by Royce, Ruby
He snorted derisively. "All the Karlsburgs are catholics."
"I'm not a Karlsburg…"
He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him. "No, but you will be."
"I… What?" Flora sat up.
"When we are married, of course."
"Married?"
"Yes, well did you think I was not going to marry you after this?"
She shook her head. "No. It had been decided that I should be your mistress, not your wife! What made you change your mind?"
"Really, Flora, I never meant it. You must know that. It just pleased me to know that you would still give yourself to me, even if there was no prospect of marriage to you."
Her mouth dropped open. "You tested me?"
Francesco rolled his eyes. "Of course not, I merely wished to see if—"
"You tested me!"
"My furious little flower, you look so pretty when your eyes are shining like this…"
"Don't try your Italian tricks on me!" She shrieked, then she said more silently to herself, "I can't believe it…"
"Oh, come on, Flora," the Prince sat up as well, reaching for her, but she pulled back.
"I'm not a villain, girl, I won't compromise a young lady and not do the right thing, and I told you I love you, I want you! And you will be a princess. Everybody gets what they want and—"
"NO!" Quickly as a snake Flora had wriggled herself out of the bed. She found her nightgown and pulled it over her head.
"It's not what I want! Have I not told you a million times that I do not care about being a princess? If I marry you, that's what it will all end in, everybody telling me everyday how lucky I can be, to have married a prince and everybody will whisper behind my back how I must have manipulated and schemed myself into your bed! It will always be that! And I don't want it! I don't want that! God, I thought you understood!"
He was coming around the bed towards her. "Yes, I understand, but I think you're exaggerating and whatever people will say, what can it do to us? Nobody speaks ill about the Karlsburgs anyway, they'll only turn green with envy. Flora, you have to marry me, I won't let you not marry me!"
"No, no, no!"
She was out of the door before he had reached her and blindly raced through the palace until she found a door that led outside. She found herself back in the park and saw that her little boat still lay on the rocky beach where she had left it.
"FLORA!" Francesco called after her. He had fortunately thought of putting on his trousers and came running out of the house, just as she reached the boat. "Flora wait! Don't be silly! We can talk about it!"
"I don't want to talk! This discussion is over!" She pushed the boat into the water. As soon as she sat down she took hold of the rows and pulled frenetically. Francesco had made it to the waterfront.
"You can't just leave, Flora, be reasonable!"
It was terrible, she thought, that in rowing one had to face one's back to where one was going and one's front to from where one was leaving. She saw him jump in to the lake, coming after her.
"Flora, wait!" he sputtered when his head came up.
"I won't marry you!" She tried to row even faster but he kept up with her. In fact, he seemed to gain on her!
Oh, why did he have to be so stunning and so manly and so determined? Why could he not just leave it?
"Yes, you will!" he spat. "What if we…" water was in his face, "what if we made a child tonight? Would you want to be mother to a bastard?"
Good Lord, why had she not thought of that before falling into his arms like an imbecile? He had a point there. But if she were to have been his lifelong mistress, there would have been children anyway, right?
"I have taken it into consideration!" she panted.
"I don't believe…" splash "…you! You are not that ruthless."
"Yes, I am, you have no idea! You only saw me a few times, you know nothing about me and how ruthless I can be!"
Shouting whilst rowing at full speed was becoming difficult. Flora decided to save her energy.
Shouting whilst swimming appeared to just as strenuous, since he did not say anything anymore either.
Flora rowed and Francesco swam. In silence, only their heavy breathing - which not such a long time ago had been caused by a quite different activity - could be heard.
Flora stared at his shoulders and arms in the water.
He must be exhausted after last night. Oh Jesus, I hope he won't drown!
Sixteen
Palazzo Sforza, about that time
"How nice of you to have made it to this quiet abode, excellency," Lady Cartwright said and poured some tea for the Bishop of Cambridge. "Has your trip been of great gain to you?"
The old clergymen bowed his head to the formidable woman. "Ehem, indeed, my daughter, indeed, it has. Even if the Church of England has seperated itsself from Rome, it is still the place where Christendom is deeply rooted. I believe, there should be no enmity among the children of Christ."
"Certainly not, your Excellency."
"Pah!" General Cartright puffed on his pipe. "As long as there's mankind, there's war. There's always more land to be held somewhere. They will fight the others and one another, christians, muslims, buddhists and jews. It's human nature."
"Oh, Cartwright, you are always so absolute in your views…" his wife patted his arm the way she always patted everybody's arm when she wanted them to know she disagreed.
"Hmmmpf," Baron General Cartwright said enigmatically.
"Found Rome rather a stuffy old place," Dominic St. Yves declared. "I cared more for Pisa and Verona."
"I wished I could go there…" Clara sighed, gazing once more forlornly into the distance.
Dominic threw her a sharp glance. "I'm sure Darlington will only be to happy to oblige you. You could go to Tuscany on your honeymoon."
Clara nodded. "I guess…"
Gigi walked onto the terrace, wringing her hands. "I can't find Flora. She's not in her bed! Oh my God, what if something has happened to her, she was in so much distress lately, I could never forgive myself!"
"Oh no!" Clara exclaimed, genuinely worried.
"Not to be found?" Lady Cartwright energetically put down her tea cup. "Impossible. She must be somewhere!"
"I've looked everywhere, she simply disappeared!" Tears were running down Gigi's cheeks. "She must have gone into the lake!"
"Oh no!" Clara exclaimed again.
"She has not," Dominic St. Yves said coolly. "If anything, she has gone across the lake."
"Hm, hm, hmmm, I agree," the General chuckled.
Gigi stared at her father and husband in amazement. "What do you mean?"
"I think I know what— where…" Lackerby began.
"Hold it, Lackerby!" The General commanded. "Let them guess a little."
"Yes, Sir."
"Across the lake? But how would she have done that, she's hardly Jesus!" Gigi ventured, then quickly added "Forgive me, Excellency."
The bishop nodded and raised one hand as if to bless her.
"Eugenia, there are quite a lot of boats here, she will have taken one of those," Dominic said sternly.
"Yes, but what for?"
"Yes, what for?" Clara asked.
The General chuckled a little more. "You women are too caught up in your own affairs to see the bigger picture."
Lady Cartwright lifted a fan (which - everybody would later swear - had not been there a moment before) and fanned herself dramatically. "Oh, I saw it right away!"
"Of course you did, my love," the General puffed.
"I simply did not want to reveal my knowledge until the time was right and the liaison had developed further."
"Of course, my love."
Eugenia suddenly understood what everybody else was referring to. Being her mother's daughter, she did the one thing any daughter of Lady Cartwright's would do in such a situation.
"Oh, that! Well, I had not thought you others had guessed it."
"Guessed what?" asked Cl
ara.
"It was obvious from the beginning," Dominic said. "And it was only logical. There are no two people in the world who can produce as many words in a minute as they can, in fact, if they should reproduce I'm going to buy an Island to keep the chattering bunch away from the rest of humanity. They had to flock together by a law of nature. They even look alike."
"Now, Surrey, I don't think…"
"Hold it, Lackerby," The General interrupted. "My son-in-law has the right of it. I saw it right away."
"Who would not!" Lady Cartwright sang.
"Those Boticelli mouths and long lashed blue eyes, they're of the same stock, I tell you. My cousin is so in love with himself that he could not help but fall for his mirror image, it's pure narcism."
"Certainly," Lady Cartwright said.
"Very much so," Eugenia said.
"Frankie and Flora?" Clara shook her head. "I had no idea! How could I have missed it all?"
"Oh, I know that too, Clara." Gigi smiled at the younger girl.
"Alas," Dominic looked towards the lake. "Here comes the bride."
The group followed his gaze and indeed! There was a rowing boat approaching the shoreline. The dark hair and white back were undoubtedly those of Flora Parker.
After some more minutes, Flora had reached the little landing stage and alighted from her vessel.
She stumbled towards the house, her face red and covered in sweat. She was wheezing badly.
Gigi rushed towards her and supported her friend until they had reached the veranda.
"Gigi," Flora panted. "I ha-, I have to go on!"
"Where? What happened? Where's Francis?"
Flora stared at her in shock. "You- you know?"
"We all know, Flora dear." Lady Cartwright cried and waved. "Have some tea, oh, is that a nightgown?"
"I— he— oh no!"
His Royal Highness, Prince Francis of Karlsburg-Sforza pulled himself out of the water and, dripping wet and also panting, walked towards the group of people assembled around the tea table. Flora tried to flee, but she ran into a giant human wall. The General had gotten up from his chair to prevent her escape. He wrapped a protective arm around her.
Francesco reached them. Everybody waited excitedly for what he would say.
"She—" he groaned, "she does not want to marry me!"
A cry of disappointment burst out of the others.
"Somebody tell her," he halted to catch more air, "that she has to marry me!"
Dominic sneered. "Cn't say dn't 'stand. Blief it's Lady's dsishn ftrall!"
Gigi coughed politely. "What did you say so rightly my love?"
"I said, that I can't say I don't understand her and that I believe it is the Lady's decision after all."
"Ah, I thought you had said that."
"But Flora, I love you so!" the Prince turned to Flora, who was writhing in the Generals grip.
"Now, Flora, why don't you want to marry his Highness?" The General inquired grandfatherly. "Has he not been nice to you?"
Flora had recovered a little. "I told him I did not want to be his wife, that I just wanted to be his mistress! And now he tells me I have to become a catholic and marry him!"
The Bishop spat out his tea. "Catholic?" he squeeled.
"Is there a reason why you should better marry the prince, little Flora?" The General gently squeezed her arm.
"What? Of course there is," Dominic spat. "He has obviously compromised the girl, that rascal! What do you think she was doing in this castle in a nightgown? Playing chess? He never knew right from wrong."
"No, he hasn't!" Flora shouted, coming to the Prince's defense. "I compromised myself!"
"Oh, darling, that's not true," Francesco cried. "It was my fault alone."
"No, no, it wasn't!" Flora sobbed. "I came to you in that wretched boat, and I was drunk on wine and I wanted to see you so badly and then…"
"I have behaved monstrously!"
"No, my love, you haven't!" Flora tore herself loose and ran towards the Prince. He lifted her into his arms, kissing her, then, murmuring unintelligible words of tenderness, he carried her off into the house.
The priest was still gagging on his tea when the two disappeared. Lady Cartwright patted his shoulder in support.
"Now, now, don't take it so hard, Excellency. It happens all the time, I'm told. At least, this time, he was wearing trousers!"
Seventeen
Dearest Mama, dearest Papa
I have some important news, which you may look upon unfavourably. I ask your forgiveness, but I had little choice in the matter:
I am now a catholic.
And I got married!
Your loving daughter,
HRH Princess Flora Karlsburg-Sforza, Archduchess of Lombardy, Marquise of Brescia and Countess of Varese
THE END
Next
Two Pistols for Clara
The Surreys are back in London and Clara's wedding to the Earl of Darlington is drawing nigh.
Will they be able to profess their love for one another? And what dark secrets does he hide? And who is the mysterious dark-eyed woman who visits the Earl so late at night?
