She went to the window and a few minutes later she saw her father riding away from the main doorway on what she was sure was the same magnificent stallion that the Prince had been riding yesterday.
She knew that her father was a very experienced horseman who would enjoy being mounted on such a fine animal.
The two men accompanying him were also riding horses that she was sure would outpace anything on four legs in the whole neighbourhood.
“Unless the Secret Police have wings, they will not catch up with Papa,” she said to Margit, who had joined her at the window.
“Don’t tempt fate, it’s unlucky!” Margit replied.
Vida watched him depart anxiously.
Then when the three figures had vanished into the misty distance, she went back to the dressing table.
“I now have to meet the Czar,” she said aloud.
But, even as she spoke, she knew that her heart was saying something very different.
In fact, it was telling her that she would be with the Prince and that was what she wanted wildly and insistently, although she was afraid to admit it.
Chapter Six
When Vida had eaten her breakfast, which was brought to her room, and was dressed ready for travelling, she went downstairs.
The Prince, who had breakfasted with his hosts, was waiting for her and she did not miss the way that their pretty hostess was hanging on his words and repeating several times how much she was looking forward to coming to stay at The Castle.
The Prince kissed her hand in a graceful manner that Vida thought could not be equalled by a man of any other nationality except perhaps a Frenchman.
Then, having again warmly thanked his hosts for their hospitality, he helped Vida into the carriage.
She had expected that Margit would sit opposite them, as she had done on the previous day, but to her surprise another carriage was produced in which Margit, Henri and the Prince’s valet travelled.
With them was carried what seemed to be an enormous amount of luggage belonging to the Prince.
Vida realised that he would need special clothes to wear when they met the Czar and she only hoped that she would not let him down in the gowns she had brought with her to Russia.
As they drove off, he turned a little sideways against the soft cushions of his carriage and said,
“Well, Vida, I said we would save your father, and that, I think, is what we have achieved.”
“You mean you have saved him,” Vida corrected. “If you had not been aware that those men had arrived this morning, it might have been disastrous.”
“But it did give me an opportunity,” the Prince said softly, “to hold you in my arms.”
When she remembered how he had kissed her, she felt herself blush.
Then she knew that she was being foolish to think of what had been an emergency action as something intimate and personal.
As if the Prince was reading her thoughts, he said,
“You are very lovely and I think that I like you best when you are young, innocent and untouched.”
He emphasised the words and Vida blushed again.
She did not know what to say and after a moment the Prince went on.
“I realise now that you came to The Castle deliberately to captivate me and it was indeed a clever idea. At the same time I think it would have been more intelligent from the point of view of intrigue, if you had come as yourself.”
“How could I do that,” Vida asked indignantly, “when I had no idea if it would be safe for me to come as Papa’s daughter? It might have made things more dangerous for him than they were already.”
“Of course you could not know,” the Prince said, “and so you bewildered and intrigued me and, as you intended, captivated me.”
Vida felt her heart leap at what he was saying.
Then she remembered the warning her father had given her and told herself that he was only flirting with her as he would flirt with any pretty woman in the circumstances.
Because she was frightened of the way he made her feel, she tried to change the subject.
“Tell me about the country we are now passing through,” she suggested. “I know it is the Ukraine, which I have always understood is considerably different from the rest of Russia.”
“That is true,” the Prince agreed. “All through our history the Ukrainians have had very distinguishing features and, of course, their own language.”
Realising that she was genuinely interested, he told her how it was in Kiev, where they were to meet the Czar, that Christianity had made its first foothold in Russia and the Prince of Kiev had had his people collectively baptised in the Dnieper River in A.D. 908.
Because history had always interested Vida she listened to him as attentively as a child hearing a Fairy story and, as they travelled on, the Prince pointed out to her the wooded steppes planted with oak and beech trees.
Later they came to the treeless zone with its fertile black soil.
Because the Prince was like a genie, able to conjure up everything he wanted with a wave of his hand, Vida was not surprised when they arrived at a railway station to find waiting for them the Prince’s own train, which was to carry them on to Kiev.
They had stopped for luncheon at an attractive hostelry in a small town and a private room had been ordered for the Prince by one of the outriders who had gone ahead of them.
Then they ate his own food and drank his own wine, which was, Vida was sure, very different from what an ordinary passing traveller would have been offered.
It was so exciting to be alone with the Prince, to be able to talk to him and see his dark penetrating eyes gazing into hers that, after a very short while, she told herself that warning or no warning, she might as well enjoy herself while she had the opportunity.
She tried to remember not to be so foolish as to think that the Prince meant anything serious by the compliments he paid her or by the beguiling manner he spoke to her in, which despite every resolution made her heart turn over in her breast.
‘He is the Pied Piper,’ as Papa said, she thought, ‘and why should I be the only one to ignore his music?’
So she let herself listen and it was very hard, even though she knew that it was wrong, not to long for him to hold her close to him and kiss her again.
She had only to think of those moments when his kisses had swept her up to the stars, to feel again the fire he had kindled in her and the sensations that were different from anything she had ever imagined flying from her heart to her lips.
‘I am making a fool of myself,’ she thought as luncheon ended.
As the Prince sat down beside her again in the carriage, he put out his hand to tuck in the rug that had been placed over her knees a little more firmly and she felt herself thrill.
Now the carriage was open and she knew that it was because the Prince felt that the whole world, as far as he was concerned, could see them.
He was merely doing his duty in obeying the Czar.
She thought too, although it was best not to say so, that he felt that by now her father would be nearing the border.
Unless something very untoward happened, in two or three hours he would reach Hungary and be on his way to the Rákŏczi Castle.
As if the Prince knew what she was thinking, even when she had not spoken, which was one of the disconcerting things about him, he said,
“Don’t worry. I know with my sixth sense that your father will reach safety.”
“That is the sense I also try to use,” Vida said, “but sometimes I cannot help fearing it may mislead me.”
“It certainly did not guide you correctly where I was concerned,” the Prince said quietly.
She felt that he was accusing her and after a moment she answered,
“I really did want to trust you and I swear that I was almost convinced I could do so until I saw Vladimir Demidovsky going into your bedroom.”
“He should not have made you suspicious by the way he spoke to you in
Budapest,” the Prince said. “In fact I shall rebuke him for doing so.”
“Perhaps if I had been an ordinary traveller with nothing to conceal,” Vida said, “I should have simply thought that he was trying to take advantage of a woman travelling alone. As it was, for Papa’s sake, I was frightened of everybody.”
“You are being generous,” the Prince answered, “but I expect perfection in anything that concerns me.”
Vida gave a little laugh.
“How often are you disappointed?”
“Very often,” he answered, “especially where women are concerned.”
She looked at him enquiringly and he put his hand over hers.
“Don’t disappoint me,” he said softly. “I find everything about you almost too perfect to be real and as yet there are no flaws.”
“You are asking too much.”
“Am I?”
She had no answer to this and she looked away from him at the fertile countryside they were passing through and an hour later they arrived at Kishineu.
The Prince’s train was everything she might have expected.
It was painted white and red and displayed the Prince’s Coat of Arms just as on the doors of his horse-drawn carriages.
The attendants wore his claret and gold livery.
The dining room car was magnificently furnished and the bedroom that Vida was to sleep in, because they would not arrive in Kiev until the next day was, although small, very luxurious.
The coachwork consisted of a blending of woods of local trees, painted and decorated in an unusual and attractive manner. And the upholstery of the chairs and the curtains that hung at the sides of the windows were of velvet.
“It is so lovely,” Vida exclaimed, “that I feel you could live in it!”
The Prince smiled.
“I have too many houses to make that requirement necessary.”
“The trouble with you,” she said provocatively, “is that you are spoilt! Your Highness has everything you could possibly ask for. I thought just now that you are like a genie to whom one has only to make a wish for it to be granted.”
“That is what I feel about you,” he replied. “I have wished for you for a long time. Now, when I had almost given up hope, you are here.”
It was a very pretty speech, but Vida felt that she was not to take it seriously.
At the same time again her heart was turning over, but she was saved from making a reply because, as the train started to move, the servants brought in caviar and champagne, even though it was not long since they had had luncheon.
There was much of interest to see from the windows as they steamed towards Kiev.
But Vida found it hard to look at anything except the Prince’s handsome face or to hear anything but the music of his deep voice.
They changed for dinner just as they would have done if they had been staying in his castle.
Margit would have taken one of Vida’s elaborate and sensational gowns from her trunk, but she shook her head.
“Give me one of my own,” she said. “A white one!”
Margit looked at her in surprise and she added,
“Tonight I want to be myself. Tomorrow when we arrive at Kiev I will be the Countess Kărólski.”
“I don’t know what your mother would say about these goin’s-on!” Margit remarked. “The Prince is a fine gentleman and I’m not sayin’ any different, and it’s a miracle the way he saved the Master. But you know as well as I do, Miss Vida, that you should have a chaperone with you!”
“I daresay when we arrive in Kiev His Majesty the Czar will prove a very effective one,” Vida answered lightly.
“Now, you listen to me, Miss Vida,” Margit said in the tone of a scolding Nanny. “You watch your step where His Highness be concerned. He can account for more broken hearts than most sportsmen can tot up their pheasants and I’ve no wish for you to be one of them!”
Vida felt a pang of jealousy at what Margit had said and wanted to reply that it was too late! For the Prince had already captured her heart as he had captured so many others.
At the same time she was still fighting to keep control of her own feelings.
She was trying with an almost superhuman effort not to be mesmerised by his charm, the compliments he paid her and the fire in his dark eyes.
‘I have to remember,’ she warned herself when she was dressed, ‘that when this dream world comes to an end, I shall have to go back to the reality of a normal life and never see the Prince again.’
When she went into the drawing room car, where he was waiting for her, she knew by his expression when he saw her that all she wanted was to please him.
`No amount of common sense could prevent her from feeling as if he lifted her into the sky.
In her white gown, with only a touch of powder on her flawless skin and her only ornamentation a white rose from the flowers arranged in her sleeping car, she looked very young and very lovely.
The Prince rose as she walked towards him and, when she reached him, he said in a low voice,
“Now you have stepped straight out of my dreams. This is how I have seen you in my heart for many years.”
Vida wanted to reply that she too had dreamt of him! But he was so much more wonderful than any ‘dream lover’ she could have ever imagined, that she could only look at him wide-eyed.
She thought that no man could be so handsome, so incredibly attractive.
They sat down side by side on a sofa, were served with the usual glass of champagne and delicious canapés.
Dinner was brought to them and presented with a style and expertise that was part of his insistence on perfection.
Afterwards Vida found it impossible to remember what she had eaten or drunk or even what they had talked about.
She was only conscious that the Prince was close to her and his vibrations were so strong that she felt as if she could not only feel them but positively see them.
When after the meal was over, the table in front of them had been cleared away and they were alone, the Prince suggested,
“You have had a long day, my dearest heart, and I am going to send you to bed early because I want you to look very beautiful when we arrive at Kiev tomorrow.”
“At what time – do we arrive?” Vida asked, a little tremor in her voice.
She was afraid that he would reply first thing in the morning, but instead with a smile he answered,
“I do not think that either of us wants to spend more time than is necessary with His Imperial Majesty and, as the food at his Palaces is always indescribably unpleasant, I have arranged for us to take an early luncheon here before we see the Royal Presence.”
Because Vida was curious, she asked why the food at the Palaces was so unpleasant.
“The Czar is frugal to the point of miserliness,” the Prince explained. “Since his accession he has cut down on entertaining and made stringent economies on food and wine. He has issued orders that soap and candles must be used as fully as possible before they are thrown away and the table linen is not to be changed every day.”
Vida laughed.
“It does not seem possible.”
“It’s true,” the Prince said, “and the Czar’s favourite food is cabbage and gruel! Although he does not inflict these dishes on his guests, anybody who stays at the Gatshina Palace always complains that the food is inedible.”
“It is unbelievable!” Vida said, thinking of the enormous wealth of the Russian Grand Dukes and their wild extravagance when they travelled around Europe.
“The best thing we can do,” the Prince continued, “is to eat all we need before we join the Czar and expect a dinner that is best left alone.”
“Surely it is not in one of his own Palaces that His Imperial Majesty is staying in Kiev?” Vida asked.
“No, it belongs to the Prince of Kiev. He is a generous man, but like any other subject who entertains the Emperor of all the Russias, he is not so foolish as to flaunt his wealth.”
/> Vida gave a little laugh.
“What you are saying is that if he did, he might be taxed even more heavily than he is already!”
It was the Prince’s turn to laugh.
“I can see not only do you understand what is happening in Russia but you realise that things are different in every way from when Alexander II, who was a kindly man, was on the throne.”
Vida was going to ask him to tell her about Alexander II, when he added,
“He was both human and understanding because he was in love. He loved someone very dearly and their romance was like something out of a novel.”
“Papa told me about it once,” Vida answered.
She longed to ask the Prince if that was the sort of love he was looking for in his life.
Then she remembered that Czar Alexander II had had a wife who was jealous and miserable because of his love for his mistress.
It was something Vida did not wish to discuss at the moment and so she said quickly,
“Tell me more about the Czar I am to meet tomorrow. Will he frighten me?”
“He frightens most people,” the Prince said wryly, “including me!”
“I thought that you were frightened of nothing and nobody!” Vida teased.
“I am when it concerns the Czar,” the Prince said seriously, “because he is very unpredictable.”
He was silent for a moment.
Then he said,
“I have painted a gloomy picture which is perhaps a little biased. Like his grandfather, the Czar is devoted to his wife and children, five of them, and is unfailingly kind to all the members of his family.”
Vida thought that this was cold comfort when one remembered the horrors the Czar had perpetrated on the Jews and on any other of his subjects who had incurred his displeasure.
She did not, however, feel it was safe to say so and instead she asked the Prince to tell her about her relatives, the Rákŏczis, whom he knew far better than she did.
“I know they will be delighted to see your father,” the Prince said.
Then with perception that was characteristic of him, he added,
“I know you are tired, even though you are pretending otherwise. You have had a difficult day, but by this time your father is safe and you can sleep peacefully and no longer be afraid.”
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