“I think your grandfather will be with Héviz,” Prince Miklos said, “who looks after our horses. He will doubtless be telling him how marvellous they are before he even has a chance to see them.”
As he spoke, he opened a door.
They went into what Aletha thought was either a secretary’s room or the estate office.
There were maps all over the walls and a number of tin despatch boxes piled at one side by the door.
The Prince was not mistaken.
Mr. Heywood was sitting in front of a desk where a man was talking in broken English and gesticulating enthusiastically with his hands.
Both men rose as they entered and Aletha said quickly to Mr. Heywood,
“I forgot to tell you, Grandpapa, that I spoke to Prince Miklós when I was waiting for you outside the Royal Palace.”
She smiled at him as she went on,
“Of course I had no idea who he was or that I would meet him here.”
Mr. Heywood held out his hand.
“I am honoured to meet Your Highness.”
“And I am delighted that your desire for horses has brought you to Fertōd.”
He looked at the other man and added,
“I am sure, Hévis, you have already sold him a dozen at least before he has even had a chance to see them!”
“I would hope so, Your Highness,” was the instant reply.
“As I am going to the stables,” the Prince said, “I suggest you and your granddaughter come with me now.”
“That is exactly what we would like to do, Your Highness,” Mr. Heywood replied. “But I think first I must discuss where we are to stay and I must pay the carriage I hired to bring us here.”
“If I had known, I would have met you at the Railway Station,” the Prince replied.
“Actually we came from the Castle at Györ,” Mr. Heywood informed him.
“From Baron von Sicardsburg,” the Prince enquired. “He boasts a lot, but I can assure you that his horses in no way compare with ours. Is that not true, Hévis?”
“It most certainly is, your Highness!”
“He is a – horrid man!” Aletha said impulsively. “I am sorry we bought – anything from – him.”
Prince Miklós gave her a sharp glance.
“You are quite right in what you say,” he replied, “and you should have nothing to do with him.”
“I hope – never to – see him again,” Aletha murmured.
Then she thought that she was perhaps being indiscreet and looked towards the door.
“Do let’s go to the stables,” she urged.
The Prince turned to Mr. Heywood.
“You and your granddaughter must, of course, stay with us here,” he said. “Is your name the same as hers?”
“No, Your Highness. My name is Heywood. Aletha’s mother was my daughter.”
He spoke in a way that told Aletha that he disliked having to tell a lie.
Because it also embarrassed her, she moved quickly towards the door and the Prince was just in time to open it for her.
They walked ahead down the passage followed by Mr. Heywood and Herr Hévis.
When they reached the hall, the Prince gave orders to the footmen to bring their luggage inside.
While Mr. Heywood was paying the coachman, the Prince took Aletha down a corridor.
“We can reach the stables far quicker this way,” he said, “and you can see a little of my home while we do so, although there is a great deal more I want to show you.”
“I have already heard how magnificent it is,” Aletha said, “and I would have been very upset if I had to go home without seeing the Music Room.”
“So you also like music,” the Prince smiled.
His voice deepened as he added,
“I have thought about you so much since I left Budapest. Have you thought of me?”
It was a question that she had not expected and the colour came into Aletha’s cheeks.
She knew she ought to say that she had forgotten him completely, but the lie would not come to her lips.
“You have!” the Prince said triumphantly when she did not answer. “I could not believe it was not on the order of the Gods that we were brought together on the terrace of the Royal Palace.”
“My g-grandfather said I had done – wrong in getting – out of the carriage,” Aletha said.
“I think that you flew out of it,” the Prince answered, “and because you are not human, no one saw you except for me!”
Aletha laughed.
“I am quite prepared to believe that everything is magical that happens in Hungary!”
“You like my country?”
“It is so beautiful that I can understand why the Empress Elizabeth loves it so much and longs to come here.”
“So you have heard about our Empress Elizabeth.”
“Yes, of course, and that is why Papa – ”
She bit back the words just in time.
She was going to say,
‘That is why Papa is buying horses for her to ride when she comes to stay with us at Ling Park ‒ ’
Instead, tumbling over her words she finished,
“ – my g-grandfather is buying Hungarian horses for the Duke of Buclington’s stables.”
“I had supposed that they were for himself!” Prince Miklós exclaimed.
“That is what he would like them to be,” Aletha said, “for he was, when he was young, one of the best amateur riders in England, but he lost all his money sadly.”
“And are you saying to me that the Duke of Buclington now employs him?” the Prince enquired.
“Yes, that is right,” Aletha confirmed.
There was a little pause and, because she was aware of what the Prince was thinking, she said,
“I believe that Your Highness has offered us the hospitality of your home under a false impression. If you should wish to change your mind, my grandfather and I will, of course, understand.”
“I have no intention of changing my mind,” the Prince said quickly. “I only thought that your grandfather looked very much an English gentleman.”
“That is exactly what he is,” Aletha said sharply.
The Prince looked at her and she saw that he was smiling and his eyes were twinkling.
“Now you are accusing me,” he said, “of a crime that I have not committed. In fact your grandfather looks so handsome, with all the qualities that we admire in an Englishman, that I could not believe that he was not rich as well.”
Aletha had the distinct feeling that he was getting out of a rather uncomfortable situation very cleverly.
Because she had no wish to quarrel with him, she smiled and stated,
“I feel sincerely that we are imposing on you and I have already been told how proud and autocratic the Hungarian Nobility are.”
The Prince laughed.
“Now you are definitely trying to put me down a peg or two. Please, my beautiful sylph, don’t be unkind to me!”
He spoke so beguilingly that Aletha felt that she could say no more.
A moment later they were joined by Mr. Heywood and the Herr Hévis.
The stables certainly deserved the same description as The Palace – ‘magnificent’.
They were very different in every way from those that were owned by the Baron.
As they went from stall to stall, Aletha had eyes only for the horses and she knew that they had found exactly what her father wanted.
Each horse she looked at seemed to be superior to the last.
When they had inspected at least two dozen superb thoroughbreds, she had looked at Mr. Heywood and suggested,
“Shall we make an offer for them all?”
“You will do nothing of the sort,” the Prince remarked before Mr. Heywood could reply. “These horses are all far too precious for us to part with them and how can you be so cruel as to suggest that I should walk rather than ride?”
“I know that our arrival has kept you from riding,” Al
etha said, “but if we change very quickly, could we please ride with you?”
“How long will you take to change?” Prince Miklós asked.
“Two minutes!” Aletha replied and he laughed.
“I will allow you eight more and after that we will go off without you.”
Aletha gave a little cry of horror and it was Herr Hévis who intervened,
“I will take you to your room. I am sure that one of the maids will have unpacked for you by now.”
They went back to The Palace and Herr Hévis had difficulty in keeping up with Aletha.
She almost ran down the corridor and up the very impressive staircase.
A footman had alerted the housekeeper and Aletha was then taken to a very magnificent bedroom.
She was sure that she would not have been given it if the Prince had not thought that Mr. Heywood was buying the horses for himself.
However she had no time to think about that issue.
She started to change into one of her attractive riding habits and she put the hat with its gauze veil on her head without even looking in the mirror.
Then she ran back the way she had come without waiting for anybody to guide her.
When she reached the stables, it was to find that Mr. Heywood was already mounted on a very fine chestnut and he was walking it round the cobbled yard.
There was a black stallion waiting to be saddled for the Prince and another horse beside it which Aletha guessed was for her to ride.
It was a grey and was outstanding in every particular.
As she reached the Prince, he said with a smile,
“I said that you were a sylph and only a sylph could have flown here so quickly.”
“I am sure I have a minute to spare,” Aletha said breathlessly.
“You know I would have waited for you,” he answered quietly.
She thought that he would cup his hands to help her into the saddle.
Instead he held her on each side of her small waist and lifted her up.
Because he was so close to her, she felt a strange little tremor go through her that she did not understand.
Then he adjusted the skirt of her habit deftly over the stirrup.
As he finished, he looked up to say,
“I know I will not be disappointed when I see you ride, but if I am I shall want to shoot myself!”
“Now you are being over-dramatic and very Hungarian,” Aletha said without thinking.
Only when his laughter rang out did she wonder if she had been rude to him.
Herr Hévis did not go with them.
The Prince led Aletha and Mr. Heywood out of the stable yard and into some well-kept paddocks.
They passed through them and then Aletha found what she had always heard of the wide unhedged wild grassland that appeared to carry on into an indefinite horizon of nature and beauty.
The horses needed no encouragement to go as fast as they wanted.
As they galloped over the grass, butterflies were hovering over the flowers and rose in front of them and the song-birds swept away overhead.
To Aletha it was like riding into a Paradise that she had always known existed, but had never expected to find.
As she raced forward, her eyes dazzled by the sunshine, she was very aware of the Prince riding beside her.
He looked very much a part of his horse.
Only when they had galloped for over a mile did they instinctively draw in their horses together.
“That was wonderful!” Aletha exclaimed. “Even more wonderful than my dreams.”
“That is what I thought when I first saw you,” the Prince replied with a smile.
She looked at him in some surprise.
It was impossible to reply for at that moment Mr. Heywood, who had been a little way behind them, drew in his horse.
“I can only say, Your Highness,” he said to the Prince, “that your reputation where your horses are concerned is more than fully justified.”
He paused a moment and then went on,
“It is impossible to find words with which to express their excellence and superiority.”
Listening to him, Aletha agreed with every word he said.
“That is what I wanted you to say,” the Prince replied, “but let me make clear, so there is no mistake, that the horses you are riding are not for sale.”
“I rather suspected that,” Mr. Heywood admitted ruefully.
“We have, however, a great many others that I just know will please you,” the Prince said. “Tomorrow you will ride those that can, if you wish it, travel to England.”
Aletha longed to say that, however expensive it might be, she wanted to own the horse that she was now riding.
But she knew that it would be a mistake to interfere.
So she said nothing and they then turned to ride back to The Palace.
As they rode back, Prince Miklós took them by a slightly different route.
Because it was now late in the afternoon they passed peasants returning home from their work in the fields.
They were singing a haunting melody as they went.
Aletha thought that the girls’ voices, as they mingled with the baritone of the men, were very lovely.
The Prince saw the rapt expression on her face and commented,
“I just knew that this was what you would enjoy and having come to Hungary you will, I know, want to hear our renowned gypsy music.”
“Yes, of course,” Aletha nodded. “Is it at all possible?”
“Nothing is impossible where you are concerned,” he said, “and I will arrange for you to hear the gypsies tomorrow night. In fact we will hold a party.”
Aletha’s eyes lit up and she responded to him,
“That is very kind of you, but we have not yet met your mother or your father.”
“My mother is dead,” the Prince replied, “but my father, just like myself, enjoys a good party, particularly if it is given for someone very special.”
Aletha wanted to say she was quite sure that Prince Jözsel would not think that either she or Mr. Heywood were particularly special.
However she kept silent.
Later, after they had gone up to dress for dinner, Mr. Heywood came to her room to take her downstairs.
She was not alone as the maid was still there in her bedroom.
“I really hope that you are enjoying yourself,” he enquired.
She was now wearing one of the beautiful gowns that had been bought for her in London because she was to be a debutante.
It was white and the material was draped in the front over a skirt of silver lamé that clung closely to her figure.
At the back there was a bustle of white and silver ribbons. They began as a huge bow and ended with the ends of the ribbons trailing behind her.
With every movement she made she glittered like moonlight on still water.
She had known as she put it on that it would remind the Prince that he thought she was a sylph.
She had not expected to be wearing any jewellery in Hungary while pretending to be Mr. Heywood’s granddaughter.
But she had taken some of her mother’s jewels with her in case she needed more money.
She therefore could not resist putting a small collet of diamonds round her neck.
Then she added a brooch shaped like a star between her breasts.
Mr. Heywood was looking at her admiringly as the maid left the room.
“I suppose you realise,” Aletha said to him in a low voice, “that we are not entitled to these bedrooms nor, I think, should we be eating in the dining room.”
Mr. Heywood looked puzzled.
“Prince Miklós thought that you were buying horses for yourself,” Aletha explained.
“Ah, now I understand,” Mr. Heywood said. “I thought we were being treated differently from the way we were at first received at The Castle.”
Aletha reckoned that the Baron would not have offered her a diamond bracelet if he had been aware o
f her true identity.
Nor, she mused, would he have dared, if he had already known that she was her father’s daughter, to enter her bedroom.
She waited for Mr. Heywood to reply to her seeing that he was thinking it over before he spoke.
Then he smiled,
“Well, we may as well make hay while the sun shines. Perhaps tomorrow night we shall find ourselves moved out of the best rooms of The Palace and into a pigsty!”
“It will not be as bad as that,” Aletha laughed, “but I shall not mind if I have to spend the night with the horse I was riding this afternoon!”
“I thought you liked that one,” Mr. Heywood said, “but the Prince made it quite clear that it was not for sale.”
“If you ask me,” Aletha said, “I think it was rather sharp practice to try and tempt us with something glorious that was always going to be out of reach.”
Mr. Heywood laughed.
“Don’t say that to His Highness or we shall very definitely find ourselves sleeping in less comfortable beds!”
He walked across the room and Aletha was aware that he glanced at the lock on the door.
The key showed prominently as he then opened it.
He did not say anything and Aletha wanted to tell him that she was absolutely sure that there would be no need for her to lock her door tonight.
The Prince had said some flattering things to her.
Yet her instinct told her that he would never insult her in the same way that the Baron had done.
She did not know how she knew this, but she just did know it.
She was convinced that what he felt for her was something very different.
At the same time he was Hungarian and she had been already warned that all Hungarians were romantic.
She had also read and she was sure it was in a book that she was not supposed to read, that they were very ardent and passionate lovers.
She was not certain exactly what that implied, but it was why the Baron had wanted to come to her bedroom.
It made her shudder even to think of it.
‘He was not romantic,’ she thought, ‘just bestial – and it is degrading to even think that he might have touched me.’
But Prince Miklós was most certainly very different.
There was something about him that reminded her of the Knights of Chivalry, who she had read about when she was a child.
When she had thought about it, he might be like her Dream Lover.
Two Hearts in Hungary Page 9