Love and Apollo (4 page)

He could only hope that the voyage would turn out as smooth and pleasant as it appeared at the moment.

Then he remembered that his dear sister Rose was to marry the elderly King when they arrived.

And that was the real hurdle at the end of the race.

He could only hope – almost against hope – that it would not be insurmountable.

The Duke had left them and Princess Louise talked excitedly for a long while about such a surprising offer and of what had been planned for her daughter.

Now Valona knew what she must do.

She waited until her mother had gone upstairs and then she slipped out of the house and ran over to one of the other houses at Hampton Court where she was welcomed as a frequent visitor.

Sir Mortimer Melgrave was a distinguished elderly diplomat who had served Great Britain well.

He had ended up as British Ambassador to Spain after serving in many different European Capitals where he was always spoken of as being ‘the perfect diplomat.'

He was now getting on for eighty.

The Queen had presented him with one of the very best of the Grace and Favour houses – it was a particularly pleasant one because it had a large garden.

As the Princess and Valona were not so privileged, he invited them to come and sit in his garden at any time.

He had made it look very attractive, but Valona had other reasons for visiting him.

Because she was intensely interested in the places Sir Mortimer had lived in as a diplomat, he had told her that one day she must travel around the world.

“It is what I would like to do more than anything else,” Valona told him fervently.

Sir Mortimer smiled.

“Then you will have to marry a rich man!”

She laughed.

“If we go on living here, as seems more than likely, it is doubtful I will ever find a man to dance with, let alone marry!”

Sir Mortimer knew that this was true and thought it rather pathetic.

It would have been so easy for the Queen to invite Princess Louise and Valona to some of her many parties at Windsor Castle and he felt too that the Princess's relatives were most remiss in taking no interest in her.

Princess Louise was too modest and retiring to push herself forward, but by now she was becoming increasingly worried about Valona.

She was now nearly old enough to be a
debutante
, but she would be invited to none of the parties to which she was entitled.

Valona knocked on the front door of Sir Mortimer's house and it was opened by his elderly servant.

“It's so nice to see Your Highness,” he greeted her.  “The Master be in the garden.”

Valona smiled at him and ran straight through the small house into the garden behind it.

Sir Mortimer was sitting in the shade of a tree.

He had always been a very good-looking man and his looks had certainly been a great help to his career.

He was still most handsome in his old age and he was not at all bald, but his hair was white.  His eyes, except for reading when he wore spectacles, were keen and bright.

Valona ran across the grass towards him.

He thought how lovely she was and how graceful.

“It is so nice to see you, Valona,” he welcomed her.  “You must forgive me for not getting up.”

This was something he would always say to her in his usual courtly manner.

Valona sat down beside him on the wooden bench and slipped her arm through his.

“
What
do you think has happened?” she breathed.

“I can tell by your voice it's something exciting,” replied Sir Mortimer.

“So exciting that I cannot believe it is true.”

“Tell me,” he begged.

“We saw the Duke of Inchcombe when we were at a funeral the other day and he has just called to see us.”

Sir Mortimer looked surprised.

“For any particular reason?”

“A very important reason.  He has asked me to take on the position of Lady-in-Waiting to his sister, Lady Rose, who is going to Larissa to marry the King.”

“
Marry the King
!  I should have thought he was far too old for His Grace's sister.”

“He is very much too old,” agreed Valona, “but the Russians are threatening to infiltrate into Larissa.  As you know, the best way that Queen Victoria can stop them is to provide the King with an English bride related to her.”

Sir Mortimer nodded his head.

“Of course, of course!  Her Majesty is quite right.  It is the one thing which will stop the Russians taking over every Balkan country, which is what they intend to do.”

“What is so exciting is that I am to travel there with her and, of course, I want you to tell me all about Larissa.  I remember you told me you had been in our Embassy once in Sofia.”

“That's right, Valona.  I was young at the time, but I well remember visiting Larissa on several occasions and thought it was a very pretty country.”

“You must tell me all about it, please, and teach me a little of the language.”

Sir Mortimer smiled.

“You will not have difficulty in that.  Your Greek is good and Larissa has a great deal of Greek in its language, besides Serbian and a little, although only a little of what is original to them.”

“We shall have to hurry,” urged Valona, “because we leave in nine days time.”

“Nine days!” cried Sir Mortimer.  “Things must be worse in Larissa than I have heard.”

“Apparently it is very serious, so please, please, Sir Mortimer, do help me to learn the language so that I can at least make myself understood to His Majesty.”

“I would expect the King will speak a little English, but you should have plenty of time on the ship taking you there.”

“The Duke told my Mama that we will be sailing to Larissa in a battleship and that too is thrilling.”

“I agree with you, but however exciting the voyage is, you will have to work hard, my dear, so as to be able to impress the people of Larissa when you arrive.”

“I will try very hard.  I feel so lucky it is one of the languages you know.  It could easily have been a country such as China or even Japan, where I would not be able to speak a single word.”

“I do know a little Japanese!” smiled Sir Mortimer.

Then before Valona could say anything, he added,

“Now if you are going to any Balkan country, it is very important that you should be able to shoot.”

Valona looked at him in surprise.

“You think I might be attacked?”

“One never knows and as I have told you so often when you talk about traversing the world, a woman should always be able to protect herself.”

For that reason and also because it amused him, he had taught Valona to shoot several months previously.

He had placed a target at the end of his garden and made her try to hit the bull's-eye at the longest possible range.

When Princess Louise was told what her daughter was doing, she had smiled.

“I cannot believe, my dearest, it will ever come in useful, but I am certain that your father, if he was alive, would have thought it a good idea.  He was always determined that I should be able to defend myself in an emergency, but I am glad to say one never came.”

“You did not have to shoot during the revolution in Piracus?” Valona had asked her.

Her mother had shaken her head.

“Your dear father rushed you and me to safety, but bravely he went back to see if there were any other women and children to save.”

“And then the awful revolutionaries wounded him,” murmured Valona.

“He was rescued by one of our loyal servants.  All the others at the Palace were either killed or imprisoned.”

There was always deep pain in the Princess's voice when she talked about what had happened in her husband's country.

Valona did not pursue the conversation.

She enjoyed learning to shoot with Sir Mortimer.

She had only finished with her shooting lessons as she had become really proficient and there were so many other subjects to talk to him about.

Now Sir Mortimer rose slowly to his feet.

“Where are you going?” Valona asked him.

“I am going to look amongst my books to find if I have any printed in Larissian.  I am sure I have one or two and you must read them word for word when I am not with you.”

“I was sure that you could help me,” sighed Valona, slipping her hand into his.  “When shall I come to you for my lessons?  Mama and I will be very busy in buying my new clothes.”

*

Valona had not exaggerated in the least, as during the next week she hardly had time to breathe.

She and the Princess drove up to London every day soon after breakfast to visit the shops and then when they had chosen what they wanted, there were endless fittings.

There were also a great number of small items to buy, which were essential but easily overlooked.

After six days the spare room in their house, which was not very big, seemed to be filled from floor to ceiling.

There were not only the beautiful dresses that made Valona gasp, because they were so incredibly lovely, but there were the matching hats which went with them.

As well as the array of shoes, gloves, petticoats and nightgowns, there were dozens of other accessories which the Princess ticked off on her list as they bought them.

Valona wanted to please Sir Mortimer as well as herself, so every afternoon as soon as they returned from shopping, she went over to his house to have lessons in the language of Larissa.

Every night before she fell asleep she read a little of the two books he had given her written in Larissian.

One was rather dull as it was a very basic technical description of the country and the minerals in it.

The other book was a romantic novel which was far easier and she enjoyed the story.

She found it was so easy to remember the words of love the hero spoke to the heroine.

She was given several more shooting lessons at the weekend, when it was impossible to go to London because all the shops were closed.

Sir Mortimer found that, although she had not been practising for several months, she had not forgotten any of his instructions.

In fact, as he told her, she used her revolver like a professional and he was very proud of his pupil.

When she hit the bull's-eye the fifth time out of six, he said that he doubted if he could teach her any more.

He only hoped that she would not have to use the revolver to defend herself.

“Are you really allowing me to take the revolver?” Valona enquired.  “I am certain that Mama would think it a waste of money for me to buy one and I promise you I will take great care of yours and give it back to you as soon as I come home.”

“I doubt if I shall need to defend myself very often here,” smiled Sir Mortimer.  “But one just never knows in foreign countries, especially when the enemy is
Russian
.”

His voice was very serious as he added quietly,

“Trust no one and be careful with whom you make friends.”

“I just cannot believe, Sir Mortimer, that I shall be in any danger, but I do hope they will be very careful with Lady Rose.  If the Russians want to invade or take over a country, they will not want its King to marry and have a family.”

Sir Mortimer smiled.

“He has been married already and has a son.”

Valona looked surprised.

“I believed that the most important reason for his marriage was that there was no one to become King when he dies?”

“I think you will find that the real reason for him getting married is to have the Union Jack flying over Larissa,” Sir Mortimer replied.  “I think it is very brave of Lady Rose, who is very young, to marry a man so that she can save his country for him.”

“How old is the King?” Valona wanted to know.

“Fifty-five, fifty-six, somewhere about there.”

Valona gave a cry of horror.

“But Lady Rose is not much older than me!  I think Mama said she is only nearing twenty.”

“Royal marriages are normally made for a political reason and it is not hard to find a very good reason for the King of Larissa to take an English wife.”

“Do you really think the Russians are trying to take over his country?”

“His Majesty must be convinced of it or he would not have asked for Queen Victoria's help in finding him an English wife.”

Valona told her mother what Sir Mortimer had said and she agreed that it was very hard luck on Lady Rose.

“You must do your very best to make her happy, my dearest,” she urged Valona.  “I think it is most patriotic of her to agree to anything so difficult, even if Her Majesty has pressured her into doing so.”

“I will try and help her in every way I can not to feel homesick, Mama,” Valona promised.

The Princess bent and kissed her daughter.

“I am sure you will do so, my dearest, but I don't want you to stay away too long.”

“I will only stay until Lady Rose is well settled in and takes on a Lady-in-Waiting who will enjoy being with her.  I expect that she is learning to speak Larissian, but she may not be too good at languages.”

“Which you are, my dear Valona, and is yet another excellent reason why you should go to Larissa with Lady Rose, even though I shall miss you terribly.”

“And I shall miss you, Mama.  I do wish you could come too.”

Her mother held up her hands.

“No, no, I have done enough travelling in my life.  I am quite content to stay put here in this house, even though it will be so lonely without you and your father.”

Valona felt worried about her mother, but she was delighted the next day when they came back from shopping to find there was a letter for the Princess from the Duke's mother, the Dowager Duchess.

She invited her, as soon as Valona had left England with Lady Rose, to come and stay at Combe Hall.