She undressed and climbed wearily into bed.
The rhythmic vibration of the wheels soon soothed her into a deep sleep.
*
When Aletha awoke, it was morning.
She remembered that the train would stop for breakfast and she had to be dressed by the time Mr. Heywood came to collect her.
She pulled up the blind to find that the countryside that they were passing through was very beautiful. There were high hills in the distance, forests and broad shining rivers.
She wished that she knew exactly where she was and, what was so much more important, when they would reach Vienna.
She dressed herself, but now she removed her mother’s veil from her bonnet and she put the coloured spectacles away in one of her boxes.
The sun was shining and she thought that she would not need the heavy cloak that she had travelled in yesterday. Instead she unpacked a short jacket that was trimmed with fur.
She knew, although she could see only a little bit of herself in the mirror, that she looked very smart.
She only hoped that Mr. Heywood would admire her as he had done before.
He might then not be so angry as he had been last night.
Her gown, which was in the very latest fashion, was draped in the front and caught at the back into what was a very small bustle.
She knew that any woman at the Station would be aware that she was wearing a model that had originally come from Paris.
Then, as the train came slowly into the Station, she was still feeling afraid.
Perhaps Mr. Heywood would be too angry at her escapade to think of anything but that she was her father’s daughter.
She should have been properly and correctly chaperoned besides having a lady’s maid and a Courier with her for the journey.
Chapter Three
Mr. Heywood collected Aletha from her compartment.
They then walked side by side and in silence towards the restaurant.
When he had ordered coffee and two dishes of fresh fish, he began,
‘Now, Lady Aletha, I want the truth and the whole truth as to why you are here.”
“The truth is really quite simple,” Aletha replied. “If Papa had not had to go to Denmark on the Queen’s instructions, I would have come with him to Hungary.”
She smiled at him tentatively before she went on,
“Instead of which I was left with Cousin Jane who as usual was ill and I could not bear to miss all the fun.”
“Your father had no idea of what you were doing, I presume?” Mr. Heywood said in an uncompromising manner.
“No, of course not. I waited until he had left the house and then caught the next train to London and joined the ship at Tilbury.”
Mr. Heywood tightened his lips.
“And you did not make yourself known to me for the simple reason that you well knew I would have sent you back.”
“Of course,” Aletha agreed. “And I do beg of you to make the best of this situation.”
“Do you really think I can do that?” he asked in an irritated voice. “You know as well as I do that you have to be chaperoned and God knows where we will ever find one in Vienna or indeed anywhere else.”
“There will be no need for a chaperone for me,” Aletha pointed out quietly.
Mr. Heywood stared at her.
“What do you mean by that? You must be aware that as a debutante it could ruin your reputation for ever if it was known where you were at this moment.”
“No one is going to know that Lady Aletha Ling is here unless you tell them.”
She spoke defiantly and, as Mr. Heywood stared at her, she explained,
“You will be very interested to know that I am now in fact ‘Miss Aletha Link’ and your granddaughter!”
There was a stupefied silence and then unexpectedly Mr. Heywood laughed.
“I just don’t believe it!” he said. “I cannot be hearing this.”
“You must see,” Aletha said, “that it is a very plausible explanation for my presence and who is to know in Hungary whether you have a granddaughter or not? Certainly no one will think of me as Papa’s daughter.”
“Did you really think up this ridiculous Fairytale yourself?” Mr. Heywood next asked.
“It is not as ridiculous as you might think,” Aletha answered defiantly. “You have been asked by the Duke of Buclington to buy him some horses. Who is to care whether you arrive with a wife, a daughter or a granddaughter?”
She realised as she spoke that Mr. Heywood’s eyes were twinkling.
She suddenly had the idea that despite his age he was so good-looking that he would not expect to be asked to be somebody’s grandparent.
As if he knew what she was thinking, he commented,
“You are certainly most original, Lady Aletha!”
“Aletha,” Aletha corrected him. “Lady Aletha will cease to exist as soon as we cross the frontier into Austria and then on into Hungary.”
“In other words,” Mr. Heywood asked, “you are using your own passport?”
“That is true,” Aletha replied, “but if you think that dangerous, I am quite certain that I can alter my name from ‘Ling’ to ‘Link’ and change the word ‘lady’ into ‘miss’.”
“I think that would be a mistake,” Mr. Heywood said, “and we can only hope that the Frontier Officials will not be so impressed by you that they talk about your visit.”
Aletha heard what he said with a lift of her heart.
She knew that he had accepted the position that she had so subtly contrived for herself.
There was in fact little else that he could do under the circumstances.
She leaned across the table, which, fortunately, they had to themselves.
“Please let me enjoy myself with the horses,” she suggested. “I cannot believe that you will have to go to parties or spend much time with the owners.”
While her father treated Mr. Heywood as a gentleman, to foreigners he would only be a man who the Duke of Buclington employed. They would not expect to have to entertain him themselves or invite him to meet their womenfolk.
“That is indeed true,” Mr. Heywood answered to her surprise.
She was aware that once again he knew what she was thinking.
“At the same time,” he went on, “you may find it slightly uncomfortable to be just my granddaughter and meet on equal terms people who will treat you very differently from what you are accustomed to.”
“I am not interested in anything but the horses,” she replied, “and I want to visit Hungary more than any other place in the world.”
“I only hope that you are not disappointed,” Mr. Heywood remarked dryly. “And don’t forget that there will be a ‘Day of Reckoning’ when you do return home.”
“I am hoping to do that before Papa returns,” Aletha told him.
“And if you do not?” Mr. Heywood enquired.
“Then he will naturally be very angry,” Aletha admitted. “Equally I am sure that he will not want anyone to know of my escapade because, if it was talked about, it would certainly be damaging to my reputation and the family’s standing.”
Mr. Heywood laughed again.
“You are just incorrigible!” he said. “But you have obviously thought out every detail. Quite frankly I cannot think how I can send you home without coming with you myself.”
“Without the horses?” Aletha exclaimed. “Think how upset Papa would be if he could not produce them as a surprise for the Empress Elizabeth.”
Mr. Heywood was silent as he continued to eat his breakfast.
Aletha knew that she had won her battle or rather had jumped her fourth hurdle.
She was beginning to feel very elated with herself.
When they were back on the train, Mr. Heywood came to her compartment where the Steward had taken away the bed.
They sat down on the cushioned seat and then he told Aletha about the next stop where they would have luncheon.
There was so much
more that she wanted to ask him.
“How long are we staying in Vienna?” she next enquired.
“Only one night,” Mr. Heywood said. “Your father wanted me to see the Direktor of the Spanish Riding School who uses a number of Hungarian horses as well as the Lippizaners.”
“Oh, I do want to see them,” Aletha exclaimed.
“I think that would be a mistake,” Mr. Heywood said. “The Direktor knows your father well and if he saw you he would undoubtedly mention you in a letter that he will write to His Grace telling him how pleased he was to help me.”
Aletha sighed.
“It seems such a wonderful chance.”
“I know,” Mr. Heywood agreed. “At the same time, unless you are going to make things worse than they are already, you have to let me decide what is best for you.”
Aletha smiled at him.
“All right, you win! And thank you for being much nicer about this than I deserve.”
“I am only horrified,” Mr. Heywood said, “that you have got yourself into a situation which may have far-reaching consequences.”
“You mean I may not be allowed to be a conventional debutante. In that case I shall just have to work in the stables at Ling Park and with the racehorses at Newmarket and everybody can forget about me.”
“I think that is most unlikely,” Mr. Heywood said. “Now please, Lady Aletha, while we are travelling, remember that you are a very beautiful young woman and Hungarian men are very romantic and impressionable.”
“That is what I have always heard,” Aletha said.
“Then you must concentrate on the horses and not listen to anything that is said to you by any of them.”
“Now you are being unkind,” Aletha complained. “Of course I want the men I meet to think I am beautiful. I have always been so afraid that, in comparison to Mama, no one would even look at me.”
“Your mother was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” Mr. Heywood said, “and I am sure that she would be horrified at the way you are behaving now.”
The way he spoke made Aletha glance at him in some surprise in his chair.
Then impulsively and without thinking, she enquired,
“Were you in love with ‒ Mama?”
Mr. Heywood started.
“That is a question you should not ask me,” he began.
Then he smiled.
“I think every man who came in contact with your mother loved her,” he admitted. “She was not only beautiful but she was very charming, so kind and so amazingly understanding. Everyone told her their troubles.”
“Including me,” Aletha said. “It would be so much more exciting to make my debut in London if Mama were with me instead of Grandmama.”
She paused before she added in a low voice,
“She is always very disagreeable when her rheumatism hurts her.”
“I am sure it will be much more enjoyable than you anticipate,” Mr. Heywood said. “But you must understand for your mother’s sake, as well as your father’s, I have to protect you from getting into unpleasant situations such as you encountered last night.”
“I never expected a perfect stranger to – behave like that!” Aletha exclaimed. “If as he intended, he had forced his way into my compartment, he might have – tried to – kiss me and that – would have been – horrible!”
Mr. Heywood thought that he would have intended a great deal more than that.
But he had no intention of enlightening Aletha as to what might have happened to her.
“Forget about him!” he said sharply. “It is something that will not occur again. But you understand that you must keep beside me and not do things on your own.”
“Very well, Grandpapa!” Aletha nodded mischievously.
*
They arrived in Vienna late in the evening and drove off in a carriage to a new hotel.
Aletha learnt that it had been opened only two years ago and it was most certainly very impressive and luxurious.
When Mr. Heywood changed the single room that he had booked for a grand suite, she was delighted.
The Sacher Hotel had already achieved a reputation not only for being the smartest hotel in Vienna but also for having the best food.
Aletha was hungry because she had not found what they had been offered at the last stop of the train very palatable.
When they went downstairs to the impressive dining room, she looked around her with delight.
She had only stayed in hotels once before on her journey to France with her father.
Now she thought that the tables with their lit candles and the waiters scurrying around serving the well dressed and elegant diners were very intriguing.
She appreciated that Mr. Heywood in his evening clothes looked almost as smart as her father would have done.
She had put on a very pretty gown that she had never worn before.
They chose what they would eat for dinner with care from a long and elaborate menu and Mr. Heywood then ordered a bottle of wine.
“I suppose you are going to tell me that you are old enough to drink wine?” he remarked.
“Of course I am,” Aletha replied. “I am grown up and anyway Mama always allowed me to have a little champagne at Christmas and on birthdays.”
“I find it difficult to think of you as a grown-up young lady,” Mr. Heywood commented. “I saw you first as a tiny baby and you grew into such an attractive little girl.”
“Then I went through a very plain period,” Aletha admitted honestly. “I used to pray every night that I would be as beautiful as Mama.”
“I am not going to tell you that your prayers were answered,” Mr. Heywood said. “I will leave all those compliments to the young gentlemen with whom you will dance when you go to London.”
As he spoke, Aletha remembered that one of them would be chosen by her father and not by her to be her husband.
The whole idea made her shudder.
She told herself that whatever Mr. Heywood or anyone else might say, she would enjoy this journey.
She was on her own and she was not overshadowed by some strange man who had asked her to marry him just because she fitted in with his Family Tree.
As if Mr. Heywood wanted her to enjoy herself, he described to her what the world had been like when he was a young man.
He said that her mother had first taken London by storm when she was a debutante.
Later she captured the hearts of everybody at Ling Park when she had married Aletha’s father.
“Why did you never marry?” Aletha asked him towards the end of dinner.
She knew as she spoke that many women must have found him attractive and charming.
As he did not answer, she added,
“Was it because of Mama?”
“Partly,” Mr. Heywood admitted, “but when I was enjoying myself in London, I had no wish to tie myself down.”
“All you wanted to do, according to Papa, was to win races. And that is exactly what you did.”
“I won quite a number of races on some exceptional horses,” he said. “Then, as I expect you know, the crash came.”
“How could you have lost all your money?”
“Very easily,” he replied, “but, as you will understand, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“No, of course not,” Aletha said sympathetically. “Do go on with what you were telling me.”
“It was then that your grandfather offered me the job of looking after his Racing Stud and, when he died, I continued to be employed by your father.”
Without his saying so, Aletha was aware that, although he enjoyed his position, it hurt his pride to work for someone else rather than being his own master.
“I am sure that Mama understood how you felt,” she said aloud.
“Your mother was always charming to me and, as I have already admitted, it would have been impossible for any man not to love her. At the same time she was only aware of the one man in her life and that was your father.”
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“And Papa thought only of her,” Aletha replied.
She paused before she added,
“That is why I am glad that he likes being with the Empress Elizabeth.”
“Of course,” Mr. Heywood said, “and you and I have to find him such superb horses that they eclipse anything that the Empress owns herself.”
Aletha clapped her hands and her eyes were shining.
“That is exactly what we will do.”
They left the dining room having enjoyed a delicious dinner.
When they reached their sitting room, Mr. Heywood said that he was going first thing in the morning to see the Direktor of the Spanish Riding School.
“You are to stay here,” he commanded, “and not go out until I return to the hotel.”
“I want to see something of Vienna before we leave,” Aletha declared.
“I am sure we will have time after luncheon,” Mr. Heywood replied. “Our train does not leave for Budapest until ten o’clock in the evening.”
“Promise you will hurry back, otherwise I shall feel so frustrated at being cooped up in the hotel that I shall fly out of the window,” Aletha threatened him with a smile.
“I promise I will not be long,” Mr. Heywood laughed. “Goodnight, Aletha.”
It was the first time that he had used her name without her title.
Aletha smiled before she said,
“You are the nicest and quite the most handsome grandfather that anyone could possibly wish for,”
“Now you are flattering me!” Mr. Heywood exclaimed. “And so I am suspicious that you are trying in some underhand manner to get your own way about something.”
Aletha laughed.
She thought as she went to her bedroom that at least she had succeeded in making him agree to everything that she had suggested.
*
It was annoying for Aletha in the morning when she was up and dressed, but had to stay in the suite.
It was in the corner of the hotel and she could look out of the windows in two directions.
She could see clearly people moving around in the streets below and hurrying in every direction.
Carriages drove by and the sunshine made everything seem as if it had turned to gold.
Two Hearts in Hungary Page 5