A Princess Prays (16 page)

“I am sure it is really a doll's house, or perhaps a Fairy Palace which will disappear when we touch it!”

“It is very real, Gesa, dear Father Jozsef has given people who call on him such happiness that you will find the atmosphere inside will make you feel that there are no troubles, no difficulties and no danger ahead of us.”

“That is just what I wish to believe, my precious one.”

They dismounted and left the horses with Kilkos.

Then they walked up the steps to the front door.

Lamos had given Attila the key and she opened it and they went straight into the small sitting room.

It was where Father Jozsef had always welcomed his guests and Attila felt for a moment as if he was waiting for her.

Gesa followed into the room looking, she thought, rather tall in the low-ceilinged room.

“I can quite understand your Father Jozsef being so happy here. In fact you are quite right, my darling, I can feel all the holiness and peace he gave to so many people in the atmosphere.”

“I knew you would understand,” Attila murmured.

“Of course I do. Have you not realised by this time that because we belong to each other, our feelings are the same as are our brains?”

As he looked back and realised they were alone he put his arms round Attila.

“You are mine, my darling,” he asserted fiercely. “
Mine
completely. Whatever troubles may lie ahead of us we are together and we will never lose each other.”

Then he was kissing her, kissing her as he had last night.

His lips met hers first gently then as her body seemed to melt into his, possessively and passionately.

For what seemed an age it was impossible to move.

When at last Gesa raised his head, Attila said,

“Let me go now and see Papa. I will not be long.”

“Would it not be easier if I came with you?”

Attila shook her head.

“As I have told you, Papa has been ill and I would not wish him to be upset. I am sure if I tell him my way, it will not be such a shock to him.”

Gesa gave a little sigh, but he released her.

“I understand, but please be as quick as you can. I am frightened to let you out of my sight.”

“I shall be even more scared in case you have run away while I was gone,” added Attila.

“Do you really think that is possible?”

He did not wait for an answer, but pulled her close to him once more.

Almost roughly he kissed her again and again and then he took his arms from her.

“Go now and hurry or else I shall have to come and search for you.”

She ran out of the room and hurried through Father Jozsef's garden.

She would have liked to have stopped at the Chapel to say a prayer, but she knew it would delay her.

Gesa might indeed carry out his threat and come to find her!

She ran through the valley and up into the wood.

Then she moved through the trees until she reached the Palace garden as usual ablaze with flowers and blossom with the fountain throwing jets of water up into the sky.

She did not dally as she usually did to look at the goldfish in the bowl with the water falling down on them like glittering diamonds.

She reached the garden door of the Palace, and as she did so, she noticed an
aide-de-camp
at the end of the passage going into a small sitting room.

She stood very still, hoping he would not see her and then, before he closed the door behind him, she saw him make a Royal bow.

This told Attila to her surprise and delight that her father might be there.

She had thought he would still be in his bedroom, but knew he often used this sitting room when he wanted to sit somewhere quiet.

As soon as the
aide-de-camp
had disappeared, Attila hurried along the passage.

She paused for a moment outside the door to make sure that if her father was there he was alone.

There was no sound of any talking and after a few moments she opened the door very quietly.

She was right.

Her father was sitting in a large red armchair next to the fireplace which was filled with flowers.

He was reading a newspaper.

Attila ran in closing the door behind her.

The King looked over the top of his newspaper and gave an exclamation.

“
Attila
!”

“I am home, Papa,” she cried, running towards him, “but I did not expect to find you here.”

She flung her arms round his neck and kissed him.

“I am home, Papa, and it is wonderful to see you.”

“I am so thankful that you are safely back home, my dearest daughter. Was everything all right?”

Attila gave a little sigh.

“I have very sad news, Papa. When we reached the Shrine, Father Jozsef died.”

“
Died
!” the King echoed in surprise.

“We cannot really be sad, because, when he died at the Shrine, he loudly called out the name of the woman he had always loved and I know she was waiting for him.”

Her father put his arms round her.

“I am very sorry, my precious girl, you should have gone through anything so upsetting as Father Jozsef's death.”

“He said you would get better, Papa, and you must be as you are out of bed and down here.”

“I am much better, but actually this is the first day I have come downstairs, so I must have had a premonition that you would be returning.”

Attila slipped to the floor so that her arms were on his knees.

“I have something to tell you, Papa.”

“What is it, my dearest?”

“When I was at the Shrine with Father Jozsef,” she began slowly, “I prayed for two things – that you would get well and that I would find love.”

“Well, your first prayer has been answered and I knew while you have been away that you were praying for me. I was also conscious once or twice that Father Jozsef was helping me, which of course he must have been.”

There was a silence and then he asked,

“Who have you fallen in love with?”

Attila drew in her breath.

“You may find this rather hard to believe, Papa, but I know that I have found the man who the Greeks believe is the other half of oneself. I love him so with all my heart and soul just as you loved Mama and Mama loved you.”

The King stroked her hair.

“This is just what I have always wanted for you, but you have not yet told me who this lucky man is.”

“You may find this even more difficult to believe, Papa, but I do not know his name any more than he knows mine!”

The King stared at her.

Then Attila told him exactly what had happened.

How Gesa had run to her asking her to save him.

How she had hidden him in Father Jozsef's side of the carriage.

How having shaved off his moustache the man who was trying to kill him had luckily, because it was growing dark, not recognised him.

The King listened without making any comment.

“He has come back with me and he is waiting in Father Jozsef's house. I said I must tell you first what had happened before you met him.”

“That was very sensible of you, my darling, and of course I will see him.”

“I love him, Papa, and he loves me. However many difficulties there may be about us marrying,
please
, please because you are so brilliant, think of a solution for me.”

The King's hand touched Attila's cheek.

“I love you, my dearest daughter, and you are now all I have in my life.”

Attila looked surprised at the way he spoke.

“What do you mean? Has something happened to Stepmama?”

The King hesitated for a moment.

“Because she was determined, if I died, to take your place on the throne of Valdina, I have sent her back to her own land and she will not trouble either of us again.”

Attila gave a cry of joy.

“Oh, Papa, I am so glad! Are you certain she will not return?”

“It is impossible for her to do so as she is now in the Convent, which as you know is just over the border.”

Attila felt there was much more to this story and yet she did not want to bother her father into talking about it until he was ready to do so.

All that mattered was that her Stepmama had gone and she could have her father to herself.

She rose and putting her arms round his neck kissed him on both cheeks.

“What you have just told me, Papa, makes me very happy and now I am going to fetch Gesa to meet you.”

“I will be waiting here, my darling.”

“I am first going to change my pilgrim's dress.”

Attila ran across the room and as she reached the door, she looked back.

“It is wonderful, Papa, to see you downstairs and so well! That really matters more than anything else.”

The King heard her running down the passage.

He was now wondering desperately what he could possibly do about this strange man Attila thought herself to be in love with.

Now he was in better health, he was quite sure he would soon be as strong as he had always been.

The question of his successor was not so important at the moment, but even so when he did die, he still wanted Attila to take his place.

But it would be quite impossible if she was married to someone who was not desirable – a man who would not be accepted by the people of Valdina.

He sat back in his chair speculating frantically what he could do.

How could he break it to Attila that she could not marry the man she loved unless he was acceptable?

The King put his hand to his forehead as if to force his brain into finding a solution for him.

Then he felt that Father Jozsef was near him and he was holding up his right hand in blessing. It was as if he was saying that there was no need for him to worry.

Attila arrived at her bedroom and because she was in a hurry she did not ring for her lady's maid.

Instead she pulled off her pilgrim's dress and put on one of her prettiest gowns, one that her father had once admired and that she knew made her look glamorous whenever she wore it.

As she was in a hurry she had no time to look at herself in the mirror, but any observer could have told her that she looked radiant and ethereal.

Her father was well, which was something she had not expected, and although she had been nervous, he had not immediately dismissed the idea of her marrying someone unknown.

She also had a strange feeling for which she could not account – it was that everything since she had returned home was not only better than she expected but perfect.

It was something she could not express in words.

Perhaps it was the serene atmosphere she sensed in Father Jozsef's house that had swept away her misgivings.

The fears that had been with her all night had now disappeared and as she was going back to see Gesa again, she felt as if there were wings on her feet.

She was travelling on the golden rays of sunshine streaming in through the windows.

She ran down the stairs and without stopping by her father's room, she opened the door into the garden.

She ran past the fountain and into the wood.

She thought that the birds were all singing a song of gladness and the rabbits scurrying in the undergrowth were as happy as she was.

‘I love him, oh, how I love him,' she told herself, as she ran down into the valley. ‘I just know Papa is going to love him too.'

Only when she opened the door into Father Jozsef's house, did she feel a moment of anxiety.

Just in case Gesa was not there.

But he was.

When he heard her enter the room, he jumped to his feet.

“You are back!” he exclaimed.

As she ran towards him, he caught her and held her away from him.

“Let me look at you. I have only seen you look like a pilgrim, now you look like a lady.”

He gave a little laugh before he corrected himself.

“No, that is wrong, you look like a Goddess or do you prefer to be a Queen?”

Attila made a little sound that might have been one of laughter or surprise.

It was impossible to answer because he was kissing her again.

He was kissing her wildly and demandingly as if he had been afraid that when she left him, she would not come back.

It was a long time before Attila was able to speak.

Then she said,

“Come, Papa is waiting to meet you and my prayers have been answered. He is well and strong again. Oh, I am
so
grateful to the Shrine.”

“I think you have another reason to be grateful.”

“I prayed for
love
,” she whispered in his ear, “and found
you
.”

“That is just what I wanted you to tell me,” Gesa sighed.

Attila took his hand.

“Come along, we must not keep my Papa waiting. I have a feeling that everything is going to be wonderful and there is no need for either of us to worry.”

“I so hope you are right, my darling.”

They left Father Jozsef's house and walked through his beautiful garden.

“The Father must have worked very hard here.”

“I will tell you about it when we have time and I want you to see his Chapel as well.”

She was holding his hand and they were moving as quickly as they could up the path through the little valley.

Then they passed through the wood into the garden of the Palace with flowers all around them.

The Palace loomed up beyond the garden wall.

Attila sensed that Gesa was surprised, but she had no wish to make explanations, only to reach her father.

She opened the garden door and Gesa followed her down the passage.

She was half afraid there might be someone with her father.

However, her father's room was quiet as she pulled the door open and he was still sitting in the chair where she had left him.

As she walked towards him followed by Gesa, she said,

“I am back, Papa.”