“As she grew up, Her Serene Highness was very different from the other pleasure-loving Royalty at the Court of St. Petersburg. When she was twenty it was decided she should marry and a husband was chosen for her without her being consulted, which I am sure that Your Grace will understand is traditional.”
“Of course,” the Duke agreed.
“The Princess, however, was appalled by the suffering of the serfs and the poorer citizens of St. Petersburg and, disliking the man who had been chosen as her husband, she decided to withdraw from the world and enter a Convent.”
The Duke was listening intently, but he did not interrupt as the priest carried on with the story,
“Because she thought nobody would listen to her while she remained at Court, Her Serene Highness ran away and travelled before anybo
