Love and Apollo Read online

  Lady Rose did not speak and after a moment the Duke went on,

  “I honestly think, although you will not believe me at the moment, that it will be better for you to go away altogether.”

  “I would rather die than marry any other man,” she screamed violently.

  “As you cannot marry Gerald, does it really matter who you marry? If it had to be an arranged marriage, it might as well be to a King as anyone else!”

  Lady Rose walked backwards and forwards across the room before she could reply to him.

  She knew in her heart that she was fighting a battle she could never win.

  It was really completely impossible, although they did not admit it in words, for either of them to refuse what the Queen was asking.

  It was in effect a Royal command.

  Finally Lady Rose sank herself down on the sofa and moaned helplessly,

  “Very well, I will accept Her Majesty’s suggestion on the one condition that Gerald is appointed to escort me to Larissa.”

  The Duke stared at her in astonishment.

  “Do you think that wise, Rose?”

  “I don’t care if it is wise or not,” she answered. “I want to be alone with Gerald before I finally leave him for ever. As you know, someone of importance from the Palace will be sent to escort me and represent the Queen. It is something Gerald has done several times in the past when other members of the Royal Family were pushed off to save the Balkans.”

  The Duke knew that this was true.

  “I will try to arrange it and as Her Majesty knows we are great friends, she might accept the idea and say that I have to go too.”

  “But of course you must come with me, Arthur. I am not going to be left with any tiresome old courtier who will be very suspicious of Gerald and me from the moment he steps on board.”

  “Very well,” he muttered, “I will try to arrange it.”

  He put out his hand and touched his sister’s.

  “I am so sorry, old girl, that this has happened. I would give everything I possess if I could help you.”

  “I suppose we shall somehow survive without each other, but it’s not going to be easy.”

  “I think you are being very brave, my dearest Rose, and I am very proud of you.”

  Then in a different tone altogether, he added,

  “Now that Sarah has died so unexpectedly, we shall have to find someone else to be your Lady-in-Waiting.”

  Lady Rose realised that he was right.

  The Duke had suggested to the Queen that his sister would like to take her aunt, Lady Sarah Warren, who was a widow, to accompany her to Larissa.

  The Queen had agreed, so there was no difficulty about the idea, but sadly Lady Sarah had died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

  “Who can I have?” she asked. “It cannot be any of my own friends if Gerald is with us.”

  “No of course not that would be disastrous.”

  The Duke suddenly gave an exclamation.

  “Who have you thought of, Arthur?”

  “I have just remembered that at yesterday’s funeral, there was another relation, Princess Louise of Piracus.”

  Lady Rose thought for a minute.

  “Yes, I believe she was a very distant cousin of our Mama. I do recall her staying with us once in the country about six years ago.”

  “She is now living in a Grace and Favour house at Hampton Court and she has her daughter with her who is, I gather, just eighteen.”

  Lady Rose did not speak, so he continued,

  “I feel that, as they are extremely hard up, I ought to do something about them. The next time I have a party in the country I will ask them both of them to stay.”

  “That will be very nice for them,” she pouted, “but I shall not be there.”

  “I know, but I thought Valona, which is the girl’s name, might be a good choice as your Lady-in-Waiting.”

  Lady Rose stared at him.

  “It’s not a bad idea. If she is living in a Grace and Favour house at Hampton Court, she is not likely to have heard any rumours about me and Gerald.”

  “She is also very young and I should think has no knowledge at all of the Social world. Certainly of nothing that might happen at Windsor.”

  “I have always been told that Her Majesty is rather mean to her Royal relatives for whom she has no particular use. But I am a bit surprised that she has not yet found a husband for Valona.”

  The Duke laughed.

  “I think if the truth were known, Her Majesty has forgotten about them. I have never heard them mentioned when I have been at Windsor. Princess Louise is in fact a distant relative also of the Queen and a quite unobtrusive woman who would not have made any claims on her.”

  “Well, as we shall be doing her a kindness as well as making use of the girl, you had better suggest that she takes Sarah’s place,” proposed Lady Rose.

  “It seems a great deal more satisfactory than having anyone who would be suspicious the moment she saw you and Gerald together.”

  “What do you mean? We are very discreet,” Lady Rose riposted sharply.

  “You may be able to control what you say, Rose, but you cannot control your eyes too. Anyone at all observant and perhaps a little suspicious, would know by the way you look at each other that you are both in love.”

  “A lot of good it’s doing us,” she grated bitterly. “Oh, Arthur, how can I leave him? How could I possibly marry another? And how do you think I can live in a far off country where I will never even see him?”

  There was a note in her voice that made her sound very pitiful.

  The Duke put his arm round his sister protectively.

  “I know just what you are feeling, Rose, it is not a question of how you can live elsewhere without him, but how you can just remain here without causing an appalling scandal that would hurt him abominably and undoubtedly would upset the whole of our family.”

  Lady Rose was silent for a moment before saying,

  “You are right, of course, you are right, Arthur. I shall have to go and, if things are worse than I think they will be, I can always drown myself in the Mediterranean!”

  “You are not to talk like that,” he told her sharply. “Perhaps by some amazing miracle something will happen that will make things better than they are at this moment.”

  He was thinking that perhaps his sister would fall in love with someone else as he was certain that when she and the Marquis were apart for long enough, the agony would not be so intense.

  They might even forget each other.

  “When do I have to leave for this horrible hell of a place where I shall be utterly and completely miserable?” squawked Lady Rose.

  “In ten days time and if you agree, I shall go and call on Princess Louise tomorrow and suggest that Valona accompanies you to Larissa.

  “The girl’s father was a Greek, so she will be able to speak the language. I believe that, like all the Balkan countries, Larissa contains a great deal of Greek in its own language.”

  “You had better arrange that there is someone to come with us,” added Lady Rose, “who can at least tell me how to say ‘good morning’ or ‘good night.’ That is going to be difficult enough as I have never been any good at foreign languages.”

  “Valona will be able to help you a great deal, Rose, and I really think we have made an excellent choice where she is concerned.”

  As he left his sister he was only hoping there would be no difficulties and that Princess Louise would allow her daughter to travel to Larissa.

  He could see no reason why she should object and it could not be very much fun for a young girl to be living at Hampton Court in one of the Queen’s Grace and Favour houses.

  Ancient diplomats occupied the houses or minor Royalty exiled from their own countries, who relied on the Queen of England to save them from starving to death.

  The Duke drove to Windsor Castle the next day and asked for an audience with the Queen.

  He told her that Lad
y Rose was deeply grateful to Her Majesty for her kindness and that she would consider it a great privilege to marry His Majesty King Phidias.

  “I understand, ma’am,” the Duke continued, “from Lord Rosebery that Your Majesty is generous enough to send us in a battleship to Larissa.”

  “I think that is important,” the Queen replied. “It will make the Russians, who I understand are infiltrating into Larissa, aware we mean business if they try to force the King to abdicate and take over the country.”

  “I doubt after the way they behaved in Bulgaria to Prince Alexander of Battenburg, that they would go so far now as they did then. At the same time, just by infiltrating amongst the people they can ferment riots and strikes. In fact they can make it impossible for the King to rule.”

  The Queen nodded.

  “I am very aware of the situation in the Balkans and that is why I want your sister’s marriage to take place as quickly as possible.”

  “We have been delayed, ma’am, by the sad death of Lady Sarah Warren, who was to become my sister’s Lady in-Waiting. I thought it would be a splendid idea, if Your Majesty will approve, to appoint the daughter of Princess Louise of Piracus, who is willing to take her place.”

  The Duke saw the surprise in the Queen’s eyes and there was a pause before she replied, as she had obviously forgotten all about the very existence of Princess Louise.

  The Queen possessed a very quick brain and where her orders were concerned, she made as few difficulties as possible.

  “I congratulate you, Your Grace, I did not think that Princess Louise’s daughter was old enough for such a task. But if, as you say, she is ready to travel to Larissa, I am delighted to give my approval for her to be your sister’s Lady-in-Waiting.”

  “Your Majesty is most gracious and my sister and I would be most grateful if Your Majesty would consider the appointment of the Marquis of Dorsham to represent Your Majesty at the wedding.”

  “The Marquis of Dorsham?” the Queen queried at once with a faint note of surprise in her voice.

  Then she remembered that he was a close friend of the Duke.

  “I see no reason, Your Grace, why he could not go. I believe he was very capable when he looked after one of my granddaughters a year ago.”

  “I am sure he will be the same in Larissa, ma’am. Once again I must thank Your Majesty on behalf of my sister and my whole family.”

  He bowed and kissed the Queen’s hand and backed his way slowly from the room.

  Once outside he thought with some satisfaction that he had carried off what could have been a rather difficult situation.

  Rose had won her own way.

  But it was more than that which pleased him as he left Windsor Castle.

  It was obvious that the Queen had no idea of what his sister and the Marquis felt for each other.

  She could not have heard even a whisper that they were interested in each other, let alone in love.

  If she had heard anything she would undoubtedly never have agreed to the Marquis travelling with them to represent her at Larissa.

  Her Majesty would have then produced an elderly, tiresome and garrulous courtier.

  And Rose would have been even more upset than she was already.

  ‘We are lucky in that if in nothing else,’ the Duke ruminated as he drove down to Hampton Court.

  He had believed it a mistake to ask Princess Louise first if her daughter could go to Larissa, as he did not want to raise their hopes just in case the Queen had refused point blank to appoint anyone so young.

  Now the Duke thought of it, Her Majesty had not asked Valona’s age.

  Had it been because she had forgotten all about the existence of her mother?

  ‘That is yet another point on which we were very lucky,’ the Duke mused to himself with a smile.

  He knocked gently at the door and entered the small Grace and Favour house where Princess Louise lived.

  He realised at first glance that she was very poor.

  Her husband, His Royal Highness Prince Hermes of Piracas had been thrown off his throne by a revolutionary coup and had only escaped to England by the skin of his teeth.

  He had, however, been badly wounded in the leg in the fighting which had taken place in his Palace and had died soon after his arrival in England.

  The Royal couple and their child had come away in a wild hurry with no money and had thrown themselves at the mercy of the Queen.

  She had given them a Grace and Favour house and a very small pension.

  Then, as the Duke had found out, had forgotten all about them, but he could hardly accuse the Queen of being slightly inhuman to them.

  He and his family had behaved no better.

  Princess Louise had been busy nursing her husband when they had arrived in England, and the Duke’s father, with whom she was distantly connected as well as with the Queen had shown very little interest in her.

  The Duke looked round the poorly furnished room and he thought that in making Valona a Lady-in-Waiting to his sister, he would be doing them a good turn.

  It might make up in a small way for all the years of neglect.

  The Princess came into the room and was surprised to see him.

  “How very kind of you to call on me,” she greeted him. “It was delightful to see you at the funeral and I did hope for Valona’s sake that we might have the chance of meeting you again.”

  “It is Valona I have come to see you about.”

  The Duke came straight to the point and Princess Louise invited him to sit down.

  When he was seated he told her that his sister Rose was shortly going to Larissa to marry King Phidias and that Sarah, whose funeral they had both attended yesterday, had been intending to travel with his sister as Lady-in-Waiting.

  Princess Louise was listening to him intently as he continued,

  “As Valona is only a year or two younger than my sister, I thought that it would be very nice for them to be together. Her Majesty has given her permission for me to invite Valona to be Rose’s Lady-in-Waiting.”

  Princess Louise looked astonished.

  “It has never entered my mind that such a thing was possible!” she exclaimed.

  “We will all be travelling in a battleship,” the Duke told her, “and I promise you we will look after Valona very carefully and if after some months in Larissa she wishes to return, I will make every effort to find someone else to take her place.

  “Naturally you will understand that it would be far more satisfactory for Rose and myself to have a relative in such a position of trust rather than a stranger.”

  “I understand,” replied Princess Louise in her soft voice. “And I am so very grateful to you for having even thought of Valona. Shall I call her down and see what she thinks about your proposition?”

  “Please do.”

  He stood up as the Princess rose and when she had left the room, he looked around.

  He was thinking that as a family they had been very remiss in not taking more trouble over Princess Louise.

  The room was most sparsely furnished and in fact its only real ornamentation was the number of books in it not only on shelves but on tables and some were even piled on the floor as if there was no other place for them.

  The Duke wondered if it was the Princess who was such an avid reader or her daughter.

  The door now opened and the Princess entered with Valona beside her.

  He had only had a quick glance at her yesterday at the funeral, but now he realised she was very pretty and if she was better dressed, she would undoubtedly be hailed as a beauty.

  Valona was fair whilst her mother was dark and her eyes seemed to portray a touch of her Greek blood, which made them large and there was something definitely mystic about them.

  The Duke felt that could be expected in a Goddess who came from Olympus.

  Valona walked quickly over to him with her hand outstretched.

  He realised that she was not the least shy.

  “
How lovely it is to see you again,” she exclaimed. “When I saw you at the funeral I was thinking how proud we should be, Mama and I, to have such distinguished relatives.”

  The Duke laughed.

  “And I was thinking the same about you!”

  “I don’t believe it for a moment, but I like to hear you say it.”

  They both sat down and the Duke explained exactly what he wanted Valona to do.

  She was completely incredulous at the idea.

  He knew it had never crossed her mind that he or his family could ever be interested in her.

  “I would just love to be a Lady-in-Waiting to your sister, but perhaps I will not be very efficient.”

  “You will find plenty of people to tell you what to do when you reach Larissa, but you will undoubtedly find, Valona, just as I have, that protocol and all that bowing and scraping becomes very monotonous after a while.”

  “To me it will be something so new and thrilling,” enthused Valona. “And, of course, I would love to go on a battleship. I adore being at sea.”

  “You are not seasick?”

  “I do hope not. Mama said I was not sick when we came to England, but I was only ten at the time.”

  “Now you have to tell us,” Princess Louise came in, “what clothes Valona will require. To be very frank, we have very little money.”

  “As Valona is one of the family,” replied the Duke, “and I am the head of it, I think that I should be responsible for her. She must represent England in a way which will delight all the people of Larissa and make them even more impressed by the Union Jack than they are already.”

  Princess Louise drew in her breath.

  He could tell how worried she had been, wondering how Valona could possibly appear in public in the clothes she owned at the moment.

  “I want you to be very sensible about it,” the Duke went on, “and to spend however much is necessary to make Valona look smart and as beautiful as I know she will be if she has the right frame for her loveliness.”

  Valona clasped her hands together and exclaimed,

  “That is the nicest and most exciting thing that has ever been said to me! Oh, thank you, thank you, Cousin Arthur, as Mama wishes me to call you. I think you are the kindest man who ever existed!”