“I will be free,” Tilda repeated, “when can I – come to – you?”
“Perhaps tomorrow,” he said, “but certainly the next day. I cannot wait any longer.”
“Neither can – I,” Tilda whispered.
His lips were on hers again and it was impossible to speak, only to feel.
Then abruptly he took his arms from her and said,
“If you are meeting this man you are engaged to, I had better leave you alone.”
“Why are you here?” Tilda asked.
He was about to answer her when the door opened and Francis Tetherton looked into the room.
“Are you all right, Cousin Victoria?” he enquired.
Then he saw Rudolph, straightened himself and bowed his head.
“I am sorry, Sire,” he said. “I did not know you had arrived. I must have been waiting at the wrong entrance.”
There was no answer from either Tilda or Rudolph, who was staring at him as if transfixed and he added,
“I will see that you are not disturbed, Sire.”
He disappeared, shutting the door behind him.
For the moment there was a paralysed silence and then Rudolph said in a voice Tilda did not recognise,
“He called you ‘Victoria’. What is your name?”
Tilda’s eyes were on his face.
For a moment it was impossible to answer him.
Again Rudolph asked insistently,
“I asked you what is your name?”
It seemed to Tilda as if someone else answered for her.
“Victoria – Matilda Tetherton-Smythe,” she said hardly above a whisper.
Then, as Rudolph stared at her apparently speechless, she added,
“Why did Cousin Francis call you ‘Sire’? And why was he waiting for – you?”
Rudolph took a step forward.
“Are you telling me the truth?” he asked. “Is that really your name?”
He spoke fiercely and then suddenly he began to laugh.
He walked across the room to lean on the mantelpiece.
“It cannot, be true!” he laughed. “It cannot be true!”
“What cannot? What are you – saying? Why are you – laughing?” Tilda asked.
She did not understand.
Something strange and frightening had happened.
For a moment she felt very lost and very alone.
Rudolph looked at her and his laughter died away.
As if realising her uncertainty, her fear, he held out his arms and she ran towards him.
“It’s all right, my darling,” he said, “everything is all right! But I have given my Prime Minister a heart attack because I told him that, unless I can marry a girl called Tilda Hyde, I will abdicate!”
Chapter Eight
The tree-lined streets were filled with crowds cheering, waving flags and throwing flowers into the open carriage.
There were houses decorated with garlands and arches with the words, Welcome to Obernia and God Bless Victoria, written on them.
It was all very exciting and Tilda’s eyes were alight as she waved to the happy smiling people.
She looked entrancing in a gown the colour of her eyes and a bonnet trimmed with small pink rosebuds. She carried a tiny blue sunshade also decorated with rosebuds.
Beside her in the carriage sat the Prime Minister of Obernia, still handsome despite his years and opposite him, the white plumes of his hat floating in the breeze, was the British Ambassador. Beside him was the Obernian Foreign Secretary.
They had met Tilda at the border.
She had been obliged to listen to a lengthy and somewhat boring address of welcome and it was difficult not to show her impatience when she was counting the minutes until she could see Rudolph again.
It still seemed incredible that Rudolph should be Prince Maximilian, the man she had been determined not to marry, the man she had expected to feel a repugnance for.
“How can you be the Prince?” she had exclaimed incredulously, “I thought you were – deformed!”
“Deformed?” Rudolph repeated in astonishment.
“Everybody was so mysterious about you,” Tilda explained, “they were always whispering and then lapsing into an embarrassed silence whenever I entered the room. Besides there were no pictures of you and I was told that you refused to be photographed.”
Rudolph hesitated before replying and she fancied that he looked embarrassed.
“I think I now understand why you were so secretive!” Tilda cried. “It is because you wanted to escape from time to time and you were afraid people would recognise you!”
Rudolph smiled.
“You are too perceptive!” he said, “but yes, it’s true, I did sometimes play truant.”
“Absent without leave!”
“How could I imagine those bungling idiots would send a search party for me? But that, of course, was your fault!”
“My fault?” Tilda asked.
“No – it was really mine,” Rudolph conceded. “My Comptroller told me that you might be delayed on such a long journey so I went off into the blue without saying where I was going!”
He smiled.
“When the Palace learnt that you had arrived exactly on time, they panicked. It had been arranged for you to come to Obernia a week before the wedding so that we could get to know each other.”
“That was just what we were doing!” Tilda exclaimed.
“Fortunately the Royal Household were unaware of that!” Rudolph smiled.
Tilda laughed.
“You must have upset them a great deal one way and another?”
“They were always fussing over me like a bunch of clucking hens, disapproving and criticising,” Rudolph said. “That is why I called myself by my second name and, when I could stand no more of it, I disappeared.”
“Where did you go?”
“To find new friends.”
“Who were, of course, pretty ladies?”
“None of them as lovely as you.”
“But – you – loved them! ”
Rudolph did not answer for a moment and then he said,
“There are different sorts of love, my precious.”
“Explain – to – me.”
He chose his words carefully.
“Most women are like lovely flowers. A man wants to pick them, but usually they fade quickly.”
Tilda was listening intently as he went on,
“But, even though he tells himself that he is only seeking amusement, he will hope that each flower will be different and that one will be the perfect and exceptional blossom he has always longed to find.”
“And – when – he does – find it?”
“Then it is his forever and it brings him real and true happiness.”
“And he no longer – goes on – seeking?” Tilda asked. “No, all that is finished.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I should be – miserable if you vanished and I had no idea where you had gone.”
“I swear to you I did not look when I promised you I would not do so,” Rudolph said, “but St. Gerhardt’s penalty has nevertheless come true. There will be only one woman in my life until I die!”
“Are you sure?” Tilda asked.
“So sure,” he answered, “that every painter and photographer in Europe can attend our wedding for all I care!”
He drew her very close as he said,
“Besides, my darling, I want pictures of you to show the world how unbelievably beautiful you are.”
Then he was kissing her again and nothing else was of any consequence.
*
The Capital of Obernia lay in a fertile valley with snow- peaked mountains rising high on either side of it and, when Tilda saw the Palace, it was just as she had imagined it would be.
There was a long wide road lined with cheering crowds that led up to the huge gold-tipped wrought-iron gates.
Beyond them was a gleaming white building with pillars and colonnades,
arched doorways and exquisite statues silhouetted against the skyline.
“It’s so lovely!” Tilda exclaimed out loud.
The Prime Minister looked at her appreciatively.
He had told her that His Royal Highness had insisted that their wedding should take place late this afternoon.
Tilda had known that not only was the Prime Minister apprehensive in case she should consider such a ceremony on the day of her arrival over-precipitate, but so was the Ambassador.
“That will be wonderful!’” she had exclaimed and saw their surprise at her enthusiasm.
‘I must be careful!’ she told herself. ‘They none of them must guess that I have already met Rudolph.’
Francis Tetherton had been sworn to secrecy, but she wondered what the Prime Minister had thought when the Prince had made such a rapid change of heart.
He must have thought it extraordinary when Rudolph returned to Obernia to say that, after all his talk of abdication, he was prepared to marry Lady Victoria Tetherton-Smythe at once.
“Are you going to explain why?” Tilda had asked.
“I think explanations would involve us in too many implications,” he answered with a gentle smile.
He put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face up to his as he said,
“How could you have been so naughty as to go to a Beer Hall? Heaven knows what trouble you might have found yourself in.”
“I was in trouble, but only with – you.”
“We can thank God for that!” Rudolph said in a solemn voice.
“I cannot think what Mama would say if she knew that we had spent three nights together at Frau Sturdel’s house,” Tilda teased, “and even slept in the same bed!”
“We can only hope that she will never hear of it and do remember, my sweet love, to behave formally and perhaps a little shyly when we meet each other at the Palace.”
“I will try!” Tilda murmured.
“God knows it will not be easy for me to keep my hands off you.”
“I hope you will think I look pretty,” Tilda told him. “I have a special gown to arrive in and you have only ever seen me in a peasant costume.”
“In which you looked like an angel – a very alluring little angel!”
“You made that an excuse not to – kiss me.” Tilda said resentfully.
“I tried to behave with propriety and I failed.”
“I am – glad.”
“A man would have to be blind or a Saint not to be tempted by your lips.”
“I want to – tempt– you.”
“And I hope never again to go through the agony of sleeping next to you with a bolster between us.”
“You put – it – there!” Tilda said,
“I know – it was the only solution – otherwise I could not have prevented myself from touching you.”
“I would have – liked that.” Tilda whispered.
*
As the horses swept round the huge fountain that was playing in front of the long flight of steps that led up to the ornate Palace doors, Tilda saw Rudolph waiting for her.
She forgot his warnings, his instructions and everything but her joy at seeing him.
He was looking magnificent in a white Regimental tunic with gold epaulettes, a profusion of decorations and a blue ribbon across his chest.
The horses came to a standstill.
It was difficult to wait with suitable composure as the footmen opened the door, let down the steps and removed the light rug that had covered Tilda’s gown.
The ground was bestrewn with flowers that had been thrown by the crowds and Tilda looked like a spring nymph as she stepped out from amongst a cloud of blossom.
“There are six steps to walk up,” the Ambassador had told her, “and His Royal Highness will come down six steps so that you meet halfway.”
“I am sure that everything has been very carefully planned. Your Excellency,” Tilda said demurely.
“I can only hope that it all goes smoothly,” the Ambassador said in a worried voice. “We have had some difficulty in getting His Royal Highness to agree to our suggestions until the very last moment.”
Tilda smiled secretly to herself.
She wondered what the Ambassador would think if he knew that until the very last moment His Royal Highness had decided not to many the English bride who had been chosen for him by Queen Victoria.
It was still hard to credit that Rudolph had really been so obstinately determined to marry no one except an unknown girl called Tilda Hyde that he had threatened to abdicate.
“Do you really love me?” Tilda asked him before they had parted in The Royal Boundary.
“I will prove that very clearly,” he answered, “as soon as we are married and you really are my wife.”
“That is what I want to be,” Tilda whispered.
“And that is what you are going to be, my adorable one,” he answered.
Once again before he left he warned her that their adventures must remain a complete secret.
“No one would be surprised at anything I am said to have done and they would make up most of the scandal anyway,” he said. “But you are different. They will expect you to be very circumspect.”
“I will try to be pompous and stuffy like our relatives!”
Now, as Tilda walked up the steps towards Rudolph, she knew it was impossible to hide the gladness in her eyes or prevent little thrills running through her because once again she was near him.
She had never imagined that even he could look so incredibly handsome nor so commanding and authoritative.
She reached the sixth step and he put out his hand to take hers.
“May I have the great privilege and honour of welcoming your Ladyship to Obernia?” he asked. “This is a very auspicious day for my country and a moment of great joy to me personally.”
After he had spoken, he raised her hand to his lips and she felt his fingers tighten on hers.
He raised his head and, as Tilda looked up into his eyes, for a moment it was impossible to speak or remember the speech that she had rehearsed so carefully.
‘I love you!’ she wanted to shout out.
Then with difficulty and stumbling a little over the words, she said,
“I am deeply grateful for Your Royal Highness’s words of welcome. It is an inexpressible pleasure to be here in Obernia and know that this beautiful country will be my future home.”
The words were said.
Then, beneath her breath in a whisper that was audible only to Rudolph, Tilda whispered,
“You look so handsome, so magnificent! I want to – kiss you!”
She saw the answer in his eyes and knew that it was an effort for him to offer her his arm conventionally.
“Allow me to escort your Ladyship into the Palace,” he proclaimed formally.
She took his arm and they went up the steps together followed by the Prime Minister and the Ambassador. The other officials waiting on the steps moved into line behind them.
“Where are we going?” Tilda asked.
“You will be introduced to Members of the Government and the Court officials,” Rudolph answered, “and then you will retire to change into your wedding gown.”
“I want to be – alone with you,” Tilda said softly.
“I want it too” Rudolph replied, “but it will be impossible until after we are married.”
“Do you not want to – kiss me?”
“You know I do,” he answered and she heard the deep note of desire in his voice, “but we must behave properly, my dearest heart.”
“Why?” she asked. “What is the point of being a Royal Prince if you cannot do as you like?”
Her words had been spoken sotto voce and now Rudolph said loudly,
“I hope your Ladyship will admire the pictures in this part of the Palace. Many of them, of course, depict our joint ancestors – Kings, Queens and Rulers of neighbouring States.”
“I must be – alone with you! I must! If
only for a moment,” Tilda murmured. “It is going to be hours and hours until we are married and I have – missed you.”
“I have missed you too.” Rudolph replied, “but we have to be careful.”
“You are over cautious!” Tilda teased. “Almost – cowardly.”
“This is a fine portrait of Frederick the Great,” Rudolph announced. “I think you will agree that the artist did him justice.”
“It is very fine!” Tilda agreed.
Then beneath her breath,
“Shall I – pretend to faint? Then at least you would have to – pick me up in your – arms!”
“Tilda, my precious, do behave. You are such a naughty angel!”
“I promise I will be very good if I can kiss you – just once.”
He paused to show her another picture and then he said out of the side of his mouth,
“We turn a corner in a moment. There is a door on the right where my father’s decorations are displayed. We could slip into it quickly!”
“I knew you would see sense!” Tilda muttered with elation.
“There is nothing sensible about it!” Rudolph groaned.
They turned the corner with the long procession still behind them.
Rudolph pulled Tilda through a door on the right hand side, closed it behind them and locked it.
She gave a cry of sheer happiness.
Then she was in his arms and he was kissing her wildly and passionately as if they had passed through unknown dangers to find each other.
“I love you! I adore you!” Rudolph murmured, “but this is crazy.”
“Delicious – heavenly – craziness!” she replied.
It was difficult to move or breathe as he almost lifted her off her feet.
Then the handle of the door was being turned and the Prime Minister s voice asked,
“Is there anything wrong, Your Royal Highness?”
Rudolph released Tilda and she saw the fire in his eyes as he said,
“I want you! Dear God, how I want you!”
He saw Tilda’s face light up as if there were a thousand candles burning inside her.
“That is what I – longed for you to say more than – anything else.”
With a superhuman effort Rudolph turned the key in the lock and opened the door at the same moment.
“There seems to be something wrong with this catch,” he said in a matter of fact tone. “I was just showing Lady Victoria my father’s decorations.”
Love Conquers War Page 15