“Let me make it very clear,” he said, “that no one knew that your father was still married when he married Princess Catrina. What I have assured the Marquis and what he fully believes, is that your mother died the year after you were born and so your father was therefore a widower when he married again.”
“But that is a lie!” “I realise that and I am very ashamed of myself for having to lie. But it is a lie to save the lives of thousands of people from the Russian menace. I do feel that, if your mother was still alive, she would be willing to tell such a small lie for the sake of the country that the man she loved so much belonged to.”
“I suppose two years one way or another – does not matter much,” Tarena agreed. “Equally must I really go – to Karlova to marry a man whom I have never eve
