Ruled by Love (11 page)

The Lord Chamberlain stared at her in amazement.

“I don't know what you are saying. Who has been making these untrue statements about us?”

“Are they untrue?” asked Zoleka. “Surely you must be aware that Krnov is not in any way comparable with the two other Principalities that remain Austrian and free from the Prussian yoke.”

She paused, but he did not speak.

“Your people are impoverished simply because you have not developed any of the valuable minerals in your mountains or cultivated the soil properly. Of course the people are poor.

“They do not have enough work and, if you want the truth, your Army is a complete disgrace to any country that wishes to preserve its independence!”

The Lord Chamberlain drew in his breath.

Zoleka knew he was so astounded at being spoken to in such a way that he could not think of an answer.

He would like to drive her away out of the Palace, but that was something he dare not do.

While he fumbled for words, Zoleka continued,

“I think, my Lord, the best thing you can do is to leave me to carry out the work I came here to do at great inconvenience to myself. I have the fullest support of the Prime Minister and I can only hope that, when the Palace does entertain, the guests will not be as shocked as I have been since my arrival!”

As she finished speaking she walked to the door.

The Lord Chamberlain was too astonished by what he had just heard to open it for her.

So she opened it herself and without another word left the room.

Feeling a little breathless after her outburst, Zoleka walked slowly down the passage to the Music room.

As she expected, the Count and Udele were there rearranging the flowers, which had just been dumped down by the gardeners.

They looked up as Zoleka appeared and the Count observed,

“If you want something done well, you have to do it yourself.”

“You can leave the gardeners to me,” said Zoleka. “I have just arranged the menu for tonight and the waiters. You will not be at all surprised to hear that we do have not enough help unless we borrow them from the City!”

The Count laughed.

“I rather expected it and I do hope the food will be better than last night.”

“I have discovered one good surprise in the whole place, Franz, and that is we have a French chef.”

“Now that really cheers me up. Do you think this room looks better now?”

Udele had arranged the flowers on the mantelpiece and artistically around the platform on which the band would sit.

“I think that what it wants are palms and aspidistras to stand behind the band as it looks rather bare.”

“You are quite right,” agreed the Count.

He walked across the room to ring the bell.

One of the footmen answered it after what seemed a little too long for a servant on duty.

“Fetch me the Head Gardener,” ordered the Count, “and any other gardener on duty at present and bring them here at the double.”

The footman looked startled, but the Count's voice was in itself a command.

They heard him running down the passage.

Zoleka giggled.

“If we go on like this, I have a feeling the whole Palace will fall down on our heads!”

“Nothing would surprise me. I expect the roofing has been neglected and the walls have cracks in them!”

Zoleka laughed again, but at the same time she was well aware it was really no laughing matter.

“Is everything really all right?” asked the Count.

“If you want the truth,” responded Zoleka, “I think everything here is totally wrong. But what you are doing is marvellous. We can only hope it will make people, whose name we must not mention, pause and think.”

The Count nodded and then he said in a low voice which only she could hear,

“We are running against time and that is what really frightens me.”

“I know, Franz, we can only hope that we can beat them by keeping one move ahead and by using our brains. Obviously no one in this country has used theirs for a long time!”

“How could they have been such fools?” the Count sighed. “Equally I do love a good battle and this one, my lovely Princess, you and I must win. If we do not, we will never forgive ourselves.”

Udele, who was bringing in more flowers, turned round to face them.

The sunshine coming through the window shone on her and she was looking very lovely in one of the dresses she had bought that morning.

It struck Zoleka just how ghastly it would be for her if the Prussians took over her country.

If they did not actually kill her, she would surely be thrown out with her father to live in penury and misery.

Into a world where no one wanted them.

Zoleka saw that the Count was looking at her too.

She murmured to him quietly,

“We have to win for
her
sake.”

“That is just what I was thinking. She has no one but that drunken father and by the blessing of God,
you
.”

“You have forgotten yourself, Franz. No one could have done more than you have done in the last twenty-four hours.”

He smiled.

Then in her usual cheerful voice Zoleka continued,

“And there is a great deal more to come. One thing which is cheap in this country is enthusiasm and one does not have to pay extra for using one's brains.”

Zoleka was laughing as Udele joined them.

“This room looks better already,” she enthused.

“And it is going to look a great deal better still,” the Count added, “when you dazzle them tonight as they have never been dazzled before and they will have so much to talk about when they go home.”

“They must thank you and not me,” insisted Udele. “How can both of you be so wonderful as to make all these amazing wonders happen?”

“This is just the beginning, but you have to play your part. You must smile at everyone and make them go home feeling they have never enjoyed a more delightful evening.”

“How can I do that?”

Udele sounded a little worried as she spoke.

However, she looked so very pretty gazing up at the Count that Zoleka remarked,

“You are not to be nervous. Everyone coming here tonight will be excited and curious because most of them have never been to the Palace before. What we have to do is to make them think how much they have missed as it is such a beautiful place.”

As she spoke three gardeners were ushered into the Music room by the footman.

The Count walked across to them and to Zoleka's surprise he spoke to them in their own language.

He asked which was the Head Gardener and said to him,

“I need your help. Her Royal Highness, Princess Zoleka, has just arrived in Krnov and so have I, to find that the Palace has been neglected and the rooms where we are having a party tonight look dull and dismal.

“The one thing which has favourably impressed me and Her Royal Highness is the Palace gardens.”

Zoleka noticed that the Head Gardener straightened his shoulders and looked pleased with himself.

“What I want you to do,” added the Count, “may be rather difficult, but I feel you will not fail me.”

“What is it, sir?”

“I want you in the next several hours to make the inside of the Palace as beautiful as you have clearly made the garden outside. It means that every flower you have in pots is to be brought in immediately.

“I want aspidistras and palms behind the stage and in the corners of the room which look rather bare, the same in the passages and in the dining room and of course in the drawing room where some of the guests will sit when they are tired of dancing.”

The gardeners all gasped before the Head Gardener replied,

“We'll certainly do our best, sir, but I don't think we have enough plants.”

“Then do the best you can and for the passages you might have to buy a large number of aspidistras. I am sure you will find a shop in the City which sells them.”

“Buy!” exclaimed the Head Gardener.

“I will arrange they are paid for. Just do what you think is right and be as artistic as possible inside the Palace as you have been in the garden. I am sure everyone will be astonished at what they see. And it will be very good for your reputation as a gardener.”

The Head Gardener smiled at this comment.

“I wish I'd a little more time, sir.”

“You will have more time before the ball that will be given for Her Royal Highness in three days time.”

“A ball!” gasped the Head Gardener.

“For that we shall use the ballroom and again I will require flowers and more flowers. Bring in whatever you can. Buy what is necessary and put on a display which will be talked about the length and breadth of Krnov.”

Watching and listening Zoleka realised the Count was putting the Head Gardener on his mettle and he would undoubtedly get his own way.

When the gardeners hurried away to carry out their orders, she cried,

“You are absolutely brilliant, Franz! And I was so very impressed at how well you spoke their language.”

“I try never to go to a country before I have learnt its language,” the Count told her. “Otherwise I consider it a sheer waste of time.”

“Of course you are right. I have learnt the language of Krnov and Cieszyn because I live near them. My father thought it most important for me to learn languages. But somehow I never expected you to be so clever.”

“I am not so certain that is really a compliment! I assure you I can speak most European languages including German.”

He gave her a look as he spoke which said far more than words.

“I do think German is a very ugly language,” Udele piped up.

“And I think that they are a very ugly people too,” added Zoleka. “So we will certainly not ask any Germans to your ball!”

“Supposing no one wants to come?”

Zoleka and the Count laughed.

“I assure you,” he told her, “people will already be tumbling over themselves to receive the invitations I am sending out today. You will have to thank the secretaries for working so hard, and also your father's Chief Secretary for knowing the names of all the most distinguished people in Krnov.”

“Shall I go and thank them now?”

“I think they would be delighted if you did.”

Udele turned towards the door then stopped.

“Do I shake them by the hand?”

“I think it is something they would appreciate,” the Count replied, “and something you are going to have to do a great deal in the future.”

She smiled at him and ran off.

The Count turned to Zoleka.

“She is very lovely and completely unspoilt.”

“We have got to save her, Franz, but Heaven knows how a child of her age and with no knowledge of the world will be able to run a country let alone Krnov.”

The Count did not reply and Zoleka commented,

“We can only hope, useless though he is, that her father will not die.”

She was about to add, “
–
and the Prussians will not arrive too soon.
”

Then she thought that it might be a mistake to say anything in the Palace about that dreaded danger.

She was still thinking of what Pieter Seitz had told her.

It made her shiver and it was almost as if a giant hand was stretching out towards them.

There was nothing to save them from being caught up in it forcibly and crushed by the might and power of the Prussians.

There was only the small effort that she and the Count could make to stop them.

Only if they had enough time could they effectively strengthen and increase the size of the Army and maybe by some miracle they could arouse in the people the will to resist – something they obviously lacked at the moment.

It all seemed so difficult.

Zoleka found herself praying silently in her heart,

“
Help us
! Please help us, God!”

Looking around the room, Zoleka just knew that the dance was a huge success.

Dinner had been far better than she had hoped and there had been enough hired waiters, so it did not take too long.

The band from the City was small, but they knew all the latest and most alluring tunes.

There was no doubt at all that Udele was enjoying herself. Her brown eyes were shining brightly and she was looking exquisitely beautiful.

The young men were falling over themselves to ask her to dance.

Zoleka gave a sigh of relief.

She had worried so much in case at the last moment everything went wrong, but it could not have been a better evening.

The windows of the dining room opened onto the garden and in some clever way at the last minute the Count had found lanterns to hang in the trees.

There were fairy lights placed around the fountain, which looked even lovelier with the moon rising in the sky and the stars shining overhead.

At one o'clock exactly the Count brought the party to an end.

“Oh, must we stop?” Udele asked plaintively.

“We men have a lot of work to do tomorrow, Your Royal Highness, and I expect you will find you do too. Do not forget you have a ball being arranged for next week.”

“If it is as fantastic as this party, I shall enjoy every moment. Thank you, thank you for being so wonderful.”

She looked up at the Count.

“I said you would be the belle of the ball,” he said earnestly.

“Entirely thanks to you and to Princess Zoleka.”

He smiled and next instructed the band to play the National Anthem.

Everyone stood to attention and then reluctantly the guests began to say goodnight.

“It has been such a lovely evening,” they said one after another.

As the last one left the ballroom, Zoleka turned to the Count.

“I was so afraid it would not come off, but it has all been marvellous. I have come to the conclusion you are a magician.”

“That is exactly what he is,” agreed Udele. “Ever since you and he have been here the whole Palace has been transformed.”