With the flags flying, garlands of flowers encircling every lamppost and the window boxes of every house brilliant with blossom, the City looked very beautiful.
The Grand Duke insisted that Tora should drive with him through the streets the day before to view the preparations that were being made and she felt as if each one of them was a wreath laid on her coffin.
The Grand Duchess had fussed over what she should wear and, by working day and night, the dressmakers had completed two new gowns in record time. Tora tried to thank them, but the words seemed to stick in her throat.
She could not even bear to look at herself in the mirror in case she should look attractive for a man she hated.
She kept telling herself, because she had always believed in Fairy stories and her own fantasies th
