Ah! Better! Oh, this must be a magic potion, I feel so light at heart. I don't think I ever had more than two glasses before… I should be interested to see what happens after three or four… Who knows?
Maybe I'm simply going to be a drunkard. Then I can forget everything. Everybody. Especially one everybody. Oh, I wish I could forget him.
I shall, he's going away to Mexico, isn't he?
Gigi told me when she came up in the afternoon to say how sorry she was. Ah, but she can't have known it had not been her I'd really been talking to, it had been him! It was he alone who was to know that I really did not want to get married at all and that I was not an ambitious little schemer! Oh, that shameful moment when he read those silly names in my diary. How silly and stupid he must have thought me! I can't bare it! I'll have to have more wine.
OH NO! I hadn't thought of it before. Does he think I'm in love with him? Because I wrote those names? Does he think I'm an infatuated little girl who puts his name to hers? That's a dreadful idea, but, everything considered, that's what he really must think! When I remember what I said to him even before, how I went on and on, oh help! No. I can't let it stand like that, with my honour at stake!"
Flora staggered out of bed.
When she finally stood upright, shaking slightly, she looked about herself. Somehow the world was not as solid as it used to be.
Why had she been getting up? Right, to talk to the prince.
But where was he? She pondered the question for a while. Then she remembered that the Prince did not live in Palazzo Sforza at all but on the other side of the lake.
She was on the stairs leading down carrying the three-quarters empty whine bottle along.
Could she walk there? No… that was too far, twenty miles at least, she guess. He would have left once she'd got there.
Swimming? He would do that. She could, it came to her, not swim at all as far as she remembered. She could try, of course, it could not be as hard as that? She waddled through the dark corridors and into the drawing room. She opened the french window and stepped out into the park. The moon was shining brightly, a sharp crescent, like a dagger from the orient.
"Hello doggies… pardon me…" Flora said to the watchdogs who wiggled their tails sleepily as she passed them.
She reached the lakefront and considered jumping into the water, when she had a better idea.
"Boat…" she mumbled and swayed towards the landing stage. "Need a boat, yes?"
There were three or four larger barges but also a few smaller rowing boats for individuals. Flora stumbled into the one closest to her. "Ha!" she declared. "Watch out, Francesco Karlsburg, I'm coming!"
She began to row but after a few strokes she realised that she was not advancing. She giggled stupidly. "The rope! Ha! I'm an idiot." She stood up again and, in what could be considered a breathtaking manoeuvre, she freed the boat from the pier.
Flora sat, took the rows into her hands and started out into the night.
"We shall see, huh? We shall see what you think of me, once I'm done with you, Princeypincey!"
She pulled and pulled and pulled. All the while she kept mumbling to herself. Occasionally, she took a sip from the bottle, but after about half an hour it was empty. "Bloody thing…" she swore and threw it into the water.
Fortunately it was a straight line from Palazzo Sforza to the protruding peninsula on which Francesco's residence stood for Flora had no idea how she would have been able to stir the thing.
After an hour of rowing she hit against a stony shore, just underneath a magnificent white baroque caslte. Much to Flora's discomfort, the fresh night air and the exercise had diminished the wine's effect and she was not as courageous as she had been before.
What now?
It turned out that Francesco's watchdogs did not know her and soon they were barking and howling until a few lights came rushing down from the castle towards her. As they approached Flora saw that they were torches carried by soldiers. All of them armed up to the teeth.
They looked quite startled to find a tiny girl in a white nightgown, sitting in a boat and trying to control her facial features.
"Ma Signorina, cosa fa? Chi è? Ha avuto un incidente?"
Flora understood that they wanted to know who she was.
"Flora…" she pointed at herself. "Parlare con il Principe!"
They stared in bafflement.
"Flora Parker. Palazzo Sforza! Surrey! Duca inglese è mio amico! Cugino of the bloody Principe… whatever. My italian is finished here. Get me to the Prince, now will you?"
Fourteen
Castello Maggiore, about 1:30 am
Francesco was instantly awake as he heard the dogs barking. His sleep had been restless anyway since he had delved in and out of unpleasant dreams for several hours.