The Gates of Paradise (2 page)

The Bishop looked surprised.

“Join her at once, Narina?”

“Yes.  She did not say why, but just wrote that she needs me and feels certain that I will not fail her.”

“She must have some good reason for begging you to go to her at what one might say is a moment's notice.”

Narina gave a little laugh.

“Louise was always impetuous, and if she wanted something or someone it was always ‘immediately'.  But this really does sound urgent.”

“How does she expect you to travel there?”

“That, apparently, has been arranged.  A letter came with hers from the Alexanderburg Embassy in London saying that on Princess Louise's instructions a Battleship will pick me up at Tilbury and take me to Alexanderburg.”

“A Battleship!” her Papa exclaimed in amazement.

“I suppose a Battleship is faster than other ships – ”

“For such a long journey it could not be better and of course, my dearest, you want to go?”

“Of course I do, Papa.  To tell the truth I was a little surprised that Louise did not send for me before.  We were so close at the school and when we were both
debutantes
, we attended the same balls every night.”

“I well remember, Narina, but to be honest I always felt that my own daughter was the most beautiful of the two.”

She gave him a flashing smile.

“Thank you, Papa, that is exactly what I want you to say.  Equally you must understand that if Louise really needs me, as she says she does, I feel I must go to her.”

 “Then you should definitely go, my dear, it will be a good experience for you to see a part of the world which I unfortunately have not visited myself.  But I have always been interested in the Balkans and I would have enjoyed sailing through the Dardanelles and into the Black Sea.”

Narina gave a little cry of excitement.

“Yes, yes, and it will be very thrilling.”

 “We will look at it on the map tonight, but for the moment, I suggest, if the messenger is waiting, as I expect he is, that you tell him how soon you will be ready to join the Battleship at Tilbury.

“I presume they are arranging for both a chaperone and a Guardian to look after you?”

 “Yes, yes, Papa.  Louise says in the postscript,”

 “
I have arranged for a charming couple from our Embassy to be in attendance on you and they will provide you with a maid to look after you whilst you are at sea.
”

 “It does seem to me, Narina, that your friend, the Princess, has thought of everything.  Thus, my dear, write and tell her how soon you can embark and, as it seems to be urgent, you must not keep her waiting too long.”

“I just knew that you would understand, Papa, and I only wish that you were coming with me.”

“I so wish I could – there is nothing I would enjoy more, but as you know, I have a mass of engagements that are quite impossible to cancel.”

“I am being greedy and asking for too much, Papa, but I would have really loved to have you tell me in your own way about all the places I shall pass as I sail across the Mediterranean and up the Aegean Sea.”

As she finished speaking the Bishop realised that his daughter was not waiting for his answer.

She had moved towards the door.

“I will tell them that I will embark on Tuesday as that will give me time to buy anything extra I require.”

She was gone before he could agree or disagree, so he gave a little sigh and turned once again to his sermon.

*

For the next two days Narina was in a wild state of excitement.

It was not just the thought of the voyage ahead that thrilled her, as she loved travelling, but she was so looking forward to seeing her friend again.

She had missed Louise overwhelmingly ever since she married.

It had been an arranged marriage – Louise was the daughter of Princess Beatrice whose mother was a second cousin to Queen Victoria.

The Queen was very often called ‘
the Matchmaker of Europe
' as she had provided a great number of her close relations to be the wives of Balkan rulers.

It was no secret that the Russian leaders were determined to enlarge their Empire, which was already enormous, and to do so they had begun taking over small Principalities attached to Austria, Moldavia and Rumania.  Besides these there was the temptation of the even smaller Principalities of Bosnia, Serbia and Eastern Roumelia.

Their strategy seemed to be to discover where a Ruler was too weak or old to competently carry on and then provoke rebellions amongst the people.  They could then move in, claiming that their intervention was necessary to ensure peace.

The only countries they dared not touch were those that were entitled to fly the Union Jack.

As a consequence Queen Victoria was constantly beseeched by foreign diplomats to send a British Royal wife for the protection of their reigning Prince or King.

Only Her Majesty, they assured her, could preserve their country against the aggressive Russians.

Apart from this, as the British were well aware, the Russian Cossacks were spreading out over Asia, gobbling up Caravan towns and Khanates, thus shortening the miles between Russia and India.

Narina had heard all this from her Papa, but she had not been in the slightest worried about her friend Louise.  She was sure that she would be well protected.

Louise had been fortunate in her arranged marriage.

As she had told Narina in the first letter she wrote, her husband was a charming and delightful ruling Prince whom she had fallen in love with at first sight.

“
I never expected
,” she explained to Narina, “
to be as happy as I am with Rudolf or to enjoy every moment of my life as I do now
.”

Narina had been delighted and reassured.

It had been impossible for Prince Rudolf to leave his country and come to England, so sadly Louise had been married in Alexanderburg without Narina as bridesmaid.

Whilst talking about marriage at school they had always pledged to be bridesmaid to each other, with the one who married first being matron of honour to the other.

They had imagined that their weddings would take place in one of the great Cathedrals near their homes.

When they walked up the aisle, it would be with at least eight or ten bridesmaids with the chief bridesmaid, of course, being either Louise or Narina.

But Queen Victoria had sent for Louise and told her that she was to marry Prince Rudolf of Alexanderburg.

“I just cannot believe it,” Louise had said when she returned from Windsor Castle.  “I thought that I was imagining what Her Majesty said to me, but naturally I could not possibly refuse such an incredible honour. My Mama keeps telling me how lucky I am.”

Narina, however, had shed more than a few tears when she kissed Louise goodbye.

Accompanied by her mother, Princess Beatrice, and at least a dozen other relatives, Louise had slipped away on an English Battleship to Alexanderburg.

Narina worried about her friend to begin with, but then she had received Louise's letters telling her how blissfully happy she was at Alexanderburg, declaring that Prince Rudolf really was the man of her dreams.

Then, after a year had passed, the letters grew fewer month by month – she wrote very little about her marriage, although she still seemed to be happy.

Now Narina calculated she must have been married for over two years.

In the meantime she herself had received several proposals of marriage, but they were not from anyone she loved or had any wish to marry.

She was intelligent enough to recognise that Louise had been extremely lucky.

She had found the man of her dreams, despite it being an arranged marriage, whilst Narina had yet to meet anyone with whom she wished to spend the rest of her life.

She was in fact exceedingly happy with her father, keeping busy with his affairs as he was constantly moving from one appointment to another.

Then he was consecrated Bishop of St. Albans.

Narina felt certain that they would stay there until he was promoted, as she hoped, to Canterbury.

Fortunately her grandfather's house was also in Hertfordshire and she had been delighted to discover a great many friends who had been fond of her mother, as well as girls and boys she had known since childhood.

She certainly did not lack for invitations and there were parties and entertainments of every sort taking place week after week.

Even so she still missed Louise.

Although Narina wrote to her every week, as they had done when she first married, she was a little hurt that Louise's replies came so spasmodically.

They were not, she thought regretfully, as intimate as they had been when Louise first left England.

However, this idea of travelling to Alexanderburg because she was needed was something enthralling.

Narina found it difficult to concentrate properly on what she should take with her to wear and then there were presents to be bought for Louise and her Prince.

She also thought it would be a mistake not to take a selection of the latest books with her as her father thought that they would be of interest to Prince Rudolf.

The hours passed by, it seemed to Narina, with a swiftness that left her breathless.

*

Finally, early on Tuesday morning, she and her Papa drove off to London.

She was sure as they did so that they had left half the items she would need behind.

“Don't worry about it,” he counselled, “as far as I remember, you and Louise were always exchanging your clothes when you were young and I don't expect that either of you will have altered that much in the last two years!”

Narina laughed.

“That is quite true, Papa.  I remember being furious with Louise when she succeeded in ruining my best dress by spilling coffee on it!  While she accused me of spoiling her best hat when it blew off my head in a wind!”

“I only remember how pretty you two girls were and how much I enjoyed having Louise to stay with us.”

“I always believed, Papa, that she loved you better than she loved her own father, but I was far too tactful to say so.”

“You were right to keep those feelings to yourself, even though I am pleased to have her regard.  Louise is very like her mother, Princess Beatrice, who was a most charming woman.  It is only a pity she is not still with us today.”

Actually the Princess had died only a year after her daughter married and Narina had written to Louise to tell her how sorry she was.

But today she certainly did not want to remember the sad times – only the happy ones.

In fact she was feeling quite sure that Louise was not sending for her because she was unhappy.

In her last letter she had told Narina what fun she and her husband had when bathing in the Black Sea, where they had built a small Summer Palace in a quiet bay some way along the coast from the Capital of Alexenderburg.

They could easily escape to this idyllic spot and be on their own without too many courtiers and all the pomp and ceremony of the Court.

Nevertheless when she had retired to her bed in the comfortable cabin she had been given in the Battleship, she found herself wondering over and over again why Louise needed her so urgently.

Her father had been somewhat surprised at how few attendants there were to accompany his daughter on her journey to Alexanderburg.

There was only Baron Von Graben and his wife.

The Baroness was much younger than her husband and she was classically attractive like many Austrian women.

She always enjoyed travelling with her husband on his diplomatic missions, mostly because the men of any country they were visiting invariably pursued her.

She enjoyed dancing more than any other activity although the Baron said he was too old to dance, he had the reputation of being an extremely able diplomat.

He was also a master of many different languages and boasted he could speak with most other diplomats in their own language.

Besides the Baron and Baroness there was nobody else to look after Narina, except an Austrian maid.

Narina knew that her Papa was surprised at such a small party, but he was too courteous to comment.

“One thing, my dearest,” he whispered to Narina when they were alone in her cabin, “you will be able to rest before you arrive and enjoy the books I have given you.”

He had provided her with four books about Russia and the Balkan States from his extensive library.

“It is always a good idea,” he advised her, “to learn as much as possible about any country you are visiting – otherwise you might miss something of significance.”

“You have told me that before, Papa, and as you know, I have always tried to carry out your instructions.”

“Well, my instructions are for you to read all these books.  They will tell you about the people, their religions, their superstitions and above all their aspirations.”

The Bishop looked over his shoulder to make quite certain that there was no one listening.

“Be careful,” he said.  “The Russians are being very difficult in the Balkans, as Her Majesty was saying to me last week, they are taking over far too many Principalities.  In fact Her Majesty is most worried about the situation.”

“I do realise that, Papa, and I shall be very careful what I say.  I cannot help thinking that it must be worrying for Louise.”

“I am quite sure that Alexanderburg is safe as long as she is still on the throne – ”

“She did not mention any trouble in her letters, but sadly there have not been so many letters recently.”

“I am sure she has a good reason for asking you to go,” the Bishop reflected, “and you must help her in every way you can.”

He paused, thinking just how Queen Victoria had expressed her anger to him at the Russians' behaviour.

“If I had not sent my Battleships into the Aegean Sea,” she had raged, “those Russians would have been in Constantinople by now.  Heaven knows how hard I had to fight the Prime Minister to get him to pay any attention!”