Barbara Cartland - Running Away to Love

As she finished speaking, she sat there with a defiant look on her face, knowing that it was impossible for him to find fault with her French.

The Earl unexpectedly laughed.

“You have proved your point,” he said, “but now let us begin. Perhaps you will introduce yourself as there is no name on this card.”

He dropped it on the desk as he spoke and Ivana thought that Mrs. Hill had deliberately not put her name on it in case, as a woman, she was turned away at the door.

“My name, my Lord,” she replied, “is Ivana – ”

She stopped.

It suddenly shot through her mind that it would be a mistake for her to give him her real name.

If she was to disappear completely, her name could be a certain clue that would put her once again into her stepfather’s hands.

In the passing of a second she said the only name that came into her mind – and that was Nanny’s.

“ – Tate,” she finished.

“Well, Miss Tate,” the Earl replied, “you have very certainly proved that you can speak French, but I doubt if you could comply with the other attributes I require in the person I wish to engage.”

Ivana drew a deep breath.

“What you are saying, my Lord, is that I should be a man, but Mrs. Hill made it clear that she has no man on her books who can speak French, nor did she think it likely that she would be able to find one.”

The Earl frowned.

“It cannot be an impossible thing to ask,” he exclaimed.

“I think, if you will forgive me saying so,” Ivana replied, “that, even if people can speak French, they are not particularly keen at this very moment to advertise the fact. After all we are at war with France.”

“I am aware of that,” the Earl said coldly. “At the same time perhaps it does not trouble you.”

“I had not thought of speaking French being an asset,” Ivana answered, “until just a short while ago when I was in Mrs. Hill’s Agency.”

“And what position were you looking for from Mrs. Hill?” the Earl enquired.

“I thought,” Ivana related frankly, “that I might be a reader to an old lady or perhaps a secretary. I have done quite a lot of secretarial work in the past in one way or another.”

“I should have said,” the Earl remarked, “looking at you, that either of those positions were most suitable.”

There was silence between them and then Ivana began to feel that she had failed.

Then she pointed out,

“If you are thinking that I am too young to do what you require, it is something that will be rectified in time.”

The Earl laughed.

“That is certainly true. Yes, Miss Tate, I was thinking that you are too young and so it would be difficult for anyone looking as you do to carry out my requirements.”

“But you need somebody who can speak perfect French,” Ivana argued.

“That is most unfortunately true,” the Earl said, “and, as you already know, I am finding it hard to find anyone.”

“Then, please – please ,” Ivana insisted, “give me a chance. I promise you that I am quite intelligent. I have been well educated and I am at present desperately in need of employment immediately.”

The way she spoke was very revealing.

The Earl looked at her speculatively before he asked,

“Why should you be in such a hurry?”

“Because I have no money and nowhere to go,” Ivana replied.

“Can that really be true?” the Earl enquired.

“I am an orphan,” Ivana explained, “My mother died recently and my father was killed fighting Napoleon in the Peninsula.”

“So your father was in the Army?”

“Yes.”

“In what Regiment?”

Again it flashed through Ivana’s mind that it might be dangerous to tell him the truth.

Then she told herself that the Army was a very large one.

It was highly unlikely that the Earl, even if he was in the War Office, would know the name of every acting Officer in every Regiment.

After a little hesitation, she answered him,

“The Fourteenth Dragoons.”

“That is my own Regiment,” the Earl informed her with a smile, “so perhaps I knew your father.”

Too late Ivana realised that she had made a serious mistake.

“What was his name?” the Earl asked Ivana as she did not speak.

There was silence until she said,

“Please – we are not concerned with my – father – but with me.”

“If you are to work for me,” the Earl replied, “then I am concerned with every aspect of your life and past.”

Ivana clasped her fingers together.

“I-I would rather remain – anonymous.”

“I am afraid that is impossible,” the Earl told her. “The position that concerns you is in fact a very important one. I would not be allowed, even if I wanted to, to employ anyone who I knew nothing about.”

There was another long silence until Ivana, knowing that he was waiting for her to say something, replied,

“If I tell you – the truth – will it remain strictly secret?”

“It will remain a secret from everybody except myself and the Secretary of State for War who, as you will know, is Viscount Palmerston.”

“You promise,” Ivana insisted, “promise by everything you hold sacred?”

She saw an expression of surprise in the Earl’s eyes.

Then his eyes twinkled before he responded,

“I give you my word as an Officer and, I hope, as a gentleman. I cannot believe that you will refuse it.”

“No, of course not, my Lord, but it is very very important to me that no one should ever know where I am and what I am doing.”

“So you have run away!” the Earl exclaimed.

“Yes, I have run away – from something horrible, disgusting, degrading and very very wicked!” Ivana retorted.

She spoke so violently that the Earl realised how much it meant to her.

Quietly he persisted,

“I have given you my word and, when you tell me your father’s name, I promise that, with the exception of the Secretary at War, no one will know of it.”

“My – my father was a Major, the Honourable Hugo – Sherard,” Ivana said almost in a whisper.

“Then, of course, I knew him! Only not well, but I remember him being killed. We lost two other very fine Officers in the same engagement at Salamanca.”

“My father was not afraid to die,” Ivana said, “but it nearly destroyed my mother.”

“And you say your mother is now dead?”

“She died two years ago,” Ivana answered, “but not before she had married again.”

The way she spoke made the Earl look at her penetratingly.

Then, as she did not say anything more, he quizzed her,

“I believe I am not mistaken in thinking that it is your stepfather who you are running away from?”

“I-I have to – I have to run away – so please – please let me work for you – but no one – no one must ever know where I am.”

“I have already given you my promise,” the Earl said, “but I suppose you would not like to tell me why you are running away from your stepfather?”

Ivana shook her head.

“I don’t want to – speak of it to anyone – but I have to hide and – if you will not employ me – I must go back to Mrs. Hill – but she told me she had – nothing at all suitable for me on her books.”

There was silence.

Then, because she was desperate, Ivana carried on,

“Please – please help me – if you knew Papa, you would know that he would tell me I was doing the ‒ right thing in asking you for your help, my Lord.”

The Earl smiled.

“You are making it difficult, Miss Sherard, for me to refuse you.”

Ivana looked up at him with hope in her eyes.

“Do you mean you – really will employ me? Oh, thank you – thank you ! I know that Papa would thank you too if he was still alive.”