“I have thought of that,” the Duke replied, “and, as I have already told you, I will look after both the Grand Duke and the Princess.”
“Perhaps you could find her a husband,” the Prince said as if he was following his own train of thought. “I am sure that if she was properly dressed men would find her attractive.”
“I am sure they would.”
“Because she has never been in the company of men except for Alexander and myself,” the Prince went on, “she has no idea how to flirt or how to charm a man, but when the opportunity arises I suppose that sort of thing comes naturally to a woman!”
“I expect it does,” the Duke agreed. “But I have very little experience of young girls.”
The Prince gave a little laugh.
“I could say the same! The women who attracted me in the old days were all beauties, so sophisticated and so polished that they shone as dazzlingly as the jewels they wore round their neck and on their head.”
He threw out his hands as he said,
“Do you remember how exquisite the women looked at that last ball you attended at the Winter Palace?”
“I shall never forget it.”
“I was very much in love with a glorious woman whose husband was fortunately away on Army manoeuvres. We danced together and when I took her home I think I was happier that night than I have ever been in my whole life.”
He sighed.
“I used to think about her when I was sleeping under a haystack or moving at night from one village where they were making too many enquiries about us to another. I wonder where she is now?”
The Duke thought it very likely that she had died as so many other Russian aristocrats had done, but there was no point in saying so and he merely replied,
“Perhaps one day you will find her again. Many escaped and I am sure there is a whole colony of them in Cairo as there is in London and in Paris.”
The Prince shook his head.
“There would be no point in searching – how do you say? – for a ‘needle in a haystack’. Memories should remain unspoilt and I could not bear to be disillusioned.”
“It is something that happens far too often,” the Duke said cynically.
“Of course and that is life,” the Prince agreed.
Then, as if he had no wish to go on thinking of himself, he said,
“I am deeply grateful and very relieved that you will look after Militsa. She has not yet been disillusioned about love, whatever she has suffered in other ways.”
“Then let’s hope that such a condition is not inevitable,” the Duke said.
He spoke lightly, but the Prince was frowning.
“Militsa is still young in years,” he said, “and you may not understand, but in the Orient they believe in ‘the Wheel of Rebirth’. If that is true, then she is one of those who have been born many times before.”
It struck the Duke that this was what he believed, but had never put it into words.
“I have studied Buddhism,” he replied, “and found it very interesting, especially the theory of reincarnation.”
“There is no other explanation,” the Prince said, “for the fact that sometimes people we meet for the first time can seem so familiar that they are already a part of ourselves.”
He saw the Duke was listening as he went on,
“Also how else can you explain the extraordinary talent of children who hardly know their alphabet and yet like Mozart can compose a concerto at six?”
“When I was in India,” the Duke said, “I accepted the theory of rebirth, because it seemed unanswerable. But, when I returned to the more mundane atmosphere of England, I doubted my own credulity.”
“At least after my experiences in this incarnation,” the Prince said, “I should be rewarded with a far more comfortable life in the next!”
He spoke lightly and the seriousness of what they had been discussing was swept away.
Yet later that day the Duke thought about it again.
He visited the Grand Duke before luncheon and, as if the Princess had anticipated what time he would do so, she was not in her father’s cabin when the Duke entered it,
“How are you, sir?” he asked the Grand Duke.
“I have had a little pain during the night, but otherwise I cannot complain. And I want to thank you for your great kindness to Ivan. He has told me what you have offered him and it has made me very happy.”
“I am glad about that.”
“I must tell you how kind he has been to me,” the Grand Duke continued. “I was a heavy encumbrance on these young people, so much so that I often thought the sooner I died the better!”
“That would have been a very inconsiderate thing to do!” the Duke exclaimed and, as the Grand Duke saw that he was determined not to be serious, he laughed.
“Now that you have arranged Ivan and Alexander’s future,” he said, “it only remains for Militsa and me not to be a nuisance and outstay our welcome.”
“You will never do that, sir,” the Duke said quickly.
“I thought that as soon as I am well again,” the Grand Duke went on, “I might try to write a book. It is something I have never done before, but I was always very fluent in my speeches and the Czar told me that, when I described anything to him, I painted a picture.”
“I think that would be an excellent idea!” the Duke approved. “I feel that Your Royal Highness’s memoirs would have great historic value. After all, you know so much that most other people are not aware of, even if they lived in Court circles.”
“That is true,” the Grand Duke said, “and therefore I must get to work quickly. Do you think my book would make money?”
“I am quite certain it would,” the Duke replied.
They talked about many of the events and scenes he could describe and, when he saw that the Grand Duke was beginning to tire, the Duke left him.
As he went from the cabin, he wondered if he should knock on Militsa’s door and insist on speaking to her.
Then he told himself angrily that if she wished to go on hating him like a child he would merely ignore her.
It was absurd to let one young woman annoy him and invade his thoughts.
But during luncheon it was impossible for him not to keep thinking that the Princess was below and had no intention of joining them.
As if Dolly had suddenly realised that she was losing his interest in her, she made special efforts to hold his attention and to show by her words and the caressing movements of her hands that she loved him.
The Duke knew that a week ago he would have responded ardently for no other reason than that she was so beautiful. So it was easy to understand why Prince Alexander found it impossible to take his eyes from her.
Yet now it was a relief to talk to Nancy, who was on his other side and she made him laugh as she always did.
At the same time he told himself she was a kind woman and that strangely enough in the somewhat raffish Society they moved in, he was sure that she was completely faithful to her husband.
“What are we going to do this afternoon?” Nancy asked.
Before the Duke could reply, Dolly answered waspishly,
“What can we do except try to fill out the hours on this boring boat, while Buck stares at the sea as if he was Moses or whoever it was who parted the waves!”
They all laughed and Dolly blundered on,
“If you ask me, I think it’s a crashing bore that we have to rush to Alexandria instead of stopping at other places on the way. I am sure there are things we could buy en route if we looked for them.”
“I doubt it,” the Duke replied. “Do you ever think of anything but shopping?”
“Not when I have you with me, Sweetie!” Dolly replied. “Anyway, what else is there more amusing, except for one thing that I am too discreet to say out loud?”
They laughed again and then Prince Alexander was teasing her and what the Duke felt might have been an uncomfortable moment passed.
He
spent the afternoon, as Dolly had predicted, on the bridge looking at the sea and became all the more determined to talk to the Princess.
He therefore went down an hour earlier than usual to call on the Grand Duke.
The cabin door was closed and he was just about to knock when the door next to it opened and the Princess stood there.
“My father is asleep.”
“I am rather earlier than usual,” the Duke replied, “because I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“We had not finished our conversation this morning.”
“I had finished it. There is nothing more to say.”
“On the contrary, there is a great deal more,” the Duke persisted, “and as your father does not require your services, I suggest that you come to my cabin. If you have no wish to talk about yourself, we can at least discuss poetry.”
“I am resting,” the Princess said.
“That is not true, because I can see that you are sewing,” he answered.
The Duke looked past her to where on the bed lay a blouse belonging to Nancy and which he was sure she had been stitching when she heard his footsteps outside the door.
She looked indecisive and he said,
“If you prefer, I can of course talk to you in here.”
He thought that there was a faint flush in her cheeks, as if she realised that would be unconventional, and she said quickly,
“No, I will come to your cabin, but I cannot stay long. Papa should wake soon.”
“Dawkins will not be far away,” the Duke answered consolingly.
He walked ahead of her as he had done before. When they entered his cabin and he closed the door, he had a distinct feeling of triumph as if he had captured some rare wild bird and taken it into captivity.
Because she had no wish to meet his eyes, the Princess was staring at the bookcase that covered one wall of the cabin.
“Are you approving my taste?” the Duke enquired.
“Your books make me feel very ignorant,” she replied. “I find myself wishing, as I have a thousand times these last years, that I had studied harder when I had the chance.”
“To what end?” the Duke enquired.
She looked at him in surprise.
Then she asked,
“Surely, Your Grace, you are not questioning my desire for knowledge or suggesting that a woman should be just an empty-headed plaything to amuse men?”
The remark was so unexpected that the Duke threw back his head and laughed.
“Where can you have got such ideas?” he asked.
“It was actually Lady Radstock who warned me against being too clever,” the Princess replied. “She said that men were afraid of clever women and all they wanted was that they should look pretty and dance well.”
“It should not be difficult for you to achieve such a grand ambition,” the Duke remarked sarcastically.
The Princess made a sound of derision.
“I have no intention of wasting my time on anything so foolish,” she said. “I intend to find employment of some sort, so I must improve my mind. Fortunately I can speak several languages.”
“What have you considered doing?”
“I understand nowadays women work in all sorts of different ways,” the Princess answered. “Lady Radstock thought it might be possible for me to obtain a position in an Embassy.”
There was a pause.
Then the Princess whispered,
“She said if I wanted to – that I would – need your help.”
“So you are beginning to find that I could be useful.”
“Lady Radstock told me that you know a great number of people in Cairo.”
The Duke was about to say that he intended taking both her and the Grand Duke back to England, but he felt, knowing what she thought about his country, that she might immediately begin to argue.
He therefore said nothing and, the Princess turning back to the books, took out first one, then another, before she said,
“I think you will have to help me. I want a book that will tell me how I should behave in the modern world I know nothing about.”
She turned towards the Duke as she added,
“I am aware that there is an enormous gap, not only in my life but also in my mind, between the world I left in 1917 and the world I am returning to in 1924. What knowledge do I need to fill those years?”
“I think you will find it easier to do as Lady Radstock suggested – look pretty and dance well!”
The Duke meant to tease her, but the anger that flashed into her eyes made her, he thought, look even more beautiful than she had been before.
She was no longer a statue, proud and aloof. Instead she was a very human woman, easily upset emotionally.
“What you are suggesting is ridiculous and in my opinion degrading!”
She pulled the first book that came to her hand out of the bookcase and, without looking again at the Duke, walked out of the cabin.
He was sure that if she had been wearing a dress made of silk with a full skirt she would positively have flounced as she left.
The Duke did not move.
He merely lay back in his chair and he was smiling as he thought over what had just occurred.
Chapter Six
The Duke looked at his watch. It was not yet twelve o’clock, which was the time he had instructed a doctor by radio telegraph to call on the yacht.
They had, however, docked earlier than expected and quite a lot had happened since then.
First Prince Ivan had discovered that the fastest train to Cairo left at eleven and the Duke had suggested that he and Prince Alexander should be on it.
“As soon as I know the Grand Duke’s condition,” he said, “and, if he has to go into hospital, which I think likely, it will take at least twenty-four hours to make arrangements for a private sleeping carriage.”
“We could wait and come with you,” Prince Ivan had replied.
The Duke shook his head.
“That is unnecessary and I think it would be useful for you to begin making enquiries about our joint venture as soon as possible. If you have any information for me when we arrive, it would make it easier for us to discuss our plans for the future.”
Prince Ivan saw the sense of this and as Prince Alexander, delighted with the Duke’s introduction to the Officer in Command of the Foreign Legion, was anxious to present himself and so he decided to go with him.
They said goodbye to the Grand Duke and Militsa, who had breakfasted as usual in their cabin. Dolly had done the same, so the Duke had not seen her this morning.
He had lain awake most of the night wondering what he should do about her.
It was impossible for him to leave the party as he might otherwise have done, since the responsibility for the Grand Duke and the Princess rested entirely on him.
He heard someone coming up the gangplank and looked round, hoping it might be the doctor, only to see instead, an Egyptian carrying a parcel.
Because he was curious he walked to where the man was discussing what he had brought with the Steward on duty and heard him say,
“For – Princess! Gentleman say, just for lady, called Princess.”
“Take it to Her Serene Highness,” the Duke said to the Steward.
Then, because he was curious, he asked the Egyptian,
“What does your parcel contain?”
“Very nice dress, sir. From best shop in town. You – visit?”
He pulled a card from his robe as he spoke and pressed it into the Duke’s hand.
He took it and he was thinking that he understood now the reason why Prince Ivan had hurried from the yacht earlier than he thought necessary to reach the station.
They had never discussed it, but the Duke was sure that Prince Ivan knew why she had continued to wear her ragged threadbare gown and refused to accept anything but the loan of absolute necessities from the hated English.
He wondered now, if she was dressed in a gown that
was her own, whether she would condescend to join him and the rest of the party at meals.
He thought it would be interesting to see her reaction. He also thought that he might go below and enquire how the Grand Duke was this morning.
He was just about to do so when he was aware that the Egyptian had left and another man was climbing the gangplank.
He thought it must be the doctor and, as he waited to greet him, Dolly came to his side.
“Here you are, Buck,” she said. “Why did nobody tell me that Prince Ivan and Alexander were leaving so early?”
“They asked me to say goodbye to you,” the Duke replied, “and to thank you for making the voyage from Constantinople so very enjoyable.”
“I shall miss them,” Dolly said. “At the same time I much prefer to be alone with – ”
She broke off what she was saying and gave a sudden scream as the man the Duke had seen climbing the gangplank was suddenly standing beside them.
The Duke looked up and exclaimed,
“Robert! What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Buck,” the Earl of Chatham replied.
He bent to kiss his wife on the cheek.
“I thought you would be surprised to see me, Dolly!”
“I am,” Dolly answered. “I imagined you to be miles away chasing lions – or should I say lionesses?”
She spoke in the light frivolous manner she always used to her husband, but the Earl’s voice was serious as he said quietly,
“I received a telegram telling me that I should return home immediately as my mother is dying.”
“I am very sorry,” the Duke said.
“I was trying to find out where you were so that I could inform Dolly that she must join me, when I learned that The Siren had docked early this morning.”
“I was not expecting to be here so soon,” the Duke replied.
“I have been waiting until you arrived,” the Earl went on, “because Dolly can now travel home with me.”
He looked at his wife as he spoke and both he and the Duke were aware that Dolly wished to protest that she had no wish to leave the yacht.
She knew, however, that it would be an insult to her mother-in-law if she continued to holiday in the Mediterranean when it was possible for her husband to return from Africa.
Princes and Princesses: Favourite Royal Romances Page 84
