“You have captivated me since the first moment I saw you,” the Prince was saying. “I find everything about you irresistible, and I believe unless I am much mistaken, that I attract you a little.”
Once again Vida felt as if he was hypnotising her and drawing her towards him so that, although he had not moved, she was already in his arms and he was holding her.
The thought was frightening and she put up her hands as if to safeguard herself, saying,
“Please – don’t talk to me like this – not here! Let us wait until – tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?” the Prince asked. “Why not now?”
As he spoke, he put out his arms and almost before Vida could realise what was happening, his lips were on hers.
For a second she could not believe that he was really kissing her, then, as she felt his lips hard, insistent and demanding on hers, she knew that she had to fight against him.
But because he had pushed her back onto the pillows and was bending over her, it was impossible.
Now she tried to force him away, but his lips became more demanding, more passionate.
She felt as if he captured and possessed her so that she had no will and no thoughts of her own.
Instead she could only feel sensations that she had no idea existed rising within her and making her feel as if he carried her up into the sky and made her part of the stars so that she was no longer herself.
Then suddenly she remembered her father and, forcing her head to one side, she managed to say,
“Please, please, you must – not do this to me. I cannot let you!”
“Do you really think you can stop me?’” the Prince asked. “You want me, my beautiful, as I want you!”
“That is – not true,” Vida tried to say.
He turned her face back to his and once again his lips possessed hers and he was kissing her now with a passion that seemed to sear its way through her like a raging fire.
She was aware too that he was lying on top of the bed and she was afraid as she had never been afraid before.
“Please, please – ” she begged.
Then, as he moved his lips from her mouth to the softness of her neck, she said,
“Listen to me, please, listen to me. You are – frightening me – and there is nobody to – help me.”
“Why should you be frightened?” the Prince asked.
His lips were still against her neck, and yet for the moment he was not kissing her.
‘There is – something I – came here to ask you,” Vida said, “but I did not – know you would behave – like this and I am not certain if I can trust – you.”
Because she was so frightened she spoke somewhat incoherently and yet she was aware that the Prince was listening.
“I want you desperately,” he said. “Let me love you first, then we will talk afterwards.”
“No, no!” Vida insisted. “I know it is – wrong for you to – love me like that and I did not – expect you to do so.”
“Why not?” he enquired. “You have already made me aware that you have heard of my reputation and you cannot be so foolish as to not have known that you would attract me.”
She did not answer and after a moment he said,
“That is what you wanted to do, is it not? That is why you came here.”
She drew in her breath.
Then she said,
“Yes, that is true, but I – locked my door.”
He smiled as if he could not help it.
“Being a Russian,” he said, “you must be aware that in Russia there are always secret doors and hollow walls.”
“I-I did not – think of – that,” Vida replied. “Please, be kind to me because I am so foolish that I did not – realise the danger of what I was – doing.”
The Prince raised himself slowly.
Now in a different tone of voice he asked,
“What are you saying to me?”
In a piteous little voice because she was really afraid, Vida answered,
“I-I came here to ask you – something very important – to me. But I am not sure if I – should do so.”
As he looked at her searchingly, it made her think that if she made the wrong decision and he was not to be trusted, she might, in the Marquis’s words, be signing her father’s death warrant.
She was so concerned that she was trembling as she said,
“Please, don’t touch me again and – give me time to think.”
“I do not understand,” the Prince said.
“Perhaps I will be able to – explain tomorrow,” Vida replied, “but – not now.”
“Why not now?”
She looked away from him. .
Then she said,
“I-I cannot think – clearly when you – touch me.”
“When I kiss you, you mean.”
“Yes, when you – kiss me.”
“And have you asked yourself the reason why?”
She did not answer and after a moment he said,
“I think you know that there is something between us that we cannot ignore, something irresistible, something that draws you to me as I am drawn to you. You cannot deny it!”
He bent towards her as he added,
“Let me make love to you, Vida, and after that there will be no problems, no more difficulties.”
It flashed through her mind that if he made love to her and it gave her the same sensations as his kisses, it would be very wonderful. She would not only touch the stars but also be inside them, enveloped by their light.
Then she remembered her father and told herself that nothing mattered except that she should save his life.
“Please – ” she said to the Prince. “Please give me a little time so that I can think clearly. What I have to decide does not concern only me.”
“Everything you say makes me more puzzled and bewildered than before,” the Prince answered.
“I know it sounds complicated, but I have to do things my way, so try to understand.”
She was pleading with him and he was aware of how tense she was.
“You are making it very difficult for me,” he said. “I thought for one moment when I kissed you and before you struggled against me that we were touching the Gates of Paradise together.”
That was true, Vida thought wildly, but she had to forget everything except her father and the reason why she was here.
“Tell me your secret now,” the Prince urged.
She knew he was being deliberately persuasive because he was genuinely curious.
“I-I cannot. I dare not,” she murmured. “But tomorrow – may be – different.”
She thought frantically that by tomorrow Margit might have found out something or perhaps she would feel surer then that she was doing the right thing.
She was vividly conscious of the Prince sitting beside her and the magnetism that came from him and all the sensations he had aroused in her.
She could still feel his lips on her neck and she thought suddenly that almost anything was worth such ecstasy, such wonder.
Then, as if she could see her father warning her, she cried out,
“Go away! Go away and – leave me! I must – think! I must be – sure!”
She put out her hand and accidentally touched the Bible she had put down beside her.
She picked it up and said,
“When you came to me, I was praying for guidance, feeling that this Bible would determine what I must do.”
“You were praying?” the Prince asked in a deep voice.
“I felt only – God could – help me.”
There was an expression on his face that she did not understand.
Then quite suddenly, so that she was surprised, he rose from the bed.
“Very well, Vida,” he said, “I will grant you the time you have asked for to make up your mind, but I shall be thinking about you, wanting you and asking myself if I have made a mistake.”
“You are being kind and underst
anding,” Vida said, “and it is never a mistake to be that.”
The Prince smiled at her mockingly, then he said,
“Good night. I hope you gain the right answer from your Bible, for otherwise I shall be very disappointed.”
He would have turned away, but Vida put out her hand impulsively.
“Thank you for being so understanding.”
The Prince did not move.
“I am not going to touch you,” he said, “for if I do, I might cease to do as you have asked and do what I myself really want.”
Vida put her hand protectively over her breast.
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said,
“You have certainly closed the Gates of Paradise – for tonight at any rate!”
He walked across the room and, as he reached the shadows, he disappeared in the same strange way he had come, through the panelling in the wall.
Vida gave a little sigh that should have been one of relief.
At the same time she had the feeling that she had lost something very precious, something she might never find again.
Chapter Four
When the Prince had gone, Vida lay for some time just staring ahead of her and trying to think about what he had said to her and what she felt.
But she found herself so bewildered by him that she was completely unable to decide what they should do.
Then suddenly she knew that the best thing would be to talk to Margit and see if she had learnt anything.
Moreover Margit, with her common sense and her down to earth attitude towards life, would perhaps take away the feeling of ecstasy that Vida had felt when the Prince had kissed her and she had touched the stars.
She knew that Margit was in fact not far away and that by this time the Prince would have returned to his room.
She had said yesterday after their arrival,
“The housekeeper’s been very kind and because The Castle’s so big and we’re strangers to it, she’s put me on the same floor as you.”
“That’s very convenient,” Vida had murmured.
“I’m at the very end of this corridor,” Margit had said, “past His Highness’s suite in a room that faces into a courtyard and it’s ever so comfortable.”
She spoke with a touch of pride that amused Vida. She knew that Margit always appreciated it when she was given privileges not accorded to other servants.
“I shall know where to find you, if I want you,” Vida remarked.
“I’ll be there when you wants me,” Margit said decisively.
Vida felt that she must now talk to her at once and in Margit’s room. It would be easier there because, if people could eavesdrop in her own room, it was unlikely that the same applied to Margit’s.
She put on a light robe over her nightgown and opened her door very quietly.
She peeped out to find, as she expected, that the corridor was not in darkness, but there were fewer lights burning than when she had come up to bed.
There was no sign of anybody about and she started to walk lightly along the thick carpet.
It was quite a way and there were a number of rooms between hers and the Prince’s suite.
She had almost reached the lofty painted doors that she had noticed in the daytime led into the Prince’s rooms, when just ahead of her she heard a sound.
Instinctively, being afraid of being seen, she stopped and moved into the shadow of a doorway.
As she did so, she saw a man appear from what she thought must be a secondary staircase that came out almost opposite the Prince’s door.
The man was tall and seemed in the darkness somehow impressive.
Then, without knocking, he opened what Vida guessed was the outer door to the Prince’s suite and the light inside fell on his face.
As she watched him suddenly she was rigid, as if turned to stone, for the man who was just entering the Prince’s suite was Vladimir Demidovsky.
For a second she thought that she must be dreaming.
Then she knew that she had been saved from betraying her father and that in no circumstances must she trust the Prince.
Vladimir Demidovsky disappeared, but there was a faint streak of light from the door he had left ajar.
Knowing that this was her opportunity to reach Margit without being seen, Vida hurried forward, moving on tiptoe, ready to pass the door and carry on down the corridor.
Then, as she reached it, she heard Vladimir Demidovsky’s voice speaking in Russian.
“It was hard to make him talk, Your Highness.”
“But you managed it?” the Prince asked!
“I was somewhat rough with him.”
“You mean you killed him?”
There were no words of reply, but Vida was sure that Vladimir Demidovsky nodded his head.
“He told you what you wanted to know?”
The Prince’s question was sharp.
“Yes, Your Highness. Sir Harvey is in the Monastery of St. Onutri at Lvov.”
It was then, as Vida heard what was said, that she realised she was holding her breath.
Moving with the swiftness of a frightened fawn she ran down the passage and entered Margit’s room.
It was in darkness and she stood just inside the door which she closed quietly behind her and called, “Margit, Margit!” in a very low voice.
“What is – it? What do you – want?” Margit asked in a sleepy tone.
Then, as she knew the answer without Vida speaking, she sat up in bed and lit a candle.
As she did so,Vida was beside her whispering,
“Get up, Margit! We have to leave at once! I have discovered where Papa is and we must save him!”
She had the terrified feeling that now that the Prince knew where her father was he would inform the Secret Police and it was only a question of time before, as she had felt since the beginning of the journey, her father was either put in prison or murdered.
“Hurry, hurry!” she urged.
“Now, listen, Miss Vida,” Margit said slowly. “We can’t leave before dawn, but I’ll tell Henri and he’ll have the carriage waitin’.”
The calm way she spoke seemed to soothe away some of the terror that Vida was feeling.
For a moment she was no longer the clever young woman confident of organising a secret attempt to save her father’s life as she had been when she left London.
She was a child who wanted somebody to look after her and protect her.
“Now, you go and get dressed, Miss Vida,” Margit said slowly as if she were thinking it out. “I’ll wake Henri. I know where he’s sleepin’. Then I’ll come and pack your trunk.”
“Thank you, Margit.”
Vida bent forward, kissed the maid on the cheek and said,
“Nobody could be as wonderful as you in an emergency!”
“Don’t talk when we are in your bedroom,” Margit said.
“I know,” Vida answered, “the walls are hollow.”
She did not add that there was a secret entrance, thinking if she did so that Margit might guess what had happened.
Instead she peeped out into the corridor and saw with relief that the Prince’s door was closed and no longer was any light coming from it.
That meant that either Vladimir Demidovsky had shut the door or else, having given the Prince the information he was waiting for, he had then left him.
Vida ran back as swiftly as possible and moving like a ghost along the dimly lit corridor.
As she reached her own bedroom, she was breathless. She stood for a moment with her back to the door, trying to quell the tumult within her breast.
Then, as she realised that if nothing else she had found out where her father was, she sent out her thoughts towards him.
She was trying to tell him that she was coming to him and if it was humanly possible she would find a way to rescue him.
*
Later, when they were driving away from The Castle, Vida could hardly believe that she had bee
n so successful in escaping without any difficulty.
She was already dressed when Margit came to her room and started to put her things in a large trunk, which fortunately was kept in an adjoining dressing room.
Margit was wearing her black travelling clothes and looked so solid, unruffled and dependable that Vida was ashamed of her own feelings of panic.
She did not speak and Margit merely took down her gowns from the wardrobe, folded them and put them into the trunk.
Even as she closed the round-topped lid Henri came into the room with a young footman.
He was obviously a rather stupid boy and Vida was sure that Henri had chosen him because he asked no questions, but merely did as he was told.
He and Henri carried her trunk along the corridor and avoiding the main staircase went down a secondary one, which led them to a door on the ground floor that opened into a courtyard at the back of The Castle.
Dawn was just breaking but the first rays of the sun had not appeared over the horizon.
Only the stars were fading a little in the sky and there was that hush over the world that is like a prelude to a play.
The horses that were to draw the carriage were restless and Vida knew that they were fresh after their rest of the previous day.
The coachman was on the box, Vida’s trunk was strapped on behind and then, as she and Margit stepped into the carriage, Henri climbed up beside the coachman and they were off.
Only when she looked back and The Castle was no longer in sight did Vida feel a sense of elation, as if she had taken a high fence in a steeplechase and, although there were a great number of others ahead of her, her first effort had been faultless.
She slipped her hand into Margit’s saying,
“Thank you, Margit. Nobody but you could have helped me to get away so cleverly!”
“Now, tell me exactly what you heard, Miss Vida.”
Vida told her how she had seen Vladimir Demidovsky, who had approached her in Budapest and what she had overheard of his conversation with the Prince.
“You suspected he was a Russian Agent,” Margit stated.
“Yes, and we know now that the Prince is not to be trusted – and he too is against Papa.”
There was a dull note in her voice, but Margit did not notice it.
Vida was thinking that the wonder and ecstasy the Prince had aroused in her was false and only part of her imagination.
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