"I sent my Valet to London at dawn this morning, " William replied, "to procure a Special Licence. He should be here by now, and I have already sent a groom to arrange with the Parson whose Church is within half-a-mile of this Inn, to marry us...
"Let me make this quite clear," Astara said quietly. "I have no intention of marrying you."
"As I have already told you, William replied, "you have no choice."
"Do you intend to drag me screaming up the aisle? I imagine no Parson would perform a Service when the bride categorically says no !"
"If that is your intention this afternoon, then the marriage will be postponed until to-morrow morning!
There was something in the way he spoke that made Astara, for the first time, feel afraid.
She was alone with a man in an isolated Inn.
She had seen from the way he was greeted on his arrival and from the way the Inn-keeper had spoken to him during the meal, that he was a frequent visitor to the Inn and was considered a person of importance.
This meant, Astara knew, that if she appealed to the Inn-keeper or the other servants to help her they would not be prepared to do so.
She also thought quickly that if William forced her to stay the night in the Inn with him she would have no alternative the following morning but to become his wife.
She could not help feeling that the way he was forcing her into this position would not really shock or horrify his uncle or anyone except perhaps Lionel.
They would consider it was a sensible, advantageous marriage from both hers and William"s point of view. It was, after all, what Sir Roderick desired.
She thought as she had thought before that he had merely included his other two nephews in his arrangements simply to make the whole idea seem more attractive to her.
It was William whom Sir Roderick had chosen to inherit Worfield" House, and how he coerced her into marriage would not ultimately be of any consequence.
She wanted to scream, she wanted to run from the room and away from the Inn, but she knew that William would not let her escape. Any attempt to do so would be merely humiliating.
"I suppose it does not matter to you," she said aloud, her voice icy and yet restrained, "that I am in love with some-body else?"
"Vulcan, I suppose!" William answered. "I saw the way you looked at him last night. It made me realise he was dangerous. "
He laughed and it was an unpleasant sound.
"Women are always fascinated by wasters and vagabonds, and you are no exception."
"That is an unfair criticism!" Astara replied hotly.
"Unfair or not, " William retorted, "I have no intention of allowing my uncle "s wealth and the family estate to be wasted on a ne "er-do-well like my Cousin Vulcan. "
"You are behaving abominably!" Astara stormed. "Let me make this quite clear ... I hate you! I would rather die than marry you!"
William laughed again.
"You will not die, my dear, and I can a.s.sure you that you will enjoy being married to me. As I have already said, I can bring you every social advantage and you will find that money compensates for a great many other deficiencies. "
"All the money in the world would not compensate me for having you as my husband!" Astara retorted.
"You think that now, " William replied, "but you will grow to love me, perhaps regrettably quickly. I find your defiance intriguing and rather exciting. "
There was a look in his eyes that made Astara shrink within herself.
She knew that he spoke the truth and that, because she was not as complaisant as his other women had been, she ex-cited him.
He not only wanted the money that the marriage would bring him but herself.
He wanted her in a way she knew was not love, but some-thing she had never encountered before and was called l.u.s.t.
She rose from the table and realised as she did so that William was watching her warily as if he thought she might be inclined to make a bolt for it.
She stood in front of the fireplace in which was smouldering.
Astara was aware that she felt very cold and she knew it was shock and because she was also afraid.
Now over and over in her mind like an animal caught in a trap, she was trying to think of a way of escape; something she could do something she could say that would prevent William from marrying her as he intended to do.
She was wondering which would be worse, to marry him this afternoon or to wait until the following morning.
She was quite certain that if she played for time and was kept a prisoner in the Inn, she would not, however hard she fought, be able to prevent him from making her his.
She might plead with him, she might beg him to spare her, but she had seen the glint in his eyes when he looked at her and she knew he would show her no mercy and there would in fact be no escape.
William rose from the table to come and stand beside her: "I can see you intend to be sensible about this, " he said. "Scenes would get us nowhere and in case you are unaware of it the Landlord will agree to anything I suggest and there are in fact no other guests in the Inn. "
"I loathe you!" Astara said in a low voice. "You are every-thing that is foul and despicable!"
William smiled.
"As I have already told you, you will change your mind and by to-morrow morning you will be thanking G.o.d on your knees that you have such an exceptional man as your husband!"
She knew by the way he spoke that he thought she would find him such an admirable lover, as other women had done in the past, that her opposition and indignation would fade away in the night.
The very thought of being touched by William when she loved Vulcan made her shiver.
She looked up at him and wondered how she had ever thought for a moment that he was attractive or that there was anything to commend him.
Now she knew that she would rather embrace a serpent and that she had spoken the truth when she had said she would rather die than become his wife.
Then some part of her brain swept away her fear and the last vestige of the numbness which had made her find it difficult to think ever since she had left Vulcan.
She began to consider without emotion what she should do.
She knew that William was standing watching her and she thought that what made it more unpleasant than anything else was that he was so self-a.s.sured, so absolutely confident that he had won.
She remembered Lionel saying that William must always be first, always be the winner, and that was what he meant to be now.
"I suppose there is no point in making one last appeal to your better nature, " Astara asked aloud, "and to your sense of .. , decency?"
"Not the slightest!"
"You realise that Uncle Roderick will be very disappointed not to be present at our marriage?"
"I wondered when you would use that argument," he said cynically. "It is no use, Astara. I have made my plans and I do not propose to deviate from them."
--He waited, and as she did not speak he went on: "The only choice you have is whether you marry me to-day or to-morrow morning. "
"As I am conventional I prefer that this farce of the Sacred Ceremony should take place now!" Astara said sharply.
She looked around the parlour.
"I a.s.sume you will permit me to put on my bonnet? It is usual to wear one in Church."
"Of course!" William said, "but I shall be waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs, and there is no other way by which you can leave the Inn."
"Thank you for saving me the trouble of looking for one," Astara answered sarcastically.
She walked towards the door, William opened it for her and she pa.s.sed him with her head held high.
She thought there was a smile of amus.e.m.e.nt on his lips and longed to strike him in the face and to rage and scream at him, but she knew it would do no good.
For the moment he was the master, the conqueror and she was as helpless as any slave.
She went to the bedroom she had used before and as she shut the door she was not surprised to find that there was no key in the lock and no bolt.
It was what she might have expected.
The sight of the large double bed made her shudder and after one glance she walked past it towards the window wondering frantically what she could do.
She imagined that William would give her about five, perhaps ten minutes to prepare herself, before he came up-stairs to fetch her and take her forcibly, if necessary, to the Church.
She stood at the window looking out onto the sunlit water and thinking that this could not be happening to her.
A week ago perhaps it would not have seemed so horrifying, but now she had met Vulcan and she knew that William had spoken the truth when he said the expression in her eyes when she looked at Vulcan made him aware of the danger of losing her.
He was not to know she had already lost Vulcan, but that was beside the point.
She still loved him, loved him so that the mere idea of any other man touching her was a sacrilege and an offence against everything she knew to be divine.
"Papa, help me! You have been in dangerous, difficult situations in the past and you have always escaped from them. Tell me now what I must do. Help me ... help me!"
It was a cry that came from the very depths of her being. Then as she opened her eyes she knew that the answer came as if it had been spoken aloud.
She took off her shoes and as if to rea.s.sure herself of its width, she picked up the hem of her skirt.
Fortunately the fashion in gowns made them no longer so straight and narrow as they had been during the years of the war and immediately afterwards.
Skirts were now wide at the bottom narrowing to a high waist, with a bodice elaborately trimmed with lace or embroidery.
Without wasting any more time Astara opened wide the cas.e.m.e.nt window and began to climb out.
She looked down at the water of the lake immediately below her as she did so, and estimated that it was deep enough for her to dive and not hit the bottom.
It would be extremely ignominious and it might also be dangerous to be stuck in the mud or to hit her head on the stones. But the Inn was not a high building and Astara reckoned that the lake was not much over twenty feet below her.
She raised herself, holding onto the cas.e.m.e.nt, then dived downwards with the grace of a swallow !
The water was cold and Astara gasped as she came to the surface, then she began to swim with strong rhythmic strokes away from the Inn.
She decided that her best course of action would be to make for the end of the lake and move through the shelter of the woods until she reached the main road.
Then perhaps she could find someone to take pity on her and agree to carry her back towards Worfield House.
She had however swum only a little way when she heard a shout behind her and looked back.
She knew before she turned what she would see. The sound came from William who was leaning out of the bed-room window.
"Come back, Astara! Come back!" he ordered.
She turned her head away and went on swimming.
He had discovered her escape sooner than she had expected; perhaps he had been afraid that she would find some way to evade him the moment she was out of his sight.
She swam on finding herself slightly hampered by her skirt, at the same time knowing that if she could reach the shelter of the trees on the far sh.o.r.e before William caught up with her, she had a good chance of escape.
Then, to her consternation, when the end of the lake was still some way away she heard the sound of horse s hoofs and saw him galloping on horse-back along the road by which they had approached the Inn.
She guessed he had borrowed a mount from somebody who had called at the Inn, or else one of his own horses had been saddled in double-quick time.
However he had done it he was in fact riding along the lake-side, and she knew now that he could reach the end of it as quickly as she could and would intercept her as she stepped from the water.
She ceased swimming except to keep herself afloat.
Perhaps the best thing, she thought, would be to make for the opposite sh.o.r.e. There was no roadway there and it would take William time to ride round the end and he would have to move slowly between the trees.
But then she would be a long way from the main road and isolated from any help.
"What shall I do?" she asked herself.
Then she felt her heart leap.
Coming from the end of the lake where it joined the country lane were two riders and even as she glanced at them Astara knew who they were.
She turned and started to swim rapidly towards the road, and as she did so she saw that watching her William had drawn in the horse he was riding and was at a stand-still.
She felt that he must be puzzled as to why she was moving directly towards him until a moment later she saw him turn his head towards the approaching hors.e.m.e.n.
He must have recognised them as she had done and she could guess without seeing him closely the anger on his face.