Part 19 (2/2)

”Quite right,” Anton said. ”I love British girls, don't you, Nick? Such pillars of strength. Think of Boudicca.” He reached across and gave my knee a squeeze.

”Behave yourself, Toni. You can't have more than one at a time, you know,” Nick said, laughing.

”I don't see why not. The more the merrier, that's my motto. In fact I'm rather miffed that I wasn't born a Turk. I'd have enjoyed a harem. It would have been a challenge to see how many I could get through in one night.”

”You are offending this young lady's sensibilities,” Nicholas said.

”No, really,” I said, laughing, but Anton stood up. ”I shall go and find Belinda,” he said. ”She loves to hear of my exploits and she is quite willing to add to them.”

”That young man will have to learn to take life seriously one day,” Nicholas said as soon as Anton was out of hearing. ”Father rather despairs of him. Too bad he was born a prince. He'd have done well as a film star in Hollywood, I feel-or better yet a stuntman.”

I looked around. The ladies had begun their bridge game. An old man was holding forth to several of the young counts. I moved closer to Nicholas. ”About what I wanted to tell you,” I said.

”Oh, yes. You've discovered something important?”

”Very important, especially to you,” I said and related exactly how I remembered the incident. ”So it was your gla.s.s that he took,” I concluded.

For a while Nicholas said nothing. Then he sighed. ”It's rather sobering, isn't it? One lives with the threat of a.s.sa.s.sination, I suppose, but it's still a shock when it comes close to home. Then it's obviously some infernal anarchist. Probably did as Patrascue suggested and paid one of the servants to do his dirty work.”

”You can't think of anyone else who might want you dead?” I asked. ”n.o.body here who bears you animosity?”

Nicholas gave a wry smile. ”I've always thought of myself as a likeable sort of chap,” he said. ”Not the kind that makes enemies.”

”But if it was a political a.s.sa.s.sination, why not aim for your father rather than you?”

”I can think of a couple of answers to that one: My father wasn't there on the night in question. His entourage had been held up by the avalanche on the pa.s.s, remember. If the whole thing had been planned for that night, maybe they decided I was the next best thing and went for it. And the second answer is that maybe it didn't matter which of us they got. Remember the archduke in Sarajevo? He was a minor player in the Hapsburg dynasty and yet the incident still started a world war.”

I shuddered. ”It's horrible. How can you live when you never feel safe?”

”I suppose one has no choice,” he said. ”One likes to think that we bring stability and culture to a region, but it's always been a hotbed of intrigue and violence. They've been killing each other around here since day one. And none more violent than the family that used to own this place. Vlad the Impaler and his descendants. I'm sure you've heard of him. What a bunch they were. Talk about cruel and ruthless. I've read some of the books in this library. Some of their vile deeds would turn your stomach. And of course the books and the local inhabitants claim that Vlad became Dracula and still lives on.”

And he laughed.

”There you are at last, you wicked one.” Matty came into the room and bent to kiss his forehead. ”I was worried about you. And you still have snow on your head.”

I decided to be tactful and leave them alone. I went back up to my room and looked out of the window. Snow was now falling fast-great fat flakes whirling and swirling around the turrets. And my thoughts went instantly to Darcy, somewhere up on that pa.s.s. I hoped he'd be sensible enough to take refuge at the inn up there. In fact I just wished this whole thing were over.

It did cross my mind to wonder where Queenie was. I presumed she was still in the kitchen, stuffing her face on cake. If she came back to London with me, she'd desert me as soon as she found out that I lived on baked beans and toast. I wondered whether to go and seek her out, but I couldn't get the disturbing image out of my mind of Matty with blood running down her chin. I didn't want to believe in vampires, but I know what I saw quite clearly. If she really was a vampire, then I had no intention of being next on her menu.

I paced the room. Soon I'd need to start dressing for dinner and it was almost impossible to get into an evening dress alone. I thought of going down to Mummy and seeing if her maid could do my hair for me, as promised. It would be interesting to see what I looked like, properly coiffured. Still no Queenie. I opened my wardrobe, cautiously, as I wasn't sure what might be lurking inside something of that girth, and took out my one presentable dinner dress. I couldn't wear it for a third night in a row, yet neither could I wear the one with the scorch marks. Too bad that my mother was such a tiny little person, I thought. I know she'd travel with oodles of delicious clothes. Suddenly I had a brain wave. Knowing Belinda, she would have come with a trunkful of fas.h.i.+onable dresses. Maybe she'd let me wear one of her dresses tonight.

I hurried down the first flight of stairs and along the hallway to where I thought Belinda's room was. As I pa.s.sed a door I heard voices-a man's voice, low and calm, and a woman's voice raised in anger and shrill. ”What were you thinking?” she demanded in French. ”How could you? It will be the end of everything.”

I didn't hear the man's reply. Interesting, I thought, and continued down the hall. At what I hoped was Belinda's door I knocked, never knowing what might be going on in Belinda's room. I waited, and I was about to go away when the door was opened by a bleary-eyed Belinda.

”Oh,” she said, eyeing me with disappointment. ”I thought you might be Anton. Sorry. I was taking a much-needed nap before dinner. Is it time to dress?”

”Almost,” I said.

”Come on in, then,” she said and led me into a small square room. She flung herself back on the bed and closed her eyes again. I looked around. It was plain and simple by castle standards. No terrifying wardrobe or chest for her.

”So who dresses you?” I asked. ”I take it you didn't bring a spare maid along in your trunk, did you?”

”No, I left the faithful Florrie at home. She goes to pieces if I take her abroad. Luckily Matty is being sweet and sending her maid to take care of me when she's finished dressing her mistress. Her room is right next door. As you can see, I'm in what was probably a dressing room originally. Dashed inconvenient actually, as I suspect that the walls aren't exactly soundproof, and one does have the occasional nocturnal visitor.”

I perched on her bed. ”Belinda, the way you carry on, don't you ever worry about, you know, getting in the family way?”

Belinda chuckled. ”You are so delightfully old-fas.h.i.+oned in your wording, my sweet. There are useful things called French letters and Dutch caps, you know. And if I were to get preggers, there is a wonderful little clinic on the coast near Bournemouth, and I'm sure the man in question would cough up the necessary funds to do the trick.” The smile faded. ”Don't look so horrified, darling. It's done all the time. Of course it's easier for married women-no need for clinics as long as the baby looks something like the official father. Accept the fact, Georgie-bed hopping is a major sport for our cla.s.s. It whiles away the long hours between hunting, shooting and fis.h.i.+ng.” And she laughed again.

”Do you ever think you'll get married?” I asked.

”If I find someone rich and boring enough, and preferably old, and shortsighted.” She reached up and put her hands on my cheeks. ”I enjoy it, darling. I love the thrill of the chase. I can't picture myself ever tied down to one man.”

”You and my mother must come from another planet,” I said. ”Settling down with one man sounds awfully nice to me.”

”The problem is with whom, darling,” Belinda said, dropping back to her pillows with a sigh. ”Your beloved Darcy doesn't have the means nor the temperament for domestic bliss. In fact I see him turning into one of these enigmatic men who flit around the globe, living by their wits into old age.”

I sighed. ”You may be right. I wish I hadn't fallen for him, but I have. Everyone is pus.h.i.+ng me to marry sensibly-I could probably even have someone like Anton if I wanted. But I don't want. And I certainly don't want to live in a part of the world where I could be a.s.sa.s.sinated any day.”

”Don't be silly, darling. I'm sure Anton and his family are quite safe. Who'd want to kill them?”

I realized then that she didn't know anything. I got to my feet, before I spilled any beans. ”Belinda, what I actually came for was to beg a favor. My maid Queenie has managed to put a huge scorch mark in my good evening dress. I can't keep wearing the same thing at dinner every night so I wondered if I could possibly wear one of yours.”

”That maid of yours is a total disaster,” Belinda said. ”What will she do next? Give you third-degree burns when she spills your morning tea all over you? It's too bad we're snowed in or you could send her home on the next train.”

”She'd never make it across Europe alone,” I said, laughing in spite of everything. ”She'd wind up in Constantinople and find herself in a harem. I gather big, chubby women are the thing over there.”

Belinda got up and went across to a gilt-trimmed white wardrobe. ”I suppose I can spare you a dress,” she said and opened it. There must have been at least ten dresses hanging there.

”Belinda-how long did you expect to be here?” I asked in amazement.

”One never knows how long one will be abroad,” she said. ”One meets somebody and suddenly there's an invitation to the south of France or a chateau on the Loire, so it's always best to be prepared.”

I examined the dresses one by one and chose what I thought was the least flamboyant-pale turquoise, straight and simple.

”Good choice,” she said, smiling at me. ”Not really my style at all, but I keep it in case I need to look virginal for somebody's parents.”

”You must be a better actress than my mother,” I quipped back.

”It's about time you tried it yourself and then you'd know what you were missing,” she called after me as I carried the dress from her room. ”And don't let your maid anywhere near it with an iron.”

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