Page 89 of A Royal Kiss & Tell
“They’re here!” Caroline whispered, and she and Hollis leaped from their seats and smoothed their skirts as if they were meeting royalty.
Moments later, Donovan came into the room with two women and a lad. “Is this who you were expecting, madam?”
“I think they are. Thank you, Donovan.”
He said, “I’ll just take their things up to their rooms, then.”
Thank heaven for Hollis, as Caroline was quite speechless. The two women looked exhausted. They were both terribly thin, but it was the sort of thin that didn’t come by choice, judging by the pallor of their skin and the lankness of their hair. And the boy, oh! The poor lad was swallowed in the coat he wore and clung to the hand of the woman—girl, really—Caroline recognized from Arundel.
The three of them looked frightened and wary, and Caroline’s world of experience did not extend to the sort of life they must have led so far. To try and imagine what they’d endured made Caroline feel ill.
Hollis laid her hand on Caroline’s arm. “Would you mind terribly, Caro, darling, to run and ask Emily to bring tea and sandwiches? I think our guests are hungry.”
“Yes!” Caroline said, grateful for something to do. She hurried out of the room, tears blurring her vision for the second time today. She felt such sorrow and despair for those women. But she also felt a swell of pride. Not for her—for Leopold and all that he’d risked to help them.
CAROLINEHARDLYSLEPTthat night, her mind wandering back to Leopold, and the women who were sleeping under Hollis’s roof.
The revelation of what was happening in the very houses she visited left her feeling sad and strangely shallow. When she thought of all the hours and days she’d spent worried about nothing more than what to wear to this party or that supper, while women in meaner circumstances worked hard to just be safe, she felt angry. With life, with herself, with her bubble of privilege, with the meanness in the world.
She desperately wanted to help Leo find the other women. To help insomeway. And she desperately needed to turn her mind to something other than the idea he would be leaving soon.
Caroline called on Priscilla that afternoon to finish the fit of the ball gown she’d made for Priscilla to wear to the Pennybacker ball. It was a yellow gown, which, in hindsight, had the effect of making Priscilla’s skin seem sallow. But Priscilla didn’t seem to notice and was thrilled with it.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“You will be among the most envied, Priscilla.”
Priscilla turned her attention to the mirror, admiring herself. “Nancy is wearing lilac. It’s not a good color for her. Makes her appear chalky.”
Caroline suppressed a roll of her eyes and busied herself with arranging the skirt around Priscilla’s ample frame while nudging curious little dogs out of her path.
“She thinks she is better than all of us, you know,” Priscilla confided in a whisper. “You should have heard her at Madam Brendan’s.”
“Madam Brendan? The hatmaker?”
“We ordered gloves from her and had gone in to be measured. And as we waited for the lady before us to finish, Nancy began to talk rather loudly how all of London looks forward to this ball. ‘We never meant it to be the most anticipated event of the summer, but here it is,’ she said, as if she were the queen herself.”
“The hem is too long in the back. I should pin it,” Caroline observed. “Have you a box or a stool?”
Priscilla rang a delicate little bell next to her vanity. “She claims not to have a single regret offered.Allthe replies were affirmative.”
“Not everyone will be in attendance, will they,” Caroline said. “The Alucian prince has not been invited.”
Priscilla snorted. “No one cares about him, darling. You yourself told us that.”
Yes, she certainly had. There was never a time she wasn’t prattling on about something and it occurred to her that she perhaps ought to learn the art of prudence. “Well,” she said airily as she shooed another dog away with her hands, “it happens that it wasn’t entirely true. The prince dined with the queen’s husband just last week.” That was an absolute falsehood, and one Caroline instantly hoped was not easily proved as such. She felt awful for lying to her friend...for a full minute. But then, it had the desired effect. One must never underestimate the power of royalty upon those who wish to be included in that vaulted circle.
“Did he? I haven’t heard that said. Tom would know if he had, I should think.”
Caroline flushed with a bit of panic. “Yes, but...but how could Tom know, really? Prince Leopold is not receiving invitations from anyone but Buckingham, so I think no one really knows what he is about. That is, besides Beck.” She pretended to study the hem of Priscilla’s gown.
“Really,” Priscilla said.
“Mmm. I’d have the prince to dine myself were it not for Beck. He goes back and forth between Sussex with that blessed horse of his. I never know when he will be home to have guests to dine. I think he prefers to dine with horses.”
Several moments passed. Caroline feared the subtlety of what she was suggesting was lost on Priscilla. But then Priscilla said, “I could have him to dine.”
Caroline almost let out a shout of small triumph. She glanced up, wide-eyed. “What? You could?”
