have to find out about that morning tea. I really do expect that much.”
As we passed the stairs leading down to the kitchens we saw the young lady in question coming up, wiping the crumbs off her uniform.
“Oh, whatcher, miss,” she said. “They don’t half eat funny food here, don’t they? Cold meat with garlic in it for breakfast. Whoever heard of such a thing? But the rolls were nice.”
“Queenie, what happened to you?” I said coldly. “I was waiting for you to bring me my morning tea and to dress me.”
“Oh, blimey, sorry, miss,” she said. “I knew there was something I was supposed to be doing when I went down to the kitchen. But then I saw other servants having breakfast so I decided to tuck in too before it all went. I wasn’t half hungry after missing me supper last night.”
I felt rather guilty about this. I should really have made sure that she had had something to eat, but I remembered Lady Middlesex’s admonitions about being firm with servants. “In future I expect my tea tray to be brought up to me at eight, is that clear?” I asked.
“Bob’s yer uncle,” Queenie said.
“And you are supposed to call me ‘my lady,’ remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting that one too, don’t I? My old dad said I’d forget my head if it wasn’t joined to my shoulders.” She shook with laughter at that. “So what am I supposed to do now?”
“Go up to my room and see which of my clothes need pressing. I’ll want to wear a different dress for the banquet tonight.”
“Righty-o,” she said. “Where do I find an iron?”
“Ask the other servants,” I said. “I have no idea where irons are kept.”
I left her trudging up the stairs and rejoined Belinda, who had been watching from the shadows.
“Darling, utterly clueless,” Belinda said. “If she were a horse, one would have to have her put down.”
“You are wicked,” I said.
“I know. It’s such fun.” She blew me a kiss. “Enjoy your clothes session. If the other bridesmaids are anything like Matty used to look, you’ll be the star and all the men will notice you. Toodle-pip.”
She blew me a kiss.
I found the small salon where a bevy of seamstresses were working away with a clatter of sewing machines while a formidable and unmistakably French little woman in black stalked up and down, waving her arms and yelling. A cluster of young girls stood and sat near the fire, some of them in their underslips, while the little woman took measurements. The other girls seemed to know each other and nodded politely to me. Matty came over, took my hand and introduced me in German, then in English.
“My dearest friend from school” she called me, although this was a slight exaggeration. But I didn’t correct her and returned the smile she gave me. Why was I suddenly so popular when she hadn’t contacted me once since we left Les Oiseaux?
The dresses turned out to be quite lovely and frightfully Parisian chic—a sort of creamy white, long, simple and elegant with a smaller version of the bride’s train behind them. What’s more, contrary to Belinda’s prediction, the other bridal attendants were attractive girls, cousins from German royal houses. One of them was a tall, slim blond girl who looked at me with interest as if she knew me and came over to me.
“You are Georgiana, ja? I was supposed to go to England last summer but I became sick.”
“You must be Hannelore,” I said, light dawning. “You were supposed to stay with me.”
“Ja. I heard about this. It must have been shocking for you. When we are alone you must tell me all.”
I was glad to find that her English in no way sounded like an American gangster movie.
Matty came over to us, wearing her bridal gown, still pinned along the sides. “How do you like the dresses?”
“Lovely,” I said, “and your bridal gown is absolutely gorgeous. You’ll be the prettiest bride in Europe.”
“One has to have some compensations for getting married, I suppose,” she said.
“Don’t you want to get married?”
“If I had my way I’d like to live the bohemian life of an artist in Paris,” she said. “But princesses aren’t allowed any say in the matter.”
“But Prince Nicholas seems really nice, and he’s good-looking too.”
She nodded. “Nicky is all right, as princes go. He’s kind and you’re right. It could certainly have been worse. Think of some of the absolutely awful princes there are.” Then