Ella Enchanted - By Gail Carson Levine Page 0,37

pleased to see me. I had never before seen him smile without guile.

"Ella! My dear!"

I didn't care if he was angry. "I ran away from finishing school."

He laughed. "I knew the lass had courage. And are you a lady now or still a clumsy cook's helper?"

"How shall I show you?"

"Curtsy for me."

I swept him my finest.

"Excellent." All his cunning returned. "You are pretty enough. Foolish of me never to have thought of you. Get into the carriage, Eleanor. I trust you will not damage your gown this time."

"Shouldn't we say good-bye to Uaaxee?" I asked, climbing in.

"She won't miss us. She's too heartsore over a gift from a fairy." He frowned.

"They say three were here, and I never saw a hair of them."

The carriage began to move. I didn't care where we were headed.

"You are just in time to put your training to use," Father said.

"Only tell me what I must do."

His eyebrows rose. "This is more transformation than I had hoped for." He was silent for a long while. I began to feel drowsy.

"I am a ruined man."

His voice startled me. "What?"

"I sold an estate that didn't belong to me. The gnomes who bought it have found me out. When we reach Frell, I shall have to repay them, and it will take all I own. I shall have to sell our manor, our furniture, the carriage. And I shall have to sell you, in a manner of speaking. You must marry so that we can be rich again."

So that he could be rich again. "Yes, Father. Gladly. When?" I understood the monstrousness of his plan, but nothing could lessen my joy at the prospect of obeying.

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'Yes, Father. Gladly. When?'"

"You ask when, not to whom? You are so anxious to wed?"

"No, Father. Only to do your bidding."

"What did they do to you at that finishing school? No wonder you ran off."

* * *

WHEN WE reached our manor, Father stayed outside to speak with the coachman while I hurried inside to find Mandy. She was scrubbing vegetables, and a parrot perched on her shoulder.

She hugged me so tight, I could barely breathe. "Ella! Ella, my sweet."

The parrot squawked in Gnomic, "!chocH !choe echachoed dh zchoaK !chocH"

I wished she'd never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly crushed by someone who loved me.

Father spoke from the doorway. "I shall be away from home this evening.

However, tomorrow we shall entertain. Elvish mushrooms will arrive from the market. They're a delicacy, Mandy. Serve them as a first course for Lady Eleanor and her guest."

"What guest?" Mandy asked after Father left.

"My husband perhaps. I'm so glad, Mandy."

She dropped the pot she'd been washing. It fell into the washtub, but rose back into her hands a moment later. "Your what?"

The parrot squawked again. "!chocH" Mandy had named him Chock, after his favorite word, which was an exclamation in Gnomic meaning "oh," or "oh my,"

or even "eek!" In this case, I'm sure it meant "eek!"

"My husband. Father has lost all his money. I must marry so he can be rich again."

"This tops all," she stormed. "What is he thinking about, marrying off a chick like you? And why are you glad about it?"

"Not just glad. I'm..." I couldn't find the right word. ".. ecstatic to do it, if it will please them both, my father and my new husband."

Mandy cupped my chin in her hand and examined my face. "What's happened to you, child?"

"I met Lucinda, and she made me happy to be obedient."

"No, baby. No, honey." Mandy blanched. "She didn't."

"It's much better this way. I don't feel cursed anymore. Don't be sad." I smiled.

"See. I'm giving you an order. If you obeyed it, you'd be happy too."

"She turned you from half puppet to all puppet. I'm supposed to be glad about that?"

I didn't answer. While Mandy stood dumbstruck, I looked around the kitchen, greeting every familiar object.

Finally she muttered, "Lucinda's up to new tricks." Then she spoke to me. "I'm starved. Are you ready for dinner, love?"

We supped together in the kitchen, only the two of us and the parrot because Father had dismissed the other servants.

"He must like my cooking too much to get rid of me," Mandy told me over cold chicken wings and warm bread. She spoke no more of my new obedience, but it must have been on her mind, because she changed toward me. She stopped being bossy. I suppose she wouldn't give Lucinda