The Dangerous Marriage by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788676687
Publisher: Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
Published: 2023-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The next morning Gloria received two Deputations of women one after the other.

The first came to petition her to do something about the Hospital.

“But surely you have one?” Gloria asked.

“We have, my Lady,” the woman replied, “but it is very old-fashioned. We have none of the new instruments and medicines we read about, which they have in Greece and in other neighbouring countries.”

“Is the King aware of this?” Gloria enquired.

“Oh, yes, my Lady, but he does not like anything that is new. He says that what was good enough for his father is good enough for him.”

The next Deputation asked her to improve the schools for the younger children.

Apparently there were very few schools and the teachers were old and very scarce.

The children therefore had little chance of getting on well when they moved up into the more senior schools.

Again Gloria found that it was the King who thought that children could do quite well without being educated until they were ten years old.

She was feeling depressed as well as angry by the time the Deputations left.

She next put on her hat to be ready to drive to the Houses of Parliament.

She expected to find Prince Darius waiting for her.

Her heart sank when she saw that it was the Crown Prince.

“Where is your brother?” she enquired.

“There is no sign of him,” the Crown Prince said crossly, “and the King has instructed me to go with you instead.”

Gloria thought that Prince Darius was behaving very badly, but she knew that it would be a mistake for her to say so.

Instead she drove off with the Crown Prince and they were accompanied by an elderly woman whom she was told was her Lady-in-Waiting.

Today there were no crowds lining the route and the people walking about the streets did not appear to be very interested in her.

It occurred to Gloria that the large turn-out yesterday had obviously been contrived and orchestrated by The Palace

She guessed that the Union Jacks had been distributed amongst the children by Officials.

She thought that there was little point in discussing the matter with the Crown Prince.

They drove in silence until they reached the Houses of Parliament, which were indeed quite impressive.

They were received at the main entrance by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

They were then taken into a large hall where the Members of Parliament were all seated.

Once again Gloria was obliged to listen to the Prime Minister making a long and dreary speech.

He said the very same things that he had said yesterday, only more long-winded.

He was followed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Arginos, who claimed that the whole idea of the Wedding to Queen Victoria’s relative was his and his alone.

After he had finished, there were speeches by two other elderly men.

By this time Gloria had ceased to listen.

Instead she was thinking that it was most unfair of Prince Darius to have left her in the lurch at such a crucial moment.

She was not required to make a speech because she was a woman and the Crown Prince spoke on behalf of his brother.

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