"Oh Freya ... Freya ... you go too fast."

"Well, we decided to run away. I am sure Providence was on our side that night. What I did was make up a roll of clothes and put them in the bed before I left. I arranged the bedclothes so that it looked as though the Countess Freya was sleeping there. That was just in case anyone looked in and raised the alarm before we had a chance to get far enough away. Tatiana planned to come in, hit me unconscious, and then start the fire. I knew it as soon as I came back and heard what had happened, because she came in before I had gone. I was sitting in my window with my dressing gown over my outdoor clothes, waiting for the moment to slip out, when my door opened stealthily. I kept behind the curtains so I was able to hide to a certain extent and I saw her creep to my bedside. She was holding a fire-iron in her hand.

"I was sitting in the dark because I didn't want to attract attention ... sitting in the window waiting for Gunther to give the call from below that the coast was clear. I called out, 'What do you want, Tatiana?' She was terribly startled. She said she thought she had heard me call out. I told her I had not and asked what she had in her hand. She said, 'Oh, I just didn't wait to put it down. I was dealing with the fire in my room when I thought I heard you call.' Of course it was all very odd, but I had other things on my mind and I forgot about it. Soon Gunther and I were on our way. We went to the priest and got married, and being married is rather wonderful, Anne dear, when you are married to the Right One."

"Oh Freya ... dearest Freya ..."

"No tears. I'm here. You're safe. This ridiculous case against you is over. You can't accuse someone of murder when there was no murder, can you? But Tatiana tried to kill me and would have done so if I hadn't run away that night to get married. You see how favoured I am. I am so happy, Anne. Gunther is the most wonderful husband—far, far better than Sigmund would ever have been. Who wants to be the old Grand Duchess? I'd rather be Gunther's wife ... and think of the dear little babies well have, looking just like him ... and some like me perhaps ... for I am not bad-looking, am I? Gunther thinks I'm beautiful."

"Oh Freya, stop," I cried. "Talk seriously. Did Sigmund come?"

"They were trying to reach him to tell him what had happened. Of course, when I appeared with Gunther everything was thrown into confusion. They had all decided that you were the murderess and I learned that you had been taken away for your safety. You can imagine the consternation when I arrived. You can't have a murder without a victim. The Graf and Grafin were horrified. You know why, don't you? They thought if I were out of the way Tatiana would get Sigmund. Then I appear. There has been no murder ... and someone has been hustled away for her own safety. My dear Anne, who wouldn't harm a hair of my head, and only chastises me by making me learn those horrible old English words. Why the English couldn't have made German their language, I could never understand. It's so much easier, so much more reasonable."

"Freya, Freya, please ..."

"I know. I run on. It's because I'm happy. I've got Gunther and that's wonderful. And I saved you. Oh, Anne, I was terrified. I thought I would be too late. I knew she was the one. I understood why. You see, I had caught her before I went off. I knew she had come back. She had hit that bundle of clothes in the darkness... . She wouldn't bring a light, would she. And when she thought I was unconscious she set fire to the bed. Then she blamed you for it. I heard you'd gone to Klingen and I knew then what she was going to do. So I pretended to be a ghost. She's very superstitious and I knew that would frighten her out of her wits. Well, it would, wouldn't it, to see the ghost of someone you thought you'd murdered? I did rather well, I think. And now she's confessed her guilt—or she will—and you and I will be together... ."

I could not speak. I was so overcome with emotion.

We had been in the schloss less than an hour when Conrad arrived. He came galloping in at the greatest speed and when I was swept up in his arms I thought I should die of happiness. The transition from utter despair to the heights of bliss was too sudden. And when he held me at arm's length and looked at me as though he must take in every detail of my face to make sure I was really there, I wondered how I could ever have doubted him.

Freya regarded us with satisfaction.

"All is well," she said. "What a wonderful ending! Now I know what they mean when they said 'and they all lived happily ever after.' And to think that it is all due to my cleverness. Though I do admit Gunther had a hand in it. Gunther!" she called.

And there were the four of us, smiling, clinging together.

It was a wonderful reunion. I knew there would be difficulties ahead—and none knew that more than Conrad— but for the moment we gave ourselves up to the complete joy of being together, to a happiness which was the greater because of the fearful ordeal through which we had passed. Conrad told me he had been terrified when he arrived at the Grand Schloss and heard that Freya was dead and I was accused of her murder and had been taken to Klingen.

He then learned that Freya had married Gunther. He had raced to the Rock, and until he had actually seen me, he had been in terror that he might arrive too late.

And he would have done, but for Freya.

"Oh Freya," he cried, "how can I ever be grateful enough!"

Freya beamed on us, looking like the beneficent goddess she had so delighted in imagining herself to be.

"I don't know why I should be so good to you when you preferred someone else," she said severely.

"As for me," he retorted, "you jilted me. You just ran off and left me."

"Nothing to what you did to me. Falling in love with my English governess. Never mind. I'll forgive you because I happen to like her quite a lot myself. And now I shall have to call her Philippa, which is very strange. I don't know how I shall manage that."

Dear Freya! She could not look beyond the moment, and as it was a very happy moment, perhaps she was wise not to.

Later Conrad said to me: "We must imitate Freya. We'll get a priest to marry us."

"You are still the Grand Duke's heir," I reminded him.

"I am no longer affianced to Freya. There will have to be dispensations and so on, but she has broken that contract irrevocably. I shall now marry to please myself."

"It may be the people will not like it."

"They must accept it or banish me."

"You are risking a great deal."

"I risk unhappiness for the rest of my life if I don't seize my opportunities.".

We rode to the Marmorsaal with Freya and Gunther and there we found a priest who married us.

"The deed is done," said Conrad with a laugh. "There can be no turning back now."

"I hope you will never regret it."

Gunther and Freya rode back to the town with us, and we were able to slip quietly into the Grand Schloss. There I was presented to the Grand Duke and Conrad told him that we were married. Freya and Gunther were present and the four of us stood before the old man.

He gave us his blessing although it was clear that he found the situation very disquieting. It was a most unorthodox way in which to behave.

He said with a smile, as he looked at Conrad with real affection: "I can see I shall have to live a little longer until they've all grown accustomed to the idea."

He looked at me gravely: "I know," he said, "that you have been wrongfully accused and I know there has been a long-standing friendship between you and the Baron. You have come into a way of life which will have many difficulties. I hope your affection for your husband will carry you through them."

I kissed his hand and thanked him. I thought he was gracious and charming.

Later I talked with Conrad.

He said that his uncle understood the situation because he had explained it to him. Tatiana's ambition had been to be Grand Duchess in due course, and she had sought to achieve this ambition through marriage. Two people stood in her way: Freya and myself. So therefore she planned to be rid of us both at the same time. What had happened in England had been known to her family because they had been at the centre of that faction which had wanted to get rid of Rudolph and set up Sigmund in his place.

"There are always such intrigues going on in these small states and principalities," said Conrad. "I have always thought it would be a good thing if we could be joined as one great country—a great empire. We should be more prosperous, a world power. As it is we fight among ourselves. There are secret societies and continual intrigues. No one can accuse a single person of Rudolph's murder. It would doubtless have been carried out by a hired assassin."

"Perhaps Katia's brother."

"Very likely. He was close by and it would have been reasonable to choose him. But who can say? And in any case he could not be accused of murder for he would be acting on instructions as a soldier does. Your sister died solely because she happened to be there. There was no intrigue against her ... unless there was a child of course whom she might bring forward. That's how it would have happened. It could happen to us, you know. Pippa, have you thought of the sort of life you are marrying into? You live dangerously here. It is a long way from your English village where the main cause for concern is the death-watch beetle in the church roof and who will be elected to the parish council."

"I know exactly what I am doing," I said, "and so did Francine. I wouldn't change it. It is what I want."

He said: "There is another thing. The people may not like our marriage. Kollenitz can't object because it was Freya who broke the contract. But the people here ..."

"They would have preferred you to marry Tatiana."

"Not now, because Tatiana will not come out of her convent, I imagine. She will be nursed back to health there, for they will say that she needs it. And very likely she will take the veil. It is what happens in such cases. She was always unbalanced. Now I believe her reason has deserted her. It may come back ... and then she will not wish for any other but the convent life. And for us ... we have to wait, Pippa. We shall have another marriage ceremony ... one with celebrations in the streets. I'm sorry, but you did marry me, remember. You have to face them. I think they'll like you ... in time. How can they help it? They might even think it is romantic ... charming. They are like that, you know. Freya has been forgiven. There were flowers and cheers for her when she rode through the streets. They have always liked Freya."

"I can well understand that," I said. "Freya is charming and young and fresh and natural."

"They like Gunther too. The fact is they like romance, and the story of her running away with the one she loved has caught their imagination ... as our story must do."

"Conrad," I said earnestly, "you don't wish that you could give it up, do you? It means a great deal to you ... this country... ."

I saw the dreamy, far-away look in his eyes.

He had been brought up here. He belonged here. I had to learn to accept that.

"God's in His Heaven"

It was two months later when our ceremonial wedding took place, and I was almost certain at the time that I was going to have a child. The thought gave me confidence. My life was here, and the child I carried would be heir to the. dukedom.

Conrad looked splendid. I was dressed in a white gown which was covered in pearls. I had never worn anything so grand. Freya assured me that I looked magnificent, every bit the future Grand Duchess. The Grand Duke's presence at the wedding gave it the seal of official approval, and to my astonishment I came through the ordeal well enough.

I rode through the streets afterwards in the carriage with the ducal arms emblazoned on it. I stood on the Schloss balcony with Conrad on one side of me and the Grand Duke on the other, while the people cheered us.

Conrad was delighted. I had come through with honours; and that night I told him about the child.

My child was due in six months and I was living, as they said, quietly, at the Marmorsaal in the forest. I would take rides out in a small carriage which had been selected for my use, and because it was small and insignificant I could go out unceremoniously.