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“Oh dear, that seems awfully far away, Blythe. May I suggest an alternative?”
“I don’t know, Lila. It’s just that—”
“Her Royal Highness will be receiving some callers this week. And the ball is next week. Afterward, there will be people to meet, and gentlemen will call to court her. I suspect she will be too engaged to offer any more advice here. But that’s not all—Her Royal Highness informed me that she has helped the headmaster of your school with some correspondence recently.”
Blythe’s frown deepened. “Once or twice, I think, but—”
“But what if she was to offer her help on a more consistent basis? Perhaps every day when she is not otherwise engaged?”
The expression on Blythe’s face was dubious. She went back to her seat and picked up her teacup. “I don’t mean to sound inhospitable,” she said.
“And you don’t,” Lila hastened to assure her. “Blythe...” She resumed her seat and leaned forward. “Princess Amelia means well. What she needs is a bit of experience on her own, to learn who she is. She’s been rather sheltered, as you can imagine. This may well be the first time that she has been out in the world all by herself.”
Lila had said the same thing to Queen Justine—Princess Amelia had never had a true purpose, had never had to rely on herself. And she sorely needed apurpose. “You remember your first time to London, don’t you?”
“I was never on my own,” Blythe said. “I went from my father’s house to my husband’s house.”
“Exactly. She may be a princess, but she is still a young woman and she is on her own here.”
Blythe sighed.
“I will impress on her again the need to keep her thoughts to herself.”
Blythe glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “Do you think she’ll be insulted?”
“Of course not.” Lila spoke with far more confidence than she felt. “Would you like to see the list of names I have for her? I was thinking a picnic this week, as some are local.”
Blythe’s eyes fell to the leather-bound journal Lila had set at the edge of the table. “Who?”
Lila picked up the journal and opened it. “Are you acquainted with Mr. Charles Highsmith?”
Blythe’s countenance instantly changed. “Rich as Croesus!” she exclaimed. “I understand his father has invested in the steel industry in America. Who else?”
Lila proceeded to review the entire list with Blythe, confident she had headed off a disaster for the time being.
LORDONNATOLDLILAthat the princess liked to walk in the afternoons.
“To where?” Lila asked.
“Nowhere in particular, milady. I think she just ambles.”
Ambled, did she?
Lila was waiting for Amelia when she came down, dressed in a drab brown dress and a short gray cloak. Her hair was tightly wound into a bun at her nape. She looked like a kitchen girl on her way to market.
“Lila?” The princess took in Lila’s walking garb.
“Care for company? I thought I’d walk with you today. I got in so late last night that I haven’t had a chance to fill you in on your prospective matches.”
Princess Amelia looked at Lila’s boots. Lila slid one forward so she could have a better look. Lila enjoyed a good long walk, and when at home in Denmark walked several miles every day. “I think a walk is important for one’s constitution. My husband, Valentin, says I would walk all the way around the earth if I had the time.”
The princess nodded approvingly. “I’d never been at liberty to walk as far and in any direction I please until I came here. I like it very much, fortunately, as there is so little else to do here.” She gave Lila a look as if Lila had intentionally made Devonshire unexciting.
“Are we out for a leisurely stroll?” Lila asked as they began to walk. “Or do you have a destination in mind?”
“No destination, really. Although I am curious how far and wide the Grim Reaper rides on any given day. I follow different paths just to see if I will encounter him.”
“I beg your pardon?”
