Barbara Cartland - Paradise In Penang

Lord Selwyn was well aware that he had only to say the words and she would be in his arms.

He would be kissing her lips, which he was almost sure had never been kissed.

The question was could he bring himself to say the magic words that she longed to hear?

“ Abracadabra ! Will you be my wife?”

It was almost like appearing in a play where he was cast as the hero.

But the price he would have to pay for the hand of the Princess was a very high one, his freedom.

Finally he made up his mind.

He had never before met anyone he wanted to marry. Was it possible that he would find anyone more suitable?

Of course, like many other men, he wanted a woman who had never known another man before him.

He could not for a second contemplate marrying a promiscuous woman and have her be the mother of his children.

Lord Selwyn had sometimes felt ashamed when he had made love to another man’s wife who had sons and daughters by him.

He did not put it into words, but something idealistic within him felt that she degraded her womanhood.

At the same time how could he contemplate being married to a debutante of eighteen?

She would have been educated by Governesses, who would know little more than she did herself.

Maisie had not been able to travel while she was tending to her sick husband, but at least she could have read books and Lord Selwyn knew well that the library at Brambury Hall was very extensive.

‘I will take her to the places that she has only read about,’ he told himself. ‘I will take her to Notre Dame in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, the Parthenon in Athens and the Pyramids in Egypt.’

He was sure, although he had never discussed it with her, that she would appreciate them as much as he did.

Perhaps she would find in all the places she visited, as he had, a deeper meaning of life that was really spiritual.

It was something that the average tourist would miss entirely.

Lord Selwyn prided himself that, like the Chinese, he was able to look at the World Behind the World .

‘I will see her tomorrow,’ he thought and a smile came to his lips.

It was no use denying the reason for his hurrying, it was why he had found Paris cold, dull and a repetition of the obvious.

Why was he so restless?

Maisie ! Maisie !

He thought that he could now see her everywhere he looked and hear her voice whenever he stopped and listened.

The carriage came to a standstill outside his front door.

“Thank you for bringing me home,” he said to the French Diplomat in his own language. “I am extremely grateful.”

“It is always a great pleasure to see you, monsieur ,” the Diplomat replied, “and I am one of your greatest admirers.”

Lord Selwyn laughed.

He walked into the house and the butler looked at him in surprise.

“We weren’t expecting your Lordship back so soon!” he exclaimed.

“I know, Barker,” Lord Selwyn answered, “and I did not have time to let Mr. Stevens know. I suppose the chef can provide me with something to eat at this late hour?”

“Of course, my Lord, and it’s a real pleasure to have your Lordship back with us.”

Lord Selwyn then walked into the library.

Because he liked to have his books around him, he kept his writing desk at one end of the room.

As he expected, the desk was piled with correspondence all neatly arranged for him.

He saw at once that there was a huge amount of work waiting to be done.

He was debating with himself if he should visit Maisie tonight or wait until tomorrow.

He then decided that it would be a mistake for him to rush anything of this importance.

In any case she would undoubtedly have a party or some other engagement this evening.

He would only upset her arrangements for the evening if he appeared unexpectedly at her house.

‘I will send her a note first thing in the morning,’ he then decided, ‘asking if we can dine alone. She will know exactly what to expect.’

He was thinking about what flowers to order to decorate the table when his secretary, Mr. Stevens, came into the room.

“This is a pleasant surprise, my Lord,” he exclaimed.

“I finished what I had to do sooner than I expected,” Lord Selwyn explained briefly.

As he spoke, a footman appeared with an open bottle of champagne in a wine cooler.

He set it down on the grog table and next poured out a glass for Lord Selwyn before he withdrew.

As he sipped it, Lord Selwyn, in his mind, drank a toast to the future.

Then he looked down at his desk.

“I see there is a lot of work for me to do,” he remarked to Mr. Stevens.

His secretary nodded.

“It is not as bad as it might be, my Lord,” he said. “There are a number of invitations and one from Her Majesty the Queen. Then I must draw your attention to an important letter that needs your immediate response.”

Lord Selwyn raised his eyebrows.

“Important?” he asked. “In what way?”

“It concerns your great-uncle, my Lord.”

“My great-uncle? Which one?”

“Lord Durham.”

Lord Selwyn stared at his secretary.

“Lord Durham? My father’s uncle? I have not thought of him for years! In fact I thought he was dead.”

“No, he has just died, my Lord. He was eighty-nine.”

“Yes, I suppose he must have been,” Lord Selwyn remarked. “He was living abroad.”

“Yes, my Lord, in Penang.”

Lord Selwyn gave an exclamation.

“I remember. He retired from Hong Kong, where he had been the Chief Judge for God knows how many years, but he then refused to return to England.”

“That is correct, my Lord.”

“My father’s family considered it a rude insult that he had no wish to be with us,” Lord Selwyn said. “I seem to remember his saying in a letter that he thought of the East now as his home and would feel out of place anywhere else.”

Mr. Stevens picked up one of the letters from the desk and handed it to Lord Selwyn.

He saw that it was written from George Town in Penang. It was obviously from a firm of Solicitors who were both English and Chinese.

He read the letter which informed him that his great-uncle had died and had left him his house and his estate.

He had also left him quite a considerable amount of money.

The letter ended by saying that the Solicitors now awaited his instructions.

If it was possible, they would appreciate it if he could come to Penang to see for himself what he had inherited. Lord Selwyn read the letter and then looked at Mr. Stevens.

“Well, that is certainly a surprise,” he exclaimed. “I never expected Great-Uncle Edward to remember me in his will.”

He laughed ironically before he added,

“God knows what I can do with a plantation in Penang!”

As he was speaking to Mr. Stevens, he was thinking that Penang was a small island off the Malay Peninsula and it was a place that he had never thought of visiting.

He had been to India and when he was there had contemplated going on to Singapore.

However, he had decided to come straight home.

There was so much for him to do in England that he could not spare the time to explore any more of the Far East.

“Why did my uncle settle in Penang of all places?”

He was really thinking out loud, but Mr. Stevens replied,

“I believe it is a beautiful Island, my Lord, and very prosperous as a Trading Post.”

Lord Selwyn was not listening.

He had put down the letter from the Solicitors.

On the desk beside a pile of invitations he noticed that there was a letter lying by itself.

For a moment he thought that it might be from Maisie.

Mr. Stevens had strict instructions not to open any letter addressed to Lord Selwyn that looked as if it might be private. And he very seldom made a mistake.