Barbara Cartland - A Kiss In Rome

She had been an outstanding success in London Society.

In fact she was such a sensation that Alina had lost touch with her.

At first the two girls had corresponded with each other frequently, but soon Alina found that she was writing three letters to one hurried note in reply from Denise.

She therefore thought that perhaps she was imposing on their friendship and wrote only occasionally and sometimes at Christmas.

Lately she had not written to her at all.

Now Denise was saying,

“Dearest, you must forgive me for not having come to see you sooner. I have not been at home or with my grandmother, but staying in all sorts of exciting houses for house parties which I am longing to tell you about.”

“You look lovely, Denise!” Alina exclaimed.

She was looking as she spoke at the very elegant travelling coat that Denise was wearing and her hat trimmed with feathers.

She noted too the elegance of her gloves, her shoes and her handbag, in fact everything about her was the height of fashion.

They went into the drawing room and Denise gave a cry of surprise.

“What has happened?” she exclaimed. “What have you done? Where are all the lovely mirrors and the pictures I remember so well?”

“I have so much to tell you,” Alina replied quietly.

Denise waited and then Alina went on,

“After Papa died, we found that we were very poor.”

“I was so upset to hear about his accident,” Denise murmured sympathetically. “But I had always imagined that you were very comfortably off.”

“We thought we were,” Alina answered her, “but there were a great many debts and Papa’s investments did not pay any dividends.”

Denise clasped her hands together.

“Oh, dearest, how terrible! I wish I had known. Of course I would have wanted to help you.”

Alina drew in her breath.

“I don’t think you know,” she murmured, “that Mama – died three weeks ago.”

Denise gave a little cry of horror and flung her arms round Alina.

“I had no idea, oh, Alina, I am so sorry. I know how much you loved her and I loved her too.”

“Everybody loved Mama,” Alina sighed, “but she found that she could not go on living without Papa at her side.”

Denise sat down on a sofa that was clearly in considerable need of repair.

“You must tell me all about it,” she suggested. “I had no idea that anything like this had happened. When I decided to come to you for help, I expected, of course, to find your mother here with everything in the house as beautiful as I have always thought it to be.”

“We have had to sell everything that was saleable,” Alina admitted in a low voice.

There was a little pause before she added,

“We will talk about that later. I want to hear about you and the success you have been in London and, of course, why you have come to me for help.”

She saw by the expression in her friend’s eyes that something was really wrong.

After a moment Denise exclaimed,

“Oh, Alina, I have been such a fool! You will not believe how stupid I have been.”

Alina sat down beside her.

“Tell me all about it, dearest.”

“That is what I decided to do and why I came here,” Denise replied, “and I was sure that you would help me.”

Alina reached out and took Denise’s hand in hers.

“Start at the beginning,” she urged.

“Well, as you have heard, I was a success in London. I really was a great success, Alina, and it would be silly of me to deny it.”

“How could you be anything else?” Alina asked her fondly. “You are so lovely and you have all those beautiful clothes that you wrote and told me about.”

“My grandmother was very generous,” Denise said, “and naturally Papa was prepared to pay for anything I wanted.”

There was a smile on her lips as she added,

“I really was the belle of every ball I went to!”

“Of course you were,” Alina supported her loyally.

“It is not only your looks that count in London,” Denise added. “There are plenty of sophisticated beauties who fascinate the Prince of Wales and all the smart gentlemen who frequent the Marlborough House parties.”

“I am sure that none of them could be as beautiful as you,” Alina smiled.

“They think they are far more beautiful and the men who go after them are not interested in debutantes .”

Alina waited, still wondering what could be wrong.

“However I have had dozens of proposals,” Denise told her, “and finally, Alina, I lost my heart.”

“How exciting!” Alina exclaimed. “Who is he? And are you very happy?”

Denise gave a deep sigh.

“He is very handsome and he is the Earl of Wescott so Papa was only too delighted at the idea of my marrying him.”

“You are going to be married?”

“That is what has gone wrong,” Denise answered.

“But what has happened?”

“I cannot understand how I can have been such a fool! Henry was in love with me, very much in love with me, and asked me to marry him.”

Alina was listening wide-eyed.

She could not understand the story that she was hearing.

“I don’t know what came over me,” Denise continued, “but I think it was because Henry rather took it for granted that I would accept him. Although there could be no question of my doing anything else, I prevaricated.”

“You mean,” Alina asked, “that you did not accept him.”

“I did in a way, but told him that he would have to wait a little for us to be quite certain that we really loved each other.”

“And he disagreed?”

“No. But, Alina, I was so stupid! Just to make him more in love with me and a little jealous, I flirted with a lot of other men, until finally I went too far.”

“What happened then?” Alina asked.

“Henry wrote me a letter saying that it was quite obvious that I did not really care for him and then he left England!”

There was a note of despair in Denise’s voice that Alina did not miss.

“He left England?” she questioned. “But where has he gone?”

“He has gone to Rome to stay with his grandmother,” Denise replied, “and I am terrified, yes terrified, that I shall never see him again.”

“But, surely, if you write to him – ” Alina began.

“I am not going to do that. I have decided to go to Rome and see him. I know when he sees me again everything will be all right. I can tell him that I love him more than anything on earth and we will be married.”

Alina thought for a moment before she said,

“I am sure that is a sensible solution.”

“But it will be difficult and that is why I have come to see you, my dearest friend.”

“What can I do to help?” Alina enquired.

“Well, Papa has agreed that I can go to Rome, and, as it so happens, my cousin, Lord Teverton, whom you have never met, is going there on a special mission on behalf of the Prime Minister. I can travel with him, but, of course, I need to have a chaperone with me.”

Alina nodded.

She could understand that it would be impossible for a young girl to go abroad without one to look after her and make sure that she does not get into trouble.

“That is why I came to see you,” Denise said, “because I have been trying to remember the name of that Governess we had for a short while when Miss Smithson was ill. She was a married woman and a very pleasant lady.”

“A Governess?” Alina repeated, “but surely – ?”

“I know what you are thinking, exactly the same as Papa did, that I should take one of my relatives with me. An aunt or an older cousin.”

She threw out her hands in a very expressive gesture and added,

“Can you imagine what they would be like? They would be coy and then say, ‘now you young people want to be alone together,’ which would make me feel hot with embarrassment. Or else they will play the strict chaperone and never allow me to be alone with Henry for an instant.”