Page 28 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

‘Please?’

Taylor conveyed her meaning by a violent jab of the finger, and the girl, still smiling, complied. It was at that moment that the princess entered the room. Elke curtsied.

Miss Taylor curtsied only to royalty. ‘Welcome home, your highness,’ she said.

Maud raised an eyebrow. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I anticipated that your highness would require my services,’ Taylor said, through rigid lips. ‘I am your highness’s personal attendant. And that young person does not appear to understand English.’

Maud looked at her for a long moment. ‘Very well,’ she said at last.

Miss Taylor’s relief was so great her knees trembled, but she showed nothing in her face. She stepped forward, trying desperately not to limp, as Maud turned her back for her coat to be removed. The princess slipped off her mink and tossed it carelessly to Elke, who caught it deftly. ‘Elke can assist you,’ she said. She addressed a rapid sentence in German to the young woman, who replied, and left the room. ‘Hot water?’ she said.

‘Coming at once,’ said Miss Taylor.

‘My dressing-gown is in that valise.’

Miss Taylor undressed the princess as far as her chemise, and helped her into her dressing-gown. Then Maud said, ‘I shall rest on the bed. I’ll ring for you when I want you.’

Miss Taylor bowed her head in acknowledgement. As she reached the door, the princess said, ‘Oh – Taylor?’

She turned. ‘Your highness?’

‘I’m allowing you to keep your position only because I omitted to dismiss you when you so inconsiderately broke your leg and interrupted my plans. Don’t let me down again.’

‘What does she mean? She doesn’t look ill,’ Kitty said, having beckoned Giles into her bedroom, sending Hatto out so they could talk privately.

‘I have no idea,’ Giles said. ‘Mother never talks about health, her own or anyone else’s, so it’s impossible to ask her.’

‘But, Giles, we have to know if she needs any special arrangements.’

‘She’ll let you know soon enough if she wants something.’

Kitty shook her head. ‘I’m just so shocked. I don’t know what to think.’ She looked at him sharply. ‘Aren’t you dreadfully upset? She is your mother.’

‘I’m still trying to come to terms with the announcement,’ Giles said. ‘She’s no age.’

‘Do you think the prince knows?’

‘It’s hard to say. I don’t think he heard what she said – he was a long way behind her. And his English isn’t good.’

‘Surely she would have told him first?’

‘My mother is a rule to herself. Does he look like an adoring husband whose wife is dying? It’s so hard to tell. He has that fixed, uncomprehending smile all the time, like a dog when you talk to it.’

‘Oh, Giles!’ Kitty said reproachfully.

‘I’ll try and talk to her this evening and find out more. But it won’t be easy.’

Miss Taylor’s face didn’t show emotion. The lines in it were set, like the folds in a damask tablecloth that has been carefully put away in a chest for years. But anyone who knew her well would have seen that her eyes were gleaming with satisfaction when she came in to servants’ dinner and said to Hatto, ‘You must go lower. I believe my lady outranks yours.’

‘Your lady?’ Hatto queried.

‘A princess outranks a countess.’

Mrs Webster said, ‘What about that young person?’ She nodded towards Elke, who was hovering uncertainly by the wall. ‘I thought she was the princess’s maid.’

Hatto had got up, and maids were shifting down the table in a ripple like a breeze passing over a wheatfield. Taylor took the vacated seat and said, with a hint of triumph, ‘I’ve never seen her before. I expect she’s a chambermaid taken on to attend her ladyship on the voyage. I am the princess’s personal maid.’