The Making of a Princess. by Lorrie Mae.

Two Hearts Entwined.

As they all came back into the kitchen, there was a beautiful glowing sunny warmth coming in through the window, and a beautiful smell of Lavender and Jasmine combined coming in through the back door that had been left open in all of the excitement. Brittany had come back and put the big kettle on the boil and was making herself busy by making everyone cups of tea if they were wanted and slices of tea cake with a smooth lemon icing on top. just as she turned around she saw the duke entering and she gave the biggest sob, "Please sir do you not know that you have been hurt, you have blood pouring down your arm, what has happened," the duke looked down and held his arm up, "It's nothing I can get It fixed up soon as I know where everyone is and that they are all safe, how are you Jenny, and when she looked up with her face so swollen and black already from the beaten she had received, his heart broke a little more, he went up to her and sat down next to her, he gently took her hand and said gently "I think you should go to bed and stay there for a few days until you are feeling a lot better, I thank you for being so brave in looking after Miss De Muir for me, and I would like to thank all of you in this room who came to each others aid, its been a long night for you all, so let's all have a rest day, I will see about someone from the village to come in and do the cooking for us and we can all meet again in the big hall for lunch, so go and have a sleep and we will see you then."

As the Duke turned around he saw the face of Mrs. Watson and he couldn't believe that someone could hurt an elderly person like that, "Oh I am so sorry to see you hurt so badly, you have always been like my own mother for all of the years I have known you and it breaks my heart to see you like this, please forgive me for letting his happen to you," and he held her hand gently trying not to let the tears from falling down "You are a very brave lady and I thank you deeply, you go and rest as long as you need, we can find someone to take over for you while you get some rest," and he moved to go and find Daphne.

Charles his butler had heard all of the commotion going on downstairs, and he had taken Daphne down through a flight of stairs that were hidden through the Duke's wardrobe, but no one else knew about it, except for himself and the Duke," You must stay here nice and quiet please," Charles said to Daphne," Make yourself comfortable, because you will be here for awhile, or at least until the Duke himself will come for you, I have put some food in the larder there for you, but please do not answer the door, do not light any candles or fires, you must stay hidden, this is the only way I can keep you safe." Daphne stood looking at Charles and then said quietly, "Thank you sir for all of your help, I will do as you say, but may I ask you, do you have my things locked away and safe, as they are what he wants, but he doesn't know that I have them, they are so important and must be protected at all costs." Charles took a step toward her, he took her hand gently and said, " You must not worry yourself about these things, the Duke has taken care of those things for you, and you can trust him with your life, I will be back soon with the Duke, so please settle yourself down and we will return as soon as we can, ok." and he quickly left her and she could hear the door being locked.

Daphne looked into the larder to see what was inside, she was starting to feel really hungry, she hadn't eaten for along time, she found some dainty pastries on a plate and suddenly her stomach started making grumbling  sounds, so she sat and started eating, there was some light coming from a window way up high on the wall, it was enough to show where things were, there was a sofa bed where she could sleep and two big jugs of water, she was so thankful for all of the thought that Charles had gone to for her, after having found some apples also she devoured one and relished it very much, having washed her hands and face, she found some library books, and went in hunt for some easy reading, and on finding what she wanted to read, she settled down with the book to read, it wasn't long and Daphne was asleep, she had pulled a wrap over her off the chair next to her, everything was quiet, so she slept and slept.