A Princess Prays by Barbara Cartland Page A

sternly.
    Attila knew this was very true and what was more if her stepmother had known what was about to happen, she would have prevented her from leaving the Palace.
    â€˜I have just escaped,’ she mused gleefully. ‘I have escaped not only to save my Papa, but to save myself from Prince Otto.’
    Even to think about him made her shudder so she changed the subject and talked to Father Jozsef about the countryside.
    *
    That evening they took their second meal of the day in a far more secluded place.
    They stopped by a large wood and for the first time Attila looked inside their carriage. It was wide and well padded, but what Attila had not expected was that Father Jozsef had divided it very skilfully down the middle.
    There was enough room for two people to sleep on the floor at the same time. The seats had been taken out and the floor was covered with two thick and comfortable mattresses.
    There was one on each side of a long wooden board which divided the carriage completely into two tiny rooms.
    Attila looked at the side where she was to sleep and she was touched to find a small mirror fixed to the wall as well as a little shelf for her brushes.
    â€œHow clever of you!” she cried to Father Jozsef.
    He proudly showed her his side, which was almost the same as hers.
    There was a place for his razor and toothbrush in front of the mirror and hooks for their clothes.
    Attila thought it was the cleverest transformation of a driving carriage she could ever have imagined.
    â€œWhere will the two men sleep?” she asked.
    â€œThey will sleep underneath the carriage and they have brought sleeping bags with them.”
    Father Jozsef sighed before he added,
    â€œIt is something I would have done myself if I was young, but I thought it wiser to be beside you. Also at my age I am rather bad at crawling under anything!”
    Attila laughed.
    â€œOf course you must not and I do think our moving Palace is delightful.”
    They rode until the sun was beginning to slip down the sky and then it was time for their supper.
    This time Lamos insisted on building a fire.
    They had hot soup to start with which Attila found delicious.
    She and Father Jozsef were seated some distance from the fire and the men who waited on them, and when they had finished the wine, which Father Jozsef had insisted she drank, Attila commented,
    â€œI have been thinking, Father, how lucky I am that you have taken me away from the Palace so that I will not have to meet Prince Otto.”
    â€œI hope you never meet him, my child.”
    â€œThat is what I hope too, but I am sure Stepmama will find another suitor. She will force me to marry simply because she wants to be rid of me.”
    â€œYou have not forgotten that one of our reasons for going to the Shrine at St. Janos is to pray that you will find love?”
    â€œI have not forgotten, Father.”
    There was a short silence and then she enquired,
    â€œHave you ever been in love, Father?”
    He looked at her quizzically and Attila thought he was debating whether he would tell her the truth.
    He might make an excuse to talk about something else, but he answered her,
    â€œThe reason I entered the Church and became as I am today was because I loved someone with all my heart, but I lost her.”
    â€œHow did that happen? Surely she did not have to marry someone else.”
    Father Jozsef shook his head.
    â€œNo, no. I loved her and she loved me, but we were both very young. I had no money and there was no chance of us marrying until I could provide her with a proper home.”
    â€œYour father was not well-off?”
    â€œHe had a little money and later made a great deal more, but I was just one of a family of six. Actually, as my brothers were older, my father had enabled them to acquire homes which cost him a considerable amount of money.”
    â€œSo you were going to marry the girl you loved so much when you could afford it, Father.”
    â€œThat