Read Blood Royal for Free Online Page A

infinite care and started to go very slowly the way we had come.
    Before we had gone half a mile, the road bent sharp to the right and then split into two, and, though George without hesitation swung to the left, I was by no means certain that that was our way. What was more to the point, it very soon became clear that, rightly or wrongly, the Grand Duchess had taken the other road, and, since she had to be found before we did anything else, we went about again and essayed the right-hand road.
    Almost at once we found her, but, when George asked her if this was the way we had come, she said that, now that she had seen it, she was not sure and added that, for what it was worth, she had found no snags.
    I did not know what to think, and, though George was now less certain that he had been right, we had just decided to return once more to the fork, when the Duke indicated a rill which leapt from between two rocks, as though from a mouth, and then fell into a trough which was cut from the trunk of a tree. This he declared he remembered, and, since that was very much more than anyone else could say, we considered the matter settled and drove ahead.
    And that was the beginning of trouble for, when, after twenty minutes, we had proved his memory faithless and sought to return to the fork, we could by no means find it and only with every movement seemed to stray further afield.
    The country was very blind and the roads rose and fell and twisted as though bewitched; there were no fingerposts to help us, and when we looked for the map it was not to be found.
    After an hour of wandering, George brought the car to rest by the side of the road.
    “What the hell’s the matter now?” said the Duke.
    George spoke over his shoulder.
    “For one thing,” he said, “I’m tired. I’ve stopped and started and turned and backed till I can’t feel the clutch. Add to that that I’ve changed two wheels and permanently injured my brain, trying to find the way which you insisted you knew.” He sighed there, and I began to shake with laughter. “Well, that’s one reason. If you want another, we’ve exactly half a gallon of petrol left . We had ample to get to Vigil, but I meant to fill up at the frontier – just in case. But that was before the mix-up… I don’t want to point no fingers and I’m perfectly ready to bear my share of the blame. I’ve been driving, and the dial’s right under my nose. But it’s all this mucking about that’s run us dry.”
    There was an uneasy silence.
    Then—
    “How far,” said the Duke, “will half a gallon get us?”
    George raised his eyebrows.
    “In this going, employed with care, about five miles.”
    With that, he turned to me and demanded a cigarette.
     
    I had walked three miles across country and seen neither man nor beast nor any sort of building but a cottage that had been burned down, when I came to the edge of a bluff, to see, far below me, fair meadows and in their midst an abbey with its attendant farm.
     
    The scene made as pretty a picture as ever I saw, for the sun was setting and the valley was full of red light. A stream flowed through the meadows, and cattle were slaking their thirst on their way by a ford: the water was running golden, and everything, great and little, was throwing its clean-cut shadow upon the turf. Smoke was rising from the buildings, but I saw neither monks nor nuns, and the view of a ruinous cloister suggested that the place was no longer a covert of Holy Church. Still it was a decent homestead, at which, if need be, the Grand Duchess could pass the night: and that was what I was seeking, for, unless we could come by some petrol, we could not go on and, before we set our face to the frontier, the servants had to be found.
    A road ran out of the valley, and, so far as I was able, I marked the line that it took. Then I returned to the Rolls and made my report.
    “Can they give us petrol?” said the Duke sullenly.
    “We’ll know when we get there,”