The Gates of Paradise by Barbara Cartland Page B

reception room for more than a few minutes before the aide-de-camp accompanied by Prince Hans entered the room.
    â€œYou must forgive us, Your Royal Highness,” he said to Narina, “if we are late, but His Royal Highness has been making an inspection of our Cavalry horses and has been most complimentary about them.”
    â€œI am delighted to meet Your Royal Highness, and to welcome you to the Palace,” Narina addressed him.
    She held out her hand and Prince Hans raised her hand in the French fashion and murmured,
    â€œYour Royal Highness is even more beautiful than I was told you were.”
    â€œI am only glad to see that Your Royal Highness is not disappointed,” Narina managed to reply.
    When they went into luncheon, two equerries, who had met the Prince on his last visit, joined them and he was most gracious to them.
    As luncheon began, he started talking and Narina could see why in many ways he was almost hypnotic.
    He was amusing, witty, and at the same time he had a sharp dig at everyone and everything he spoke about.
    Yet because it was like learning history that was not in books, she found the conversation fascinating.
    He paid Narina endless compliments in between all the catty remarks he was making about other Rulers, even the Czar himself.
    Alexander III was already being talked about as one of the most frightening Czars Russia had ever produced.
    Narina had heard her father expound the theory that although the Balkans had been frightened of Alexander II, he possessed many of the attributes of a fine Ruler.
    On the morning of his death he was working on a reform to launch Russia irrevocably into the modern world – the granting of a Parliamentary Charter.
    When he was later murdered, every house, balcony, window and lampstand was draped in black.
    Narina could recall that the first act of the new Czar, Alexander III, was to tear up the unfinished manifesto lying on his father’s desk.
    She had learnt since she arrived in Alexanderburg that Alexander III was already more feared by the world than any other Czar before him.
    If the Russians had been frightening before to their victims, they were doubly terrifying now.
    She only wished that she had asked her father more about the convoluted political situation in the Balkans.
    And now this good-looking Prince was deliberately poking fun at the Czar, who was beginning to terrorise all of Eastern Europe.
    Then unexpectedly the Prince changed his tune and looked Narina full in the face.
    â€œYou must now tell me all about yourself, beautiful Princess,” he began.  “In fact, as I am so overwhelmed by your beauty, I have had difficulty in thinking of anything else, least of all the troubles of Russia.”
    â€œBut you know that we are interested, Your Royal Highness,” the Lord Chamberlain chipped in.
    â€œYou will learn what is going to occur without my telling you about it,” the Prince replied blithely, “and now, because your flowers are famed throughout all the Balkan States, I would like Her Royal Highness to take me into the garden so that I can admire them.”
    It was quite obvious he did not want anyone else to accompany them.
    She gave the Lord Chamberlain a despairing look.  There was, however, nothing that Narina could do but accompany the Prince as an equerry opened a door into the garden.
    They did not go into the private garden, but into a larger garden that was just as lovely, and because she had wanted to keep out of sight, Narina had only peeped at it through the upstairs windows.
    Now, as she moved over the grass with Prince Hans beside her, she thought nothing could be more beautiful.
    The flowers were of every conceivable colour and there was again a profusion of the white lilies she loved.
    â€œThis is just the right setting for you,” Prince Hans was saying.
    They had talked in almost every language during luncheon – varying from the language of Alexanderburg, which