The King Without a Heart Read Online Free PDF

knew she had been fortunate in winning the battle.
    It was Nanny who packed her trunks and put in a lot of items she thought she might need that she would never have thought of herself.
    Nanny had also made her two very pretty day dresses and promised to send her several others when she had finished them.
    â€œI want you to look smart among all those strange people. Your mother always used to say that foreigners thought the English were dowdy and that’s something you must not be.”
    â€œI remember Mama saying that,” replied Titania, “and of course she was right. They do look dowdy abroad compared with the French who are so smart, while the Italians are always very glamorous in the evening.”
    â€œWell, you’re going to be glamorous with what we’ve bought you,” smiled Nanny, “and you hold your head high, dearie, and don’t let anyone put on you. You’re as good as they are, if not a lot better, and that goes for Lady Sophie for all her airs and graces.”
    Titania laughed because she could not help it. She knew that Nanny disliked Sophie in the same way as she disliked the Duchess.
    â€œI do wish you were coming with me, Nanny. At least we could have a good laugh at some of the things that will occur. As it is, I will have to keep a straight face. But I will write and tell you everything that happens to me.”
    â€œYou do that, dearie, and as I’ll be writing to you, we’ll feel close to each other and that’s the truth.”
    It was, however, very hard for Titania not to cry when she had to finally say goodbye to Mercury and then to Nanny.
    â€œPromise me, Nanny,” she implored her, “you will go and see Mercury every day. I know he will miss me and you must explain to him that I will come back as soon as I can, just to be with him.”
    â€œI’ll try and make him understand and don’t you worry about him, just worry about yourself and have a good time, while her Ladyship will be giving herself airs as a Princess.”
    â€œWhat I have to find, Nanny, is someone who will laugh with me and not take anything that happens too seriously.”
    At the same time it was still agony to kiss Nanny goodbye and have her last quick hug with Mercury.
    Then she climbed into the carriage which was to take them to London and there they would board the Battleship which was waiting to convey the bridal party to Velidos.
    The Duchess made it very clear to Titania that despite the fact that she was her niece she was of no importance and she was therefore to keep in the background.
    When the Duchess and Sophie swept aboard, the Captain of H.M.S. Victorious was waiting for them, while Titania was left to follow with her aunt’s lady’s-maid and a footman carrying the hand-luggage.
    They were received on board first by the Captain and then by a Minister of State for Velidos, who had been sent to escort them together with the two Ladies-in-Waiting and an Equerry.
    Titania saw at a glance that the Ladies-in-Waiting were elderly, plain and definitely pompous. She guessed they had been chosen because they could instruct Sophie on the importance of her position as wife of the Crown Prince and they would also explain her part in the marriage ceremony.
    The Equerry was a young man who looked almost Greek and he had, Titania thought, a twinkle in his eye.
    There was, however, no chance of anyone speaking except Sophie who was showing off and the Duchess was already complaining about the difficulties of travelling in a ship of war.
    As it happened, Titania had been aboard quite a number of Battleships at one time or another, as her father had often called on Naval Captains in foreign ports where it was unusual to see an Englishman.
    She thought as soon as her aunt and Sophie were settled into their cabins she might have a chance to explore the ship. However, she kept in the background, as she had been told to do.
    It was only when they were