104. A Heart Finds Love (15 page)

“Your Royal Highness wishes to dispose of him?” the man asked.

“That is what I want,” the Prince replied.

“And the man with him?”

“That is immaterial. He is of no consequence.”

There was silence for a moment and then the Prince said, almost as if he was speaking to himself,

“Then Madame la Duchesse will be free and will become my wife!”

“That’s very clever of Your Royal Highness,” the man said, “and, as she’s English, it’ll be very acceptable to our people.”

“I thought that was what you would think and feel,” the Prince said, “and, as she is amazingly lovely, we will doubtless have a son, perhaps several, to inherit.”

“That’s what all your people pray for, Your Royal Highness,” the man replied.

Alnina drew in her breath.

Then she was afraid the conversation was coming to an end and they might find her outside the door.

On tiptoe she hurried back the way she had come and, as before, the hall was empty.

She ran up the stairs to her own room, feeling her heart beating tumultuously.

The envelope with the photographs was quivering in her hand as if blown by the wind and she put it down on the table.

She wondered if what she had overheard was really true or was it some strange twist of her imagination.

Then she recognised that the Duke was in danger, desperate danger.

If the Prince did not murder him one way, he would certainly do so in another.

At once she knew that at all costs she must prevent it happening.

She stood still for a moment trying to collect her thoughts and to think clearly.

Then she opened the communicating door and went into the Duke’s bedroom.

Because he was tired he had undressed quickly and when his valet had left him he had climbed wearily into bed.

He was now nearly asleep.

Because he had drawn back his curtains and the moonlight was pouring into the room, suddenly he saw that someone was standing beside his bed.

“What is it?” he asked in a sleepy tone.

Then he realised who it was.

“Alnina!” he exclaimed. “Whatever is the matter? Why are you here?”

“Wake up, John, and listen,” she began sternly.

He knew without her having to say any more that something was wrong.

He pulled himself up the bed, saying as he did so,

“What has upset you? Why are you not undressed?”

“Now listen,” Alnina said, “listen to what I am telling you.”

“I am listening – ” the Duke replied.

Very quietly, because she was frightened of anyone overhearing and, picking her words carefully, she told him what she had heard.

The Prince was planning to kill him with the help, she thought, of the overseer to his estate.

“He did not sound a gentleman,” she said, “and I am sure he will do exactly what the Prince has told him.”

“Kill me because he wants to marry you?” the Duke questioned. “How can that be?”

“I have no idea, I promise you,” Alnina replied. “He paid me compliments, but, as they were in French, I just took them for granted.”

Her voice trembled as she went on,

“He never said anything more except that he was looking forward to tomorrow.”

“So he will take you away while I die.”

“What can we do? How can we escape?” Alnina asked.

“What we have to do first is to find William,” the Duke whispered. “I know where he is sleeping. Go back to your own room as it is easier to talk there than here, which is connected with another room.”

“Is anyone in it?” Alnina asked in a scared voice.

“Not that I know of, but we have to be careful. Now do as I say.”

It was an order.

Alnina turned and walked back into her bedroom.

There were comfortable chairs in the bow window, but she just sat on the arm of one of them and waited.

Even now she could not help feeling that she was in a dream.

How could what she had overheard be real?

Yet she knew, because her Russian was so perfect, that she had not misunderstood a word of what had been said.

It seemed to her that a century passed before the Duke came back with William beside him. Both men were wearing frogged dressing gowns, giving them a somewhat military appearance.

The Duke walked up to Alnina and put his hand on her shoulder.

“There is no one near us,” he said, “so tell William exactly what you overheard when you went downstairs.”

In a trembling voice Alnina told her story again, repeating word for word what she had heard the Prince saying in Russian to the other man.

William and the Duke listened in silence.

When she had finished and ended by saying she had immediately hurried upstairs to tell the Duke, there was silence.

Then William exploded,

“This is the most monstrous plot I have ever heard. At the same time we knew when we came here that he was crazy to be united by marriage with Britain and who could achieve that more effectively than himself?”

“We have to escape,” the Duke said, “And I now intend to send for Albert, my valet.”

“Yes, we could not leave him behind,” William said.

“As you well know, he is excellent with horses. If there is no one in the stables, which of course there should be, he will get them ready himself. We all four have to leave within the hour.”

“Why an hour?” Alnina asked.

“Because I heard quite by chance that the sentries change at dawn and dawn comes early in this part of the world.”

“Oh, I understand.”

“Now you start changing into your riding clothes,” the Duke said, “and I suggest that William and Albert go to the stables and saddle up four horses for us.”

He stopped as if to think and then continued,

“The whole Palace will be sleeping at this time and if we have horses we will be well on our way to the yacht before they realise what has happened.”

By the time he had finished speaking, William was on his feet.

“I will put on my clothes,” he said, “and I suppose we should not take anything with us except what we stand up in.”

“Nothing else matters,” the Duke replied.

He went into his own room.

Alnina changed quickly into her riding clothes and she knew that whatever else she left behind, she must not leave the jewellery, as the Duke had emphasised that it belonged to his family.

She filled her pockets and then put the tiara and the necklace into a linen bag, which could easily be attached to the saddle of a horse.

Before she had finished the Duke came in and she saw he too was in riding clothes.

“I have looked downstairs,” he said, “and there is no one in the hall. Albert has told me of a side door that we can slip out from and find our way to the stables.”

“That sounds safe,” Alnina murmured.

The Duke looked down at her.

“How could you possibly be so clever,” he asked, “as to save me once again from disaster?”

“This time I have saved you, I think – from death,” Alnina said. “I am frightened, terribly frightened, that we will not – get away.”

“It is something we are going to do,” the Duke said, “and no one will prevent us.”

Instinctively he put his hand on his belt and Alnina knew that there was a revolver in it.

She only wished that she had one herself.

She was, in point of fact, quite a good shot, but this was not the moment to ask questions.

The Duke was already changing the key of the door to the outside and then waiting for her to join him.

She did so without speaking and he locked the door and put the key in his pocket.

Then he was leading her down the passage in the direction away from the hall.

At the end they found a secondary staircase leading down to the ground floor.

Although they thought that no one could hear them, they went on tiptoe, moving slowly until they reached the door leading into the garden.

As William and Albert had already gone out, it was unlocked and, when they were outside, they moved quickly behind the flowerbeds on the right side of the lawn.

The Duke put out his hand and took Alnina’s.

Her hand was still trembling and his fingers seemed both strong and comforting.

They did not speak, but walked slowly and quietly behind the flowerbeds.

They reached a small path leading to the stables.

This was dangerous as whoever was on duty at this time of night would think it strange that they wanted to go riding and he would certainly make enquiries before they could leave with the horses.

Then to her relief they saw that two horses were already saddled and bridled and William and Albert were bringing two more out of the stables.

With them was a sleepy and unintelligent-looking stable boy who was obviously in charge at night.

As the Duke then lifted Alnina on to the side saddle of one horse, he said in a whisper:

“Thank the stable boy in Russian and give him this money.”

He pressed it into her hand and she then bent down to where the boy was holding the bridle of her horse and gave it to him.

He looked at it with delight and she said in Russian,

“Thank you very much for your help.”

The boy was obviously used to being given strange orders and thanked her.

Then he said,

“You’ll have a nice ride up the mountains?”

“Yes, that is where we are going,” Alnina agreed, “and we will see the sun rise over the tops of them.”

The boy understood and smiled.

Then he stared at the gold coin he had been given and blurted out,

“Thank you. You very kind.”

“If anyone asks why we have gone,” Alnina said, “tell them we want to see the sun rise over your wonderful mountains.”

She thought that the boy understood, but she said it twice more to make sure.

He was, however, so pleased with his gold coin that she was certain he could think of nothing else.

Now the three men were mounted.

Albert apparently knew the way better than anyone else. He led the way out of the stables to the back entrance of the Palace.

There were two rather tired sentries, who came to attention when they approached.

“Say that His Royal Highness wishes us to see the sun rise over the mountains,” the Duke said to Alnina.

“That is exactly what I have been telling the boy.”

“I heard you,” the Duke said.

“And you understood?” Alnina questioned.

“You are a very good teacher!”

She smiled at him.

She was, however, still frightened that they might be stopped at the last moment.

However, the sentries accepted what she said and opened the gates.

They rode out, William and Albert leading the way.

They carefully avoided the main thoroughfare, but were all the time going, as Alnina knew, in the direction of Batum and the Black Sea.

They galloped along so fast that it was impossible to speak even though the Duke was beside her.

Later the moon faded and the stars went out one by one. Then the first light of the rising sun appeared behind them in the East.

Of course they were riding much faster and nonstop than they had in the Prince’s carriage from Batum and it was not more than an hour or so later that they saw the Port just ahead of them.

‘We have done it!’ Alnina wanted to cry.

But it was just impossible to speak and difficult to breathe considering the pace they had been galloping.

At the same time because the Duke was saved, she wanted to cry out with joy, but she could only say a prayer in her heart.

‘Thank you, God. Thank you.’

She had saved him.

Even as she thought about it, she then knew that she loved him.

There were only a few men and boys wandering about at the Port.

There was not a ship in sight except for the yacht which was at the far end of the quay near the open sea.

As they dismounted from their horses, Albert said,

“I’m sure, Your Grace, there’ll be a stable of some sort for the horses here.”

The Duke knew that there was one at every Port and he nodded.

“Then we must find it.”

“I will ask one of these men,” Alnina said, knowing that Albert was unable to speak Russian.

She gave her reins to William, who was nearest to her and walked across to one of the men.

She asked him in Russian where the stable was and he pointed to a building that was a little way from them and she thanked him.

The Duke, who had been watching, saw where the man pointed and was already moving in that direction.

Albert and William followed him leading Alnina’s horse and she walked behind them.

She was thinking as she did so that she had saved the Duke first from marrying Princess Natasha.

Secondly from being killed on the mountain, but she would still lose him when they returned home.

Once they were on the yacht it would be the end of the drama, the excitement and the story, which from the very beginning she felt could not be real because it was so wonderful.

‘I love him! I adore him!’ she thought to herself. ‘But he must never know it. At least I will have something to remember when I return home.’

At least there would still be the voyage when she would be near him and be able to talk to him as they had on the way out.

Now she wished that she had not wasted so much time teaching him and William Russian when she might have been talking to them or else been all alone with the Duke.

Even to think of it made her feel that strange thrill run through her body, as it had done yesterday and again just now.

It was something she had never felt before and she would never feel again once he had gone out of her life.

Of course he would be kind to her and might ask her occasionally to parties in London.