The Accidental Marriage by Sally James Read Free Book Online Page B

right?’
    ‘Of course. It’s just so hot in here.’
    ‘Let’s walk out in the gardens for a while,’ Sir Carey said. ‘I believe there is to be a balloon ascent, and fireworks.’
    He gave each lady an arm and led them out to where they could sit on another of the benches. Almost immediately there was an explosion of fireworks, which made Fanny jump.
    ‘Look, they are making patterns in the sky,’ Julia pointed. ‘What are they, do you suppose?’
    ‘That one looks like the British coat of arms,’ Sir Carey said. ‘And now the Russian. How ingenious.’
    After a while Fanny began to shiver, and they went back towards the ballroom. On the way they met Prince Metternich and his wife, who stopped and said a few gracious words.
    He was tall and elegant, with blond curly hair. He was, Julia had been told, an excellent horseman and a good swimmer, though she doubted he would be swimming in the River Danube just now. Julia could understand why so many women seemed attracted to him, despite his reputation for being stiff and condescending. His wife Eleonore was small and plain, but she had been possessed of a large dowry, and Metternich’s family estates in the Rhineland had been lost during the wars. She seemed gentle, but her smile was wistful and Julia detected a sad expression in her eyes.
    Fanny was overcome, commenting as they moved away on how charming they were.
    ‘I don’t know how she endures his affairs,’ Sir Carey said. ‘He is so blatant over them.’
    Julia glanced at him. She felt instinctively that he was not the sort of man either to have affairs, or, if he did, to flaunt them.
    He asked Fanny to dance, but she excused herself, saying she was feeling tired and would prefer to sit quietly at the side and watch.
    ‘Shall I go and find Frederick?’ Julia asked. Not that he would be of much use, she thought, but at least she might persuade him Fanny ought to go home. It was long after midnight, and she was looking pale and exhausted.
    ‘No, dear, you dance. This is an occasion you will want to remember all your life. You must make the most of it.’
    So Julia danced once more with Sir Carey, and then with various other men, mostly Austrian officers who had been present at the victory parade earlier that day in the Prater, and were full of pride at the splendour of the show and the hospitality their city was providing for so many important people.
    From time to time Julia went back to Fanny, and was relieved that her sister had been joined by Mrs Pryce and a few of her older friends. They seemed content to sit and gossip, so Julia gave herself up to the pleasure of the occasion. She would never again, she was sure, be involved in such a spectacular party. She’d overheard more than one person saying it put even the Hofburg parties in the shade.
    At last, however, Fanny admitted she was tired, and Julia went with her to order the carriage. Frederick was nowhere to be found, and he, she told herself, could walk home. It was what he deserved for his neglect of Fanny. They hadn’t seen him all evening.
    There was a tremendous crush of departing guests, but eventually Julia found a footman to send for their carriage. These were arriving in an endless line, but Julia could see it would be an hour or more before their own appeared. She glanced round. There were so many people on the huge flight of stairs she wondered it did not give way. Many of the people, wrapped in cloaks, were sitting on the stairs, and she turned to suggest to Fanny that they make their way to the side and do the same.
    Fanny was even paler than before, and as Julia caught her arm, she uttered a faint moan and sank to the floor, swooning.
    Julia exclaimed in dismay, and bent over her sister.
    ‘Fanny, are you all right? Oh, please, give her room,’ she said to the people crowding round her. ‘She needs air.’
    ‘Let me.’
    It was Sir Carey, who had miraculously appeared beside her. He bent down and with no apparent effort