Hide and Seek for Love by Barbara Cartland

door.
    And he was not surprised to find that Newman was waiting outside.
    Between them they carried his mother back through the hall, down the steps and into the post chaise.
    It was only then that David turned to Newman,
    â€œTell me, Newman, where we can go.  I cannot take my mother far.  You can see how exhausted she is.”
    â€œI knows, Mr. David, and it’s real sorry I am for her Ladyship and you.”
    â€œIs there a hotel or a lodging house near here?”
    Newman shook his head.
    â€œI think you’d best go to the Vicar.  He’s a kindly man.  He’ll never refuse anyone and he were always very fond of your father.”
    David smiled at him.
    â€œThank you, Newman, I am most grateful to you.”
    The Vicar had then accepted them and understood immediately what had happened at Ingle Hall.
    â€œYour grandfather is a hard man,” he said, “and he never forgave your father for refusing to be married to the distinguished lady he had chosen for him.”
    â€œIt was a decision my father never regretted.”
    â€œI can understand that no one wants his wife chosen for him by someone else and I am glad that your father was so happy.”
    â€œDivinely happy – and my mother is finding it very difficult to be without him.”
    He carried her upstairs and with the gentle help of the Vicar’s servant, a nice woman from the village, they undressed her and got her into bed.
    It was only when David went to say goodnight to her that he realised how seriously ill she was.
    It was essential that she should see a doctor as quickly as possible, so the Vicar arranged one to call the next morning.
    But it was too late.
    Elizabeth passed away peacefully in her sleep.
    David was certain that she had joined his father and that they were together again.
    He knew that if he was honest, it would have been virtually impossible for her to make a new life in England without her husband, especially without any money.
    The first task that he must undertake, even before his mother was buried, was to pay a visit his father’s Bank and talk to the Manager.
    He was told in no uncertain terms that there was no money – what had been deposited originally by Lord Richard’s Godfather had been gradually drained away.
    The Bank had informed Lord Richard several times that there was very little left.
    â€œWhen I sent your father the last hundred pounds,” the Manager said, “I told him there was no more money.  I, also, on his instructions, sold the few treasures he still owned.”
    David had then gone back to the Vicarage with just enough to give the Vicar what he owed him for paying the post chaise and for his mother’s burial.
    He had obtained this sum by selling the delightful silver engagement ring his father had given his mother as well as the pearl necklace he had bought her when they had first visited India.
    David had only been twelve years old when the family visited India for a short time.  Yet he had always remembered the beauty of the country, which had excited him more than any other country his father had taken him to.
    He knew then what he wanted to do.
    He travelled to London to call on the Secretary of State for India, Lord Clare, who, as it happened, had known his father and had been extremely interested in the different places in the world where Lord Richard and his wife turned up unexpectedly.
    When David told him of his parent’s death, he was most sympathetic.
    â€œI have asked to come and see you, my Lord, as I want more than anything else to join a Regiment in India.”
    Lord Clare had been delighted.
    â€œWe are very short of Officers in the Cavalry – ”
    Then he hesitated before he added,
    â€œAs you have this affection for India and as you are your father’s son, I cannot help thinking that you could be of tremendous help to the Viceroy in one particular way in which we are attempting to better the