Mr. Heywood discovered that he spoke French far more fluently.
They conversed in that language while consuming glasses of Tokay which Aletha tasted for the first time,
She had always associated it with the romance of Hungary and thought that it was such a delicious wine.
By the time Mr. Heywood had explained to Mr. Kovaks exactly what he required, it was too late to see the horses that evening as it was already growing dark.
Instead they were shown upstairs to their bedrooms where they changed for dinner and came down to find Mrs. Kovaks waiting for them.
She was a pleasant rather stout woman who when she had been young must have been very good-looking.
But she was obviously of a certain class that was well accustomed to being subservient to the Nobility and was shy of foreign guests.
It made conversation difficult and Aletha was glad when they finally retired to bed.
*
The next morning both she and Mr. Heywood were up very early and hurried off to the stables before breakfast.
The actual stables were not in any way as good as those at Ling Park, but the horses were everything that Aletha had ever expected them to be.
After a quick inspection they had breakfast and then, with Mr. Kovaks to guide them, they rode into the open countryside.
Grooms followed, each leading a horse, so that they could change mounts whenever they pleased.
It was all so thrilling for Aletha.
Yet when they turned for home she had the feeling, without his saying anything, that Mr. Heywood was a little disappointed by what he had just seen.
This was confirmed when, as they walked back to the house, he said in a low voice,
“Good, but not good enough!”
“Do you think we shall find something better?” Aletha asked him.
“I am sure we shall,” he answered. “At the same time there are more being brought here for us to try.”
When they went back after luncheon, there were about twenty fresh horses in the stable yard.
As Aletha walked towards them eagerly, a man came from the direction of The Castle.
At one glance she realised that it was the Baron Otto von Sicardsburg himself.
He certainly looked very German, but he was younger than she might have expected and in a way rather handsome.
He was very tall, over six foot, and he walked with an unmistakable swagger.
He greeted Mr. Heywood in a somewhat condescending manner.
“I hear you have come from the Duke of Buclington,” he began, “and, of course, I shall be pleased to sell His Grace any horses that may take your fancy.”
As he spoke, he looked at Aletha for the first time and his eyes widened.
“Who is this lady?” he enquired.
“My granddaughter is travelling with me,” Mr. Heywood explained in a rather repressed tone.
“Then she must certainly be mounted on one of my best horses,” the Baron said. “And I will accompany you on your ride in case, Kovaks, you are not describing the best points of my animals accurately enough.”
It sounded almost rude, but Mr. Kovaks bowed his head and said self-deprecatingly and with what seemed almost unnecessary humility,
“I will do my best, Master.”
“So I should hope,” the Baron retorted.
He looked at Aletha.
“I will go and change,” he said, “then I shall see with my own eyes if the way you ride is as beautiful as you look.”
He was obviously paying her a compliment.
At the same time there was something familiar in his voice that made Aletha raise her chin.
The Baron did not take long to change.
When he came back, he made a terrible fuss as to which horse he should ride.
Then he complained that the girths were not tight enough or the stirrups were too short.
He was showing off his authority and Aletha thought that he was just the sort of man that her father would dislike.
Finally on the Baron’s orders she and Mr. Heywood accompanied him while the grooms came behind with fresh horses while Mr. Kovaks was left alone in the courtyard.
They rode over much the same ground that they had covered earlier in the morning.
Then the Baron drew in his horse and suggested that Mr. Heywood should change to one of the other animals.
“There are some jumps over there,” he said pointing in the direction of them, “which I would like to see you take and I am sure that you will not be disappointed in the horse that you are riding.”
Mr. Heywood dismounted and Aletha said to the Baron,
“May I jump them with my grandfather?”
“No,” the Baron said firmly. “The jumps are too high for a woman.”
Aletha was about to argue with him and then thought that it would be a mistake.
As soon as Mr. Heywood had ridden away, the Baron drew his horse nearer to hers and said,
“And now, pretty lady, tell me about yourself.”
He spoke in an ingratiating tone that made her nervous. She then touched her horse with her whip to make him move forward.
The Baron followed her and he carried on,
“You ride superbly and you are very lovely! There are so many things that I want to talk to you about.”
He spoke good English, but with a decided German accent.
“I am listening, Baron,” Aletha answered coldly.
She did not look at him as she was watching Mr. Heywood riding towards the first jump.
He took it brilliantly and then went on to the next one.
“My wife is away,” the Baron was saying, “and I find it very lonely in The Castle, which I want to show you around. You will enjoy seeing it.”
“I am sure it is very interesting,” Aletha said, “but, as we are here for such a short visit, I doubt if my grandfather will have time.”
“As it is your grandfather who is buying the horses and not you,” the Baron said, “I will take you round The Castle this afternoon.”
Aletha opened her mouth to protest and then she thought that it would be dangerous to antagonise the Baron.
She decided therefore that she would ask Mr. Heywood to say that she was indispensable to his judgement as to which horses he required.
“What is your name?” the Baron asked.
“Aletha,” she replied without thinking.
“A lovely name,” he said. “As lovely as your eyes and, of course, your lips.”
He had drawn rather nearer to her and as he spoke he put out his gloved hand and laid it on hers.
“We are going to know each other very much better than we do at the moment,” he said softly.
Again Aletha urged her horse away from him.
Then on an impulse she rode at the jump that Mr. Heywood had just taken.
She heard the Baron give a shout as she went, but she pretended not to hear him.
Her horse took the jump with some inches to spare and she felt her heart beating with delight that she had been able to do it.
Mr. Heywood had disappeared into the distance over the third jump and so she followed him.
She took the second jump in style, but her horse nearly fell at the third and she managed, however, to keep him on his feet and to remain seated.
She then found that Mr. Heywood was just ahead of her.
She rode up to him and he asked,
“Why did you follow me? These jumps are difficult for you on a horse you have never ridden before.”
“I am here, safe and sound,” Aletha said blithely. “As a matter of fact I am running away from the Baron.”
“What has he been saying to you?” Mr. Heywood asked her sounding a little anxious.
“He was just paying me a lot of tiresome compliments,” Aletha answered evasively.
Mr. Heywood turned back the way that they had come, but he avoided the jumps.
“The whole trouble,” he said, “is that you should not b
e here on this journey and most certainly not without a strict chaperone.”
“I am perfectly all right, as long as I am with you,” Aletha said soothingly.
She felt that she had made a mistake in telling him that the Baron had been familiar.
He might make up his mind to buy what horses were available here and then return home immediately.
“What do you intend to buy?” she asked to change the subject. “I thought the horse you are riding took the first fence magnificently.”
“They certainly are outstanding,” he replied. “But I do expect the Baron, knowing that your father is a rich man, will ask for an exorbitant sum.”
When they reached the Baron, he was all smiles.
“I have never seen the horses jump better!” he said. “But then, they had exceptionally good riders.”
He was looking at Aletha as he spoke, but she was careful not to meet his eyes.
They tried two or three other horses and then when they returned to the stables the Baron insisted they should have luncheon with him at The Castle.
There was nothing that Mr. Heywood could do but accept the invitation graciously.
He knew that it would be extremely embarrassing for Mr. Kovaks if he refused.
*
The Castle was undeniably impressive with enormous rooms and arched ceilings.
There were huge stone fireplaces in which a whole trunk of a tree could be burnt when it was cold.
The Banqueting Hall could have seated sixty people with ease.
Aletha felt as if they were now like peas rattling in a pod, while the servants in elaborate Liveries served them on silver plate.
The furniture, however, was heavy and not attractive and the pictures that hung on the walls were not particularly interesting.
When they left the dining room, they moved into a salon. It was large and elaborately furnished but not in very good taste.
The Baron left them for a moment and, when he came back, he said,
“As I am alone here and greatly enjoy your company, I have given orders for your things to be brought into the house so that you will be my guests tonight.”
He was obviously speaking to Aletha and she saw Mr. Heywood’s lips tighten.
He could hardly refuse to accept the Baron’s invitation and said,
“You are very gracious, Herr Baron. At the same time you will understand that we have to leave you early tomorrow to visit Prince Jözsel Estérházy’s stud.”
“You will find nothing there that I cannot supply,” the Baron said sharply.
“I am afraid that all the arrangements are already made,” Mr. Heywood went on, “but I would like to buy for His Grace four of the horses that we rode today.”
“I am sure that the Duke will need more than four,” the Baron retorted.
“It is actually a question of price,” Mr. Heywood continued.
Because the bargaining over the horses was something that she was not at all interested in, Aletha rose from her chair and walked across the room to the window.
The long panoramic view was seriously breathtaking.
At the same time she became uneasily conscious that whilst the Baron was talking to Mr. Heywood and obviously haggling over the price, his eyes were on her.
She could almost feel them boring relentlessly into her back.
She wished ardently that they could leave the Baron’s Castle this afternoon and then she told herself that she was being needlessly apprehensive.
As long as Mr. Heywood was there, what could the Baron do other than going on paying her exaggerated compliments?
They returned to the stables and the Baron insisted that there were a number more horses that Mr. Heywood should try out before he finally made up his mind.
He tried to persuade Aletha that she had ridden enough for one day.
He would like, he said, to show her the gardens of The Castle and later The Castle itself.
She, however, made it clear that her only interest was in riding.
As Mr. Heywood backed her up, the Baron’s stratagems to get her alone were defeated.
Finally they went upstairs to dress for dinner.
The Baron showed them their rooms with a triumphant air, as if he expected them to be very impressed.
The rooms were large and furnished in Germanic taste, which had a certain pomposity about it.
The Baron first showed Aletha into her room and then took Mr. Heywood a little further down the corridor to his room.
A maid was waiting for Aletha and her luggage had been already unpacked.
A bath was then brought to her room and, when she was dressed, she was just wondering if Mr. Heywood would soon call for her when there was a knock on the door.
The maid opened it.
Mr. Heywood came in speaking slowly so that the maid would understand him.
He told her that he wished to speak to his granddaughter alone.
She went out, closing the door behind her and Mr. Heywood walked towards Aletha.
She was standing, having just risen from the stool in front of the dressing table.
“I am so sorry about this,” Mr. Heywood said in a low voice.
“You mean our having to stay tonight in The Castle?”
“I mean having that German making eyes at you.”
“I ain very glad we are leaving here tomorrow,” Aletha said, “and please don’t leave me alone with him.”
There was a note of considerable unease in her voice.
“I will take good care of that,” Mr. Heywood said, “but you do understand that you must lock your door and make certain that there is no other access to your bedroom.”
Aletha looked at him in astonishment.
“You don’t mean – you cannot imagine – he – ?”
“I would not trust him as far as I could see him!” Mr. Heywood responded.
“But – I never thought – I never imagined that a – a gentleman would – ”
“I know, I know,” Mr. Heywood said quietly, “but, as you are well aware, you should not have come here without a chaperone.”
“I have you,” Aletha pointed out.
“As he thinks I am nothing more than a senior servant,” Mr. Heywood said, “I would not put it past him to drug my milk or have one of his servants give me a crack on the head!”
Aletha gave a little cry of horror.
“Now you are frightening me – and suppose somehow he comes to my room and tries to – kiss me?”
“I have an idea if you will agree to it.”
She looked up at him and he then explained,
“When you come up to bed, undress. Then as soon as your maid has left you, come to me. I am just two doors further down the passage. I will make sure that no one can break in and we will exchange rooms.”
Aletha clasped her hands together.
“That is clever of you, but suppose he sees us doing it?”
“I have ascertained that he sleeps a little way away in a really huge Master Suite, which obviously inflates his ego.”
“Then that is what we will do,” Aletha said. “And please make sure that when he finds that I am not here ‒ he does not come to your room.”
“If he manages to get in here thinking he will find you, I shall knock him down!” Mr. Heywood asserted. “I may be getting old, but I can still deal with bounders like him.”
There was a grim note in his voice that made Aletha react,
“Thank you, thank you, for being so wonderful! I am so sorry to be such a nuisance.”
Unexpectedly Mr. Heywood smiled.
“It is the penalty for being beautiful,” he advised, “and I hope you are taking to heart the lessons that this journey is teaching you.”
“In future,” Aletha said, “I shall encase myself in armour-plating and carry a stiletto!”
Mr. Heywood laughed.
“At least you have a good sense of humour. Now come along, Aletha, let’s go and face the music and look out f
or the pitfalls.”
They walked down the stairs and, when they entered the salon, the Baron was waiting for them.
Aletha had to admit that he looked his best in evening clothes although she avoided his staring eyes.
He, however, gave her his arm to take her into dinner and it was something that she could hardly refuse.
As they left the salon, he put his hand over hers and she felt the pressure of his fingers.
“You are driving me crazy!” he muttered in a low voice that only she could hear.
She did not answer, but looked straight ahead, carrying herself stiffly.
When they reached the dining room, the plates on which they were served were gold and
magnificent goblets studded with precious stones ornamented the table.
The food was excellent, but rather heavy.
The Baron deliberately talked only to Aletha, whilst ignoring Mr. Heywood as if he was not there.
He was quite perturbed that Aletha answered him in only monosyllables.
He talked of his importance in Hungary, the advice he had given to the Emperor and the house he was redecorating and restoring in Budapest.
Everything he said was egotistic and affected.
Aletha thought that it would be quite impossible to find anyone more conceited or more pleased with himself.
After dinner was finished, they returned to the salon.
She was just about to say that she was tired and would like to go to bed when the butler came into the room to say,
“Herr Kovaks wishes to speak to Mr. Heywood, Herr Baron.”
“Perhaps it could wait until tomorrow,” Mr. Heywood suggested.
“Herr Kovaks is in the hall, mein herr, and says it is very important,” the butler replied.
Mr. Heywood knew enough Hungarian to understand and reluctantly he rose to his feet.
Aletha also rose.
“I know you will understand,” she said to the Baron, “but I am very tired and I would now like to go to bed.”
“Of course you shall do that,” the Baron agreed, “but first I have a small present for you, which I will show you while your grandfather is talking to Herr Kovaks.”
He went to a table at a corner of the room on which there was a small package.
There was nothing Mr. Heywood could do but follow the butler out of the room.
As the door closed behind him, the Baron said forcefully,
Two Hearts in Hungary Page 7