Y'know, I think I'll just go ahead and post these last two installments today and tomorrow. I'll post whatever progress I make on the MOG dress on Wednesday, lol. It has been kinda fun going through this again.
Late the next
morning, the Royal Carriage pulled away from the palace with Gregory, the Grand
Duke and, after much pleading and debating, Rita, who had to agree to wait in
the carriage, inside. Gregory had placed
Isabella’s glass slipper on a soft velvet pillow for effect. He looked at the slipper, then up at
Godfrey. “I hope this works.” He remembered Isabella’s terrified face when
she thought she’d been recognized. ‘Under
a wicked witch’s spell,’ she’d called it.
He felt anger building in him at the injustice she’d suffered for the
last five years and amended his statement. “It’d better work!”
Godfrey, who carried in his pocket a
decree written that morning by the King to present to Lady Alicia, nodded
grimly. “Oh, don’t worry -- we’ll see her
safely out of it.”
Hortense happened to be sitting in
front of the parlor window and caught the flash of sunlight on the gilded carriage
when it turned into the manor house drive.
She immediately jumped up. “Mama!”
she cried. “Mama! It’s the Royal Carriage!”
Lady Alicia had been on her way to
the parlor anyway, so she quickened her pace and entered just as Eugenia came
in from the library. “What?” She stood where she could see the carriage as
it pulled up. Gregory climbed out (“The
Prince!” Hortense and Eugenia gasped in
the same breath) and took the pillow with the slipper, which flashed in the
sunlight, from Godfrey, who then followed him out of the carriage. Lady Alicia’s eyes widened. “The slipper!
Eugenia, do you remember the Prince saying he would try that slipper on
every girl in the country until he found the girl in the mask?”
Isabella, easing into the room with
her broom in her hand, heard Lady Alicia’s question and felt her heart
jump. He was looking for her! Lady
Alicia saw her as she unconsciously smoothed her hair -- a shadow of her stepsisters’
frantic primping – and crossed the parlor toward her, eyes narrowed.
“You!” Lady Alicia hissed, swiftly catching Isabella
by the wrists and pushing her back out of the door though which she’d entered. “Stay out of sight!” She glanced toward the front entrance as a
herald’s trumpet sounded outside the door.
There was no time to lock Isabella away -- a threat would have to keep
her in hiding. “You’ll be sorry if you
disobey me this time!” The trumpet
sounded again, and Lady Alicia swiftly turned to go to the door, speaking as she
went, “Don’t you dare show your face!”
In turmoil, Isabella flattened
herself on the far side of the door. She
was determined she would at least hear whatever the Prince had to say. With a pang, she remembered the look on his face
when he said he’d solve her puzzle. She
didn’t know if she could bear it if he left without knowing she was there...
Lady Alicia paused a moment at the
door to make sure her daughters were composed.
They all took a deep breath before she opened the door and curtseyed
deeply. “Your Highness! Your Grace!
Do come in!”
Gregory, Godfrey, and a page who was
now carrying the slipper entered. Hortense
and Eugenia followed their mother’s example and curtsied to them. Gregory glanced at Godfrey, took a breath
himself, and began, “Madam.
Ladies.” They rose in response
and Lady Alicia gestured to the parlor.
There was an awkward moment as each waited on the other, but they did
finally get situated with the ladies seated and Godfrey and Gregory flanking the
page.
Once again, Gregory took a
breath. He glanced at the flushed faces
and glittering eyes of the sisters, trying to decide why they were so
unappealing, even though from a purely objective viewpoint they were pretty and
fashionable. Suddenly, he realized that
there was something about their expressions that gave him a bit of a chill; a
ruthlessness that he could not really point out. --Of course, he admitted to himself --I could
be somewhat prejudiced against them by how they have treated Isabella, but
still.... Anyway, there was business to tend to. He smiled a bit. “I’m sure you remember the young lady in the
mask at the ball last night. This
slipper,” he indicated the page, “Is our only clue to her identity.” He paused slightly, wishing they had
discussed exactly how they would proceed with this part of the ruse. He chose his words carefully as he continued,
“She hinted that she was...unhappy...and I’m determined to find her, even if I must
try the slipper on every young woman in the kingdom, be she noble born or milkmaid. So...”, he nodded to the page, who knelt in
front of Eugenia.
Eugenia’s smile faded a bit when she
saw how very small the slipper was, but she pulled off her shoe and tried her best
to shove her rather large foot inside.
The page held the slipper steady and glanced up at the Prince, who
watched grimly. Finally, Eugenia sighed
deeply and pulled her foot away. The
slipper was obviously much too small.
Hortense, who knew her feet to be
slightly smaller than her sister’s, smiled smugly at Eugenia and, as daintily
as she could, offered her foot to the page.
The young man looked up at Gregory, who nodded. The page shrugged slightly and pushed the
slipper onto Hortense’s toes. Hortense
bit her lip as the page pushed the unyielding glass onto her foot but was
unable to stifle a small cry. She
clapped her hand over her mouth, but the page took the slipper off her toes and
looked up at the Prince again.
Gregory turned back to Lady Alicia. “Have you any maidservants, madam?”
Lady Alicia smiled rather
condescendingly at the Prince. “I’m
sorry, your Highness, but there is no one else in this house who could possibly
have worn that slipper at the ball last night.
May I offer you some tea before you resume your search?”
Isabella listened from the next room
with panic rising as Gregory once more stated his intent to try the slipper
even on servants who were presumed to have been at home. She realized that her stepmother was not
going to summon her to try on the slipper...it was entirely up to her if she
wanted the chance. With her heart
pounding and palms clammy, she took a deep breath and stepped into the
parlor. “Please, your Highness, may I
try on the slipper?”
Relief flooded through Gregory as he
turned to look at Isabella. He had begun
to wonder how he would politely insist that Lady Alicia call her when it was
obvious that the older woman would not even acknowledge Isabella’s
existence. Now, seeing Isabella in her
braids and patched work dress, he was again struck by her vulnerability -- but
he noticed the set to her jaw that showed her determination. She was, indeed, made of strong stuff. He smiled at her, hoping to reassure her.
Lady Alicia, however, was determined
not to allow Isabella the chance to surpass her own daughters and fury nearly
choked her when Isabella stepped into the room.
“How dare you affront his Highness!” she said in an icy voice as she
shot out of her chair and began to cross the room to Isabella. Isabella’s face paled a bit, but she determinedly
stood her ground.
Gregory interrupted before Lady Alicia
could say anything else, holding up a hand to stop her from approaching too
close to Isabella. “I’m not affronted,
Lady
Isabella pulled off her shoe and
slid her foot into the slipper easily, hardly noticing the pain of the blisters
rubbing again on the glass. However,
before she could even look up, her stepmother sputtered in disbelief, “But...
that’s impossible!” She turned to the Prince.
“Your Highness, you surely can’t believe that Cinderella was the young lady at the ball last night!”
At this, Isabella’s eyes flashed and
her chin rose indignantly. “My name is
Isabella,” she stated firmly.
Lady Alicia turned to her and spoke
sharply, “Hold your tongue.” Then, with
an abrupt change of manner, she turned to the Prince and explained in a honeyed
voice, “Your Highness, you must forgive Cinderella’s little outburst. You see, her mother was one of the cooks in
the manor house before my late husband’s death, and Cinderella was a very close
friend to his poor little daughter. Cinderella has always been a bit...unsteady...and
when Isabella died, she began to imagine that she was Isabella. I’m afraid she
believes it more often than not.” She
looked at Isabella sadly, “We do try to see that she is taken care of, but she
gets a bit unmanageable from time to time.”
She looked back to the Prince as all the color drained from Isabella’s
face. “I am sorry for the scene, your
Highness.”
Tears of rage and frustration filled
Isabella’s eyes as she clenched her fists in fury. She tried to speak, to refute the outrageous story,
to say...anything. But she could not
manage to make a sound.
Gregory was astonished at Lady Alicia’s
absurd story and, like Isabella, found himself completely speechless. Godfrey, however, had gotten over his renewed
shock at how much Isabella resembled her mother. Now, quite in control of himself and the
situation, he turned to Lady Alicia.
“That little story may have explained the young lady to your social
circle, Madam, but I find it impossible to believe.” He raised his hand to still the indignant
reply Lady Alicia appeared to be about to make and continued, crossing the room
to stand by Isabella as he spoke, “I have in my possession a very well-done portrait
of Bella Savoy, your late husband’s first wife.
No one who sees that painting will have any doubts as to the identity of
this young lady--she is the image of her mother.” He held out his hand to Isabella and indicated
that she should place her hand in his.
Isabella was a bit perplexed but
placed her hand in Godfrey’s. He turned
to Gregory and, with a very formal air, said, “Prince Gregory, I have the honor
and pleasure of presenting to you my ward, Lady Isabella Amanda Charlotte
Savoy.”
Isabella blushed and made a deep
curtsey before she realized exactly what the Grand Duke had said. Shocked, she looked up sharply from her
curtsey, lost her balance and would have fallen if Godfrey had not steadied
her. Her stepmother must have
comprehended Godfrey’s statement at the same moment, because she gasped along with
Isabella, “What did you say?”
Ignoring Lady Alicia for the moment,
Godfrey held both hands out to Isabella, and she stood as he spoke. “I’m afraid I owe you a very great apology,
my dear. You see, your father left a
will, in which he left very nearly everything to you and named me as your guardian.” He glanced coldly at Lady Alicia as he
continued. “I believed the story she put
out and did not even mention the will when I returned a month after your
father’s untimely death. The truth is,
the estate and everything in it is now, and always has been, yours.”
Isabella’s head was spinning. She heard words which she felt she ought to
understand but were only confusing her.
--Time, she thought, --I need some time.
She looked at Godfrey in a rather bemused way. “Mine?” she queried.
Godfrey smiled at her reassuringly,
but before he could speak Lady Alicia overcame her shock enough to dispute with
him. “My husband never mentioned a
will. I’m sure if he had left one, I
would have been aware of it. I can’t
believe you think you can just burst in and announce that everything here
belongs to Cinderella -- it’s mine and has been ever since Maximillian died.” She turned to the Prince to plead her case,
“Your Highness, this must be some hoax...” her voice trailed away as she recognized
cold fury in the Prince’s face.
“I do not doubt, Madam, that there
has been some hoax.” Gregory said icily. “We may be in some disagreement as to just
who is guilty of it, however. The Grand
Duke does indeed possess the legitimate last will and testament of the late
Lord Savoy; I myself read it this morning. You were to receive a small portion of the liquid
assets of the estate at the time of his death; everything else was to belong solely to Isabella.”
Lady Alicia took in the Prince’s
statement and realized the significance of his having read the will that morning.
“So all this nonsense about the slipper has just been a little charade, has it
not?” She drew herself up to her full
height, narrowed her eyes and stated, “You do not expect me to relinquish all
my rights without contesting this so-called will in the King’s Court.”
The Grand Duke raised his hand. “One moment, Madam.” He turned to Isabella. “My dear, you will be returning to the palace
with us. If there is anything you would
like to take with you, go and fetch it now.”
Still somewhat dazed by what was
taking place, Isabella looked at Godfrey, barely understanding. “Today?
Now?” She asked incredulously. When he smiled and nodded, she grasped the
whole situation in a flash and felt suddenly and gloriously released. She slipped her foot out of the glass slipper
and back into her work shoe, took two steps toward the door and stopped. She turned back to Lady Alicia with a
determined gleam in her eyes. “Stepmother,”
she said in a carefully controlled voice, “I would very much like to take what’s
left of my mother’s china figurines with me.
May I have the key to the secretary, please, so I may get them?”
Lady Alicia drew in her breath sharply
and stared at Isabella. Godfrey and Gregory
exchanged glances, sensing that there was something more to the request than
seemed apparent. It was as if the older
woman and the younger were engaged in some contest of wills. As Lady Alicia continued to stare, a slight
upturn began to play in the corners of Isabella’s mouth. Godfrey leaned over to the page and whispered
briefly. The page nodded and slipped
out, virtually unnoticed, taking the velvet pillow. Still, Isabella stood patiently as Eugenia
and Hortense fidgeted nervously on the divan.
At last, Lady Alicia glanced at the grim-faced Grand Duke, who raised an
eyebrow at her. “Well, Madam?”
For the first time in her memory,
Isabella actually saw alarm in her stepmother’s face. Still, she waited. At long last, with a deep sigh, Lady Alicia
slowly drew a small key chain from her dress pocket and carefully extracted one
key, which she dropped into Isabella’s outstretched hand.
“Mama!” Eugenia cried, horrified by what she knew to
be her mother’s surrender.
Lady Alicia turned to her daughter
and rather shakily hissed “Hush!” as Isabella closed both hands over the key
and brought them to the base of her throat, oblivious to their reaction. Sudden tears welled up in her eyes and she
closed them for just a moment then, taking a deep breath to collect herself,
hurried from the room.
As soon as Isabella had gone, Godfrey
turned to Lady Alicia. “Now, Madam,” he
said in a calm voice, “You were saying you would contest the will in the King’s
Court.” He pulled an envelope, sealed
with the royal cipher, from his pocket as he continued, “I do not think it
would be to your advantage to pursue that course of action. If this situation were to come before the
court, I am quite certain that there would be sufficient evidence to bring
indictments of fraud, unlawful imprisonment and perhaps even outright theft against
you and your daughters.”
At this, all color drained from Lady
Alicia’s face, and she sank into a nearby chair. Shocked, Hortense and Eugenia sprang from the
divan, crossed to their mother, and fell on their knees on either side of her
chair.
“Mama!” Eugenia cried out again.
“Oh, what shall we do?” Hortense lamented as she began to sob hysterically.
With an obvious effort, Lady Alicia
collected herself. “Girls, girls,” she
chided, “This is frightful behavior in front of His Highness.”
Eugenia turned frightened eyes to
the Prince as Hortense struggled to stifle her crying. Finally, she reduced her hysterics to rather
hiccuppy breathing, and Lady Alicia waved her daughters back to the divan. Godfrey handed the sealed envelope to Lady
Alicia. “I daresay a court indictment
would not be undeserved. However, I am
not willing to subject Isabella to the stress and publicity of such a trial. Therefore, King Philip has written out this
decree at my request.”
Lady Alicia opened the envelope and
read the contents of the document inside.
“You can’t be serious!” she gasped.
“I am perfectly serious, Madam. Max’s will specified that you would be given ten
percent of the liquid assets of the estate upon his death. I’m quite certain you have already spent far
beyond that amount in the past five years, but as Isabella’s guardian I feel it
would not harm her interests greatly to now bestow upon you one fiftieth of the
estate’s liquid assets at this time.... provided you have all vacated the
premises within the next forty-eight hours and leave the country straight away.”
“But...but this is blackmail! Extortion!”
Lady Alicia sputtered.
“Blackmail?” Gregory queried. He felt absolutely no pity toward these women,
who had treated Isabella so abominably.
“Don’t you understand? You will
not only not face criminal charges for
your criminal behavior, but you will be allowed to depart with some resources
at your disposal. Do not confuse mercy with
blackmail.”
Eugenia now reacted to the
conversation. “But we can’t possibly
pack everything in two days!”
Lady Alicia handed Eugenia the decree,
without taking her eyes from Godfrey, as she explained, “We are only allowed to
take our own clothing. The rest must
stay as partial restoration of the funds which we have allegedly spent
illegally.” She frowned and spoke bitterly
to the Grand Duke. “You leave us very
little choice, your Grace.”
“How much choice have you afforded Isabella
these past five years?” Godfrey countered. “I will send someone over Monday with your
share of the funds from the estate, plus a carriage to deliver you to any
location you choose, so long as it is beyond our borders.” He gestured to the foyer, and two guards,
sent in by the page, entered the parlor.
“These officers are here to ensure that the particulars are carried out,
and they will be relieved by comrades at regular intervals. I regret that I must look after Isabella’s
interests in this manner, but, given the circumstances, I feel that this is
necessary. Do be aware that they are
under strict instructions to inspect every bag, trunk or case that leaves the
premises to make sure nothing other than clothing leaves the household, and
they will protect Isabella’s property. They will arrest any of you who so much as scratches a tabletop. We will not have any vandalism done here. And also be aware...the three of you will be individually...inspected...by female palace representatives to insure you do not abscond with any valuables hidden about your persons before you leave. If anything of value is found on you, the entire agreement will be void and you will be facing criminal charges. You will follow the terms."
Godfrey startled a bit as Gregory
suddenly ducked behind him and quickly crossed to the parlor door. Isabella had returned, carrying the small
trunk which contained her cache of treasures, which now included her mother’s
figurines. She was obviously surprised
as Gregory insisted upon carrying the trunk for her, and rather reluctantly
relinquished it to him. She then turned
to her stepmother and held out the key to the secretary. “Thank you, Stepmother.” she said cordially.
Lady Alicia took the key, avoiding
Isabella’s eyes and speaking to Godfrey.
“I have some correspondence to remove from the drawers, but I will leave
the key when I go.”
Isabella frowned slightly,
puzzled. Then she noticed the guards and
her eyes widened. “What...” she began.
Godfrey interrupted her gently. “I will explain everything at length, my
dear.” He picked up the glass slipper,
which had remained on the floor, forgotten, where Isabella had left it, and
handed it to her. “I think perhaps we
should take our leave of these ladies. They have a great deal to do in the next two
days.”
The Prince was already heading out the
door with Isabella’s trunk. Godfrey held
the door for Isabella as she started through, then turned and looked back at
her stepmother and stepsisters. Hortense
was weeping again, and Eugenia was talking to her in a low voice. Lady Alicia had risen from her chair and was
standing with her back to the door. No
one took any notice of Isabella at all.
Softly and sadly, Isabella murmured “Good-bye,” on the verge of tears herself,
although she really didn’t know why. She
turned and stepped through the open door.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Real comments are always welcome! Spam comments will never see light of day ;-)