This Way to Heaven by Barbara Cartland Page A

Master’s brandy! Accused of being asleep when I should have been working. All lies, that’s what it is. I don’t think that young man is right in the head. So I’m not staying to be insulted like that.”
    â€œMr. Pardew!”
    The butler pushed past her.
    â€œI told him so! ‘Grief has turned your mind’, I said. He told me to take a month’s notice. Well, I’d like to see who he’ll get to be butler up here in the wilds of nowhere. I won’t even stay and work out my notice! I’m off and he can manage with you and that useless valet of his, Fergus. Now I’ll bid you good day!”
    And he stormed out of the castle kitchen, banging the door loudly behind him.
    *
    The day slipped past, dull and dark.
    Jasmina slept, woke and sipped the nourishing soup Mrs. Rush provided and then slept again.
    Around seven in the evening, Mary dimmed the oil lamps in the bedroom and went downstairs for her supper.
    The click of the door latch closing behind her woke Jasmina from dreams of snow and clutching hands.
    But she was overjoyed to realise that she felt much stronger and wide-awake.
    She tried closing her eyes again, but now her strong constitution refused to allow another few hours’ slumber it did not need.
    â€˜I cannot just lie here for another twenty-four hours pretending to be an invalid! I will go mad,’ she thought to herself.
    She pushed back the covers and pulled on a cream silk and lace dressing gown that had been laid on a chair next to her bed.
    Then she padded across to the window and peered out into the night.
    The moon was beginning to rise, gleaming on the snow-covered fields, hills and the moors rising up behind them, illuminating the countryside that would have been in total darkness without the blizzard.
    â€˜What a beautiful place,’ sighed Jasmina. ‘Oh, how I long to explore outside, but I suppose the doctor has told all of them to make me stay indoors in case my health is damaged. What rubbish. I feel quite strong now.
    â€˜Goodness, if I had a dollar for every time I fell off my horse back home in Missouri, I would now be a very rich girl!
    â€˜Well, at least I can explore the castle and stretch my legs a little. As long as I don’t wander near the Earl’s study, then I am sure that will be acceptable. After all, as he said himself, this is an extremely large castle!’
    She hunted for some slippers, but could find none, so bare-footed she left her room and walked slowly along the corridor heading for the staircase.
    At the very top of the circular stairway, Jasmina hesitated.
    She was certain the Earl’s study would be on the ground floor, so perhaps it would be much safer for her to explore the first floor of the castle.
    She could see that the corridor heading towards the East Turret had now been barricaded to prevent some poor unfortunate servant girl from falling through the gaps in the banisters.
    Jasmina turned, walked past the door to the South Turret where her bedroom lay and along the corridor that led to the West Turret.
    Halfway there she paused.
    A door was standing ajar and she could now see the flickering light from candles throwing shadows around the room.
    She pushed the door open and stopped with a little gasp of surprise.
    She was in a huge library where shelves contained books reaching up from floor to ceiling, the light gleaming off the gold lettering on the spines and jackets.
    â€˜What an amazing place!’ whispered Jasmina as she glided over a large red Turkish carpet to inspect some of the treasures on oak shelves that had turned grey with age.
    Obviously someone had been using the library quite recently because a large leather-bound book had been left open on a small reading table.
    Jasmina picked it up, running her fingers over the fine leather cover.
    She glanced at the title – it was an academic work on the history of the Ottoman Empire – before replacing it carefully on the