Then, as she gazed down and saw a boy carrying a bouquet of flowers as large as himself, followed by a girl who she thought must be his sister carrying one as well, she knew that it was impossible for her to leave now.
It would open the doors of the City to the Russians, who would undoubtedly make the most of it and, because she had left, they would take over the entire country.
‘If anyone is caught in a fateful trap, I am,’ she told herself, as she put her hands up over her face.
As she had no wish to see anyone at the moment, she did not ring the bell for her maid but got back into bed and hid her face against the pillow.
‘Just how did I ever get into this mess?’ she asked herself. ‘How could I have been so stupid as to agree to what Papa suggested?’
Then, just as if a voice was ta
