“His Highness is greatly missed,” the Voivode replied, “but we are surprised that the Grand Duke should allow a Prussian woman to revoke the hospitality we have always enjoyed here.”
“She does not believe, as we do, that we are of your blood,” Laetitia said.
She spoke deliberately and saw by the expression in the Voivode’s eyes that he was not only pleased with what she said but also surprised that she should admit it.
“We of the Rákónzi family have a gypsy ancestor,” Laetitia continued, “and King Viktor of Zvotana is also of gypsy descent.”
The Voivode nodded his head as if he was aware of that already.
“And now I want to ask you a great favour.”
“Your Highness has but to ask.”
Quietly and in a few words Laetitia told him what she wanted and when he agreed she exclaimed,
“Thank you, I am very grateful!”
“Because, as you say, we are joined by blood,” the Voivode said, “I hope you will accept our hospitality and, as it is too early in the day for a meal, may I offer Your Highness a glass of wine?”
“Thank you very much.”
She thought it would offend him if she refused and she was aware that it was a great honour to be invited to drink with the Voivode. Most gypsy tribes kept themselves very much to themselves and only in exceptional circumstances were outsiders permitted to join them at a meal.
The Voivode rose and went to the door of the caravan and spoke rapidly in Romany to somebody.
A moment later two exquisite goblets filled with wine and fashioned in gold and ornamented with semi-precious stones were handed out to him by someone who remained inside.
Laetitia could only see that she wore large rings on her fingers and her wrists were weighed down with heavy gold bracelets from which hung a number of gold coins.
The Voivode took the goblets and presented one of them to Laetitia. It was so beautiful that she could not help remarking,
“I have never seen anything so exquisite! Did your people make this?”
“We have copied them,” the Voivode replied, “but these actual cups have belonged in my family for generations and are famous among the Kalderash for their unusual workmanship.”
“I am sure most people would think it strange that you should possess anything not only so beautiful but also so valuable.”
“If you are thinking of ordinary thieves,” the Voivode replied, “they would be too frightened of being cursed to touch anything of ours. It is only the military who treat us brutally, but sometimes even they are afraid.”
“They are afraid of your magic,” Laetitia said slowly, “that is what I need to help me now.”
“I will consider what you have told me – ”
“Then please help if it is possible,” Laetitia pleaded.
“I think you know already that your blood has called to mine and what we are capable of giving you is at your disposal,” the Voivode said.
It was as if he rebuked her for doubting him and Laetitia answered humbly,
“Forgive me, but there is so much happiness at stake and I cannot help feeling it is wrong for people to be made unhappy for no reason except greed and a desire for power.”
She was thinking of the Grand Duchess as she spoke and, as if the Voivode read her thoughts, he said quietly,
“She is evil, but for those who believe we have a magic that is stronger than the powers of darkness.”
“I believe that, I promise you I believe that,” Laetitia insisted.
The Voivode smiled as if what she said pleased him.
“I know what you have told me, Your Highness, comes from your heart,” he said, “and the magic we the Kalderash can perform is based on the power that comes from love.”
As if there was no more to say, he drained his goblet and, because instinctively Laetitia knew what was expected of her, she did the same.
The wine was sweet and smooth and somehow different from any wine she had drunk before.
It seemed to move almost like sunshine into her body and she wondered if that too was magic – what the peasants would think of as a ‘love potion’.
Then she smiled at the absurdity of the idea and, rising, she said,
“Thank you once again for your kindness, your hospitality and your promise.’
He took her hand in his.
Then he said,
“Go in peace. The way will be shown to you and then your heart must follow it.”
He spoke very solemnly, almost as if he was blessing her and, without thinking that it was a strange thing to do, Laetitia curtseyed to him.
Then as she moved to where Kaho was waiting for her, it might have been the wine, but she felt as if the sunshine was unexpectedly golden and she felt ecstatically happy.
Chapter Three
As Laetitia came into the courtyard, she saw that there was a carriage outside their house bearing the insignia of the Grand Duke.
She went through the front door and walked not into the small drawing room, which was at the front, but into the dining room at the back.
It was a very small room, separated from the drawing room by a thick curtain which could be pulled aside to make more space if there was a party.
In fact, of course, as they could never afford to give a party, the curtain was seldom drawn, but Laetitia knew that she would be able to hear if it was the Grand Duke who was with her mother.
For one terrifying moment she had thought it might be the Grand Duchess.
Because she had been so busy these past few days intriguing to help Stephanie she was always afraid that the Grand Duchess would learn what was happening and make a terrible scene.
Then to her relief she heard the deep voice of the Grand Duke as he said,
“It is intolerable, but there is nothing I can do about it!”
Laetitia stiffened, wondering what had happened now to make him speak like that.
“I am so sorry for you, Louis dear,” Princess Olga replied, “and I cannot believe that Augustina really plans to do anything so unconventional.”
“She is determined to assert her authority,” the Grand Duke said bitterly, “and that is not all.”
“What else?” Princess Olga enquired.
“On the last day of the King’s visit,” the Grand Duke replied, “he will receive the Freedom of the City. As you know, Olga, it has always been traditional for this to be handed to the recipient by whoever is on the throne.”
“Yes, of course,” Princess Olga replied. “I remember when the Emperor of Austria came here what an impressive ceremony it was and how well you performed it.”
“That is what I supposed was intended this time.”
“It has been changed?”
“My wife insists that she will drive to the Civic Hall with Otto,” the Grand Duke replied, “that he and she will receive the King when he arrives and she herself will present His Majesty with the key of the City.”
There was a pause in which Laetitia knew that her mother was staring at the Grand Duke in sheer astonishment.
“But where will you be?” she asked at length.
“I am expected to take my wife’s place in the carriage with King Viktor,” the Grand Duke replied, “and, as by then he will have proposed to Stephanie, she will drive with us.”
Laetitia held her breath.
Then her mother said,
“It is intolerable, Louis! I cannot bear you to be humiliated in such a way. You must refuse to allow Augustina to push you aside so blatantly.”
“I have already argued with her until I am tired of the sound of my own voice,” the Grand Duke replied. “But she is determined, and nothing I say or do will alter her mind.”
There was a silence and then Princess Olga said with almost a sob in her voice,
“I am sorry, so very very sorry, dear Louis. I wish I could help you.”
“You do help me,” the Grand Duke replied, “because you are the only person who understan
ds, the only one I can talk to.”
Because now he was speaking in a very different tone, Laetitia felt that it was wrong for her to go on eavesdropping when they were talking intimately.
So she went from the dining room and up the stairs to her bedroom.
As she did so, she thought that the King’s proposed visit had upset everybody.
First Stephanie was in despair and she knew that, when Kyril arrived tomorrow with his Regiment. which would be on duty, he would be as desperate as she was when he learnt that they must be parted.
Now the Grand Duke also was humiliated and upset and that meant her mother would be too.
‘How can one woman cause so much trouble?’ Laetitia asked herself and knew that she hated the Grand Duchess as much as the gypsies did.
She locked her door and drew from the bottom drawer of a chest a gown on which she had been working every minute she had to herself.
It was a gypsy dress she had worn three years ago the last time they had been at Thor Castle.
She had then written a gypsy play to amuse her father and the Grand Duke, in which they had all acted and afterwards they had danced round an imitation fire in the centre of the ancient Baronial hall to the gypsy tunes her mother played on the piano.
The Grand Duke and her father had applauded the whole performance, but especially, Laetitia remembered, her dancing.
She had practised very hard before they went to The Castle and had even, without her mother and father being aware of it, crept out in the evenings to watch the gypsies who had camped near them.
She had memorised their steps and gestures and the brilliant manner in which they leapt round and over their fire.
The dress she had worn for the performance in Thor Castle she had bought in the City and had then asked one of the maids to add to it the glittering gold beads, sequins and ribbons with which the gypsies embellished their skirts and blouses.
Only the tight-fitting velvet bodice was not decorated and, because Laetitia had such a slim figure, she knew that the dress when she wore it made her look very sylph-like and at the same time alluring.
There was a red veil to wear over her hair. It had gold coins hanging from it, which jingled when she danced, as did the bracelets on both her wrists and ankles, which were tied with red ribbons.
She knew that often the jewellery worn by the gypsies was real, but at least her stage effect was a good imitation.
It was unlikely that anybody would expect her to own real gold coins and precious stones as many of the Kalderash women did.
Because she had been much younger when she last wore the dress, she not only had to let it out but also to lengthen it. Being skilful with her needle, Laetitia thought that, when she had finished, that the dress looked even better than it had before.
She worked on it for an hour and then put it away in a drawer, locking it just in case someone should find it inadvertently.
Then she went downstairs, knowing, by looking out of the window, that the Grand Duke’s carriage had left and he was therefore no longer with her mother.
She found her sitting in the drawing room looking sad.
“I heard you come back, dearest,” she said, “but as you know, Cousin Louis was here with me.”
“I expect he came to tell you his troubles, Mama.”
“I wish I could help him,” Princess Olga said. “I cannot bear to see a man who is so kind and also as intelligent as Louis being so unhappy.”
“I think all arranged marriages are wicked!” Laetitia said, thinking of Stephanie. “Nothing, Mama, would ever make me marry a man I did not love.”
The Princess was still for a moment.
Then she said,
“I keep wondering, my dearest, if you will ever have a chance to marry anybody, living as we do here.”
Because her mother sounded so worried, Laetitia kissed her and replied,
“Don’t be depressed, Mama. Perhaps, if Cousin Augustina is obliged to ask us to the State ball, there will be some handsome Prince Charming who will fall in love either with me or with Hettie.”
Her mother did not answer and Laetitia knew what she was thinking. Now that her father was dead, they were so unimportant that it was extremely unlikely that any member of another Royal Family would ask for their hands in marriage.
It was a depressing thought and, as she walked from her mother’s side she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror hanging on the wall and realised, without being in the least conceited, that she looked very lovely.
‘And also like a gypsy,’ she added to herself, ‘and that will certainly lower my chances!’
Then, because the sun was shining through the windows, she thought it was not important and there was no use being depressed.
Her father had often said, ‘something will turn up’ and perhaps, like the miracle she was trying to find for Stephanie, there would be a miracle for her and Hettie as well.
Because she did not want to think of herself when her mother was feeling depressed, she said,
“I am sure, Mama, that Cousin Louis went away feeling better because you were kind and understanding towards him. If only that woman, as Great-Aunt Aspasia calls her, was not at the Palace, we would be able to go there as we used to do.”
“Have you seen the Princess?” her mother asked. “That reminds me – I ought to call on her. I feel she must be very lonely.”
“She is far too clever for that,” Laetitia replied. “Great-Aunt Aspasia knows everything that is going on in the Palace, in the City, in the country and everywhere else in Europe! And that keeps her interested.”
Princess Olga laughed.
“That is quite true. She has always been the same, an inveterate gossip, but such fun to be with. I must tell Louis to visit her. It might cheer him up.”
“Yes do, Mama,” Laetitia agreed, “and, of course, she knew that Stephanie was to marry the King before even Stephanie herself knew about it!”
She paused, then, because she thought her mother ought to know, Laetitia said very quietly,
“She also knew, as we did not, that Stephanie is in love with Kyril!”
There was a silence in which Laetitia found it hard to look at her mother.
Then the Princess said in a strangled tone,
“I hoped nobody knew that – except me!”
“You knew, Mama?”
“Yes, of course,” Princess Olga replied, “and when I realised that Kyril was falling in love with her, I prayed that while he was away, as he has been these last months, he would forget her.”
“Stephanie is quite certain that he loves her as much as she loves him.”
“That is true,” Princess Olga said in a frightened voice, “but it must at all costs be kept from Cousin Augustina. If she thought that Kyril was interfering with her plans for Stephanie, I am sure that she would do everything she could to ruin his life.”
She gave a sudden cry of horror.
“I know what she would do!”
“What, Mama?”
“She talked of it last year, but I don’t think it was because of Stephanie.”
“What was she suggesting?” Laetitia asked and her voice was tense.
Princess Olga drew in her breath.
“Cousin Augustina thought it would be a good idea if Kyril and Otto went to Prussia for a year to train at the Prussian Army barracks.”
Laetitia gave an exclamation of horror and the Princess went on,
“The only thing that prevented it happening was that the Grand Duke told her how severely the cadets are treated, the duels they are forced to fight and the brutal way they are punished if they do anything wrong.”
The Princess’s voice trembled as she added almost in a whisper,
“How could I bear the thought of Kyril having to endure such treatment? And yet I feel sure that, if Cousin Augustina is annoyed with him, that is where he will be sent, whether Otto goes with him or not.”
“It is something that must never happe
n, Mama,” Laetitia asserted.
“He must be careful, very careful,” Princess Olga went on. “When he returns tomorrow, you must talk to him, Laetitia, and warn him, as I shall do.”
“Yes, of course, Mama, and try not to worry.”
At the same time she felt as if the Grand Duchess was like a dark cloud blotting out the sunshine from their life and menacing them all with a fear that seemed to seep insidiously into her mind.
*
Kyril arrived home the following afternoon, looking exceedingly handsome in his smart uniform and so much like his father that Laetitia felt not only inexpressible joy that he had returned, but also a pang of sorrow that their father was not with them.
Then, as Kyril hugged first his mother, then Laetitia and lastly Marie-Henriette and his laughter seemed to fill the small house, it was impossible to think of anything but the joy of having him with them.
“I thought it would be another three months before I could see you all again,” he said. “It was a great piece of luck that King Viktor should wish to pay us a State visit.”
The way he spoke told Laetitia that he had no idea of the underlying reason for the King’s visit.
She waited until they had heard about the manoeuvres Kyri’s Regiment had been doing in the mountains, the new apparatus they had for swinging the guns across deep gullies, the peaks they had climbed and the horses he had been riding.
Then, when her mother said she must go to change for dinner and Marie-Henriette went with her, Laetitia was alone with her brother.
“I need a bath,” he said. “I suppose it is possible to have one?”
“Yes, of course,” Laetitia replied. “In fact Gertrude, who expected you would want one, has been heating the water all day.”
Kyril laughed.
“Dear old Gertrude, I knew she would be thinking of me. I will go in the kitchen and give her a kiss.”
Gertrude was the old maid who had been with them since they were children and had always spoiled Kyril because he was her favourite.
“Before you go, Kyril,” Laetitia said quickly, “I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?” Kyril asked. “And by the way, you are looking exceedingly pretty! The officers in my Regiment will all be congratulating me if they catch sight of you during the festivities.”
Princes and Princesses: Favourite Royal Romances Page 94
