The Enchanted Waltz by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782135920
Publisher: Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
Published: 2014-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Wanda looked round her in astonishment.

She had already grown used to seeing magnificent pomp and splendour wherever she went in Vienna, but tonight, at a fête given by the Czar in honour of his sister, everything that had happened before seemed to pale into insignificance.

The party was being held in Count Razumovsky’s Palace. The vast riding school had been converted into a ballroom and the corps de ballet had been brought from the Imperial Theatre in Moscow.

Everyone who had been invited, including Wanda, had expected to see something unusual, but even they were awestruck at the magnificence with which everything was presented that evening.

It was difficult for anyone to surpass the fêtes already given.

The Metternich Ball, where the guests sat down to supper in a grove of orange trees, Baron Arnstein’s, where flowers covered the walls and staircases and Lord Castlereagh’s great Gala Ball, where his Lordship danced a Scottish reel and her Ladyship wore her husband’s Order of the Garter in her hair, had already created a precedent that it was hard to rival.

But Count Razumovsky, on behalf of the Czar, was determined that the Russian Ball should be the talk of Vienna, at least until another and richer host provided an even more fantastic entertainment.

The guests had, of course, heard whispers of what was to be provided for their delectation. The Baroness had been told on good authority that everyone at supper was to receive a plateful of cherries that had come from the Imperial gardens at St. Petersburg at the cost of a gold piece for each and every cherry.

Strawberries had been brought from the Royal gardens of England, grapes from Burgundy, truffles from Périgord, oysters from Ostend and oranges from Palermo.

People had chattered so much about what they were to receive that it might have been expected that most of them would be disappointed. On the contrary, blasé though they might be from so much entertainment, the Nobility of Europe were amazed and delighted at what they found in the Razumovsky Palace.

Wanda had felt almost unbearably excited ever since the invitation had come for the Baroness and herself.

“I was afraid that I might be forgotten,” she said, as the Baroness held out the huge invitation card.

“I should think there was no fear of that,” the old lady replied drily.

“I could not be sure,” Wanda answered, trying to speak calmly while her heart hammered in her breast that he had not forgotten.

She had not heard from the Czar for the past week and it seemed to her as if the days had never gone so slowly or seemed so long.

She would feel again those fierce demanding kisses on her mouth that he had given her before she had wrenched herself from his arms and run sobbing down the corridors of the Palace.

Why, she asked herself not once but a thousand times, had they quarrelled and been so ill at ease with each other during those precious moments together?

Had it been her fault?

She could not answer that question because she could not really understand what had happened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.