Free 104. A Heart Finds Love by Barbara Cartland Page A

tomorrow morning.”
    “You are quite right, William, because we have so much to do. Goodbye, Alnina, and remember that you are doing me the kindest turn ever and I am extremely grateful to you.”
    He shook her hand.
    Then, as she was unable to speak for the moment, he walked ahead out of the door with William behind him.
    By the time Alnina had followed them to the front door, they were already climbing into the chaise.
    “So we will see you tomorrow,” the Duke shouted, waving his hand.
    Then, as the horses moved off, Alnina stopped at the top of the steps and with difficulty waved back.
    ‘This cannot be true, I am dreaming, I know I am dreaming,’ she sighed to herself, as she walked very slowly back to the study.
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    The very next morning Alnina was astonished when two men arrived, sent by the Duke.
    One was a Solicitor, the other one of his Managers.
    “His Grace has told us,” they informed her, “that we are to look after your estate and keep Lord Lester’s creditors at bay until you return with him from his trip.”
    Brooks had shown them into the study.
    Alnina was there at the writing table making notes of what would be required.
    She could not help feeling that it might all be a hoax. She was genuinely afraid that His Grace would, at the last moment, change his mind and not take her.
    Now she realised that everything had to be done in a hurry and she produced the collection of bills that had not been paid.
    To her intense relief the Solicitor did not exclaim with horror, but took them quietly into his possession and he assured her that there would be no trouble while she was abroad.
    It was more difficult to explain to the Manager what was required on the estate and that she was trying to save the pensioners from starving and to keep the land in a reasonably good condition without spending too much.
    “The sad truth is,” she said, “I don’t have any at the moment. You can readily understand that, although I have managed to sell many items, I still have to find even more for the creditors before spending anything on the estate.”
    She gave a deep sigh before she added,
    “At the same time I cannot allow people to starve simply because I cannot give them what my father did and my grandfather before him.”
    “I understand,” the Manager said. “His Grace has told me that I am to do the best I can for your people and that he will supply anything urgently needed while you are away.
    “It is so kind of him,” Alnina smiled.
    However, she felt ashamed that she should have to accept what was really charity from a stranger and her only consolation was that the Duke and William had known Charles at Eton.
    Therefore they had been to some extent friends of his and so she did have some tie with them.
    Almost before she had finished telling the Manager about the estate, a carriage arrived to take her to London.
    It was drawn by two horses and it was the kind of carriage that she imagined her mother driving about in.
    It was certainly one they could not afford after she was born and her father had begun to find that things were more expensive than they had been.
    Mrs. Brooks had helped her pack everything she thought she would need and she could not help wondering if the Duke had been serious when he had told her that he would provide her with the smart clothes she should wear if she was in fact a Duchess.
    She was not ready to leave until very late in the afternoon, as she had so much to tell the Manager.
    It was only when he and the Solicitor left that she finally said goodbye to the Brookses.
    “You will look after yourselves and the house while I am away,” she instructed Brooks.
    “Now don’t worry, Miss Alnina. That gentleman gives us the good news that we’re to have our wages and there’ll be food for us to eat. No one could ask for more, especially when he says the Missus is to have help in the kitchen and I’m to have a footman.”
    He laughed.
    “It’s so long