The Cruel Count (Bantam Series No. 28) Read Online Free PDF

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    “I see that I must tell you my secrets,” he said quietly. “Katona is extremely important in our re-construction of Europe. Since the Conference of Aix-la-Chapelle last year and the readmission of France to the Concert of Europe, we are desperately trying to maintain the balance of power.”
    Vesta had always taken an interest in politics and she understood what he meant.
    He smiled at her beguilingly as he continued:
    “At the moment I am firmly resisting the plans of Alexander, the Tzar of Russia, together with Prince Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor, to institute a league of European powers and to guarantee the existing order under the sanction of military force.”
    “I am sure that would be a mistake,” Vesta exclaimed.
    “I can see you have a grasp of these matters,” Lord Castlereagh said, “and that is why you can understand that we are most anxious for you to go to Katona and use your influence with Prince Alexander.”
    He saw the expression on her face and said:
    “I know the Prince, Lady Vesta, and I promise you he is intelligent and a good sportsman.”
    ‘Will he love me?’ Vesta longed to say, but knew that was a question no-one expected her to ask.
    The Prime Minister, handsome despite the fact that the cares of office had stamped their mark on his face, was as persuasive as the Foreign Secretary.
    “I can assure you, Lady Vesta, that there is no-one we would rather see as the wife of the Ruler of Katona than your father’s daughter.”
    He smiled at her.
    “I am well aware from my long acquaintance with your family how much this country means to you all and that no-one—and I mean that in all sincerity—could be a better Ambassador for Britain.”
    ‘High-sounding words!’ Vesta had thought when she returned home.
    But they still left her with the prospect of marrying a man she had not even seen and of whom she knew nothing except that Statesmen spoke well of him.
    As if he sensed the tumult within her, Lord Castlereagh’s last words were meant to be consoling.
    “I have visited Katona, Lady Vesta,” he said. “The scenery is very beautiful and the flowers are a delight both to the eye and the mind. Sometimes nature can give us what people fail to do!”
    Now that she had come to Katona, Vesta knew what he meant.
    At the same time not even the Foreign Secretary of England had anticipated that she would arrive in the middle of a Revolution to find herself unwanted.
    Then as she thought about the Count’s insistence that she should return home, she realised with her knowledge of diplomacy that the Prince would not compel her to return even though the Revolutionaries might have done so.
    For him to take an action of that sort would undoubtedly cause a diplomatic incident between Great Britain and Katona. Their engagement had been widely publicised in the newspapers and even mentioned in Parliament.
    Although Vesta had had little time to get together a trousseau and to sail on the date that was expected of her, a large number of parties had been given in her honour.
    The wedding presents had numbered hundreds, including one from the Prince Regent—a Chinese bowl of great antiquity which had aroused the admiration of all who had seen it.
    “No,” Vesta told herself, “the Prince will not dare to force me to return however much he might wish to do so.”
    She decided too that the Count had definitely overstepped his orders in trying to bully her into leaving the country.
    Then the thought which had over-shadowed her arrival returned to her mind to jeer at her.
    Because her day-dreams and romances were so much part of her life, she had tried to tell herself a fairy story about herself and Prince Alexander.
    She had believed, with a childish faith, that when they met they would fall in love with each other.
    After all, even Mama told her that Katonians being dark admired fair women, and Vesta would have been extremely stupid had she not known that she was very pretty.
    It was