A Miracle of Love Read online

  He thought as Sacia was standing still it must be the house of her teacher.

  Then a man stepped out with a gesture that told the coachman to wait for him and walked up to the door.

  Sacia, who had been standing absolutely still as if frozen into immobility, turned round.

  Then she ran back towards the Prince.

  One glance at the expression on her face told him that something was wrong.

  She flung herself against him and his arms went round her.

  “Hide me! Hide me!” she gasped. “That is one of Papa’s men.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Prince held Sacia close in his arms.

  Then he turned her swiftly round so that he had his back to the road while she was against the door.

  As he felt her trembling, his lips came down on hers and held her captive.

  He kissed her demandingly, possessively and then passionately as if he would never let her go.

  For a moment she was surprised into immobility and then her whole body seemed to melt into his.

  Sacia felt as if his kisses carried her up into the sky.

  How long he kissed her and went on kissing her, the Prince had no idea.

  He only knew that something had broken within him and he could not live without her.

  He had steeled himself to let her go, but now he knew she was his and nothing must ever separate them.

  Finally, after what seemed an extremely long time, he raised his head.

  “My darling, my sweet,” he murmured in a voice that did not sound like his own. “How can I love you so much? How can I let you leave me?”

  “I love you too. I do love you,” Sacia exclaimed. “I thought you no longer wanted me.”

  “Of course I want you, and what is more, Sacia, I will never again let you leave me – ever.”

  Then, as if he remembered the reason why she had run back to him, he glanced over his shoulder.

  The carriage was still standing outside her teacher’s house halfway down the street.

  “It was one of – Papa’s men – I saw go in,” Sacia faltered. “If he sees me – he will recognise me at once.”

  “He will not see you,” the Prince asserted firmly as he looked again at the carriage.

  “We are much safer here than if we try to move. Just peep over my shoulder and tell me when he comes out. He must not see me either.”

  The Prince was thinking that, if the man had come from Venice, he might know him and someone might even have seen Sacia going away in the gondola with him.

  Whatever the situation one fact was obvious.

  Neither of them must be seen by the man who was now visiting Sacia’s teacher.

  He pushed Sacia a little further back against the closed door and held her as close to him as he could.

  She was no longer trembling.

  He now realised that the wonder of their kisses had swept away her fear.

  “I love you, my darling,” the Prince said in a low voice, “and now at last I can tell you so.”

  “I thought that you would never love me,” Sacia whispered. “But I prayed every night that you would love me enough – to keep me with you.”

  “I cannot think how I was so foolish as to think I could let you go, but I was actually thinking of you rather than myself.”

  “And I was thinking of you, Nico. I have thought of nothing else these wonderful days when we have been together.”

  “There will be many more of them – ”

  He was thinking that, however much it might upset his Cabinet, his country and family he would never give her up.

  He was just about to say so when she gave a start and without looking round he realised that the man must have come out of her teacher’s house.

  “What is happening?” he asked.

  “He is getting into – the carriage,” Sacia whispered.

  There was no chance of their voices carrying that distance, but the Prince realised that she whispered because her fear was back.

  She was trembling again.

  “You are quite safe, my darling one,” he insisted.

  “He may pass us,” Sacia muttered.

  She peeped over his shoulder and then gave a sigh of relief.

  “He is driving off the other way – and not coming back.”

  “We will not move till the carriage is out of sight,” the Prince said firmly. “Besides, my precious, I want to kiss you once more.”

  His lips found hers again and he thought nothing could be more perfect than her sweetness and innocence.

  Then Sacia looked over his shoulder and sighed,

  “The carriage has gone.”

  “Then we will leave in the opposite direction.”

  The Prince picked up the bag he had put down on the doorstep and then he looked carefully down the road to be quite certain that the carriage had not turned and come back.

  The road was now empty except for a small child who came out of one of the houses with a dog on a lead.

  “Now come along, Sacia. We have to leave Rome as quickly as possible.”

  He felt as he spoke that he had really been very stupid in bringing her here in the first place.

  He might have guessed, if he had used his brain, that Sacia’s father might send someone to interview the teacher where she had been educated.

  In fact as he thought it over, he should have realised she would be more willing to hide her than friends would be as they would feel they owed her father an obligation rather than his daughter.

  The Prince was reproaching himself as they walked quickly back into the road that led to the bridge.

  Then coming towards them he could see a Hackney carriage and that it was unoccupied.

  He waved to it.

  He realised as he did so that because he had moved so quickly Sacia had started nervously.

  “A carriage!” the Prince said unnecessarily as the man pulled in his horses. “And now we have a number of things to do quickly. First is to find you some clothes.”

  “Clothes!” Sacia cried in amazement. “But why?”

  “Because my darling one, we are now setting off on a new adventure and this time we are going on a proper ship. Rome is too dangerous for us and the sooner we get away from Italy the better.”

  “Of course you are right, Nico. And it was silly of me to think of coming here in the first place.”

  “It was stupid of me not to realise you might be walking directly into your father’s hands.”

  The carriage stopped opposite them and the Prince opened the door and helped Sacia into it.

  Then he called to the driver,

  “Take us to a shop in one of the main streets which has the best selection of women’s clothes.”

  The coachman scratched his head before he replied,

  “There be a great number of smart shops in Rome, sir.”

  “Well you chose what you think is the best, but we are in a hurry, so don’t take us too far.”

  He climbed into the carriage and as he shut the door Sacia asked,

  “Are you going to buy me something to wear?”

  “I could not be so mean as to deprive you of even a nightgown, my darling, but we have to be clever about this and you will have to let me choose for you. It would be dangerous for you to go into the shop yourself.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Now please unpack the dress you were wearing when you jumped out of the window in Venice.”

  She did not argue with him which he thought any other woman might have done and nor did she ask a lot of questions.

  She obeyed him and pulled the dress out of his bag and the Prince smoothed it out on the seat beside him.

  Then he put his arms round Sacia again.

  “Now listen and this is very important. I am going in to buy you what clothes I can, and what I deem essential for the journey ahead of us.”

  She was looking up at him her, eyes very wide.

  “Now while I am in the sh
op,” the Prince went on, “you are in danger, because someone passing might look into the carriage and recognise you.”

  “I realise that, so I must hide my face.”

  “That might look suspicious. What I suggest you do is take my handkerchief, as you don’t have one of your own and hold it to your nose as if you had a cold. Also sit as far back in the carriage as possible.”

  “But your beautiful hair might give you away, so put one of my other handkerchiefs over your head. But make it look attractive and not just a handkerchief.”

  Sacia laughed.

  “You must think I am very silly.”

  “I think you are glorious, very beautiful and above all mine!”

  He kissed her again so that there was no chance of her answering.

  Then almost at once the carriage stopped outside what appeared to be a large and expensive shop.

  “Now sit in the corner and don’t forget you have a bad cold.”

  The Prince opened the door.

  He jumped out of the carriage before the coachman could climb down from the box.

  “My sister is not well as we had a rough passage on a ship last night. She also had her luggage stolen when she was on board. I therefore need to buy her some clothes, so I might be quite a while in the shop.”

  The coachman was listening intently as he went on,

  “Look after her for me, as she is not well enough for me to take her to a friend’s house.”

  The coachman nodded as if he understood.

  Then he fastened his reins and very slowly came down from the box and stood in front of the carriage as if to protect Sacia from any intrusion.

  The Prince hurried into the shop to see that it sold almost every article of clothing a woman might desire.

  “I wish to speak to the manager,” he said in a voice that indicated he was a gentleman of some consequence.

  It was fortunate that the manager was not far away.

  He came up and the Prince announced grandly,

  “I am Count Teodoro and I am in a great hurry as I have to catch a ship at Porto Ostia. My sister, who is with me, has had her luggage stolen and now requires urgently everything she might need for a voyage to Greece.”

  He saw that the manager’s eyes were on him.

  “We have people waiting for us there as soon as we arrive, but all she has now is what she stands up in.”

  “I quite understand, sir, it is a terrible disaster!” the Manager exclaimed.

  “This is the dress she has been wearing, which is the only article I have been able to replace in a hurry. As she is feeling ill after the shock of the robbery, she has left it to me to ask you to provide her with three day dresses the same size as this dress, two evening gowns and everything a woman requires underneath.”

  The manager gave an audible gasp and beckoned to two vendeuses.

  As it was still fairly early in the morning they were not busy and had been admiring the Prince.

  The manager rapidly repeated what the Prince had told him. He handed one woman the dress, while the other hurried to another department. The Prince guessed she was going to find nightgowns, petticoats and all the other items that Sacia would require.

  “As my sister is young and attractive,” he added, “I think she would like a pink, a blue and a white dress for the day and something fashionable to wear in the evening, also in pale colours as she is only just eighteen.”

  “I understand, sir,” the manager nearly genuflected.

  The vendeuse with Sacia’s dress in her hand went to her department.

  “Do you require hats and shoes?” the manager then enquired.

  The Prince thought for a moment.

  “Hats certainly, but remember they are for a young girl, so they must be pretty and if possible trimmed with flowers.”

  The manager smiled.

  “We have a reputation in Rome,” he boasted, “for making even the plainest girl look lovely when she wears our hats and our gowns.”

  “Then I must certainly congratulate our coachman on bringing me here. I will just ask my sister what size of shoes she takes.”

  He walked across the pavement and he could see, before realising he was coming, that Sacia was obeying his instructions.

  She was sitting in the far corner of the carriage and holding one handkerchief to her nose and another arranged so that it covered the front of her hair.

  As the Prince opened the door, she peeped over the handkerchief and exclaimed,

  “You cannot have done all the shopping already!”

  “I have ordered it all, Sacia, but I had forgotten that you need shoes. Give me one of yours and I will buy you three pairs, one of which will be comfortable for walking. There is always so much walking to do in Greece.”

  “Is that where we are going?” cried Sacia.

  He heard the excitement in her voice.

  “If we can locate a ship to carry us, that is where I really want to take you, but don’t look so happy! You are supposed to be ill!”

  Sacia giggled and held out one of her feet and he took the shoe off it and hurried back into the shop.

  While he had been away, the vendeuse had brought three day dresses for his approval.

  One was white, which was what he had asked for, one was the soft blue of the sky and the third a rather vivid pink.

  “The pink is too harsh,” the Prince commented.

  “That is just what I thought,” the manager replied, “but it is made by a Master hand and we thought you might prefer it.”

  “But it is a little fussy for a young girl.”

  He thought as he spoke how in Paris he had often helped chose a gown. It would have been for one of the sophisticated women with whom he had enjoyed a fiery but short affaire-de-coeur.

  They had always wanted him to buy not only the most expensive gown but the most seductive and that was not what he wanted for Sacia.

  The vendeuse brought another dress in pink and white and he just knew that Sacia would look very young and completely adorable in it.

  “I will take those three,” he said, “and what about the evening gowns?”

  Although more elegant, they were suitable for a young girl and he selected one warmly lined, again in a blue but a deeper blue than the dress.

  The Prince then inspected the shoes that had been brought from the shoe department and chose a soft flexible pair for Sacia to wear on deck and a pair of strong walking shoes.

  He recalled that, unlike other women, Sacia had never complained when walking across the fields towards the Castle even though her shoes were obviously intended only for a parquet floor or an expensively carpeted one.

  The vendeuse then returned with a large armful of underclothes and she wanted to display exactly what she had chosen, but the Prince waved her on one side.

  “I trust you have not forgotten anything,” he said, “as my poor sister has only the clothes she is wearing.”

  The manager produced two rather expensive cases for the clothes and a hat-box for the hats.

  The Prince looked at them quickly and was certain she would look lovely in all of them and then he called for the bill.

  Actually the bill when it came was not as heavy as the Prince had expected, but he was glad that when he ran away from the Palace, he had been sensible enough to take a very large sum of money from the safe in his bedroom.

  Actually they had spent very little of it so far on their adventurous journey and he thought, if they were as economical as they had been so far, they would be able to stay away for at least a year.

  Then he rebuked himself for playing truant.

  Sooner rather than later, however difficult it might be, he had to return, but he did not wish to think about it at this moment.

  He thanked the manager profusely for his attention and complimented the vendeuses so that they smiled and blushed.

  Then he walked out of the shop with the manager and a porter carrying the two cases and the hat-box and they were place
d at the back of the Hackney carriage.

  The Prince tipped the porter and shook the manager by the hand.

  “I am extremely grateful to you and although this is my first visit to your shop, it will not be my last.”

  “We will only be too eager to serve you, sir. May I wish you bon voyage, and I am sure the young lady will be pleased with the clothes you have chosen for her.”

  He then told the coachman to drive as quickly as he could to the Ponte Palatino.

  Only when they were out of sight of the shop did Sacia take the handkerchief away from her nose.

  “Have you bought me some lovely clothes?” she asked him.

  “None of them as lovely as you, Sacia, but they will be a frame for your beauty and I was thinking of that when I chose them.”

  “You say such wonderful words to me, Nico, as I felt you would if you love me a little.”

  “I love you a great deal more than that, as I will tell you when you have the time to listen.”

  Sacia chuckled.

  “I will always listen to you, but I am finding it hard to believe this is happening and I am not dreaming again.”

  “Have you dreamt of me before?” the Prince asked.

  “Of course I have. I have dreamt of you almost every night and was afraid when I woke up you might have become bored with me and disappeared.”

  “Did you really think that I would do anything so absurd?”

  He saw the question in her eyes and added,

  “I was letting you go for refuge to your teacher because I thought that was best for you.”

  “If I had gone a little earlier or a little later it would have been disastrous,” Sacia said in a frightened voice. “I would have had to go back to Papa who would have been very angry with me.”

  There was that worried note back in her voice and it told the Prince that it would be a mistake to talk any more about it.

  “Now what we have to plan,” he said, “is how to spirit you on board a ship without you being in any way noticeable. I suppose, now that I think of it, I should have brought you one of the hats to put on now.”

  “Perhaps we should take one out of the hat-box.”

  “The one thing we don’t want to do is for you look unusual in any way.”

  “You think of everything so brilliantly, Nico. No one else could have been as clever as you have been ever since I fell out of the window and into your gondola.”