Dennis Wheatley - The Rising Storm

"Think you, should he be nominated, that he will go without protest?"

"If 'tis the King's order he will not dream of questioning it. No Hidalgo of Spain would even contemplate refusing a mission from his Sovereign." Isabella was smiling a little grimly as she spoke, but after a moment she added with less confidence: "We can count on nothing yet, though. Everything still hangs upon Godoy persuading the Queen of Diego's suitability for the mission."

"I would that I could forward this excellent project in some way," Roger said, with a thoughtful smile. "Tonight, you, I and Don Diego are to have audience of Their Majesties while I recount to them some­thing of my experiences in France. It is just possible that the question of sending a special envoy to Paris may crop up then."

Isabella's dark eyes sparkled. "You are right. A word in season is just what is required to decide the Queen, and this may prove the very opportunity to speak it Could you insert into your discourse some mention of the high regard in which King Louis and Madame Marie Antoinette still hold the d'Aranda, and how they still speak with affection of both him and myself, I pray you, as you love me, do not neglect the chance."

"On the contrary, I shall seize upon it," Roger assured her quickly.

"And I am filled with admiration for the way in which you, my own, have thought this out and paved the way so skilfully. Should your clever plan succeed, we'll be spared all the nerve-racking anxiety of a pursued elopement. About mid-May you could announce that you felt your child strong enough to permit of your following your husband, and set out with Maria, Quetzal and a whole coach-load of luggage. I would leave a few days in advance of you, and in a different direction, so that none of Don Diego's relatives could form the least suspicion that there was any connection between our departures. Then we would meet at a pre­arranged rendezvous, make our way to Lisbon and be safe aboard a ship before our elopement was even guessed at. Oh, what a blessed relief it will be if only things are made so easy for us!"

Simultaneously, they sighed in happy anticipation of such a fortu­nate solution to their difficulties and slid once more into one another's arms.

Nearly three hours later they were still embraced, when there came a discreet knock on the door. They had no idea that the time had passed so swiftly, but it was Georgina who had come to warn them that they ought not to linger for much longer.

When she joined them a few minutes later, Isabella thanked her with special warmth for having arranged the rendezvous, and it was only then that Roger learned how fraught with difficulties their intrigue would have been without her. For it transpired that although Isabella was married, as she was under thirty Spanish etiquette still required that she should have a duenna, and she was never allowed to go outside the grounds of her house without being accompanied by this dragon.

Before Isabella left them she told Roger that she had suggested to her husband that he should dine with them that evening, as the three of them could then go on afterwards to the Palace together; so he would find a note inviting him, at the Embassy villa. Then, when she had gone Roger and Georgina settled down for another talk and a few minutes later Colonel Thursby joined them.

Georgina had no secrets from her fond, indulgent father, and knew that Roger had none either—as far as his love affairs were concerned—so she had told the Colonel that morning of the projected elopement. He had been greatly distressed on hearing of it, and, standing as he did almost as a second father to Roger, he now did his utmost to dissuade him from making an alliance that must prove so disadvantageous to his future. But Roger's three hours with Isabella had revived much of his old feeling for her, and in the three weeks since he had received her letter he had come to accept it as a fact beyond all argument that, cost what it might in worldly prospects, his life was now irrevocably linked with hers.

At five o'clock, now dressed for the Court, Roger presented himself at the Sidonia y Ulloa mansion, where he found that the party consisted only of his host and hostess, Georgina, Colonel Thursby and Isabella's duenna. Don Diego received him with extreme politeness and he took special care not to arouse the Count's jealousy by showing too great a familiarity with Georgina; moreover, blowing that Spanish gentlemen did not even allow their wives to tread a minuet in public with another man, unless they had first received permission to do so, he treated Isabella with the utmost formality, speaking to her only when she addressed a question to him.

Even Georgina showed an unusual restraint in this frigid atmo­sphere, and the dinner would have proved an exceptionally dull one had it not been for Colonel Thursby. Although he was well aware of the tempestuous undercurrents that lay beneath the restraint of four out of five of his companions, he showed no sign of it. With the ease and polish of a highly cultured man who had spent half a lifetime moving in the best society of the European capitals he opened up a dozen subjects, drawing first one and then another of them into the conversation.

As they rose from the table at the end of the meal, Georgina asked Don Diego how a portrait that he was having painted of himself was progressing. He replied that the Court painter, Goya, seemed quite a talented fellow and bade fair to produce a reasonable likeness; but as to that he would value her opinion. He did not include anyone else in his invitation to see the picture, and as Georgina took his arm Isabella tactfully showed that she had no intention of following them, by drawing Roger's attention to a fine Velazquez over the mantelpiece in the dining-room.

Out of the corner of his eye Roger caught sight of the old duenna's face, and was amused to see her give a shocked glance first at Georgina's back, then in Isabella's direction. Obviously she was highly scandalized both by the brazen behaviour of the one in going off alone with her host and at the other's breach of convention in failing to give her guest the protection of her company. As clearly as if the old woman's skull had been made of glass he could see the thought agitating it, that the moment Don Diego had Georgina outside the door he would commit an assault upon her. Knowing his Georgina so well he was quite certain that Don Diego would get no more than a few kisses, unless she chose to let him; but he thanked his stars that he was not forced to live in a country such as Spain, where a man and woman could not walk down a corridor alone without being suspected of the grossest immorality.

After only about ten minutes the truant pair joined the rest of the party in the salon, and Roger was intrigued to see that, while Georgina appeared completely at her ease, Don Diego could not conceal traces of the most violent emotion. His handsome face had gone quite grey, causing his knife-like nose to stand out grotesquely from it, and his big dark eyes were so limpid that it looked as if tears were likely to roll down his pale cheeks at any moment. His distress was such that he could not speak, and only nodded, when Colonel Thursby reminded him that it was time for those of them who were going to the Palace to start; but Georgina gave him a chance to pull himself together by launching out on a lively appreciation of Senor Goya's painting.

As soon as Don Diego had somewhat recovered, he, Isabella and Roger said good night to the others and went downstairs to a waiting coach. On the short drive to the Palace Don Diego sat hunched in gloomy silence, and Isabella was greatly puzzled as to what had come over her husband; but Roger was delighted to see him so suddenly and completely overwhelmed. He felt confident that it was due to a measure that he had concerted with Georgina that afternoon, after Isabella had left them, and he could now only pray that the other half of the plot he had contrived would prove equally successful.