The Princess and I

Chapter XXXV: The cunning Grand Duchess

We had not seen the last of the Grand Duchess, just as I had expected. Liam and Eleanor spend many days together and sometimes we meet Eleanor at the breakfast table as a result of that. Christina deliberately does not speak to her unwanted guest, but I do since Eleanor seems quite enthralled by Liam and my doomed love affair. To me she is actually quite charming and I do not admit it to Christina, but I am beginning to like the Queen's niece. She is indeed scandalous and rebellious, but I start to think more and more this is all a mask to hide some pain underneath. I guess living at court isn't as fairy-tale-like as many girls imagine.

We only see Liam and Eleanor at breakfast though. The rest of the day they are exploring London, which Eleanor likes more and more or so it would seem. And very soon their visits don't go unnoticed, which put me unfortunately back in the centre of attention as well. People keep asking me if Liam and I still have a future together and even my parents aren't too fond of me staying at Arlington Park anymore. Where they first thought that my staying there would repair what was broken between Liam and me, they now start to wonder if I have lost Liam's attention forevermore after all.

Therefore, I am ordered home to – as they put it- enjoy courting season once more. Briefly said, they want me to attract a new suitor quickly, since I have only about a month before this year's courting season is over and they want me to be engaged before the official ending, so they can still strut around with me as the daughter who found a likeable husband during her first courting season.

Of course this has its effect also on my relationship with Christina. I could understand it, but she is not too fond of me meeting new potential husbands. Every time I have to stay home to meet new suitors, is a downright agony to her. I hate to see her hurt and I more than once offered her to put a stop to it all. I am more than willing to let go of any pretences, since I do not like the courtship at all either. All those men are really trying to find a proper wife, overloading me with gifts and sweet words to win my heart, while they do not seem to realize my heart is already taken. Christina agrees though that I have to keep up pretences for now, so reluctantly she allows me to meet with my new suitors with a heavy heart. But I don't know how much of this I can take myself. I don't want to see those men, since I am not and never will be interested in any of them. I want to be with my love.

So, one day, when I have a day off of the desperate attempts of the men to win me over, I am glad I can spend the day at Arlington Park once more. I am sitting at a tea table in Arlington Park to watch another match of Polo. It's a hot June day, the day before my birthday. And the women are huddled together under the umbrellas, waving their fans almost rhythmically to get some coolness around here. The men don't seem to notice. They are shouting to one another and are frantically chasing the ball.

All of a sudden the Grand Duchess sits down next to me, causing a few eyebrows to rise in disapproval. The women look at Eleanor like she's an insect they want to squash and I don't blame them. Eleanor is rather looking scandalous today, since she's wearing about the same size dress she was wearing at the time that we met. She's all in black and is holding a glass of champagne in one hand and in the other a strange smelling cigarette. She takes a strong swig of her cigarette and blows the smoke in their faces.

'What's the matter, ladies?' she asks provocatively. 'Causing new rumours now, aren't I? Well, you better scurry away then to spread them. Off you go.'

The women rise indignantly and I want to follow them, but she shakes her head. 'Not you, Lady Le Bon. I need to speak with you first.'

I roll my eyes and sit down again. I don't want to be spotted with her. Not because I don't like her, and not because she acts scandalously all the time, I don't want to be seen with her, because that would definitely piss Christina off. She's after all these weeks not any fonder of Eleanor Stuart and since things are a bit tight between us as it is, I don't want her seeing me in Eleanor's presence any more than I have to. But it would be inappropriate now if I turned the niece of the Queen down for an audience, so I nervously cross my legs at the ankles and say: 'What's on your heart, Grand Duchess?'