Crowned by Music Read online

  As she pushed a blue handkerchief into one of the pockets, she remembered that her father had said to her,

  “There is something I am going to give you which I know you will take great care of. You must also use them very carefully.”

  “What is it, Papa?” Linetta asked him eagerly.

  “It is these,” he replied.

  He held out his hands and she saw that in them were two small pistols.

  They were ornamented with a strange pattern which she guessed was Russian.

  Years ago her grandmother had shown the pistols to her and had told her that she had been given them when she had visited St. Petersburg.

  “There was a man there,” she said, “who had the most marvellous designs in precious stones and enamel and these pistols were the very latest by Peter Carl Fabergé and he gave them to me as a present.”

  “They are really lovely, Grandmama,” Linetta had replied, “and far too pretty to be anything as violent and as destructive as pistols.”

  “That is what I thought myself,” her grandmother responded. “But my friend told me very solemnly that I should always carry them with me when I went to strange parts of the world and that was certainly true of Russia at that time.”

  There was a pause before the old lady had carried on,

  “Because my husband insisted, I took them with me everywhere I went and we travelled to a great number of countries. I cannot remember ever using them, but they certainly gave me a sense of protection and a feeling that I could always defend myself if the necessity arose.”

  “So that is why you are giving them to me, Papa,” Linetta asked in a low voice.

  “Yes, my dear. I have heard what is happening in the Balkans and those Russians have become much more violent lately than they were when I was young.”

  “I only hope I will not have to use them,” Linetta said. “They are so pretty that they would ornament any table they were displayed on.”

  “That is what I hope they will do,” he replied. “At the same time I think you are sensible enough to know that in any foreign country especially in the Balkans you might have to defend yourself when you least expect it. So do see that these pistols are kept loaded and always carry them with you in your pocket.”

  Linetta had laughed.

  “You are remembering that you taught me so well to shoot with my left hand as well as my right, Papa.”

  “It is exactly what I always did when I was a boy, although they laughed at me and on one occasion when I was travelling in a foreign country, I was unable to use my right hand, but my left killed a man who was attacking me and that saved my life.”

  “I have always believed you were an exceptionally good shot, Papa,” Linetta said.

  Her grandmother had told her that he had received prizes for shooting at his school, although he did not talk about it.

  He had been in dangerous places where it was very satisfying to know that he could, if necessary, save his own life and the lives of those who were with him.

  Linetta was gazing at the pistols.

  Then she said,

  “They are very pretty and I really should not take them from you, Papa.”

  “I will be very hurt if you refuse to,” her father answered. “I want you to promise me that, whenever you go out without a proper escort, you will carry them hidden somewhere in your bag or in your pocket so that they are there to defend yourself if there is no one else to do it for you.”

  Linetta chuckled.

  “I feel that where I go will be nice safe places like France and Italy. Nevertheless, Papa, I will take them with me.”

  “There’s a good girl and a sensible one,” her father had sighed.

  When she was leaving for the Balkans, she thought that her father would certainly insist on her taking the two pistols with her, especially when she was pretending to be a Governess and would not have a special guard to look after her.

  Now, as she was riding with the Prince and, as he had said without an escort, her father would most definitely want her to carry them secreted in the pocket of her riding coat.

  Fortunately the pockets were deep and by pressing them in sideways Linetta was certain that they were well hidden.

  Equally she could feel that if necessary she could protect herself.

  ‘One thing is quite certain,’ she thought as she took a last glance in the mirror, ‘no one will pay any attention to me if I am with the Prince. I think perhaps it is very risky of him to go riding without an escort.’

  Whatever she might think, the garden was looking so beautiful when she went downstairs and walked towards The Palace.

  It was impossible to think that anyone would want to fight when they could relax in the glorious sunshine.

  The only noise she could hear was that of the bees as they fluttered over the flowers and the birds as they flew up into the olive trees.

  There was no one to be seen as she walked up to The Palace.

  Instinctively, instead of going to the gate that led into the garden, she walked on towards the stables.

  As she anticipated, the Prince was already there.

  He was supervising the saddling of the horses that Linetta could see at a glance were unusually fine.

  In fact she had to admit to herself that they were as good as any horseflesh that her father owned.

  If she was really honest, they were the finest horses she had ever seen.

  The one the Prince had obviously chosen for her, which already had a side saddle, was almost white except for a touch of black on its nose and fetlocks.

  As she walked towards it, Linetta knew that it was exceptional in every way.

  It was a great compliment on the part of the Prince to have chosen such a superb horse for her to ride.

  As it was so early in the morning, there were only two men saddling the horses.

  She realised that they were just humble employees and they would, therefore, not think it strange, as an older and more influential man might do, for her to be riding alone with the Prince.

  “Oh, there you are, Miss Lane,” the Prince said, raising his hat as she walked up to him. “I thought that we would set off early before it becomes too hot and our escort is waiting outside for us.”

  His eyes twinkled and almost winked at her as he spoke.

  Linetta knew that he was saying this to reassure the two men who were now pulling in the girths of the two horses.

  “This is a very beautiful mare,” she said, patting the one he had chosen for her.

  “Her name is Angel and I thought that name was particularly appropriate to you,” the Prince told her.

  He lowered his voice as he said the last words so that only Linetta could hear them.

  She looked up at him and smiled.

  “Thank you, Your Royal Highness” she said softly.

  Then she continued to pat the horse she was to ride and began to talk to it.

  Her father had taught her that it was very important to talk to any animal one rode, especially those that were the most outstanding and more intelligent than their stable mates.

  Linetta therefore told Angel in a soft voice how beautiful she was.

  And also how she was sure that she would enjoy riding her.

  The Prince was attending, for the moment, to the horse he was to ride.

  When he came back and heard Linetta’s soft voice, he remarked,

  “I might have known, as you are English, that you would treat your horse as a good friend or should I say a lover.”

  Linetta laughed.

  “I think it would be difficult to find any man as handsome as Angel.”

  “Because she is carrying you, she should really be an Archangel to appreciate anyone so lovely,” the Prince remarked.

  Because he spoke in a low voice so that the men concerned with the horses should not hear what he said, Linetta answered in the same way by reposting,

  “As I have no wish at the moment to be carried up into Heaven, I am
perfectly content to be down here on earth with Angel!”

  The Prince grinned and said,

  “I might have known you would be able to retort to anything that was said to you. And I should be particularly interested to hear what you say about the place I am taking you to.”

  “Is it somewhere special, Your Royal Highness?” Linetta enquired.

  “It is for me, Miss Lane,” the Prince replied.

  He realised as he spoke that the horse he was to ride was now ready.

  Without asking Linetta, he lifted her up in his arms and set her on Angel’s saddle.

  As she picked up the reins in her hands, she thought that this was such an exceptional horse that she must tell her father about it and make certain that she did so as soon as he arrived.

  It flashed through her mind that he would only be coming if she agreed to marry the Prince.

  If she decided not to, she would merely creep away to the Port and leave for England quickly before anyone in The Palace could realise what was going on.

  As the Prince flung himself onto the saddle of his horse, they moved away without speaking, past the sentries guarding the gate into the stables almost before they were aware that it was the Prince himself.

  As they reached the open land behind The Palace, the Prince urged his horse into a gallop.

  Angel followed without any encouragement from Linetta.

  Now they were well away from the City and on the open land that Linetta knew finally extended all the way to the sea.

  At this stage they were riding along beside a swiftly moving river and on the other side of it was a range of high mountains some of them still topped with snow.

  The grass they were riding through was high and, as they moved on through it, scores of butterflies, most of them a deep golden yellow, fluttered out of the grass ahead of them.

  It was so beautiful with everything shimmering in the rising sun.

  Linetta thought that Angel must have carried her into a very special Heaven which she had never imagined before.

  They rode swiftly without speaking for about half a mile.

  Then, as the Prince drew in his horse, he smiled at Linetta and declared,

  “Now we are well away from everything but our dreams.”

  It was such a strange remark for him to make that Linetta merely gazed at him.

  As if she had asked him a question, he added,

  “Where else in the whole wide world would it be possible for me to find anyone as beautiful as you riding on an Angel!”

  “Who is, without exception, the most superb horse I have ever seen in my life,” Linetta said. “But then yours, Your Royal Highness, is particularly fine as you naturally know.”

  “He is called Firefly because of his colour,” the Prince told her. “He has been my favourite horse for over a year.”

  He paused for a moment before he continued,

  “I have often wondered who would be the perfect person to accompany me on Angel. But I never imagined that my dreams of finding one would come true.”

  Linetta smiled at his delightful compliments.

  And then she said,

  “I think that you must still be lost in the music you heard last night, Your Royal Highness. And what is more I am sure that we are still hearing it in our minds.”

  “I am hearing mine in my heart,” the Prince replied. “That is what you aroused in me last night. I was moved as I have never been moved before.”

  “That is such a lovely thing to say to me,” Linetta murmured.

  She was thinking as she spoke that just as her father had fallen in love with her mother because her music, he had said, carried him into a world he had never known, in which he found the perfect love that he had dreamt of but thought that he would never find.

  Linetta could not help thinking it was very strange, at the same time wonderful, that the same music which she had learnt from her mother had appealed to the Prince in the same way as it had to her father.

  They rode on for a while before the Prince said,

  “Because of what I thought last night and in a way I suppose it is something I have felt before, I am now taking you to a place that somehow connects me with your music, you and another world far away from the strife and deceit of this one.”

  Linetta did not ask him any questions.

  She merely glanced at him and he then said, as if she had spoken,

  “It is a very special place I go to when I am feeling worried or perplexed and where I have never taken anyone else.”

  “You are just making me more and more curious, Your Royal Highness,” Linetta sighed.

  “I think only you would understand what it means to me,” the Prince confided. “In fact, when I was thinking about it last night, I thought that what this place means to me is the same as your music means to you.”

  Linetta could not find an answer to him.

  Yet she could not help thinking it was strange that her music had aroused so much in the Prince’s imagination that he wished to take her to a place which to him was very private and probably sacred.

  It was all very intriguing in its own way.

  However, she asked no questions.

  They rode on with the butterflies fluttering up in the air again and some of them settled on Linetta’s head and Angel’s mane.

  The sun was rising in the sky, but the dewdrops of the night still glistened on the grass.

  When they passed an occasional tree, the birds flew out as if surprised by their intrusion into a world that seemed completely devoid of people.

  “I had no idea that your country was so lovely,” Linetta said to the Prince.

  “Then how could I lose all this to the Russians?” he asked, almost harshly.

  “It is something you must not do,” she said without thinking.

  Then she realised that it was her hand which held the trump card.

  Because she was a little apprehensive at what they were doing and at what he had just said, she pressed her horse forward.

  Once again they were galloping so swiftly that it was impossible to start a conversation.

  They must have travelled for over a mile when she saw ahead that there was a large wood crossing the field from the river into the distance.

  It was so far away that she could not see the end of it.

  Almost instinctively she then drew Angel into a trot which soon became a walk.

  “You must tell me about yourself, Miss Lane,” the Prince said to her unexpectedly.

  Linetta started as if wakening from a deep sleep and managed to reply,

  “I would much rather hear about you, Your Royal Highness.”

  “What can I say about myself?” the Prince asked. “I have inherited this beautiful land and now it is in danger. A danger that haunts every Prince like myself.”

  “Then you must not allow the Russians to take it from you, Your Royal Highness,” Linetta urged him.

  “I expect you know,” the Prince replied, “as you are staying with our Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that he has asked the Queen of Great Britain to give me the one thing that the Russians fear and that is an English bride. But I have not yet heard from Her Majesty what her answer will be.”

  Linetta thought that the Count had been very clever in making it possible for her to get to know the Prince without there being any obvious reason why she should do so in such haste.

  Or why indeed she was unexpectedly brought from England to teach his children.

  Because she was curious, she could not help asking him,

  “And, if her Majesty says ‘yes’, will you not find it very difficult to marry someone you have never met and with whom you will probably have absolutely nothing in common?”

  “We will have one thing,” the Prince replied, “and that is if she believes, as I most certainly do, that this very beautiful country of Samosia is worth saving.”

  “Suppose,” Linetta said, after a short silence, “she does not please you o
r you don’t please her, what will you do then, Your Royal Highness?”

  “It is a question that I have asked myself a million times,” the Prince answered. “I suppose like most men I have always wanted to fall in love with someone who will become my wife and to believe that she really loves me for myself and not for my Royal position in the Social world.”

  He spoke in a way which told Linetta that this was the truth.

  She was wondering what to reply when the Prince asked,

  “Do you think that it would be easy for me to marry someone under those circumstances, Miss Lane?”

  There was silence for a while before he went on,

  “Do you think that I would not suffer when I lose the dreams you aroused in me last night that are so much part of me that I felt I should be only half myself without them.”

  “Perhaps,” Linetta suggested, “you will fall in love with the woman the Queen chooses for you.”

  The Prince laughed and it was not a pleasant sound and then he replied,

  “Life is not like that except in our dreams and in your music. Life is cold and harsh!”

  There was silence for a moment.

  When Linetta did not speak, he carried on,

  “Of course I must do everything in my power to make an English bride, if the Queen does give me one, as happy as it is possible for her to be in a strange country with a strange man for whom she obviously has no feeling until she actually arrives and can then see me for the first time.”

  He spoke grimly and there was now a hard note in his voice.

  It told Linetta that he was as apprehensive about the future as she had been before she left England.

  “I know without you saying so,” the Prince went on, “that you are thinking of an alternative. I have thought and thought and I realise that I have to accept this woman to save my country or refuse her and lose it.”

  “It may not be as bad as you think,” Linetta said softly. “After all she is surely facing the same problem as you are.”

  The Prince laughed.

  “Has there ever been a woman, who has not wanted to marry a King, a Prince, a Duke or a Lord? I will not deceive myself because I would be incredibly stupid to do so.”

  He gave a sigh as he added bitterly,

  “She will marry me just because I am a Prince and doubtless she will make a very good Princess.”