A Miracle of Love Page 6

  Yet what he appreciated more than anything else was that she did not chatter, and unless he wished to talk to her, she was silent.

  She looked so glorious in the sunshine that he could understand why her parents were so determined she should make a grand marriage, whatever her private feelings about it might be.

  The Prince had chosen unfrequented roads across the country that was sparsely inhabited.

  After they had ridden some way, he commented,

  “I don’t know exactly where we are now, but we are certainly going in the right direction.”

  Sacia gave a cry of delight.

  “I’m sure that’s right. I am now not only further away from those searching for me, but they would never think for one moment that this is where I could manage to go on my own.”

  The Prince thought, seeing how lovely she was, that there would always have been someone to help her, but he did not say it aloud for fear of agitating her.

  There was little sign of life where they were and when they stopped because they were feeling hungry, there was not a house in sight.

  “I wonder who this land belongs to?” Sacia asked.

  “I expect it is something we will never know. It might be a mistake to ask too many questions.”

  *

  They set off again after their picnic luncheon.

  At four o’clock in the afternoon the Prince stopped.

  “I think that there’s a house over there amongst the trees,” he said, “but I cannot see it very clearly. It might be where we can stay the night. Shall we go and explore?”

  “Let’s,” agreed Sacia. “Perhaps it is a farmhouse, although there does not seem to have been much work put into these fields.”

  “I am rather surprised, as you live in a town, that you know so much about the country.”

  “Oh, Papa owns a country house as well as one in Venice and we move between one and the other because he regularly gets bored. Not only with where we are living but with the people we see day after day.”

  The Prince longed to ask her questions as to who her father was, but he sensed that it was not the right time. Moreover he had no wish to tell her anything about himself in return.

  They rode on slowly crossing some fields and then dismounted to lead their horses through the wood that hid the house they were approaching.

  Then very suddenly two men who looked as though they might be gamekeepers came striding towards them.

  “Where’re you goin’ and what’re you doin’ ’ere?” one of the men asked in very rough Italian.

  “We are travellers,” the Prince responded, “and we hope to find an inn where my sister and I can obtain food and lodging.”

  “You be trespassing,” the other man added, “and you must come with us and we’ll take you to the owner who don’t allow likes of you to be walkin’ over his land.”

  “I will explain to him,” replied the Prince, “that if we have done anything wrong it is only through ignorance and we are strangers to this part of Italy.”

  “That’s what they all says when they’re sneakin’ our birds or our stags.”

  The Prince thought it wise not to answer this.

  As the two men started walking on either side of them, Sacia’s hand crept into his.

  “It’s all right,” he said speaking in Greek, which he knew only she would understand. “We will apologise to the owner of this land and I hope there is a village not far away from here where we can stay the night.”

  They had not gone far before he looked ahead with astonishment.

  There was a large and impressive Castle just ahead of them.

  It was surrounded not only by a moat but also by a vast garden with flowerbeds full of flowers in bloom and there was a flag flying from the turret of the Castle.

  The Prince was aware that whoever the owner was he was a man of some consequence.

  He next tried frantically to remember if any of his father’s friends lived in this district and then he wondered if on his numerous travels he had met anyone who came from this part of the world.

  However he could not think of anyone and he felt it best not to ask any questions of the two men who were clearly guarding the property and would have instructions as to what to do with people who trespassed on it.

  They crossed the moat and into a large courtyard beyond it, stopping outside what was obviously a side door and not the main entrance.

  “Now stay ’ere,” one of the men hissed, “while I go and tell the Duca what I’ve found you doin’.”

  “Tell him we have no wish to do anything wrong,” the Prince stipulated, “we were in fact merely resting after making a long journey.”

  He was not certain if the man understood what he had said or wished to. He did not answer but disappeared through the heavy oak door.

  There were steps up to it and Sacia sat down.

  “Whatever happens,” she whispered to the Prince, “the Duca must not know who I am.”

  “As I don’t know, I see no reason why he should!”

  “We must not use my real name, always call me Noemi,” she said nervously. “If Papa is making everyone in Venice look for me, Sacia is a name they will remember. And if the Duca who lives here is very grand, he may know Papa.”

  Looking at him with anxiety in her large eyes, he thought no one could look lovelier. She had a fairy-like appearance which was accentuated by the heavy stonework of the Castle.

  “And I must be in disguise as well,” the Prince added, “so I will call myself ‘Tias’, which you will admit is easy to remember.”

  “We have decided on Nanny’s name for me and I feel sure as she is in the next world that she will not allow us to get into too much mischief!”

  The Prince chuckled as he surmised that no one he had met would be as calm and sensible in the same arduous circumstances as Sacia.

  He was actually rather worried himself.

  The Duca, whoever he was, might have seen him at some ceremony and remember what he looked like.

  He had in fact attended a number of conferences and meetings since becoming Ruler of Vienz, and usually he had to listen to long and exceptionally boring speeches by Princes from small and insignificant Principalities.

  They were determined to make their own point of view heard and they were the ones most likely to suffer if they were not friendly with the greater powers. Therefore the Prince had known it was his duty to be present.

  Now he tried very hard to tell himself that he was being unnecessarily concerned.

  Nevertheless, when the man who had gone into the Castle reappeared, he drew in his breath.

  “The Duca wishes to see you,” he blurted out, “now you follow me!”

  At the same time a groom came to hold the horses and Sacia rose from the step.

  She and the Prince walked behind one of the men who led the way, while the other followed behind almost as if he was afraid they might make a run for it.

  The Castle inside was luxuriously furnished and the Prince noted that it must belong to someone not only of distinction but also plenty of money.

  There was no doubt that much money had been spent not just on the furniture but on the Castle’s upkeep.

  They passed a number of servants all dressed in a smart livery and they had obviously been trained not to stare.

  The Prince guessed they were now in the centre of the Castle and it was even larger than he had first thought.

  Then there were two huge doors ahead and the man ahead of them held up his hand for them to stop.

  Then he went in through the door closing it behind him.

  He came out almost immediately and called out,

  “Come in.”

  He spoke abruptly with an exaggerated arrogance and it told the Prince he was afraid of his employer.

  Holding Sacia by the hand they walked into a large and exquisitely furnished drawing room.

  The walls were decorated with fine pictures and on one side there were a number o
f bookshelves.

  Seated at a large desk with gold candlesticks and an elaborate gold inkpot was a middle-aged man, whose hair was just going grey.

  One look at him told the Prince he was well aware of his own importance and that he was prepared to frighten anyone who came in front of him either as a poacher or a thief.

  The Prince took his hand from Sacia’s and walked forward towards the Duca.

  “I must apologise most sincerely,” he began, “for apparently trespassing on your land. But my sister and I were riding across the country and actually did not know exactly where we were. I am so sorry that your men had to bring us here, but we had no idea until we saw your Castle that such a magnificent monument was hidden from us by the trees.”

  The Duca was listening to the Prince.

  At the same time his eyes were on Sacia.

  “You tell me you are brother and sister,” he said, “but you have omitted to give me your name.”

  With a quickness of mind that was characteristic of him, the Prince replied,

  “I am Count Tias Fleury, and my sister’s name is Noemi.”

  “Then I have met members of your family,” the Duca responded.

  The Prince smiled.

  “There are a very large number of them.”

  He had chosen the name Fleury knowing it was an aristocratic name and that there were a great many of them scattered all over Italy.

  The Duca rose.

  “Instead of accusing you of trespassing,” he said, “may I welcome you to my Castle and if you are travelling I hope you will honour me by staying the night.”

  “That is extremely kind of you and it is something we should enjoy. I am overwhelmed by your majestic Castle and especially by your pictures.”

  “They are not as beautiful,” the Duca replied, “as your sister.”

  He held out his hand to Sacia as he spoke.

  She dropped him a deep curtsy before she took it.

  The Prince thought it was very graceful of her.

  “As you have been travelling, I gather for some time,” the Duca continued, “I suggest perhaps you would like to wash your hands and then we will have tea on the terrace from which on a clear day you can see the sea.”

  He was speaking to Sacia, who answered,

  “I would love to do that. Thank you very much for not sending us away from your fantastic Castle. I should have been very sad if I had had to miss it.”

  It was obvious that the Duca was delighted at her remarks.

  When he rang the bell, he started to tell Sacia about his collection of pictures. They were, he boasted, one of the best private collections in the whole of Italy.

  “I say it with confidence, though there are doubtless people who will contradict me,” he said. “After you have had tea you will see for yourself if I am right or wrong.”

  “I would love to, but in the meantime I would like to make myself tidy or I feel that your ancestors will look down disapprovingly on me!”

  The Duca laughed at this and then the Prince asked if their horses could be looked after and his saddlebags brought in.

  The Duca immediately gave instructions for this to be done and they were taken by a formidable housekeeper up the stairs.

  Sacia was shown into the first State bedroom with its huge canopied bed and it was very different from where she had slept the previous night.

  The Prince’s room was next door.

  They were told when they had tidied themselves a servant would be waiting to take them to the terrace where they would be served tea.

  The Prince washed his hands and brushed his hair with the brush that Texxo had put in the bag for him.

  Then he took his brush and comb and went into the room next door and, as he expected, Sacia was sitting at the dressing table trying to put her auburn hair into place.

  “I should have thought of it last night, Sacia, and you should have asked me, but I have a comb here and a brush that I believe you will need.”

  “Of course I do and thank you. I did think of it this morning, but you were in such a hurry to leave that, if I had spent too much time titivating myself, then you would have been annoyed.”

  “You are so unlike most women, and may I tell you that despite two days of travelling your dress does not look creased or at all dirty.”

  “I had to sponge quite a lot of the marks off it last night,” admitted Sacia.

  Then she glanced at the door to make quite sure it was closed before she murmured,

  “You were so clever in making us sound important, otherwise I am quite certain he would have sent us away.”

  She gave a little giggle before she added,

  “And I am sure he was impressed by your supposed title.”

  “I had to think quickly, Sacia, as I was not looking forward to spending the night in a dungeon!”

  Sacia gave a little cry.

  “Do you think he would have put me in one too?”

  “Nothing would surprise me. “Remember, as a Duca he considers himself very significant and thus the more you curtsy and flatter him the more comfortable we will be.”

  Sacia laughed.

  “I think that applies to most men – even you?”

  He liked the way she was teasing him and told her,

  “We are certainly having an adventure and finding you, Sacia, is the biggest excitement I have had for a long time.”

  “We can only hope it does not end in tears, which inevitably my escapades did when I was a child.”

  The Prince put out his hand.

  “Come along. You look lovely and the Duca will undoubtedly tell you so.”

  “I cannot help wishing, Nico, that we were having tea alone. And if we are staying the night, we would be able to talk at dinner as we did last night.”

  “But the beds will be very comfortable and the food delicious and the wines will be completely different from last night’s fare.”

  “I am sure, Nanny, if she was with us, would say you think too much about your tummy!” Sacia teased him. “Now let’s go downstairs and see the Duca’s pictures.”

  The Prince was astonished that she could talk so lightly and so amusingly.

  He was quite certain any other woman would still have been suffering from the shock of being more or less arrested.

  However, he said nothing and they were escorted downstairs by a powdered footman.

  The Castle was indeed even more impressive than the Duca had told them it would be and his pictures, the Prince had to admit, were superb.

  But what interested him most was that Sacia knew so much about them and the artists.

  He supposed that when she was at school in Rome the girls had spent a great deal of time in the art galleries and she had certainly benefitted by the opportunity.

  She guessed the name of several artists before the Duca could tell her and she was invariably right. She had an appreciation of his pictures that delighted their owner.

  Tea on the terrace was an elaborate affair.

  The Duca explained that many of his guests at the Castle were English and several of his family had actually married English women.

  So he was in the habit of having what the Italians call ‘English Tea’ at half-past four.

  There was certainly a great deal to eat and, as their improvised luncheon had only been sandwiches and fruit, both the Prince and Sacia enjoyed themselves.

  After tea was finished Sacia went upstairs to her bedroom to lie down and the Duca took the Prince to view his Armoury and to see how the drawbridge worked as it had done for centuries.

  “I hope you are not anticipating that you will have to raise it against an enemy,” the Prince remarked jokingly.

  “One never knows,” the Duca replied. “And I will fight to the finish if anyone attempts to take my land or my Castle away from me.”

  “I am sure no one will try to do so.”

  At the same time there had been rumours of more revolutions in Italy and the Prince well knew th
at his own people were always apprehensive of what might happen in the future.

  If there was a takeover of smaller Principalities, the predator might easily turn his attention to Vienz.

  Sacia could not change her dress for dinner, but a bath was brought into her room and while she was having it, the housekeeper arranged to have her dress sponged and pressed.

  “That’s a very pretty gown,” the housekeeper said, “and if you take my advice, ma’am, you’ll buy yourself something simple and washable.”

  Sacia hesitated for a moment and then asked,

  “I don’t suppose you have one hidden away in the Castle. My brother would gladly buy it for me.”

  “As it happens, ma’am, I’ve just finished making one for my granddaughter and I thinks that she’s about the same size as you.”

  “Oh, please sell it to me,” Sacia begged. “I should be so grateful.”

  “I’ll put it here in your room so that you can see it when you comes up to bed, ma’am,” she promised.

  Sacia then knocked on the Prince’s door.

  When he called out, “come in,” she entered.

  “Please, Nico, will you lend me some money to buy a gown? I am not quite certain what I will have to pay for it, but the housekeeper has one that she had made for her granddaughter and she will let me buy it.”

  “You look as if you have been offered the Koh-I-Noor,” the Prince smiled.

  “I want to look pretty for you when you have been so good to me.”

  He gave Sacia some notes and she hurried back to her room and the housekeeper was delighted.

  “That’s more than enough, ma’am, and I’ll easily make my granddaughter another one for her birthday.”

  “You are so kind and I am very grateful.”

  The housekeeper then helped Sacia to arrange her hair.

  When she went down to dinner still wearing her old dress, she looked, the Prince thought, like a flower just coming into bloom.

  Because she was no longer nervous she talked away endlessly to the Duca during the meal.

  She made him laugh and was, at the same time, the Prince considered, extremely intelligent.

  Only when they had moved into the drawing room and drank their coffee did the Duca remark,