Two Hearts in Hungary Read online

  She thought if she now listened by the window that she would hear the inspiring music of Johann Strauss.

  Small boys were continually whistling his music in the streets and how could she be in Vienna and not hear the music which had electrified London as well as everywhere else in the world?

  She knew that soon she would be dancing to one of his famous waltzes.

  Once again she thought that it might be with a man whom her father had already chosen for her as a husband.

  Her eyes darkened.

  ‘How can I make my stubborn Papa understand that I will marry no one until I really fall in love?’ she asked herself.

  There was no answer to this question.

  Because once again her thoughts were depressed and dismal, she gave a cry of delight as Mr. Heywood appeared at the door.

  She ran across the room towards him.

  “You have found out what you wanted?”

  “The Direktor has given me a letter,” Mr. Heywood replied, “to the man in Budapest who looks after the Royal Stables.”

  “Do you think that he will know where we will find the best and the most magnificent horses?” Aletha asked.

  “I am sure of it,” Mr. Heywood replied. “And, now as you have been so good so far, we will drive in an open carriage through the streets of Vienna before we have luncheon.”

  Aletha had her bonnet ready.

  As they went downstairs, she felt as if her feet had wings.

  There was a smart carriage drawn by two fine white horses waiting for them outside the hotel.

  They set off with Aletha enjoying everything she could see.

  The high buildings, the fountains, the many bridges over the river and finally the great Cathedral that was known as the ‘Stephansdom’.

  “Please can I go inside?” she asked Mr. Heywood.

  “Of course,” he answered.

  He told the coachman to stop and they walked into the wonderful old building in which the Viennese had worshipped for many centuries.

  Inside there was the scent of incense and Aletha felt strongly the vibrations of faith.

  Candles were flickering in every Chapel and in front of the images of Saints which stood against every pillar.

  She felt that the atmosphere was different from anything that she had felt in any other Church.

  Dropping to her knees she meant to pray for her father.

  Instead she found herself praying fervently that she would find what she was seeking.

  That she would be married for herself and not because she was her father’s daughter.

  She went on praying with a fervency that came from her very soul.

  Suddenly she knew in some strange way that she could not explain that her prayers had been heard.

  It was almost as if somebody, perhaps her mother, was telling her that all would be well for her in the end.

  She must not be pushed into a loveless marriage and, if she married, it would not be to some stranger who was not the ‘Prince of her Dreams’.

  When she rose to her feet, she walked up to the nearest image and, putting a coin into the box in front of it, she lit candle.

  Her mother had told her when she was still quite small that, if one lit a candle, it carried the prayer she made up into Heaven for as long as the candle remained alight.

  Aletha had now chosen the longest and most expensive candle.

  Mr. Heywood was waiting all this time for her patiently at the end of the aisle.

  When she joined him, she had no idea that her face was radiant with a light that seemed to come from within herself.

  Without thinking, just as she might have done with her father, she slipped her hand into his.

  He then led her out of the Stephansdom and into the street.

  They returned to the hotel in the carriage that was waiting for them outside the Church.

  *

  The train that carried them from Vienna to Budapest was not as comfortable as the one in which they had travelled from Ostend.

  Mr. Heywood had arranged that they had adjacent compartments.

  When he tipped the attendant heavily, he became very attentive.

  He made sure that their beds were made up as comfortably as possible when they were having dinner.

  This was at a Station that they had reached two hours after the train had started.

  The food was not exciting. But at least it was edible.

  After the excellent luncheon that they had enjoyed at the Sacher, Aletha was not hungry.

  She had also before they had left had enjoyed a large slice of the famous Sacher cake.

  It was made from a secret recipe known only to the hotel and it had been invented by one of the young Sacher sons when he was only sixteen.

  Aletha thought that it was the most delicious cake that she had ever tasted.

  Their dinner therefore was not so important and their real interest lay with the horses.

  “What shall we do if we cannot find the thoroughbreds you really want?” Aletha asked.

  “There is no fear of that,” Mr. Heywood replied. “I am only afraid that our task will be difficult because we shall want to buy hundreds rather than the eight or ten that His Grace requires.”

  “If we tried them all out,” Aletha remarked, “we would still be riding in Hungary when the Hunting Season begins!”

  Mr. Heywood laughed.

  “That is certainly a thought and one that would certainly not please your father.”

  “And it is so important,” Aletha insisted, “that we get home before he does.”

  “I hope for your sake we do,” Mr. Heywood agreed.

  *

  They reached Budapest early the next morning.

  The moment that she stepped out from the Station, Aletha was totally entranced by the beauty of the City.

  She thought that no place that she had ever seen before had such a Fairytale-like quality about it.

  Even the City’s Easte Railway Station, named the Keleri Pu, was extremely magnificent and had something magical about it.

  “Actually,” Mr. Heywood told her, “Keleri Pu is one of the grandest Stations in Europe.”

  “It seems strange to me,” Aletha said, “that people should exert themselves to build such enormous Stations. Perhaps it is because they are so impressed by trains.”

  “Of course they are,” Mr. Heywood agreed. “And quite rightly so. Think of the time that it would have taken if we had to come all this way from England by carriage.”

  Aletha laughed.

  “That is indeed true.”

  Then, as they drove away from the Station, she could only look at the great Towers and Palaces of the City. There were also quaint houses which had an almost Morrish appearance.

  The Churches were a mixture of Gothic and Baroque with Renaissance monuments and endless statues.

  They drove up a winding road rising higher and higher up the side of a mountain..

  “Where are we going?” Aletha asked.

  “Before we even unpack,” Mr. Heywood answered, “we are going to the Royal Palace to see the man to whom the Direktor of the Spanish Riding School gave me an introduction.”

  He pointed to where above them there was an enormous building.

  “It is certainly impressive,” Aletha remarked quietly.

  She could see a great many pillars and a huge dome silhouetted against the sky.

  “Is there any chance of the Empress being here now?” Aletha asked hopefully.

  Mr. Heywood shook his head and she felt disappointed.

  When they reached The Palace, she was really impressed with the huge terrace outside it where there was a beautifully carved fountain and an enormous equestrian statue.

  Mr. Heywood told her that it was of Prince Eugene of Savoy. He had fought the Turks at the end of the seventeenth Century. He looked very dashing on his plunging horse. Aletha thought that he was just how she would expect a Hungarian to look.

  From the terrace the
re was a panorama of the City with the Danube dividing it.

  It was so lovely that Aletha did not mind when Mr. Heywood said,

  “I suggest that you stay here for a few minutes while I go inside and see if I can find the gentleman I wish to consult.”

  As she did not answer, he said,

  “You will be quite safe in the carriage.”

  There were sentries on either side of the door that he then disappeared through.

  Aletha sat in the carriage looking in the opposite direction.

  She thought that no view from any Palace could be more stunningly beautiful.

  Then, because she wanted to see it from the balustrade itself, she got out of the carriage and she walked first to the beautiful fountain.

  Its water was pouring iridescent over rocks and statues into a stone basin beneath it.

  Then, as she had just reached the balustrade to look down at the boats moving slowly on the Danube, she said involuntarily,

  “Could anything be more enchanting?”

  “That is what I was thinking!” a voice came from behind her.

  She started and then turned round and saw that standing beside her was a young man.

  He was handsome and there was something so dashing and different about him that made her sure that he was Hungarian.

  He spoke to her in English, but with just a faint accent.

  As she looked up at him, he said,

  “I thought for a moment that you must be one of the sylphs from the Danube whom I have often been told about but have never seen.”

  Aletha laughed.

  “That is just what I would like to be,” she said. “But surely no Palace could have a more wonderful view than this – and no Palace could be more impressive.”

  “We are very proud of our many Palaces,” the young man replied, “and even more so of our horses.”

  “They are what I have really come to see,” Aletha told him.

  “But you will not find them in Budapest,” the Hungarian related.

  “No, I know,” Aletha answered, “and my – my – grandfather is inside The Palace now, finding out where we must go to see the finest of them.”

  “Why are you so interested?” the young man asked.

  As he was so inquisitive, Aletha remembered that she should not be talking to a stranger.

  It might be indiscreet of her anyway to tell him too much and perhaps a different story from what Mr. Heywood was telling the Direktor inside The Palace.

  Instead of answering him, she looked down at the wide river below.

  A boat, its sails unfurled, was moving majestically down the river.

  “If I am too curious you must forgive me,” the Hungarian said, “but you must understand that it is a surprise to find a sylph who is English standing outside The Palace and saying that she is looking for Hungarian horses.”

  It sounded so ridiculous that Aletha could not help laughing.

  “It just happens to be true!”

  “Then I can only hope that you will not be disappointed,” the Hungarian replied.

  “I am quite sure that will not happen,” Aletha answered.

  She was about to say something more when there was the sound of horses’ hoofs and the turning of wheels.

  The next moment a carriage appeared and swept up to the front of The Palace.

  It was a very smart vehicle with a coachman and footman wearing an elaborate Livery.

  The bridles and accoutrements of the horses were all of gleaming silver.

  Seated in the carriage was a woman holding a small pink sunshade over her head.

  The Hungarian had turned round as the carriage approached.

  Aletha did so too and was able to have a quick glance at the occupant of the carriage.

  She was exceedingly smart and also very beautiful.

  She had dark flashing eyes and the ostrich feathers on her bonnet fluttered in the breeze as she looked towards the Hungarian.

  She raised an elegantly gloved hand in his direction.

  It was a call for him to attend to her and he bowed in response.

  Then he turned to Aletha,

  “I do hope one day I may have the pleasure of seeing you again. In the meantime I know that you will enjoy the wonderful horses of my country.”

  “I am sure I shall,” Aletha replied to him.

  He walked away and she felt sure that he was very athletic and would certainly be a good rider.

  As he reached the lady’s carriage, the footman jumped down to open the door for him.

  He stepped into it to sit beside the lady with the sunshade.

  She gave him her hand and he then kissed it.

  As he did so, Aletha turned away, feeling that she was somehow prying on something which did not concern her.

  As the horses drove away, she deliberately stared down at the boats on the river.

  She did not turn round until the sound of the horses’ hoofs could no longer be heard.

  And she had only to wait a little longer before Mr. Heywood returned.

  He looked surprised when he saw that she was not waiting for him in the carriage as he had asked her to do.

  He walked to where she was standing.

  “Has he been able to help you?” Aletha asked eagerly as he joined her.

  “I have exactly the information I wanted,” he replied, “with an introduction to the man who is my vis-à-vis in each of the places we shall visit.”

  “That is splendid,” Aletha said excitedly. “Where are we going?”

  “First of all,” he said, “we are going to the Castle of Baron Otto von Sicardsburg.”

  Aletha raised her eyebrows.

  “He sounds German.”

  “He is. He married a Hungarian Princess and is a very wealthy man.”

  “His horses are good?”

  “I am assured that they are superb,” Mr. Heywood said, “and fortunately for us, as we have so little time, the Baron’s Castle is not far from The Palace of the Estérházys who also have some of the finest horses in the whole of Hungary.”

  Aletha smiled.

  “Shall we go there at once?”

  “As quickly as the train will carry us,” Mr. Heywood advised.

  As they drove away from The Palace, he said,

  “I suppose you know that you have broken all the rules in walking about in the precincts of The Palace without permission?”

  “I never thought of it,” Aletha exclaimed.

  “I wonder that no one reproved you for the offence,” Mr. Heywood remarked.

  Aletha thought that there had been no reproof from the Hungarian. In fact he had looked at her with an expression of such admiration that she had never seen in any man’s eyes.

  He was certainly exceptionally good-looking and exactly what she thought a Hungarian gentleman – or was he an aristocrat? – would be like.

  It somehow seemed appropriate that he should be accompanied by a beautiful woman and driven away in a smart carriage drawn by superb horses.

  ‘If I was breaking the rules,’ she thought, ’I am not surprised that he came and spoke to me, since, of course, he was curious as to why I was there.’

  She thought that she would very much like to remember him because he had admired her and likened her to a sylph from the river.

  The conversation she had with him was however certainly not something that she would relate to Mr. Heywood.

  Chapter Four

  The train carried them from Budapest to Györ, which was in the Province of Sopron.

  They got out at Györ, which was a fascinating old town with houses of every period and some beautiful Churches as well.

  Mr. Heywood hired a carriage, which was to take them to The Castle there, which was where the Baron Otto von Sicardsburg lived.

  Aletha thought that it was very thrilling to be in the country and then she looked eagerly around her and naturally at the horses.

  She saw quite a number of them in the fields or maybe th
ey had been turned out to grass. She thought that they were different from any horses her father possessed and was sure that they were just as spirited as they were reputed to be.

  The Castle was some way out of Györ, but Mr. Heywood told her that they were going in the right direction for their next call.

  This was to the Palace of Prince Jözsel Estérházy.

  “Tell me first about the Baron,” she pleaded, “or I shall get the two families muddled.”

  “Prince Estérházy would not be complimented,” Mr. Heywood warned her. “He is one of the most important aristocrats in Hungary and is very proud of his heritage.”

  “And the Baron?” Aletha prompted.

  “From what I gather from my informant in The Palace,” Mr. Heywood said, “he is not very well liked, but that might just be national prejudice.”

  “I would much rather be with a Hungarian in Hungary,” Aletha smiled.

  “So would I,” Mr. Heywood agreed. “I do find the Germans difficult, especially when it comes to business.”

  “Then let’s hope that we shall not have to stay with him for long.”

  Aletha was, however, impressed as they drove up the long drive after passing through some enormous gates and could now see The Castle of the Baron ahead of them.

  It was quite different from an English Castle and yet it had an unmistakable charm.

  It was obviously very old with arched windows that made it picturesque.

  As they had gone uphill to reach it, there was a magnificent view over all the countryside and Aletha was certain that it had been a fortress of defence in ancient times when Hungary was continually at war with someone.

  It had three large square turrets with flat tops which was unusual, but when they entered the courtyard the later additions were more elaborate and Baroque.

  Mr. Heywood next climbed out of the carriage to explain to the servant who answered the door why he had come.

  The carriage was instructed to drive round to the back of The Castle where the stables were located.

  Separate from them was a house that was of a different period from The Castle itself.

  It was here that Mr. Heywood presented his letter of introduction.

  He and Aletha were then taken at once to a pretty sitting room where a middle-aged man greeted them.

  His name was Hamoir Kovaks and he informed them in faltering English that he was in charge of the Baron’s horses.