The Princess of Denmark by Edward Marston

Author:Edward Marston [Marston, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: rt, Mystery & Detective, tpl, MARKED, Fiction, Historical
ISBN: 9780749015411
Google: olZmAwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00GQDQD3I
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2014-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

Seated in the window, Sigbrit Olsen was lost in thought. She knew that she should be grateful to her Uncle Bror for the care he took of her, but she still could not bring herself to look with any enthusiasm on the marriage that he had arranged for her. She had lost her first husband in a hunting accident and had wept for a month afterwards. Sigbrit felt that it was impossible to recapture the love and respect that she had shared with him. The notion of going to England was an enticing one but not if she were to be kept there in perpetuity. She did not wish to cut herself off from her friends and fellow countrymen forever. Nothing could compensate for that.

She was too preoccupied to hear the door open and shut behind her. It was only when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder that she realised she had a visitor. Looking up with a start, she saw that it was her Aunt Johanna.

‘Did I give you a fright?’ said the older woman solicitously.

‘My mind was miles away.’

‘I think that it should return to the present now. Lord Westfield has arrived and brought his actors with him.’

Sigbrit leapt up. ‘You’ve seen him, Aunt Johanna?’

‘I had a brief glimpse.’

‘What is he like?’

‘He’s a little shorter than I imagined he would be,’ replied the other, ‘and rather more solid in the body. But that’s to be expected in a man of his age. He looks very personable, that I can tell you.’

‘How did he bear himself?’

‘Very well, considering the trials they have been through.’

‘Trials?’

‘A voyage across the North Sea is always hazardous.’

‘And it’s one that I am doomed to make,’ said Sigbrit gloomily.

Johanna Langberg held her in an affectionate embrace for a few seconds and gave her a reassuring kiss. Sigbrit’s aunt was a shapely woman in her thirties with a beauty that had been enhanced with the passage of years. Wife, mother and devoted friend, she had a serenity about her that her niece had always envied. In times of stress, Sigbrit had drawn great strength from her Aunt Johanna.

‘Has he asked to see me?’ she asked.

‘I’m sure that he has,’ replied Johanna. ‘What bridegroom would not wish to see his future wife at the earliest opportunity? But your Uncle Bror had told Lord Westfield that he must wait.’

‘On what grounds?’

‘He gave out that you were indisposed.’

‘That is not so far from the truth.’

‘Come now, Sigbrit. It’s time to cast off this sombre mood. A member of the English nobility has gone to immense trouble so that you may be married in the place where you were born. Anybody else in your position would be touched by the sacrifices he has made.’

‘I am, Aunt Johanna – touched and pleased.’

‘Then why this sorrowful face?’

‘That is what hurts me most – I do not know.’

‘Let me tell you something,’ said the aunt. ‘I was only eighteen when I married your uncle and I had these feelings of unease as well.

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