The King Without a Heart (12 page)

“Egypt interests me too,” admitted the King.

Titania was thinking before she added,

“I know of one very strange religion that might have been represented at your ancestor's conference, but most people know very little about it.”

“What is that?”

“It is what Papa called
the Wisdom of the Forest
,” Titania answered.

As she spoke she saw the King look at her even more incredulously.

“It was in the forests of India that men meditated and sought for union with the
World Beyond the World
. We talked to some of the Indians who had suffered tortures from the heat and the cold as well as wild animals and insects in the deep forests, where they attempted to master all the powers that transcend the Universe.”

She spoke the words dreamily.

She was remembering how she had seen the ascetics in question and what they had said at the time. Then feeling as if perhaps she was talking too much, she looked at the King questioningly.

“I think,” he said, “that you have been sent to me like a messenger from the Gods to help me just as I was feeling I had come up against a brick wall. And I should like from now on to address you by your Christian name.”

“That is very gracious of you, Sire, my name is Titania and I will help you if I can, but as I said I was young at the time, perhaps only fifteen, when we met those who were seeking wisdom either in the perilous mountains or in the depths of the jungle.”

“What you have said already, Titania, is a tremendous help to me, and I want you to search through your mind for what you think you may have forgotten, but which I am sure you can find again.”

Titania laughed.

 “Now you are talking in the way some of the Priests and devotees talked to Papa. It sounded very grand, but it all boiled down to one thing – they wanted to improve themselves and to rise from the world they were living in into something more sublime.”

“I think that is just what we all want,” commented the King.

“Not everyone unfortunately – “

She was thinking of her uncle and aunt who were completely content with themselves exactly as they were.

“Now you have to help me,” proposed the King, “but in the meantime I can offer you in return the freedom of my library. Come when you like, take what you like, but please while you are searching for yourself, search as well for anything that you think will help my book.”

“Of course, Sire, I would be delighted, and as it means so much to you I am sure it will help a great many other people.”

She was not certain as she spoke whether the King had that idea at the back of his mind or not.

She was trying to make him see, as her father would have done, that he must lead a practical life with and for his people, as well as soaring up into the clouds in search of the unknown.

She thought, however, it was a mistake to say anything so provocative so soon.

Instead she walked towards the spiral steps which led up to the balcony.

“Can I go up the steps?” she asked.

“I was going to suggest it, because books in which you are particularly interested are on the top shelf at the far end.”

“Then I must look and see if there are any volumes that I have read before, but if they are in your language then I am going to find it hard work.”

“I can hardly believe it, when Darius tells me how quickly you have learnt to speak Velidosian so fluently.”

“I wish that was true,” answered Titania. “But much of your language is very like Greek and I have spoken Greek ever since I could toddle.”

“I don't believe it,” the King exclaimed, “unless of course Darius was right when he told me that you are undoubtedly a reincarnation of one of the Goddesses from Olympus!”

“I have never aspired as high as that,” smiled Titania.

She had reached the balcony by this time and was looking down at the King.

Again it flashed through his mind how lovely she was.

Her fair hair was shining against the dark covers of the books behind her and he felt he would not be surprised if she vanished and was not real, but just a figment of his imagination.

He watched her as she moved along the balcony.

She occasionally put out her hand to touch a book very gently as if she treated it with reverence.

The King tried to go back to writing his book, but instead he found himself waiting for Titania to turn round to speak to him.

It was a long time before she finally leant over the balcony.

“I have seen three books here, Sire, which I am very anxious to read. One is about Zen Buddhism, so that I can talk to you about it later. May I take them with me?”

“I have already told you, Titania, all I have is yours.”

“That is a very Eastern way of talking, Sire. Beware lest I take you at your word!”

He noticed as she smiled that there were little dimples at the side of her mouth and it made her even more entrancing.

She walked along the balcony carrying three large books bound in red leather and the King reached up and took them from her before she reached the last of the steps.

“Now I must leave you, Sire, because I know I am interrupting your work and that is something I am told you very much resent.”

“Not when someone is helping me as much as you are,” responded the King. “I want you to read those books, Titania, and then come and tell me exactly what you have learned from them and what would be of interest to me.”

“I am beginning to become worried that Your Majesty is expecting too much of me and I would hate you to be disappointed.”

“I have a feeling that I shall not be disappointed. Incidentally I have already sent the cables to your uncle and to my Ambassador and I am hoping that both Nanny and Mercury will be with us as quickly as possible.”

“How can you be – so kind? And how can I tell you, Sire, how – grateful I am?”

“There is no need for words. I think we are both aware that the Gods we are seeking have brought us together.”

“I can only hope that is true and thank you, Sire, thank you again and again.”

She curtsied and went out of the door behind his desk.

She found that Darius was waiting for her and he took the books from her arms.

“I am glad you found something to interest you.”

“There are a million books in there to interest me, Darius, and as I read very quickly, please do not let the King forget how much I need something to occupy my mind.”

“I should have thought there was plenty of knowledge in your mind without books,” remarked Darius. “I wonder whether you would like to see the City this afternoon.”

“I would love to.”

“I will take you after luncheon,” Darius told her, “but I am afraid you will be very disappointed if you expect it to be like London or Paris or any other great Capital City.

“I will tell you what I think after I have seen your City,” Titania promised him. 

She was relieved that there was no sign of Sophie or Prince Frederick at luncheon and she learned later that because they were on their honeymoon they were having their meals in their own Suite.

She therefore ate with Darius, Kastri and the two Ladies-in-Waiting.

When they heard that Darius was going to take her to see the City, they insisted that one of them must accompany her.

“Of course, if you want to come,” agreed Titania quickly, “it will be delightful. There will be no need for you to keep getting in and out of the carriage as I want to do. You can keep an eye on me quite well without over-tiring yourself!”

She saw a look of relief cross the older woman's face.

She found out that they had both had a very tiring morning following Sophie and having to stand most of the time.

Titania drove with Darius into the City and noticed again that the shops were very few and not at all enticing. In fact there seemed little or nothing to buy. 

She was once again entranced by the trees in blossom and the flowers which seemed to grow in unexpected places, but she was shocked by the ragged and bare-footed children and the dilapidated state of some of the houses off the main streets was a disgrace.

Titania thought it was pointless to say anything and yet she wondered again why nothing was being done to bring prosperity to this beautiful country.

When Titania returned to the Palace, Sophie sent for her to explain to the new lady's maid which gowns she usually wore and exactly what the arrangement of her brushes and combs should be on her dressing table.

There were a dozen other small requirements which Sophie could quite easily have explained herself.

“I hope you are behaving yourself,” Sophie said to Titania before she left her suite. “You are not to go out with any of the
aides-de-camp
unless you are accompanied by a Lady-in-Waiting.”

“They will find it rather tiring to follow me around as well as you,” suggested Titania.

“In which case you must stay in the Palace,” Sophie snapped.

It was a great relief to get away from Sophie and be able to curl up on the sofa and read her books.

There were certain passages she longed to discuss with the King and yet she could not help thinking he was only being polite in saying she could help him.

‘He is obviously very clever,' she told herself, ‘and why should he bother about me?'

However, she could not go to sleep without wondering if the King had forgotten he said they could go riding at seven o'clock.

Had he really meant the invitation or was it just politeness?

*

 The next morning she felt apprehensive when she dressed even earlier than was necessary.

She walked down the back passages which led her out of the Palace and into the stable yard, where the Head Groom greeted her.

“You're early, miss,” he said in his own language, “but yesterday His Majesty chose the horse you are to ride.”

Titania's heart gave a little leap – so the King had not forgotten and they would be riding together as she had hoped.

She walked into the stables to see the horses being saddled and was very impressed with the one that the King had chosen for her.

It was a large stallion which the Head Groom told her had come from Hungary and Titania could see that it obviously had Arab blood in it.

She was discussing the horse with him when the stable boy announced that the King was outside.

The horses were hurriedly taken from their stalls and as Titania had expected, Darius and Kastri were with the King.

After she had curtsied to the King, she smiled at the
aides-de-camps
and they bade her good morning.

“I am going to take you for a different ride today,” the King told her as they set off. “I think it is important for you to see the different parts of my country.”

“It is all exceedingly beautiful,” sighed Titania, “and I am so impressed with the high mountains.”

“I will show you those on another day. Now I want to race you as I did yesterday and I think it is what our horses are hoping for.”

They rode for quite a long distance at a very fast pace and when they drew in their mounts and were able to speak to each other, the King said,

“I think you will find this part of the country is a little more inhabited than where we were yesterday. There is a small village over there which I have always thought is most picturesque.”

“Oh, do let me see it, Sire,” begged Titania.

The King smiled good-humouredly and they rode towards the village.

As he had said, the village was picturesque and built of small houses and there were a few small shops, much to Titania's surprise, but they were empty compared to the ones she had seen yesterday in the City.

She drew her horse up outside one shop that sold furniture beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl with different woods that made every piece a real work of art.

“I have never seen anything so pretty!” exclaimed Titania.

Even as she spoke a man who was doubtless the creator of this lovely furniture came out from the back of the shop bowing respectfully.

“Is your furniture for sale?” Titania asked him.

“It is indeed, madam,” he replied. “But alas we have very few visitors to this small village.”

Titania looked at the furniture again and then she had a sudden idea. She turned to the King and speaking in English so that the man could not understand, she suggested,

“This is exactly the sort of shop you should have in the City. The shops there are empty with almost nothing on sale and I can quite understand why you do not have many tourists in Velidos, beautiful though it is.”

The King looked at her in astonishment.

“I suppose you are right,”

he admitted.

“Now I come think about it, there is very little to interest a tourist.”

Titania turned to the man who was looking at her curiously.

“Are there any more brilliant craftsmen like you in this village?” she asked.

He gave a laugh.

“We are refugees, madam. Our families escaped when the Turks were fighting the Serbs and we were very scared.”

Titania remembered that twelve years ago in 1876 the Turks had invaded Serbia and they had been appallingly cruel in the way they fought and treated those they conquered.

Everyone in England, including Mr. Disraeli, the Prime Minister, had been horrified at the way they had behaved.

“We escaped and came here,” the man was saying.

“My sister and her husband have a shop just a few yards up the road where she makes beautiful lace. I know, madam, she would be very proud to show her work to you.”

Titania found that he had not exaggerated.

The lace was exquisite and there was a great deal of it because, as the maker said pathetically, there were very few buyers.

There was another shop owned by another relation of a man and his wife who made toys for children. Some of them were carved and some were sewn together from odd pieces of material.