And she danced the minuet, and then the quadrille, and then more dances after, all with different partners as listed on the dance card dictated by her mother-young men, old men, tall and short, stout and slender, all quite wealthy men, or sons of the very rich. And though she glided about the floor with these various partners, Camille could not think of aught but Alain, for he had taught her each of the dances, and she did miss him so.
And so she stepped and curtseyed and turned and paraded ’round the chamber and paced hand-to-hand with old roues or handsome rakes, or whirled about in a joyous fling with robust and laughing young men, but she would have given it all up, and gladly, just to be sitting quietly with Alain at distant Summerwood Manor.
Midmorn of the next day, from one of the guest rooms where she had been quartered, Camille descended to find five of her siblings and Papa breaking fast at a long, walnut-wood table. She served herself buffet-style from a sideboard, selecting from scrambled eggs, rashers, hot biscuits and butter and jellies and jams, and tea.
She took a seat beside Giles and said, “You are looking quite fit, Little Frere, less given to searching for air.”
Giles nodded. “I still have a bit of trouble breathing at times, though mostly not.”
“The doctor claims his former ill health had something to do with thatch,” said Papa Henri, “especially thatch that has gone to mold, though what mold or even thatch has to do with aught, I cannot say.”
“Maman says the doctor is a fool,” said Lisette, “and that it had more to do with dampness and wind whistling through chinks than with any dark mold.”
Giles made a face and shuddered. “Even so, I still have to take that awful medicine.”
“Well if you ask me,” said Colette, “I think it was all due to ill vapors, and somehow they’ve gone away.”
“Regardless,” said Papa, “be it mold, thatch, wind, damp, or ill vapors, clearly Giles is much better, and whether it is due to our new home or the medicine, who can say?”
Camille leaned over and embraced Giles. “Papa is right, and I am so glad for you.”
They ate in silence for a moment, Camille looking about, and then she turned to her father at the head of the table and asked, “Papa, this mansion is quite splendid. Who built it?”
“Hundreds of workmen from Rulon,” said Henri, “and in but nine months or so.”
“Maman drove them mercilessly,” said Colette.
“Had she a whip, she would have lashed them,” said Joie, Gai at her side nodding, the twins in total agreement.
“They were lazy,” said Lisette, glaring about at the others as if in challenge.
“Lazy?” exclaimed Giles, taking up the cast gauntlet from across the table. He gestured about. “Papa says they did the impossible, completing this mansion in but the time they did.”
“Only because of Maman,” retorted Lisette.
“Only because of Maman for what?” demanded Aigrette as she swept into the room.
“ ’Tis only because of your efforts, Maman,” said Lisette, “that the mansion was started and finished when it was.”
“Indeed,” Maman replied as she took her place at the foot of the table. “Had I not kept after those idlers, we would still be living in your pere’s hovel.” She rang the small handbell.
Giles leaned over to Camille and said, “They tore it down, you know-Papa’s old place.”
“Good riddance,” snapped Maman Aigrette, though at the opposite end of the board a look of sadness touched Papa’s eyes.
An attendant came into the room, and under Aigrette’s sharp instructions, he readied and served her a plate, though he did have to return to the sideboard several times to get the best of the scrambled eggs, the portions quite small, and then the correct jellies in small dabs as well, for the waists of Maman’s gowns were quite tight, and she would have them so. When at last she dismissed the servant with a haughty wave, he left in obvious relief.
“Where is Felise?” asked Camille, glancing toward the door.
“Probably yet abed and enjoying Allard’s attentions,” replied Colette, wistfully.
“Allard?”
“Her husband.”
“Felise is married?”
“Indeed,” said Maman, raising her chin and peering down her nose at Camille. “And she married quite well, I might add.”
“Oh, but not as well as you, Camille,” said Colette, “you being wedded to a prince and all.”
Lisette muttered something under her breath, and Giles said across to her, “Fear not, dear Sister, for you might on a day snag some unwitting soul.”
Colette and the twins burst into laughter at the lad’s gibe, with Giles grinning in the face of Lisette’s glower. Camille hid her own smile behind her napkin.
Even though he kept a straight face, Papa said, “Now, now, mes filles et fils, let us have no-”
“Giles!” snapped Maman. “You will treat your sisters with respect.”
“But, Maman-” began Giles, only to chop to silence as Aigrette glared at him.
Even as Lisette’s scowl at Giles turned into a smirk, “What’s all the laughing about?” said Felise, coming into the room, an anticipatory grin ’neath the freckles on her face, her complexion a bit flushed and glowing, as if she had just been engaged in some strenuous activity.
Giles laughed. “I said to Lisette, that-”
“Giles!” snapped Lisette and Maman together, and the lad fell silent, while the twins and Colette stifled giggles.
“Good!” said Camille, setting a small bundle to the table. “Everyone’s here, and I have gifts for all.”
As Felise filled a plate and took a seat, Camille unwrapped the bundle. “Here, Papa, here, Giles, these are for you.” She passed a small case to each, and inside each was a folding knife and a hone. As they reverently took out the knives, Camille said, “Renaud tells me these are fine blades, made of the very best bronze. And the handles are mother-of-pearl from the tropical seas of Faery. Too, your birthstones are set in the pearclass="underline" a diamond for each of you, since you are both April-born.”
“Ooo,” breathed Giles, as he unclasped the dark-metal blade. Then he looked up at Camille, his eyes glittering. “Are they magic? Enchanted?”
Camille smiled. “Perhaps you could say so, for the more skilled you become through practice, the better will your carvings be.”
Giles beamed. “Oh, Camille, that’s marvelous.” But then his face fell. “-Hoy, now, wait a moment. That’s no real enchantment at all, is it?”
Camille grinned and tousled his hair and said, “No, Giles, but now you and Papa can whittle to your heart’s content, and you won’t have to trade a single knife back and forth.” Giles brightened again and returned her grin.
“Merci, Fille,” said Henri. “This will be used to make a fine echecs set.”
“Just what I was thinking, Papa,” replied Camille. Then she unwrapped six rings, some set with glittering gems, while others held semiprecious stones. Amid murmurs of appreciation as she passed them to the recipients, Camille said, “These are birthstone rings: tourmaline for Joie and Gai; for Felise, saphir; sardoine for Colette; rubis for Lisette; and for you, Maman, heliotrope, also known as bloodstone.”
Even as the others tried on their rings and ooh ed and ahh ed, Aigrette looked disdainfully at the bloodstone-set band and sniffed in dismissal and laid it aside and said, “I expected something finer from a princess, Camille. After all, with your wealth and position…”
Stricken, sudden tears brimming, Camille said, “Oh, Maman, can’t you just merely be happy for once?”
Giles reached over and touched his hand to Camille’s and whispered, “No matter what Maman says, dear Camille, these gifts are quite splendid.”
Felise held up her beringed finger in the rays of light streaming through one of the windows, the blue sapphire glinting, “ Ooh, it catches the sun and transforms it into a star. I shall have to show it to Allard, when he wakes up and comes down.”