know that all the Empress will be interested in is our stables.”
He spoke complacently and they were both well aware that the stables at Ling Park were superlative and so the envy of every other landowner nearby.
“This will certainly delight our huntsmen,” the Duke carried on. “They have been rather downcast recently by being overshadowed by the Bicester and they will surely be piqued that this year the Empress has chosen the Pytchley.”
“That will give them an excellent reason for polishing themselves up,” Aletha said, “and I will need a new riding habit.”
“I suppose from Busvine, the most expensive tailor in London,” the Duke smiled.
“Of course and you, Papa, will need some new boots from Maxwell.”
“I hate new boots!” the Duke complained. “My old ones are very comfortable.”
“They are not smart enough,” Aletha insisted.
She then rose from the table as she spoke and kissed her father’s cheek.
“I am so glad for your sake, Papa, that the Empress is coming. I know it will make you happy and all the smart gentlemen in London who give themselves airs and graces will be green with envy!”
The Duke laughed.
“You flatter me. You know just as well as I do, my dearest, that the Empress Elizabeth is coming for the horses and not for me.”
“Now you are being mock-modest, Papa,” Aletha teased, “and it is well known that the Empress loves handsome men. A little bird told me that when you were in Vienna she danced with you every night and many more times than she danced with anyone else.”
“I cannot imagine where you get all this nonsensical gossip from!” the Duke complained.
But he was obviously feeling pleased with himself.
Aletha thought that it would be impossible for any woman not to find him attractive.
Later in the day the Duke told Aletha what instructions he had given to Mr. Heywood.
As he did so, she was regretting even more that her father could not go to Hungary and take her there with him.
She had read about the beauty of Budapest and the wonders of the Steppes where the horses galloped freely.
She had also heard of magnificent Palaces built by the Hungarian aristocrats.
And they, she had been told, were the most handsome and attractive men in all Europe.
If this was true, she could understand why the Empress preferred the Hungarians to the rather prosaic and stolid Austrians.
In fact everyone knew that she was most unhappy in Austria and she only felt free and unrestrained when she was in Hungary.
The magnetism of the country drew her to it.
But there were also stories of handsome hard-riding gentlemen.
They told her in words that were poetical and as beautiful as the country itself how much they loved her.
Aletha was very innocent.
She had not yet learnt of the affaires de coeur that were common in London amongst the Marlborough House Set following the example of the Prince of Wales.
She had always been extremely interested in the stories of the Empress of Austria and her overwhelming beauty.
She had therefore learnt a great deal about her simply by listening to her father’s guests.
Of course the servants also talked incessantly about the Empress Elizabeth after she had visited England.
The gossip of the servants’ hall was something that Aletha’s dear mother, if she had been alive, would have disapproved of her daughter listening to.
In 1874 the Empress had visited the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle and hunted for the first time on English soil.
One of the housemaids from The Castle was now employed at Ling Park.
Emily, for that was the girl’s name, talked of nothing but the beauty of the Empress and Aletha learned a great deal from her.
Also, although he did not mean it, from her father.
“Queen Victoria, accompanied by John Brown,” she heard him say to one of their recent guests, “called at Ventnor where the Empress had taken a house.”
“I had heard that she was there,” the Earl replied, “because her daughter was ill and sea-bathing was thought to be good for her.”
“That is right,” the Duke agreed. “But I am told that John Brown, of all people, was dazzled by the Empress’s beauty!”
There was a great deal of laughter at this.
Aletha knew that it was because John Brown was a rather dour Scottish ghillie who was attached to Queen Victoria and she to him.
Because he was Her Majesty’s favourite servant, he was often rude to the Courtiers and Statesmen in a way that they greatly resented.
When the laughter subsided, the Duke’s guest had carried on,
“John Brown may have been bowled over, but little Valeria was terrified of the Queen. In fact, she said, ‘I have never seen such a fat lady’!”
There was more laughter, but Aletha, listening to the conversation was interested only in what was said about the beautiful Empress Elizabeth.
There was a great deal more gossip when she came to England again two years ago.
Then, needless to say, everyone talked about her association with Captain Bay Middleton and the fact that the Empress was always in high spirits and quite untiring.
She had attended every Steeplechase in the neighbourhood and after one competition had been awarded a silver cup.
It was then that people began to speculate as to whether it was the hunt or the man with whom she was hunting that made her seem more beautiful than she had been before.
Aletha had met Captain Middleton with her father and she could therefore understand why the Empress admired him so much.
He was thirty, tall and good-looking with red-brown hair and a dark complexion.
He was called ‘Bay’ after the famous horse of that name, which had won the Derby in 1836.
Bay Middleton had been invited to Godollo for the hunting and so was Aletha’s father.
Aletha had prayed at the time that one day she might go with him.
And now the Empress was actually coming to Ling Park!
She knew that nothing could be more thrilling for her father, herself and everyone in the house and on the estate.
