to the house and when she glimpsed it, she drew in her breath.
    The grandiose façade of stone boasted hundreds of windows and the house rose to three storeys and a grand stairway swept up on two sides to the imposing entrance.
    The door was opened at their approach and a butler appeared, flanked by the housekeeper and a footman.
    The footman descended and opened the door of the first carriage and Lady Butterclere stepped out.
    â€œThe Duke is not here to greet us?” she demanded of the butler.
    â€œHe has been detained with the Prince of Wales at Buxton,” he replied. “He has left instructions that you are to consider yourself at home.”
    â€œWell, I do, although,” she replied, “I am somewhat disappointed that the Duke could not forsake the Prince to welcome his long-lost relation back home.”
    The butler did not blink.
    â€œOne cannot forsake a Prince, my Lady.”
    â€œLet’s hope he makes it home for tomorrow’s ball,” she sniffed.
    Lady Butterclere pursed her lips and, turning to the stairs, beckoned Miss Foss to follow her.
    Miss Romany