The Love Light of Apollo Read online

  They were greeted by the somewhat flurried Manager of the hotel, who escorted them to a Private Lounge. The luggage had already left Windsor Castle before the Princess set off.

  It had been arranged that she should have a Greek lady’s maid, who was provided by the Greek Embassy.

  There had been little surprise about this at Windsor Castle, but the Princess had insisted,

  “I am not going to be in a position where I cannot send my maid for anything I require or which has been forgotten simply because she cannot speak the language.”

  She paused a moment after this assertion and then went on,

  “If I am going to Greece, I need a Greek lady’s maid and preferably one who knows the shops in Athens.”

  No one felt inclined to argue with her on this.

  The coffee was ready on the table for the Royal party.

  The Princess, who was wearing the deepest black with a bonnet from which hung a long chiffon veil, accepted one of the sandwiches that Prince Holden offered her.

  Then she asked,

  “At what time are we due aboard the Battleship?”

  “The Captain wishes to sail at eleven o’clock,” Prince Holden replied, “so I expect that Colonel Bassett has arranged for us to arrive on the quay at about a quarter to the hour.”

  “That is what I planned we would do,” Colonel Bassett nodded.

  Lady Bedstone was already taking pills with her coffee and Princess Marigold knew that she had received them from the doctor just before she left.

  They were a preventative against sea-sickness, but she was certain that they would make Her Ladyship sleepy as well.

  There had been further surprise among the ladies at Windsor Castle that Lady Bedstone had been chosen for the journey.

  But the Princess explained that she had asked for Lady Bedstone as she was retiring at the end of the summer. She also thought that she would enjoy the rest during the voyage, both there and back.

  No one could say that this gesture was not a kind thought and Lady Bedstone had been very touched.

  “The Princess may often be difficult,” she said to the other Ladies-in-Waiting, which was indeed an under-statement, “but at the same time she has a kind heart.”

  The Princess, having drunk a little of her coffee now said,

  “I am going to go up the stairs to tidy myself. I believe you have engaged a room for me, Holden?”

  “Yes, of course,” the Prince replied. “I will find a maid to take you there.”

  They then went from the lounge together.

  As the passage outside was deserted, Prince Holden kissed her hand.

  “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, my darling one,” he whispered, “everything is going smoothly.”

  “Touch wood!” the Princess murmured.

  The Prince went into the main hall and found a maid to take Her Royal Highness up the stairs.

  The maid in a mobcap and a bright gingham dress hurriedly obeyed and the Princess was shown into a large double room.

  “Be there anythin’ Your Royal ’Ighness wants?” the maid enquired.

  “No, thank you,” the Princess replied, “and you need not wait. I can easily find my own way back downstairs.”

  The maid bobbed her a rather clumsy curtsey and went out of the room, closing the door behind her.

  The Princess waited until she thought that she must be out of earshot.

  Then, as Prince Holden had told her to do, she tapped on the wall on the right hand side of the room.

  As she did so, she was praying that everything had gone according to plan and that Avila would be there waiting for her.

  Two seconds later she slipped in through the door.

  She was wearing a black gown that was very similar to the one the Princess had on. But she had no bonnet on her shining golden hair.

  Her eyes were excited and she looked so pretty that for a moment Princess Marigold felt almost jealous of her.

  Avila dropped a curtsey.

  “Is everything all right, ma’am?” she asked.

  “Everything so far,” Princess Marigold answered rather nervously.

  As she spoke, she took off the bonnet she was wearing and handed it to Avila.

  It had been easy to provide her double with gowns, but she had only one black bonnet and she had been afraid that it would cause a good deal of comment if she ordered another.

  Avila had arrived with her mother, wearing her ordinary clothes and a hat trimmed with flowers.

  The only item she had added and, which had been her own idea, was a pair of spectacles and they had hidden the beauty of her eyes.

  However, with so many people coming in and going out of the Hotel, nobody had taken any notice of either her or her mother.

  Avila said now,

  “I think I should tell Your Royal Highness that I wore the spectacles when I arrived and perhaps it would be a good idea, ma’am, for you to wear them when you leave.”

  “I will do that,” Princess Marigold agreed, “and I hope your mother has one of my own gowns ready for me next door.”

  “Yes, ma’am, they arrived last night. We had just been praying that they had not been forgotten.”

  Avila went to the dressing table to adjust the bonnet on her head and pull the chiffon veil over her face.

  “Do I look all right, ma’am?” she asked a little anxiously.

  “You look exactly like me,” the Princess assured her. “And don’t forget when you go downstairs that you are feeling sad and upset at having to leave Prince Holden. Everyone will understand if you are not very talkative.”

  “Then ‒ shall I go ‒ now?” Avila asked as if she suddenly felt too helpless to make any decision herself.

  The Princess glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece.

  “In another three minutes and in case anyone comes into this room and sees us together, I will go and join your mother.”

  She put out her hand and laid it on Avila’s shoulder.

  “Thank you for doing this for me,” she said. “I am very grateful and I hope you will have a lovely time in Greece.”

  Avila curtseyed and Princess Marigold went towards the door.

  She opened it very cautiously and looked up and down the corridor. It was empty and she swiftly moved into the room next door.

  Mrs. Grandell was waiting for her and had one of the Princess’s own summer gowns laid out on the bed.

  Her Majesty the Queen had not called for Court mourning for Prince Eumenus. He was not important enough for that.

  But she had said that she expected relations and Ladies-in-Waiting to wear black on the day of the funeral.

  Princess Marigold talked to Mrs. Grandell in Greek as she then helped her into her pretty gown.

  Next she put on the hat that was decorated to match it.

  By the time she was dressed it was a few minutes to eleven o’clock and she knew that by now the party downstairs would be going aboard the Battleship, H.M.S. Heroic.

  The only person who she had been really nervous about was Colonel Bassett.

  If he guessed at the very last minute that they were deceiving Queen Victoria, he might consider it his duty to inform Her Majesty of what they were doing.

  Prince Holden had, however, thought of this.

  Avila went up the gangway to be greeted with great respect by the Captain and three of his Officers.

  She was followed first by the Prince and then by Lady Bedstone.

  After her came Lord Cardiff and finally, bringing up the rear were Colonel Bassett and the Greek Ambassador.

  By the time he was greeting the Captain, Prince Holden had taken the Princess down the companionway. A Steward then led them to the cabins which had been allotted to Her Royal Highness for the voyage.

  There was the one where she was to sleep and the Greek lady’s maid from the Embassy was already busy unpacking her gowns.

  Next to it was what had been the Captain’s day cabin. This had been hastily turned
into a sitting room for the Royal Party.

  When they reached it, Prince Holden remarked,

  “I think, as those following us will suppose we are saying ‘goodbye’ to each other, there will be a slight delay before they join us.”

  He had left the door ajar and he looked back towards the companionway before he said,

  “I think that I should now go back and take Colonel Bassett away before he asks to say ‘goodbye’ to you.”

  “That would be sensible,” Avila replied, “and anyway I will now go into my bed cabin so that no one except Lady Bedstone will follow me.”

  “You are quite safe where she is concerned,” the Prince said. “She cannot see without using her lorgnettes and invariably mislays them!”

  Avila gave a little laugh before she praised him,

  “I think all your arrangements have been marvellous and I am so excited to be here that I am more grateful than I can say.”

  “And we are both even more grateful to you,” the Prince replied. “Take very good care of yourself and try not to be frightened by anyone or anything.”

  Avila smiled at him through her veil and, as they heard footsteps on the companionway, she slipped into her cabin.

  She then began speaking in Greek to the maid, who was concentrating on hanging up her clothes.

  The Prince went up above and he found, as he expected, that the Captain was waiting somewhat impatiently for him and Colonel Bassett to leave the Battleship.

  Having shaken hands and wishing everyone a good voyage, the Prince hurried down the gangway.

  There were two closed carriages waiting on the quay.

  One was there to take Colonel Bassett back to Windsor Castle. And the Prince’s carriage was standing just near it.

  “I thought I might offer Your Royal Highness a lift,’ Colonel Bassett said as he followed him down the gangway.

  “As it happens, I am going in the opposite direction,” Prince Holden replied, “but I will see you, of course, as soon as Her Royal Highness returns.”

  “I can only hope that the funeral is not as depressing as Her Royal Highness anticipates,” Colonel Bassett answered.

  “I hope so too,” the Prince replied. “But you know only too well how these funerals are conducted and I am very grateful that I don’t have to be one of the mourners.”

  Colonel Bassett agreed and the Prince walked away and climbed into his own carriage.

  He deliberately waited some way from the hotel until Colonel Bassett had driven away and his carriage was well out of sight.

  Then he drove back to The Traveller’s Rest, where he saw a closed carriage waiting for Mrs. Grandell.

  He opened the door of his own carriage to alight, but before he could do so Princess Marigold ran down the steps of the hotel and jumped in beside him.

  As the Prince put out his hands towards her, the coachman, who already had his orders, drove off to a different quay.

  It was quite some distance from the one where H.M.S. Heroic had been tied up.

  The horses moved slowly through piles of luggage, people boarding other ships and a large number of new arrivals.

  The Princess flung herself against Prince Holden.

  “We have done it! We have done it!” she cried.

  Because Prince Holden was as excited as she was, he did not answer.

  He just drew her closer to him and then he kissed her.

  Only when she could speak again did the Princess enthuse,

  “How can you have been so incredibly clever? How can you have been so wonderful as to work out everything so perfectly?”

  She paused before she asked in a different rather worried voice,

  “No one on the ship was suspicious in any way?”

  “No one,” the Prince responded triumphantly.

  “And Colonel Bassett?”

  “He hardly had a chance to get near to Avila and did not speak even one word to her. He has gone back to Windsor Castle, pleased with himself that he was able to make the Princess accept the Queen’s instructions more peacefully to go to Greece.”

  The Princess gave a little laugh.

  Then she suggested nervously,

  “Let’s get away from here just as quickly as possible. I am so afraid that something will prevent us from doing so at the very last minute.”

  As she spoke, the horses came to a standstill.

  She looked out of the window to see the Prince’s yacht moored to the quay.

  The Prince climbed out of the carriage first and then he helped the Princess to alight and escorted her up the gangway.

  The Captain of the yacht was waiting for them and the Prince, who had seen him on the previous day, merely ordered,

  “Put to sea immediately, Captain Bruce.”

  The Captain bowed and the Prince drew Princess Marigold into the Saloon.

  The yacht was large and comfortable and the Saloon was attractively decorated, although with somewhat masculine taste.

  There was a bottle of champagne waiting for them in a wine-cooler.

  The Prince looked at Princess Marigold.

  “Will you have a cup of coffee or a glass of champagne?” he asked her.

  “Champagne, of course!” she answered. “We have so much to celebrate you and I.”

  “Yes, very very much to celebrate.” the Prince repeated.

  The way he spoke made her look at him quickly.

  “What in particular?” she asked him directly.

  “I will show you exactly what I mean after you have had a glass of champagne and we go below.”

  “Now you are being mysterious,” Princess Marigold protested.

  The Prince next poured out two full glasses of champagne.

  Then, as Princes Marigold lifted her glass, she gave a little cry.

  “We are moving! We are moving! Oh, Holden, we have done it! We have escaped and now we can really enjoy ourselves without a boring Lady-in-Waiting always watching us. And without the dreary elderly Statesmen, the endless Politicians and without, of course, the watchful eye of Her Majesty the Queen!”

  She put down her glass of champagne for a moment and pulling off her hat threw it onto a chair.

  “We are free! We are free for two weeks or more,” she cried, “and I want them to be the happiest days you have ever spent.”

  “I have made very sure of that” the Prince replied.

  There was a distinct intonation in the way he spoke which made the Princess look at him questioningly.

  “Drink your champagne,” he prompted. “I have something to show you.”

  “You are making me more and more curious,” the Princess complained. “I only hope it is not a surprise that will frighten me.”

  “I would certainly hope not,” the Prince smiled.

  Princess Marigold then finished her glass of champagne and by this time, the yacht was moving out of the quay and into the estuary.

  The sun was shining brightly and shimmering on the sea and for a moment she just stood gazing out of one of the portholes in the Saloon.

  Then she said,

  “You have not yet told me where we are going.”

  “I want you to believe it is to Heaven,” the Prince replied. “Now come and see what I have to show you.”

  Mystified, the Princess took his hand and they went down the companionway together.

  The yacht was a new model and equipped with all the latest devices and new inventions from America.

  They began to walk towards the stern of the yacht where Princess Marigold knew that the Master cabin would be located.

  She thought questioningly that there was a serious expression in the Prince’s eyes.

  ‘Surely nothing can have gone wrong?’ she asked herself.

  Suddenly she was afraid in case he had brought someone else with them.

  She knew if he had done so that it would spoil all her joy at being alone with him.

  The Prince then opened the door of the Master cabin.

  Ther
e was a large bed which traditionally was a four-poster draped with curtains.

  There was, however, no one in the cabin and, as she had been afraid that there might be, the Princess gave a sigh of relief.

  Then she was aware that lying on the bed there was a large bouquet of white flowers and beside it there was a huge wreath of white orchids.

  She looked at them and then she asked him,

  “Are all these for me?”

  “They are for my bride,” the Prince answered.

  The Princess stared at him.

  “We are being married, my darling,” he said, “just as soon as we are further out to sea. It will be a Marriage performed by my Captain, which is entirely legal and no one can ever take you from me.”

  For a moment the Princess was too astonished to speak.

  Then, as he waited, she flung her arms around him.

  “Oh, Holden, Holden, how can you think of anything quite so wonderful?”

  The Prince held her tightly against him.

  “I knew,” he said, “that I could not damage your reputation, my lovely one, and it would have been impossible for me to be alone with you for so long without making you mine.”

  His voice deepened as he went on,

  “I want you and God knows, I have waited long enough! Now I am making sure that whatever happens in the future, nothing shall ever separate us.”

  “Oh, Holden, it is what I want too,” the Princess cried. “But I never thought of our being married at sea.”

  “If our plot remains undiscovered,” the Prince said, “we can be married again with all the Pomp and Ceremony which you, like all women, will love. But this, our secret marriage, will be absolutely binding.”

  He paused before he went on in a different voice,

  “If the worst comes to the worst, and the Queen discovers what has happened, there will be nothing by the Laws of England, or by the Laws of my country, that she can do about it.”

  “That is what I want, that is exactly what I want,” the Princess murmured.

  If the Prince had wanted to say anything more, it would have been impossible.

  She pulled his head down to hers and pressed her lips against his.

  She kissed him with a happiness that seemed to light the whole cabin with their love.

  *

  On board H.M.S. Heroic Avila took off her black bonnet and tidied her hair in the cabin mirror.