Then the aide-de-camp came back to say,
“His Majesty requests that you join him for a short while in the garden room, where refreshments are being served.”
Tora, of course, would have liked to refuse, but the Professor accepted with pleasure and she knew that this was still his glorious hour and she could not spoil it.
The garden room was near where they had been playing and the moment she saw it Tora realised that it was justly named.
It was not only decorated profusely with flowers but it had huge windows opening onto a terrace that led down into a formal garden.
There were footmen in the resplendent Royal Livery carrying round trays of wine and there was also, at the far end of the room, a buffet with many delicious things to eat.
Most of the people were interested in talking to the Professor and, because she was anxious not to be noticed, Tora moved towards the window.
As she stood looking out into the garden, the moon rising in the sky and the stars coming out one by one reminded her of last night and of Mikloš.
She therefore started when a voice behind her said,
“I promised to tell you my opinion of your playing.”
It was the Crown Prince who spoke and she found him standing very near to her with an expression in his eyes that told her he intended to be flirtatious.
“As I said before, I hope that Your Royal Highness was not disappointed,” she said a little coldly.
“On the contrary you exceeded all my hopes,” the Crown Prince replied, “not only by the way you played but also by the way you looked.”
As he spoke, he put his hand under her elbow and, before she was aware of what was happening, he took her through the window onto the terrace and started to walk down the flight of white marble steps that led into the garden.
She tried to move away from him, but he was obviously very determined that she should accompany him and, thinking it would be uncomfortable if she protested, she merely said,
“I must not leave the Professor and I think he is anxious to retire to bed.”
“That is something I wish to talk to you about,” the Crown Prince answered.
She looked at him thinking that she did not understand what he was saying.
By now they had reached the lawn and the Crown Prince led her behind a yew hedge, which was a magnificent example of topiary work.
Tora realised that they were now out of sight of the lighted room they had just left and she stopped still.
“Where are – you going?” she asked.
For the first time she was a little nervous.
The Crown Prince turned to face her, ran his fingers along her arm and now he was holding her hand.
“You are very lovely!” he said in a deep voice. “So lovely that, although I will allow you to leave me for a short time, we must meet later.”
“Later?” Tora questioned. “I don’t understand.”
“I will come to your bedroom or you can come to mine,” he said. “I want to be close to you, I want to talk to you and I want a great many other things besides!”
For a moment Tora just stared at him and then, as her brain assimilated what he had said to her, she gave a little cry of horror.
“No – no – of course not!” she said. “H-how – can you – suggest such a thing?”
She would have run away from him, but he was holding tightly onto her hand with both of his.
And then he said,
“My dear, we may never have such a perfect opportunity again. We are here together in the Palace with a lot of old people who are not in the least interested in what we do and I promise that I will make you very happy.”
“No!” Tora cried. “No – definitely – not!”
“It will be quite easy for me to find you,” the Crown Prince said, “but perhaps if your room is close to those you are travelling with, it would be best if you came to mine. I will send my valet to guide you to the part of the Palace where I am sleeping.”
“You are insulting me!” Tora asserted slowly.
She tried to speak with the pride and dignity that was hers by right of birth, but, because the Crown Prince was holding onto her hand and seemed very overpowering, her voice was rather weak and helpless.
“You entrance me!” he said. “Everything about you is exquisite and from the very first moment I saw you I was determined that you should be mine!”
Still holding onto her with one hand, he put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to his.
“I will give you everything you desire,” he said in a hoarse voice, “jewels, gowns, horses, and I will adore you as I adore your music!”
As he spoke his face came nearer to hers and she realised that he was about to kiss her.
She felt almost mesmerised by what he was saying and now she gave a little scream of terror and started to struggle with him, twisting her face away and trying to pull her hand from his.
The Crown Prince gave a low laugh as if her very resistance excited him.
Then, as she realised how helpless she was against his superior strength, a quiet voice said,
“Excuse me, Your Royal Highness, but a messenger has just arrived from your own country with an urgent despatch.”
The man’s voice arrested the Crown Prince and, while he took one hand from Tora’s chin, he still held onto her with the other.
“A message?” he asked. “It cannot be of any importance!”
“He says, Your Royal Highness, that it is of the utmost urgency and requires your immediate attention.”
As he spoke for the second time, Tora glanced at the man standing beside them in the darkness and felt her heart turn a dozen somersaults.
It was Mikloš who was there, Mikloš who had saved her!
She wanted to throw herself into his arms and hold onto him.
Only the years of Palace protocol and a self-control she had been trained in since she was a child prevented her from doing anything but stand in silence, her hand still held by the Crown Prince’s.
Then, as she found it difficult to breathe or take her eyes from Mikloš, the Crown Prince released her.
“I cannot think why they can never leave me alone!” he said in an irritated voice as if he spoke to himself.
To Tora he added,
“We will continue our conversation. I will not be more than a few minutes, so don’t go back inside the Palace.”
He walked away as he spoke and only as he turned round the yew hedge and was out of sight did Tora with a cry run towards Mikloš.
His arms went round her and he held her very close against him.
“How could you do anything so foolish, my darling,” he asked, “as to come into the garden alone with the Crown Prince?”
“Y-you saved me, Oh, Mikloš – I was so – frightened of him – and he – wanted me to go to his – bedroom!”
“I heard that,” Mikloš said and there was a hard note in his voice.
“How could he ask me such a – thing when he has only just – seen me?” Tora asked. “I never thought, I never – imagined – ”
“Listen, my darling,” Mikloš interrupted, “forget him for the moment. What is more important is that you and the Professor must leave here at once.”
Tora was very still.
“What – are you – saying?”
“I do not want you to ask any questions,” Mikloš said, “but just do what I tell you. Go back to the Palace, tell the Professor that you wish to go to bed and he must escort you to your room. When you are alone, tell him a carriage is waiting for you all at a side door.”
Tora pressed herself closer to him.
“I think I – understand,” she said. “You are sending us away – because – ”
“ – you will be safer in your own country,” Mikloš finished for her.
She knew from the way he spoke that he meant the revolution would take place tonight and she tipped back her head to look up at him.
“You
will be safe?” she asked. “Promise – you will be safe!”
“I will remember that you have asked me to take care of myself,” Mikloš said in his deep voice, “and that you will be praying for me.”
“I will pray for you – at the same time I am frightened – terribly frightened – that something might – happen to you.”
“I think as the Gods have given us to each other,” Mikloš said, “they will not be so cruel as to separate us for another lifetime!”
He did not wait to hear Tora’s reply, but bent his head and his lips were on hers.
He had only to touch her for her to feel once again the glory and rapture he had given her last night.
As his lips held hers captive, she knew that she belonged to him utterly and completely and for any other man to touch her would be sacrilege.
He kissed her passionately and possessively.
Then almost before the wonder of it could flicker through her body like shafts of sunlight he had released her.
“Do exactly as I have told you,” he said. “A carriage will be at a side entrance and a servant will show you the way.”
“If only you could – come with us,” Tora stammered, “or I – could – stay with you!”
“I have things to do, my precious one, before we can be together,” Mikloš replied.
He kissed her once again lightly on the lips.
Then he said again in that tone of authority that she felt forced to obey,
“Go quickly! There is no time to be lost.”
Because she wanted to please him, although it was an agony to leave him behind, Tora ran over the grass.
She turned out of sight round the yew hedge and hurried towards the steps that led to the terrace and from the terrace into the garden room.
Already some of the guests must have left and she saw that the Professor was talking to an elderly couple, a lady wearing a profusion of diamonds and her husband in a General’s uniform, bespattered with decorations.
As Tora hurried to the Professor’s side, the General turned and moving away said,
“Goodnight, Professor, I hope it will not be long before we hear you again.”
“I hope so indeed, General,” the Professor replied.
He looked at Tora and she said,
“Please, Professor, I wish to go to my bedroom. Will you please escort me there?”
“Of course!” the Professor replied.
She slipped her arm into his and only when they were outside the garden room and alone in the passage did she say,
“We have to leave at once! Please don’t ask any questions because there is no time to answer them, but a carriage has been arranged for us at a side entrance and it is imperative that we return at once to Radoslav!”
The Professor stared at her in astonishment.
“I don’t understand! What are you saying to me, Your Highness?”
“I have instructions which I cannot now explain,” Tora replied, “but I promise you it is of the utmost urgency that we should leave and it would be dangerous for me to remain here.”
By accentuating the fact that it concerned herself, she knew that the Professor would no longer argue.
“Very well, Your Highness,” he said in a low voice, “I will go back and call Andrea and Kliment. Perhaps if you are going to your room you will tell any servant you see that we are leaving and order them to pack everything that we have to take with us.”
“Of course I will,” Tora agreed.
Then, without waiting to say any more, she started to run down the passages finding her way, she thought afterwards, by instinct just as a frightened animal might have done.
Somehow she was not surprised when she reached her own room to find that her trunk was already packed and she had only to put the warm coat she had brought with her over the gown she was wearing.
Whether it had been organised in some magical way by Mikloš or whether the maid who was attending to her had merely saved herself the trouble of doing the job in the morning, Tora had no idea.
She went from her room to the one next door, which was occupied by the Professor, to find that his trunk was also packed and she was sure it would be the same in the rooms occupied by Andrea and Kliment.
Then, as she heard their voices in the distance and knew they were joining her, she saw two footmen coming from the opposite direction.
She was sure without her even giving the order that they had come to remove their trunks and take them down to the carriage.
She went back to her room, picked up the coat she had not needed to wear before and put it on.
It was certainly necessary at night and she found in one of the pockets a chiffon scarf to cover her head with.
She was taking a last glance at herself in the mirror, thinking that her eyes were shining and her lips red from Mikloš’s kisses, when the Professor came to her door.
“We are ready!” he said. “I suppose we are doing the right thing in leaving in such a precipitate manner, although it seems rather rude to our host.”
“We are doing the right thing!” Tora replied firmly.
But, as she walked away down the passage towards the side door, aware that the three elderly men were following her, she told herself that from her own point of view it was wrong – very very wrong.
How would she ever see Mikloš again? And how, even if he wanted to, would he find her?
Tomorrow she would be at home in her own Palace and she was quite certain that it would be the very last place that Mikloš would look.
CHAPTER SIX
They reached The Three Bells inn much more quickly than they had left it.
Not only were the roads empty and they could see by the light of the moon, but also the carriage provided for them was drawn by four spirited horses.
As they travelled at what seemed an extraordinary pace, Tora kept thinking that Mikloš was determined to get her out of Salona as quickly as possible.
This meant that he was anticipating that if the revolution started tonight it would be extremely dangerous.
Because she was praying desperately that he would be safe, she found it hard to listen to the exclamations of surprise that came from Andrea and Kliment.
They kept asking why they were leaving so precipitately and the Professor was having great difficulty in answering their questions.
Only when they were in sight of The Three Bells did the Professor exclaim,
“I have only just thought of it, but I hope somebody has told my own carriage to follow us.”
“I am sure they have,” Tora said soothingly.
She was by now more convinced than before that Mikloš had a very good reason for not sending them in the Professor’s slow one-horse carriage.
Although it was well after midnight, the lights were still shining in the garden of the inn and there were still two or three couples moving on the wooden dance floor.
As they drew up outside the front door the innkeeper came hurrying out saying,
“I was surprised when your carriage arrived about an hour ago to hear that you were not staying in Salona as you expected until tomorrow morning.”
“My carriage is here?” the Professor asked quickly.
“Yes, my friend, and your man told me that you would be arriving, so your rooms are ready for you.”
Tora thought that this was another example of Mikloš’s excellent organisation.
He must have sent the Professor’s horse and carriage back from Maglic much earlier in the day, so that there had never been any question of their travelling so slowly from the Capital.
She clenched her fingers together as she thought that at this moment he might be fighting for his life and, as if what she was feeling showed on her face, the Professor said in a solicitous tone,
“You must be tired. May I suggest that you have something to drink and then go to bed?”
At that moment the innkeeper’s wife appeared and declared,
“It’s obvious the
fraulein needs rest. She’s not as experienced at appearing before an audience as you are, Professor, and has therefore found it a strain.”
She put her arm round Tora’s shoulder as she spoke and said in her kindly way,
“Come along, my dear. I’ll help you out of your gown and then bring you up some warm milk which’ll help you to sleep.”
“You are very kind,” Tora answered.
She was thinking as they walked towards the stairs how shocked her father would have been if he knew how the innkeeper’s wife was helping her in such a familiar manner.
She was at the same time chatting to her as they went up the stairs, as if she was an equal.
“You must tell me all about it tomorrow,” she proposed.
“I’ve always longed to see inside the Palace, but that’s an invitation I’ll never receive!”
She laughed as she spoke.
Then, as they went into the same bedroom that Tora had slept in the previous night, she went on,
“It’s a pity Prince Vulkan was not there to admire you. From all I hear he has an eye for a pretty girl and is so handsome that every woman in Salona is in love with him!”
Tora was not listening.
She was thinking only of Mikloš and when finally, still chatting away, the innkeeper’s wife left her she climbed into bed to pray as she had never prayed before that he might be safe.
Because she was in fact very tired, she eventually fell asleep and when she awoke it was when one of the maids came into her room with her breakfast on a tray.
Tora gave a little exclamation of surprise.
“How kind of you to bring my breakfast upstairs!”
“I thought you’d be tired after having played at the Palace,” the maid said, “and the Professor said I was to tell you that there was no hurry and you were to take your time.”
The maid put the tray down on a chair beside the bed.
Then she said,
“I wanted to tell you how much we all enjoyed hearing you play the other night. It was lovely, it was really!”
“Thank you,” Tora murmured.
She thought when she was alone that music was a universal language and almost everybody, except perhaps the King, responded to it with their hearts.
‘I could never, never marry a man who did not enjoy music,’ she told herself.
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