A Princess Prays by Barbara Cartland Page A

blushed again and then she turned away from the carriage.
    â€œCome and join me at the fire if you think it is safe. If they are moving through the woods, we will hear them and you will have time to run back to the carriage.”
    She did not wait for him to answer but walked over to the fire.
    Lamos was already putting what he had cooked into a large china bowl.
    Instead of going into the open field, Attila changed her mind. She moved away from the carriage, but kept in the shadows of the trees.
    She knew it would be more difficult for anyone to see the stranger if he joined her and as the sun was sinking fast, it would soon be dark.
    When she had seated herself, Kilkos spread a small tablecloth over the ground and arranged two plates and two glasses on it.
    There were two bottles of Father Jozsef’s wine left and Attila told Kilkos to open one of them.
    She had only just been seated for a few moments when she saw the stranger coming towards her, wearing Father Jozsef’s cassock with the hood firmly over his head.
    She considered it would be impossible for anyone watching them to suspect that he was in fact a young man in smart riding clothes.
    She noticed that he kept glancing at the wood.
    When he joined her, he remarked,
    â€œWe shall hear anyone coming long before they see us.”
    â€œThat is just what I thought.”
    â€œYou are so clever I cannot believe you are real, but as you are really an angel from Heaven, I am so very very grateful to you.”
    â€œBecause I am hungry I feel, at the moment, very much on this earth!”
    They both laughed.
    The soup Lamos produced was really delicious and the stranger enjoyed Father Jozsef’s wine.
    â€œIt is different to anything I have ever tasted,” he exclaimed.
    â€œThat is because Father Jozsef, who you are now impersonating,” explained Attila, “added healing herbs and special fruit which makes it not only delicious to drink but heals you if you are ill.”
    â€œWhat has happened to the Father you are speaking about and whose cassock I am wearing?”
    There was a little pause before Attila answered him.
    â€œJust when we reached the Shrine he died and was buried this morning.”
    â€œI am so sorry,” said the stranger quietly. “It must be very upsetting for you.”
    â€œI shall miss him more than I can possibly say,” she replied. “He was an old man, but I know he was happy to go.”
    â€œHow could you know?”
    Again there was a pause while Attila thought what she should say and then somehow it seemed easier to talk to him.
    â€œWhile he was praying on the mountainside, he saw someone he had loved for many years and who had died.”
    The words came out slowly yet she felt she had to say them.
    â€œThen he has found what we all seek.”
    Attila looked at him in surprise.
    â€œIs that what you are seeking?” she enquired.
    â€œOf course. Every man believes in his heart he will find the Golden Fleece or rather the true love which most of us only read about in books and which does not seem to exist in ordinary life.”
    â€œBut it does, I know it does,” cried Attila. “Father Jozsef found it and my father found it with my mother.”
    The stranger smiled.
    â€œThat is why you are so beautiful. I have always believed that if two people who are very much in love have a child, it is beautiful because their hearts and their souls made it so.”
    Attila stared at him.
    â€œHow can you possibly say that? It is something I have often thought, but I have never put it into words.”
    â€œNow I think of it, it is something I have never said before,” admitted the stranger. “But because you saved my life you realise you are now responsible for me! You must be aware that is one of the oldest legends in existence.”
    Attila chuckled.
    â€œIt is a rather frightening one, but I have read that is what some people believe.”
    â€œWell,