A Royal Rebuke Read online

  But at least it was somewhere where they could dry themselves and then wait to be rescued.

  The Princess saw the hut almost at the same time that he did.

  “A little hut!” she exclaimed. “Do you think there might be somebody in it?”

  “If there is, I think by this time they would have come out to see what was happening out at sea,” Lord Victor replied.

  They reached the hut and he saw that there was a double door and behind it he suspected there lay a boat.

  There was also, and this was helpful, a comparatively large glass-paned window.

  Lord Victor first ascertained that the door was locked.

  The Princess sat down on a rock to watch him as he broke a pane of glass in the window.

  “Be careful not to cut yourself!” she warned him.

  “I really should have something to cover my hand,” Lord Victor replied.

  The Princess gave a little cry.

  “I will give you something – but don’t – look round.”

  He guessed what she was about to do and waited obediently.

  A few moments later she handed him a silk petticoat edged with lace.

  “I will try not to tear it,” he promised.

  He could see in the moonlight that she was smiling and he added,

  “Even in such an emergency, I am sure that the watchdogs would consider it very improper for me to accept it!”

  The Princess gave a chuckle and he thought that no woman could be braver or more cool-headed.

  He could not imagine that any of the beauties he had known in the past would not have screamed and protested when he wanted them to jump into the sea.

  He was quite certain that now they would be crying on his shoulder, making him realise that they wished to be comforted.

  He cleared away the broken glass still in the frame and managed to open the window and the Princess’s silk petticoat wrapped round his hand protected it.

  Once he had the window open, he swung himself inside and it was then he found that the hut was larger than he had at first expected.

  It took him only a short time to find what he sought.

  On a shelf he found a candle and beside it an oil lamp.

  Looking about Lord Victor saw that the hut was used by its owner not only to house his boat.

  He must sometimes have stayed there and in fact Lord Victor guessed that the hut belonged to a man who enjoyed yachting as a hobby whenever he had the opportunity.

  Once he had lit the candle and the lantern, Lord Victor lifted the Princess through the window frame.

  As he did so, he realised how wet she was and, although it was a warm night, she was shivering a little.

  “Undress quickly!” he commanded. “I am sure that I can find you something to wear.”

  There was a cupboard at one end of the hut, which was locked and Lord Victor, with great ingenuity, managed to break it open.

  As he had hoped, there were towels, blankets and a towelling dressing gown that the owner had obviously used after bathing.

  Lord Victor took it to the Princess and he saw, as he reached her, that she had obeyed his order and taken off the pretty white lace-trimmed gown she had worn on the barge.

  She had in fact, as she had given him her petticoat, very little left to wear.

  Quickly he handed her the dressing gown and turned away.

  “You are to take off your wet clothes too,” the Princess said, “or else you will catch cold – and that will be very unbecoming!”

  Lord Victor laughed.

  He thought again that no other woman could have been so light-hearted and sensible under utmost stress as the Princess was being.

  He went back to the cupboard and found a shirt and a pair of trousers and guessed that the owner had worn them when sailing his boat, rather than spoil the clothes he had arrived in.

  Lord Victor changed quickly.

  Then he discovered an ancient contraption which it would be possible to cook on and it would also dry their clothes if they were laid around it.

  He told the Princess of his discovery and she came to his side and asked,

  “Do you know how to work that funny-looking stove?”

  “I expect I can find out,” Lord Victor replied, “although, of course, the cooking is your job!”

  The Princess laughed.

  “Is there anything to cook? I should have thought that it was rather too late to go fishing.”

  As if she had challenged him, Lord Victor searched at the back of the cupboard.

  He discovered a saucepan, a kettle and a tin that contained coffee and there were mugs to drink from.

  “I will make the coffee,” the Princess insisted. “You take out the blankets.”

  Lord Victor looked around to see where they could sleep.

  In one corner there was a wooden bedstead with a straw mattress on it.

  As he unfolded the blankets, he thought how fortunate they were not to be still shivering in the night air in their wet clothes with no shelter.

  As he looked for a cushion or a pillow, the Princess said,

  “I suppose you realise that, although we have some coffee, there is no water to boil in the kettle!”

  “I never thought of that!” Lord Victor admitted. “I expect the owner of the hut brings his own fresh water with him.”

  “There might be a spring outside the back door,” she suggested.

  Lord Victor smiled.

  “I will go and look.”

  He had actually not expected there to be another entrance to the hut, but he found a small door and thought that he had been somewhat remiss. It was bolted so that it could not have been opened from the outside.

  When he went out, he found that the Princess had been cleverer than he expected.

  There was a rough pump, which had obviously been made by an amateur builder, but it worked.

  It took him some time to pump up enough water to fill the kettle and it took a lot of effort to make the water clean and it must have come from an inland stream.

  However if they boiled the water, it should be safe to drink.

  The Princess was delighted and she carried it away to the stove.

  When she managed to make two mugs of coffee, she was very pleased with herself.

  “This is what I would be doing if I was marrying a poor man,” she said.

  She was speaking spontaneously as she always did and, as the words passed her lips, it struck them both that this was something that she would never have to do again.

  She was not marrying a poor man, she was marrying a King.

  He was waiting for her at this very moment in his Palace.

  Because the Princess knew what Lord Victor was thinking, she said quickly,

  “How stupid of – me! It was – something that I might have – said at – home, but not – here.”

  She put down her mug and said in a soft voice,

  “They will not – find us until – tomorrow and now – I am here with – you.”

  She moved towards him and he knew what she wanted.

  “No!” he said sharply. “You must forget what happened just now!”

  “Why should I forget the most – wonderful thing that has ever – happened – to me?” the Princess asked.

  Lord Victor did not answer and she went on,

  “I always thought – a kiss would be – sublime, but not so – marvellous – so utterly and completely – perfect that I shall – never forget it.”

  “I want you to remember it,” Lord Victor said, “but it is something that must not happen again.”

  “But – why – why?” the Princess asked. “I love you – and we are – here alone – in a world of our own – and it could be a – long time before anyone – finds us.”

  “As soon as they do,” Lord Victor said, “you will become a Queen.”

  “That could happen – tomorrow – the day after – or the day after that!” the Princess said wildly. “What I am thinking
– about is now – this moment – when the world – is far away – blown up by a bomb – you saved me from.”

  She put out her hands towards him.

  Lord Victor knew that she was so innocent that she had no idea how cruelly, in effect, she was tempting him.

  Only by a superhuman effort did he stop himself from sweeping her into his arms.

  Instead he kissed her hands, first one and then the other.

  As if he could not help himself, he turned the hand he was holding and kissed her palm.

  He knew that she quivered and the thrill that ran through her was very obvious.

  It was then he said in a deep voice,

  “I love you, my darling, I love you as I have never loved anyone before and will never love anyone again, but I am also a gentleman and, as a gentleman, I cannot touch you.”

  As he finished speaking, he walked towards the back door.

  “Go to bed,” he said, “and go to sleep. I am leaving you alone because I love you too much to hurt you.”

  He was gone.

  And the Princess knew that she must not follow him.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lord Victor walked down onto the sand and sat on a rock gazing out to sea.

  The flames from the barge were still rising in the far distance.

  He, however, was looking with unseeing eyes in front of him.

  The moon and the stars were reflected in the water, but he was aware only of the darkness that was beginning to encompass him.

  Gradually the rapture that the Princess had aroused faded away.

  There remained only despair and fear for the future.

  He must have been there for quite a long time when suddenly he heard a scream and he jumped to his feet and as he did so he heard the Princess scream again.

  He ran across the sand as fast as he could.

  As he neared the boathouse, he saw a man peering in through the broken window.

  He turned round as Lord Victor approached and the moonlight was on his face.

  Lord Victor saw that he was an old strange-looking creature and, as he rushed away into the darkness, his clothes flapping round him, it was obvious that he was no more than a scavenger.

  Lord Victor pulled open the back door and as he did so the Princess threw herself against him.

  “It’s – the Russians! The – Russians!” she cried. “They are – trying to – kill me!”

  Lord Victor held her close.

  “It is all right, my darling,” he said, “it’s not the Russians, only a scavenger.”

  “I-I am – frightened!” the Princess faltered and then burst into a flood of tears.

  She sobbed tempestuously like a child.

  Lord Victor picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He would have set her down, but she clung to him saying,

  “Don’t – leave me! Please – don’t leave – me!”

  “I am not going to leave you, my precious. I should not have gone away so far in the first place.”

  He laid her down and pulled half of a blanket over her and then, lying on top of the other half, he put his arm around her so that her head was on his shoulder.

  He pulled another blanket over himself.

  The Princess was still crying and he held her very close to him saying soothingly,

  “It is all right, my sweet, my darling, it was only a scavenger looking for something to steal.”

  “B-But – the R-Russians – tried to – k-kill me when I was – on the – barge,” the Princess stammered.

  “I know that,” Lord Victor agreed, “but we will make certain it will not happen again.”

  “But – how – how?”

  The words seemed almost incoherent and he could feel her whole body trembling against him.

  Because there was no answer to her question he turned her face up to his and kissed her.

  It was a very gentle kiss, but he knew that it brought back the ecstasy she had felt before.

  Gradually, she was no longer trembling, but quivering to his kisses.

  “I-I love – you!” she said a little later and now the fear was gone from her voice.

  “And I love you!” Lord Victor replied.

  The Princess raised her hand to touch his cheek.

  “Let’s run away,” she whispered. “If we ran away – where – no one could – find us, we could be – together and perhaps – they will think we were – drowned in – the sea.”

  Lord Victor kissed her forehead.

  “Do you really think that we, of all people, could actually do that, my precious?” he asked. “Whatever we may feel about ourselves, our country has to come first. It is the same as if we were soldiers and we refused to fight the enemy. Then we would be traitors and that is something I could never allow you to be.”

  “But – I cannot – lose you,” the Princess murmured. “Promise that – you will – stay for as long as – you can to – protect me.”

  The fear was back in her voice and Lord Victor answered her quietly,

  “I will stay for as long as it is possible for me to do so.”

  *

  The light of the first fingers of the dawn coming through the broken window made Lord Victor aware that soon the sailors from the H.M.S. Victorious would be searching for them.

  The Princess had by now fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion.

  He, however, had lain awake wondering desperately what he could do to ensure her safety and her happiness.

  He removed his arm gently so as not to disturb her and walked towards the window.

  The candle had guttered out in the early hours of the morning and the lantern, running out of oil, had followed.

  He was aware however that the stove was still burning and their clothes draped around it had dried by now.

  He glanced back at the bed.

  As the Princess was still sleeping, he changed back into his own clothes.

  They were somewhat the worse for wear after their soaking in the sea, but at least he was more presentable than he had been in the clothes he had borrowed and which did not fit him.

  As he finished dressing, he saw a boat coming down the coast.

  He went to the Princess and bending down kissed her very gently.

  “Wake up, my darling,” he said. “We are about to be rescued and you must dress.”

  She lifted her arms towards him, but he moved towards the door.

  “We have to go back to civilisation,” he called back, “so hurry!”

  He walked across the sands as he had done the night before.

  As he reached the waves coming in, he saw that the boat was only a short distance from him.

  He waved his arms and the seamen, who were under the direction of a Junior Officer, waved back.

  It took them only a few minutes to reach the shore and the Officer sprang from the boat.

  “Are you all right, my Lord?” he asked. “Her Royal Highness is with you?”

  “We were fortunate enough to find shelter in a hut,” Lord Victor explained, “and we passed the night there, but, of course, it has all been a tremendous shock to Her Royal Highness.”

  He said the same half-an-hour later when they had reached H.M.S. Victorious.

  The Princess had then gone directly to her cabin and the Captain had come to his cabin.

  Lord Victor had wrapped himself in a comfortable robe and was eating breakfast, which had been brought to him on a tray.

  “You not only saved your own life and that of Her Royal Highness, my Lord,” the Captain said, “but a number of other people are exceedingly grateful that your warning gave them time to get aboard my ship.”

  “What are the casualties, Captain?” Lord Victor enquired.

  He had not asked this question immediately on coming aboard, as he had been too intent on taking the Princess to her cabin without her having a conversation with anybody.

  He was afraid that she might break down again and cling to him.

  Yet although s
he was very pale, she carried herself proudly.

  “I am afraid, my Lord,” the Captain replied, “that the two Ladies-in-Waiting were both killed, also two of the Statesmen who had come to welcome Her Royal Highness on the barge. The third is badly injured and has been taken to hospital.”

  Lord Victor was aware this was because they were old and obviously could not run to safety.

  “The Ambassador,” the Captain went on, “has a bad bruise on his forehead and Mr. Orestes has an injured arm.”

  He paused before he added,

  “Twenty-two people in all were killed by the bomb or else drowned in the sea. There might have been many more if it had not been for your Lordship’s timely warning.”

  “Did you realise that it was Alexander who planted the bomb on the barge?” Lord Victor asked.

  “I did not know that,” the Captain answered, “but I wondered what had happened to him when it was reported to me that he had disappeared. I have always said you cannot trust the Russians!”

  “They were trying to kill the Princess before she could become Queen of Zararis,” Lord Victor replied.

  “That is what I thought myself, my Lord, and I have already arranged that I will now take my ship straight into the harbour. We must also make certain that Her Royal Highness is properly protected until she is crowned.”

  Lord Victor nodded.

  He knew, without saying so, that once the Princess was on the throne the Russians would not risk a war with Great Britain by destroying her.

  They might therefore make another attempt to kill her before she became Queen.

  He thought it unlikely and yet it was something that could not be ignored.

  “Now, this is what I suggest you do – ” he said to the Captain.

  *

  The crowds were cheering wildly.

  Princess Sydella, in an open carriage, was driving down the main street, which led from the quay to the Palace.

  A number of children had been given small Union Jacks to wave and the trees on either side of the road were decorated not only with flowers but also with flags and bunting.

  Opposite Her Royal Highness with their backs to the horses sat Lord Victor and the Captain, both armed unobtrusively with revolvers.

  On the road on each side of the carriage marched a picked detachment of the ship’s company. They were all of them, as Lord Victor was aware, excited at being part of what they knew was a decisive blow against an invisible enemy.