The Journey After the Crown by Andrew Mackie

Author:Andrew Mackie [Mackie, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

30

‘Tell me what happened,’ Violet insisted.

Lady Caroline, her hands laden with perfume bottles, had the downcast eyes of a berated animal. ‘I’m going home,’ she replied stoically. ‘Pack these two suitcases and arrange for the trunks to follow.’ She rifled feverishly through the dresser for her clutch bag, her anger rising as she slammed each drawer open, then shut.

‘It’s my sister, isn’t it?’ Violet asked meekly.

Lady Caroline hesitated. Her resolve had broken. She slumped onto the dresser chair and covered her eyes. Violet watched a single tear fall onto Lady Caroline’s blouse like the first sign of rain, and quietly resumed packing, uncomfortable with the intimacy. She busied herself filling suitcases with outfits and a makeup bag.

‘What she did to you,’ Lady Caroline said, glancing at Violet’s plaster-laden face, ‘I thought was probably called for. Given the circumstances.’

Violet looked down, embarrassed. She snapped the suitcase lock tight.

‘But I had no idea what she was capable of. A maid!’

‘What about Her Majesty? Can she help?’

‘I appealed to her, but she refused to listen. I am banished.’

‘Oh,’ said Violet, shocked but impressed by the power Daisie now seemed to wield.

Lady Caroline lifted a frame off the desk, a picture of her with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip laughing in tennis whites, racquets held high. They all looked much younger and happier. Then she hurled the frame towards the unlit fireplace, the glass splintering on the hearth.

Seconds later, there was a knock at the door. A page nervously peered in.

‘I’m here to escort Lady Caroline to her car,’ he uttered meekly, as though it were a confession.

Reilly stood behind him, his eyes leaden with the duty. ‘Car’s waiting, Lady Althorp,’ he muttered.

With less fanfare than the delivery of the daily papers, the page gathered the suitcases.

Lady Caroline checked her handbag and glanced around the room one last time. ‘Why do you put up with it? Any of it?’ she asked Violet with genuine curiosity.

‘Daisie – this – it’s all I have left.’

Lady Caroline gave a subtle nod of understanding, then was gone.

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