The King Without a Heart by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online Page A

cabin and Sophie said the same and it seemed extraordinary to Titania they should not want to look at the beauty all around them.
    There was the great Rock of Gibraltar, glimpses of the Northern coast of Africa, then the island of Malta and finally the many Greek islands in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern coastline of Greece.
    All of these sights thrilled Titania.
    Even while the ship was pitching and rolling in the Bay of Biscay, she had managed to attend her lessons with Darius.
    They had laughed when the books slipped off the table and found it amusing when it became so rough that it was easier to sit on the floor than on a chair.
    Darius was astonished how quickly Titania assimilated the Velidosian language and she seldom made a second mistake if he had corrected her.
    When he praised her, she admitted,
    â€œI am really a fraud, Darius, because I do know Greek and I find that nearly every other word of your language has a Greek origin.”
    â€œI know His Majesty will never believe it when I tell him that one member of the party from England can speak our language fluently,” Darius told her.
    â€œIt is something the King wishes us to do?”
    â€œHe considers it very important for Lady Sophie to be able to speak her husband’s language and, of course, he did not know that you would be aboard.”
    Titania thought that would not be of much interest to him anyway.
    Aloud she said,
    â€œI only hope we make a good impression when we do arrive.”
    â€œI can assure you, you will do so,” replied Darius.
    She smiled at him thinking how kind he was, but she was always apprehensive that her aunt would discover she was having lessons with him.
    Titania was quite certain that, if the Duchess learnt she was sitting for hours alone with a young man, she would put a stop to it immediately, but at that moment she was feeling far too ill to worry about anything.
    Sophie was in the same state and this enabled Titania to be with Darius almost the whole day.
    When their lessons were over they went out on deck. Darius managed to procure a mackintosh coat for her from one of the seamen and it covered her from top to toe.
    They watched the waves splashing over the bow of the ship, jumping to avoid those which would have soaked them to the skin if they had not been quick enough to get out of the way.
    It was all great fun and they laughed a lot and Titania was now a little less unhappy at leaving Mercury.
    She was, however, afraid that everything would be changed when they reached the Mediterranean.
    The two Ladies-in-Waiting crept into the Saloon for luncheon, looking very pale and still suffering from seasickness.
    â€œHow is it possible,” the elderly Minister of State asked Titania, “that you enjoy the sea and are apparently stimulated by it rather than collapsing as your relations have done?”
    â€œI have led a very different life from theirs,” Titania told him. “I travelled with Papa and Mama when I was practically in the cradle. So I have become immune to all the difficulties and problems that other people endure when they leave solid English soil.”
    He laughed at her remark and the way he looked at her told Titania that he admired her. It gave her a happy feeling she had not enjoyed since she had gone to live with her uncle.
    Whilst they were passing along the Northern Coast of Africa, Titania was still having her lessons, which had now become conversations rather than bothering with grammar and the pronunciation of words.
    â€œDo you suppose,” Titania asked of Darius, “there would be any chance of our visiting Greece? I would so love to see again all the places I love so much that I feel I really belong to them.”
    Darius smiled.
    â€œI am glad you feel like that and it is certainly something which will please the King.”
    â€œWhy particularly him?”
    â€œI thought you knew,” replied Darius, “that the King’s mother was