The Magic Princess Dress by Gwyneth Rees

Author:Gwyneth Rees [Rees, Gwyneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

Marietta gave Ava an excited hug when she greeted her at the door, clearly delighted that she could now be open about the fact that Ava was her niece. Ava found it difficult to suddenly think of Marietta as her aunt – but she guessed maybe that would come in time. After all, she had only just learned about Marietta, whereas Marietta had known about her ever since she’d been born.

‘Wait here, Ava,’ Dad said, pointing to a small, uncomfortable-looking chair in the dreary front section of the shop. ‘Hopefully this won’t take too long.’ He turned to Marietta and asked, ‘Where is she?’

‘Follow me.’

After they had both disappeared through the beaded curtain, Ava got up and went to peer through it herself. They weren’t in the fairytale room on the other side, so Ava could only assume Marietta had taken Dad to a room even further back inside the shop.

Ava quickly pushed through the curtain and went to look for a dress for Tilly. It would have been better if she could have asked Marietta’s permission before borrowing another dress, but she couldn’t do that without alerting Dad. Besides, she had a feeling Marietta would approve of what she was doing in any case.

After several minutes of trying to make up her mind, Ava pulled out the four dresses that looked like they would fit Tilly the best. One was yellow with cream bows, one was pale blue with a lacy bodice, one was pink and quite frilly, and the fourth was cream with silk violets embroidered on to the skirt and a simple bodice that laced up at the back with violet ribbon.

This is the prettiest, Ava thought, slipping the cream and violet one from its hanger.

She then had to choose a dress for herself, and her eye caught a child’s ball gown that was remarkably like one that she had for her Princess Barbie doll at home. It had a long red skirt with a stiff red petticoat underneath, which made the skirt stick out without having to wear any hoops. The simple red bodice had a pretty heart-shaped neckline and was attractively decorated with shimmering gold beads.

Excited, Ava quickly found a pair of shoes to match each dress, before disappearing into the changing cubicle. Hopefully the Victorian nanny would keep Marietta and her dad occupied long enough for her to change without being discovered. She felt slightly guilty about disobeying Dad like this – but only slightly. He didn’t always know what was best for her, she decided. It was her job to rescue Cindy and help Tilly – and besides that, Ava desperately wanted to go to the ball tonight and see Cinderella!

Once she was ready – and she was delighted with how glamorous she looked in her new dress – she hurried up the spiral staircase and found to her relief that the music box was exactly where she had left it. Holding on tightly to Tilly’s shoes, and with the cream and violet dress draped carefully over her arm, Ava opened the lid of the box.

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