rain everywhere and I, notwithstanding the moment of extreme tension, smiled to myself.
- “What do you have to smile about, Highness? He asked, curious.
-We are leaving a stream of water behind us.
- Does it seem so funny to you?”
- “Yes, decidedly”, a response at least unusual, not really according to protocol; “our passage certainly will not pass unnoticed”.
Even he smiled for the first time since we had met and that smile completely transformed his face, giving him a pleasant air and lighting up his too serious eyes.
- “You’re right” - he agreed – “we really look like two ducks in a pond”.
I laughed at that that curious expression I had never heard before and he echoed me.
We had to dine together in my apartment that evening.
When he arrived, he was most handsome in his red and gold suit, I had chosen a blue dress embroidered with silver and pearls.
- “What happened to that gracious dress that you had on today?” - he asked me.
- “Why”?
- “I liked it very much”.
- “But is was certainly not suitable for this so special evening.”
- “You say so? Aquamarine is my favourite colour.”
I looked at him and asked myself if he could be serious.
- “Would you have the patience to wait for me fifteen minutes more?”
- “Certainly”.
I disappeared into my rooms and changed in haste and fury, putting on a dress in the colour that he had declared was his favourite.
When I returned to the dining room, he met me with a delicious smile and whispered to me:
- “You have been kind to indulge me, but I don’t want you to believe that it’s your duty to do it in every case.”
- “No” - I said - “but I will always be happy to see you smile like now.”
- “Have they perhaps said that I am not a cheerful type? That I’m too serious and sometimes even sad?”
- “Yes”.
- “And what else have they said about me?”
- Oh God - I thought - here we are.
- “I know many things about you as an Archduke and Prince, about your brilliant studies, your culture, but, sincerely, I don’t know anything about you as a man; I imagine that also you don’t know much more about me.”
He insisted as if he had not heard:
- “What else?”
Then I gave a start - “Do you want to refer to what you mentioned in your letter?”
He stared into my eyes so intensely that I found it hard to bear that look. He made me stay calm whatever thing he revealed to me.
- “No” - I murmured - “they haven’t told me anything about that story and I, notwithstanding I was burning with curiosity, haven’t asked anyone anything. It seemed to me indelicate towards each other and I have decided that I would have learnt it only from you. If you don’t want to talk to me about it, don’t worry, I will respect your discretion and your wishes. Talk to me about it only when and if you wish. It’s your right to not say anything if it’s so painful for you. Because it is, isn’t it? I understood it as soon as I read those words.”
Peter Leopold did not reply, he only grasped my hand and brought it to his lips. I saw that his eyes were moved to tears.
- “I thank you for your sensitivity. I swear to you that I will tell you everything, one day. It’s not easy for me, but perhaps with you I will do it. I hope that we will be friends.”
- “Friends?” - I murmured and from my voice there must have leaked out the delusion that, notwithstanding everything, had invaded me at those words.
- “Is that not enough for you? Do you want” - he hesitated a moment - “love?”
I remained silent and thought of the only love that had lightened my life and, comparing it at this moment, felt a cold chill in my heart.
We sat down facing each other and not one of us had much desire to eat. We looked at each other, scrutinising each other in silence and chasing each other’s thoughts, while the waiters bustled around us.
I found him quite pleasant and interesting, in his manners and looks. Sensitive and sweet, which moreover confirmed the impressions his letter had made on me, but also direct and frank when it was necessary.
I felt a little embarrassed before his gaze, which was examining me with scrupulous attention, even though not arrogantly.
I hoped that I did not seem too insignificant to him nor too foolish. The extended silence at a certain point seemed intolerable to me and, I do not know why, I began to tell him about my childhood in Naples and the games in the park at the royal palace at Caserta, the marvellous climate and the sea.
- “Have you ever seen the sea?”
- “No, never.”
- “Oh, - I smiled - “in Naples it’s marvellous. Blue and green, transparent and warm. At sunset, the sun leaves golden stripes on the water that appear to contain all its light, almost to console us for the night that is coming and, in the evenings with a full moon, it’s a dream. Also in Vienna does the starlit sky appear to be a golden quilted blanket?”
He smiled, resting his chin on his hand, “Are you always so poetical?”
I do not know if he said it ironically, but by now the memories of my past, which was around the corner and yet it seemed to me centuries ago, crowded my soul so much that I could not stop. In the end, I had told him more than I would have wanted, but I did not regret it. I felt lighter and calmer now.
- “Have you ever been in love?” - He then asked me.
- “No” - I lied.
H blushed and closed his eyes - This however was a lie. I did not believe I deserved it.
- “Why do you want to know about me what you do not want to tell me about yourself?”
- “You are right, I apologise.”
- “And yet I want to be sincere with you. I was sixteen years old when I fell in love with a young gentleman in my brother’s entourage.”
- “Do you still love him?”
- “No; it was, I think, an adolescent thing, a little too much daydreaming. Or perhaps it was only a way of saying to myself that my soul and my heart were mine only and no-one could have them if I did not allow it - well, life is not like that, I know, but
