The Breadth of Heaven (3 page)

“The Embassy!” The Princess’s eyes flashed, and she swept across the room to confront him. “The
Embassy is full of spies and assassins—Anton’s hirelings, who hate me and both my children, just as they hated Vasilli!”

“Be quiet, Natalia!” The words were almost hissed at her. “I sympathize, of course, with your reluctance to offend Miss Grant by conversing in her hearing in a language which she does not understand, but if you must speak in English I think you ought to refrain from discussing matters which are so essentially personal.”

“There is nothing ‘personal’ about it.” Natalia seemed to clench her small white teeth. “Everyone knows that—”

“
Cherie
, you are overwrought.” He took a step towards her, and placed a lean, well-formed hand on her shoulder. “Where is the Baronin?”

“I ... I dismissed her.” The Princess’s voice had suddenly grown small and very slightly apologetic.

“You dismissed the Baroness Liczak?” The man’s black eyebrows shot upwards. “In what way has she offended you?”

“I
...
thought I couldn’t trust her. I don’t trust anyone. Oh, Leonid, I am so frightened, and so tired of being frightened!”

Her face crumpled, and she began to cry again. Rather surprisingly, the man whom she had addressed as Leonid took the child out of her arms and looked towards Kathy.

“If you would be kind enough to hold my niece for a moment, mademoiselle
...
”

His dark eyes were coldly distant as he moved towards her, and when, feeling slightly hypnotized,
Kathy had taken the little girl from him, he turned back to Natalia.

“You should have a glass of brandy,
petite
,”
he said, and his voice was amazingly gentle. “It has all been too much, I think. I will ring—”

“No, no, please. I don’t want any brandy, Leonid. And I don’t want to see anyone—except you, and Miss Grant. Tell Miss Grant she has got to stay with me! I should feel so much safer!”

At this point Kathy decided that it was high time she intervened personally. “I’m very sorry, Your Highness, but I simply couldn’t just abandon my job here and start working for you. I mean,” she went on, swallowing in sudden nervousness as the mysterious Leonid turned very slowly to look at her,
“
I mean, I would have to give notice, and—and that sort of thing, and besides
...
”

“And besides, from all that you have gathered tonight of my sister-in-law and the situation in which she finds herself, you don’t feel that the job would be either congenial or particularly safe?”

“Of course I didn’t mean that. I—”

“I am certainly not blaming you, mademoiselle. Your feelings are perfectly reasonable, for a young woman of your type. The Princess Natalia, however, apparently feels that in you she has found something in the nature of a sister. As you see, she is quite distraught, and since I have—as you say in England—her best interests at heart, I can only say that I hope you will accept this rather generous offer of a position in her service. You are not, of course, the sort of person whom I myself would have chos
e
n as a companion for her, but—”

“Leonid!” From the direction of the settee, a soft voice interrupted him. “You must not be rude to Miss Grant. She has been very kind to me. She—”

“Yes, yes, Natalia, I understand. Miss Grant, do you feel able to accept the position, or don’t you? I assure you, you have no need to worry about your present employer. I myself will arrange matters with him. As to the question of salary
...
” His expression grew colder, and something like contempt appeared in his eyes. “As to the question of salary, which is no doubt of paramount importance with you, I think you will find that any remuneration offered to you by my sister-in-law could hardly be bettered. And,” drily, “despite any impression you may have received this evening, my family’s employees do still receive fairly punctual payment of their salaries.”

“I ... I don’t know
...
Kathy hesitated, wondering what to say. She felt deeply sorry for the Princess, but her brother-in-law’s arrogance and obvious contempt for what he clearly regarded as a very ordinary little English secretary had irritated her to such an extent that she felt her own rarely aroused temper struggling to get the upper hand. On the other hand, the job itself undeniably possessed enormous attractions—would certainly tempt any young woman who had never even dreamt that such an opportunity could come her way. And then there were the children
...
Nina and her brother, undoubtedly a pair of pathetic babies whose lives were at present dominated by an obviously neurotic mother—for whatever reasons Princess Natalia might have for her nervousness it was quite clear that she exaggerated the danger
...
at least a little.

Kathy looked down at Nina, whom she was still holding in her arms, and found that she had fallen fast asleep. Then she looked up again, and saw that across the room Princess Natalia was watching her with a look of desperate anxiety in her amazing golden-brown eyes. The man called Leonid produced an elegant gold cigarette-case, flicked it open, and held it towards the English girl.

“You will smoke, mademoiselle? A cigarette may help you to make up your mind.”

This time his tone was careless and totally indifferent, and she knew that her eyes flashed resentfully as she shook her head.

“Thank you, I don’t smoke, monsieur
...
” Her voice trailed away pointedly.

He made a small sound which could possibly have been apologetic.

“I beg your pardon. But as my sister-in-law neglected to make a formal introduction
...
”
He glanced at Natalia, who for the first time looked
faintly amused.

“Don’t be absurd, Leonid. You could perfectly well have told Miss Grant who you were yourself. Did you expect me to present her formally? Miss Grant,” turning to Kathy, “this is my brother-in-law, Prince Leonid of Tirhania. And it is quite clear,” mutinously, “that he has been sent by my other brother-in-law, the King—”

“Natalia, that is definitely enough!” Prince Leonid’s voice was once again as sharp and biting as the crack of a whip, and not for the first time in the course of the last twenty minutes Kathy was conscious of amazement at the speed with which his mood could change. Only a very short time ago his
manner towards his sister-in-law had been gentle and solicitous—almost affectionate; now, as he gazed towards her, his face looked coldly angry, and Natalia flushed painfully, and bit her lip.

Kathy felt a sudden rush of sympathy for her, and in that moment she reached a decision.

“Very well, if you really want to employ me, Your Highness
...”

“You will work for me?” Instantly the Princess’s expressive face lit.

Feeling suddenly shy, Kathy said: “It’s very kind of you to offer me the job. I don’t know that I’m really suitable, but I’m quite good at secretarial work, and”—glancing down at the sleeping Nina—“I’m very fond of children.”

“Thank you, thank you! It is such a relief to me! I shall be able to talk to you ... I am sure we shall get on so very well together. And now that I have dismissed all my staff I shall have to have someone!” Throughout this interchange Prince Leonid had been standing by the flower-filled fireplace smoking a cigarette, his expression utterly unreadable. But as his sister-in-law’s final remark caught his attention he looked up abruptly.

“You have dismissed
all
your staff, Natalia?”

“Yes, every one of them!” Natalia was obviously summoning all her courage. “They were spies!”

“Even the children’s nursemaids? You have dismissed them?”

“Do not talk to me of those nursemaids!” Her voice ascended hysterically. “They tried to poison Nina!”

He looked frowningly at the child, and then at his sister-in-law.

“That is a serious accusation. The doctor—the Englishman whose services you engaged—he did not believe Antonina to be in any danger?”

“They made a mistake. They must have poisoned her food, but not enough. They—”

“And Joachim?” he asked sharply.

“He is quite all right. He is asleep.”

“Then I imagine there is little basis for your suspicions. Where are these people now? Did you pay them before you dismissed them?”

She looked slightly conscience-stricken. “I—I asked the Baronin to pay them. They did ask whether they would have to leave this hotel immediately, and of course I said no, I would pay for them to stay on until they had found somewhere else to go.”

“How extremely generous,” he murmured. “Did you ask the Baronin to pay herself as well?”

Natalia flushed. “Well, she could do so. She has the right to sign cheques
...”

P
rince Leonid stubbed out his cigarette. “I will attend to her,” he said briefly. “But first, mademoiselle,” looking at Kathy, “I will speak to your employer. And you will come with me, if you please.

“Yes, of course.” Instinctively, Kathy felt nervous at the prospect of facing her employer under such circumstances; but on the other hand, she knew quite well that Mr. McArthur would be extremely unlikely even to show slight displeasure in front of Prince Leonid.

As they made their way down in the lift she felt too shy to say anything, but just as they reached ground floor level the Prince suddenly spoke.

“You do realize, Miss Grant, that the Princess Natalia is a very neurotic young woman, and that you may occasionally find her unmitigated society a little
...
trying?”

“I don’t think she’s neurotic,” said Kathy impulsively. “I think she’s simply rather nervous—especially about her children. She may have good reason to mistrust all those people.”

“I don’t think you are in a position to judge,” said Leonid coldly. “However, I am glad that you seem likely to regard her with sympathy. You must always remember that she is an important person, and that she has to be protected at all times. Her upbringing has not been such that she is able to, as you would say, fend for herself. She has very little understanding of the world, and is quite incapable of looking after her own interests. She has”—smiling urbanely—“none of the toughness of character which is such an advantage to young women like yourself.”

Kathy felt definitely staggered, and only just succeeded in preventing herself from retorting that in sacking her entire staff on the spot Her Serene Highness had exhibited a good deal more toughness of character than she herself would ever be likely to muster.

All she said, however, was: “I’ll do my best to protect Her Highness’s interests.”

“If you don’t,” said the Prince coolly, “you will answer for it. To me.”

CHAPTER THREE

When Kathy
awoke the next morning she remembered immediately that her life had taken rather an extraordinary turn, but for several moments the details of what had happened completely eluded her, and when she did manage to recall the events of the previous evening they seemed to her so fantastic that for a moment or two she found herself half wondering whether she had dreamt it all. But it was real enough, as she soon realized
...
and then she glanced at her watch and saw with a stab of horror that she had overslept. The Prince wanted to see her at ten o’clock, and it was already half past nine.

It didn’t normally take her very long to get dressed in the morning, but on this occasion she spent so much time making up her mind exactly what to wear that it was almost five minutes to ten before she was finally ready to vacate the sanctuary of her own room. As far as she had been able to gather, her new job would commence as from this morning, and she was slightly uncertain exactly what sort of dress she would be expected to wear while on duty. But eventually she discarded the idea of putting on one of the neat grey dresses which she usually wore behind the reception desk, and settled instead for a rather attractive woollen suit which she had bought herself only a fortnight earlier. It was the colour of autumn leaves, and almost exactly matched her hair, and she couldn’t help appreciating what it did for her appearance as a whole. She felt decidedly nervous at the prospect of what might possibly lie in front of
her, and the suit gave her morale a much-needed boost.

Just before ten o’clock she closed the door of her room behind her, and started to make her way along the winding corridors of Ransome’s to the Prince’s sitting-room. As she walked, she thought how little she really knew about the sort of life that was now going to be hers, and once she even found herself wondering whether the imperious young woman who had engaged her services might already have changed her mind. But she didn’t honestly think that was likely. She recalled the scene in Mr. McArthur’s office late the previous evening, when Prince Leonid had coolly informed the hotel manager that it was going to be necessary for him to forgo the services of Miss Grant. Kathy had felt dreadful about it, for as it was, Ransome’s was short-staffed at the moment and she had certainly expected Mr. McArthur to make some small protest, or at least to level some reproaches at herself. But she had underestimated the lengths to which Mr. McArthur was prepared to go in order to please so vitally important a guest as Prince Leonid of Tirhania. She had felt like an inanimate object being handed to the Prince on a platter, and as it had been very late by that time, and she had had an extremely tiring evening, nothing in any case had made very much impression on her. She remembered making some sort of an apology to the manager, and it seemed to her that he had more or less said apologies were unnecessary. One of his receptionists had so impressed the Princess Natalia that she now wanted her for a personal attendant, and nothing could have been a greater compliment to himself or to Ransome’s! The transaction had been completed, Prince Leonid had asked her to come to his sitting-room at ten o’clock the following morning, and she had retired somewhat dizzily to bed. In the cold light of morning she was, however, beginning to wonder whether she had possibly behaved in a slightly crazy manner, for she still had really no idea precisely what sort of job she was undertaking, and when she came to think of it the Princess’s words and conduct on the previous evening, and the air of mystery surrounding the whole family had been anything but reassuring. She could only hope that Leonid intended to throw some light on the situation for her benefit. At any rate, she would have to let him know that she must be told more about the situation.