Love and Apollo (7 page)

“You never know, Rose, something might happen, but in any case it would be really wicked to take your own life.  Remember, if you are suffering, I am sure that the Marquis is suffering too.”

“He is,” agreed Lady Rose, “and it breaks my heart when he tells me how much he loves me whilst I know we can never be together.”

“I do think, Rose, that you are giving in too easily.  You must believe that things will come right.  Not at once, but maybe at some point in the years ahead.  Then it would be terrible for you both if, when you could be together, one of you was missing.”

Lady Rose gave a little sob.

“I understand exactly what you are saying to me.  I only wish I could see even one small ray of sunshine in the darkness ahead.”

“But it is there!  I am sure it is there.”

Valona was silent for a moment and then added,

“Mama told me that, as I was born under a lucky star, the people in Papa's country believed that I had a magic eye.  They claimed that when I was older I would be able to tell fortunes.”

Lady Rose was listening and Valona went on,

“Mama said they used to touch my pram hoping it would bring them luck and, when everyone was so terrified at the time of the revolution, I was quite certain that Papa, Mama and I would be able to escape.”

“And with your magic eye you can see that Gerald and I will be together?”

“I am sure in my heart that one day, I have no idea when, your love will unite you both and that you will be happy.”

“I want to believe you,” groaned Lady Rose.  “God knows I want to believe you.”

“Then you must pray every night for what you want as my Mama taught me to do, and your Guardian Angel or perhaps even your very special star in the sky, will bring you happiness.”

“I will tell Gerald what you have said, although he will doubtless pooh-pooh the idea, I do know that he would love to believe you are telling the truth.”

“I am telling you something that I sincerely believe is the truth, Rose, and I am quite certain it will all come true, although you may have to wait a little while.”

“Every day spent without my Gerald will seem like an eternity. But you have made me feel happier and for the moment I promise you I will not drown myself.”

“You are certainly not to do anything so wicked, or even think about it,” Valona scolded her.

The two girls were smiling as they walked into the Saloon for dinner.

The Marquis jumped up from his chair and ran to Lady Rose's side and exclaimed,

“You are looking happy.  What has happened?”

“I will tell you all about it later,” she answered him mysteriously.

Dinner seemed more amusing that night than it had been on previous nights.

When they went to bed, Valona thought it had been the happiest evening they had spent together yet.

She was feeling particularly excited because they were stopping at Gibraltar tomorrow and she so wanted to visit the Rock.

The Duke had promised he would take her ashore and she would see the famous monkeys.

She felt so glad that they were not going to Larissa without stopping en route.

*

“Was there anything waiting for you at Government House?” the Duke asked the Marquis when he returned on board after their short stop in Gibraltar.

The Marquis shook his head.

“Nothing of any importance except that my trainer has entered one of my horses in the big race at Epsom this afternoon.”

“Do you think it will win?” the Duke enquired.

“It might do.”

“It's a pity you are not there to see him first past the winning post!”

The Marquis smiled.

“I would rather be here at the moment,” he replied emphatically and walked away.

The sun was shining brightly and the Mediterranean was blue and Valona thought it was very beautiful.

The battleship did not take long to reach Marseilles and again the Marquis set off to visit the British Consulate.

The Duke, however, told Valona that there was no point in going ashore as there was very little to see.

“Just a busy French commercial town,” he told her, “and you can do all the sightseeing you could ever desire when we reach Naples and then on to Venice.”

“I am longing to see the canals,” said Valona, “and I have read the complete history of Venice and, of course, seen pictures of it.”

“I just hope you will not be too disappointed.  I have often found myself, when I have been travelling, that the description of the place is often far more exciting than the place itself.”

“I think that sounds rather blasé.  Perhaps travelling to too many cities has spoilt you?  I really cannot believe that there is not something new and exciting to see in every foreign town.”

The Duke chortled.

“As you are so much of an optimist, I will merely wish you luck and not try to disillusion you, Valona.”

“I don't think I shall be disillusioned in any way,” she persisted.  “But books always pick out the very best of the sights and historic buildings to write up, and sometimes they ignore special little gems of even greater interest than the major attractions.”

The Duke laughed and continued to tease her.

At the same time he felt it was quite extraordinary that this young girl, having no experience of the world, had worked out such truths for herself.

He had noticed at dinner that she always had something unusual and intelligent to contribute to the conversation.

In fact, he said to himself, she is almost too good to be true!

‘She looks,' he ruminated, ‘just as beautiful as she ought to in the clothes I have provided for her!'

He liked the unselfconscious way that Valona had thanked him and she politely asked his opinion about every new gown she put on.

“Mama hesitated over this one,” she had remarked this morning when she came up on deck.  “She thought that any colour would be a little too bright for England, but I hope you will think this is just right for the Mediterranean.”

“You look very lovely in it,” commented the Duke.

Valona gave a little skip of delight.

“That is exactly what I want to hear and I shall write and tell Mama what you have said.”

The Duke thought when they returned to England he would organise one of his relations to introduce Valona to London Society.

She would certainly shine at all the balls that took place every night in the Season.

He would also ensure that she and her mother were invited when there was a ball or some particularly grand occasion at Windsor Castle.

‘Valona will enjoy every moment of it,' he told himself.  ‘She has managed to cheer up Rose a little today, for which I am very grateful.'

That night when the girls retired to bed, Lady Rose asked Valona,

“You are praying for me to your special star?”

“Yes, I am, Rose, but you must pray to your own star as well.  I strongly suspect it does not work for anyone else.”

She spoke very seriously and so obviously believed in every word she was saying that Lady Rose did what she was told.

When she repeated to the Marquis what Valona had told her, he said,

“Now I think of it, I have heard that is one of the beliefs of the people of Piracus, but it didn't do much good for the poor Prince.  The throne was shaky before he inherited it and I doubt if that country will ever again have a Royal Ruler.”

“Their star did not look after them properly,” Lady Rose responded.

“Perhaps they were a bit remiss with their prayers and we can only hope, my darling one, that your star will listen to you.”

As there was nothing more to say, he kissed Lady Rose tenderly.

And for a moment they were both transported into a special Heaven of their own.

*

The next port of call was Naples.

Despite its poverty Valona thought how attractive the City was.

The others became a little interested as well and the Duke took them to Pompeii.

Valona was shocked to see how cruelly the people living there at the time had suffered, their daily lives caught forever in the molten lava.  Yet she found the ruins entrancing, so much still remained of what had once been a great City.

They drove back along narrow roads with the sea on one side of them.

Valona slipped her hand into the Duke's.

“I never thought the day would come when I would see Pompeii,” she sighed.  “I have read about it and have seen pictures of it, but nothing can be the same as seeing it for myself.  I will treasure this memory forever.”

“There is a great deal more of the world to see!  Why, I think it would be a good idea if at the end of your visit you wrote a guide book telling people like yourself, who have always stayed at home, the difference between what they read and what they would actually see.”

“There are never going to be enough words in the English dictionary to describe it properly!”

The Duke laughed.

“I cannot believe that would stop you.  I have come to the inevitable conclusion that you are a most determined young lady, who will doubtless end up instructing a whole lot of people what they should do whether they want it or not!”

Valona knew he was teasing her and laughed too.

“I will try not to be a dictator, Cousin Arthur, but at the same time I do find myself seeing things, which could have been much better described in the books I have read about them.”

The Duke threw up his hands in mock horror.

“The one thing I am scared of is an overly clever woman who believes she is always right.  Women should be soft, sweet, gentle and quiet.”

Naturally Valona argued strenuously with him on this statement.

Their arguments on any subject always ended in the same way with them both laughing rather helplessly.

The Duke was very aware that the party travelling to Larissa would have been unbelievably gloomy if it had not been for Valona.

She even made Lady Rose laugh and smile as well as the men, as she always had something unusual to say.

She had already made friends with the Captain and many of the ordinary seamen of the crew.

The Duke observed that when she talked to them and enquired about their wives and families, the men never became over-familiar.  They treated Valona with as much respect as they gave him.

He thought it so extraordinary that she had these skills after living such a quiet life at Hampton Court.

Although she had received some instruction from various teachers, she had apparently learnt most about life from her books.

Yet she undoubtedly had the human touch.

‘It must surely come from her father and mother,' the Duke mused.  ‘Equally it is most unusual in someone so young.'

He thought that even the Queen might be impressed with Valona.  It would be amusing when she returned home to take Valona to Windsor Castle and hear afterwards what she thought of the Queen and her Court.

It was after they had sailed away from Naples that Valona became particularly excited.

“I think,” she insisted, “from what I have read that Venice must be the most romantic City in the whole wide world.”

To be argumentative the Duke challenged her,

“You will have to wait until you have visited some parts of India, China and Japan before you can make such a sweeping statement – incidentally the Pyramids of Egypt are not far away.”

“Now you are being unkind to me, as you know I shall never have a chance of going to those places.”

She paused for a moment before saying,

“Of course, I may be disappointed in Venice, but I cannot believe that will happen.”

“The only answer is to see it, Valona, for yourself!”

*

They reached Venice the next morning and they all disembarked after breakfast.

They were carried by the battleship's skiff into the Grand Canal itself and stopped whilst the Duke engaged a gondola.

Venice was even lovelier and much more beautiful than Valona could ever have anticipated.

She was thrilled by the Piazza San Marco with its fluttering pigeons and sincerely impressed by the Doge's Palace with its carved heads of allegorical figures.

The Sansovino Library completed in 1591 made her want to spend a month in it.

Their gondola rowed them down the Grand Canal and Valona was strangely silent until the Duke asked,

“What has happened to you?  After all that talk, are you disappointed at what you see before you?”

“I am just making sure that everything I am seeing is all true and will not disappear after a few seconds!”

They both laughed and she realised that they were managing to keep Lady Rose's spirits considerably higher than they usually were.

There were no messages waiting for the Marquis at the Consulate, however, they had already learnt when they were at Naples that his horse had been second in the race.

“What are you expecting to hear about at this port of call?” asked the Duke.

“Oh, nothing of importance.  There is another race in which I have entered two of my horses on Saturday, but I don't expect either of them to win.  It's just good practice for them.”

“I would like you to have a look at my horses when I return to England,” suggested the Duke, “and I hope you will come down to Newmarket with me.”

He realised as he spoke that his sister gave a little quiver – she was very obviously thinking that while Gerald could do so, she would be far away.

He had not intended to be tactless and he quickly began to talk of something else.

At the same time he was very conscious that they were sailing nearer and nearer to Larissa and the dreadful moment would come when Rose and Gerald would have to say goodbye to each other for ever.

The Duke's family had urged him to find himself a bride time after time.

He did know that at some point in the future he would have to provide an heir to his illustrious title.