A Princess Prays Read Online Free PDF

but now she felt certain that if they could reach the Shrine of St. Janos, he would be cured.
    She realised the doctors who attended to him would be sceptical of such an idea, but where Father Jozsef and the Saint were concerned miracles did happen.
    That was just what she expected.
    When she walked into luncheon she was not alone with her stepmother.
    There was the normal collection of two Ladies-in-Waiting and two Equerries as well as one Member of the Cabinet who had been visiting her father.
    As he was good-looking the Queen flirted with the Member of the Cabinet throughout the meal thus making it impossible for anyone else to talk to him.
    As the luncheon finished he felt he had neglected Attila.
    â€œI am afraid, Your Royal Highness,” he said, “may be finding things a little dull here at the moment. I have not heard of anyone throwing a ball or any other kind of party as it happens.”
    â€œI am quite happy without them,” replied Attila.
    â€œAt the same time it is something I must remedy,” the Queen chipped in, “and I think when Prince Otto visits us next week we should have a grand dinner party and a dance afterwards.”
    The Member of the Cabinet raised his eyebrows.
    â€œPrince Otto of Dedregen. Is he coming here?”
    â€œHe has more or less invited himself,” the Queen answered, “and of course we cannot possibly refuse him. Personally I find him a charming young man.”
    The Member of the Cabinet was about to protest that he was anything but charming and then he realised that Attila was beside him.
    He obviously thought it would be wrong to mention the scandals surrounding Prince Otto in her presence and Attila was well aware that he had hesitated over what he was about to say.
    And then he had bitten back the words.
    She thought of saying that she had heard all about the Prince’s escapades and therefore she had no wish to meet him, but she thought that as she was going away it would be foolish to cause trouble.
    When the Prince did arrive, her stepmother would undoubtedly attempt to make his visit a great success, but fortunately by that time she would be far away on the road to St. Janos!
    As they left the dining room table, her stepmother asked,
    â€œWhat are you doing now, Attila?”
    â€œI am going up to see Papa and if he is asleep, I will not wake him.”
    She walked away in a hurry and Queen Margit could not think of any reason to prevent her from going to her father.
    Attila knew that the Queen was afraid that if she gave the King information about Prince Otto he did already not know, there was every likelihood he would insist on the visit being cancelled.
    â€˜My stepmother is so determined to be rid of me,’ Attila ruminated as she climbed up the stairs.
    Once again she was praying very fervently that her father could be saved and that Father Jozsef and she would be able to prove the doctors wrong.
    That would be nothing new as all Valdina’s doctors were old-fashioned and very out-of-date where medicine was concerned, although they did their best, but Attila had often thought that far too many people died unnecessarily.
    Instead of their medicines her mother had believed in the country recipes that had been handed down for generations.
    In the past when someone was ill, the White Witch, who existed in most villages, had made them a potion from the herbs growing in the woods, many of which could still be found in the Palace Herb Garden.
    They were all simple remedies, but Attila had been given them ever since she was a baby and she had therefore avoided being prescribed for by a doctor.
    â€œIf we use the bounty that is given to us by nature, or rather by God,” her mother had said, “they are far more likely to be effective than anything ever invented by man.”
    Attila believed this implicitly and she thought now there was every chance that the doctors would be wrong in their diagnosis of her father’s