The Autumn Palace (15 page)

Old Col nodded. ‘The Duke is right to think she is up to something. But we have no proof yet. Afternoon tea today provided more information. The tea leaves were very good. The Infanta's eldest daughter has not lodged her income tax for the past seven years. One of the Duchess's friends and the Infanta's other daughter are stealing silverware and selling it on Bee-Bay.
⁶⁹
The visiting ladies from the hospital charity lie about their age, but that's a small thing. They're also terrible gossips and tell all their friends at the bowls
club about who has come in for what type of surgery and how often.'

Surprise jolted through Ondine. ‘You got all that from tea leaves?'

‘No. But I have excellent hearing. Eavesdropping is one of my hobbies,' Old Col said. ‘Now, Ondine, what did you really see in the Duchess's palms?'

Ondine gulped. ‘I didn't like it one bit. I mean, I was just telling her what she wanted to hear, but at the same time, I felt she was hiding something. This horrible feeling came over me and I felt a bit sick.'

‘That could be the alcoholic fumes from her breath,' Hamish said.

Ondine laughed. Hamish was still cuddling her and it felt wonderful.

‘The Duchess certainly likes the sauce,' Old Col said. ‘But I'm fairly sure the Duke is aware of that. We should keep an eye on her, but my gut feeling is to hold off saying anything about her to the Duke at this point. If we sully the reputation of the woman he loves, without real proof, we'll be out of here faster than you can sneeze.'

‘But surely the ledger I told you about, surely that's proof she's up to no good,' Ondine said.

‘Aye, lass, but mebbe he doesn't want us to know she's goat a savings account. I think he wants us snooping intae other people's affairs, nawt his.'

The cool wind blew around Ondine and the warmth from Hamish evaporated. She turned to find him transformed into Shambles, standing on top of a pile of crumpled clothes.

‘But I was enjoying that,' Ondine said.

‘Me, too, lass, but Col's right. We need more proof, and I'm going tae get it.'

Did he need to get it right now? She'd been so happy to see him as himself again.

Col smiled with approval. ‘Excellent idea, Shambles. Follow the Infanta and see what she's up to in the kitchens.'

‘Be careful,' Ondine added, ‘Biscuit's teeth may grow back any moment.'

‘Aye, lass. I shall blend intae the shadows.' He gave her a ferrety wink and dashed off.

‘Don't be sad, dear,' Col said as Ondine headed
back across the lawn to pick up her shoes. ‘He's doing his job.'

‘Yes, but does he have to enjoy it quite so much?'

 

62
   This book has two chapter thirteens because there is so much bad news
.

63
   Compared to Ondine's schooling and laundry work, Old Col and Hamish have scored the much better deal so far. Sampling food, opening mail, eavesdropping, partaking in a little gossip. All far too easy. However, they do have the burden of the Duke's welfare on their shoulders, and they need to find out who is plotting his downfall. And they might want to hurry up with that, because things are about to get a lot worse
.

64
   Brugel is famous for its lace-iron work. Lace-iron is a process of super-heating iron until it bends, giving it a stretch so it becomes thin, but not so thin that it breaks, and lacing it together to create a decorative flat surface. Many unwary customers are fooled into buying shoddy knock-offs made from a flat circle of iron with a lace pattern stamped into it
.

65
   If you need to keep your voice low while getting a message to someone, murmuring is far more effective than whispering. Whispering involves far too many ‘esses' and people will overhear you and want to know what you're talking about
.

66
   If it was expected, it wouldn't be a surprise. The Infanta's arrival at meal times was one of those ‘known unknowns'. You know she'll turn up at some point, you just don't know when
.

67
   In other words, the Infanta thinks the Duchess is a drunken lush. If you want to talk about anything sensible with her, you'd best do so early in the day before she's had too much to drink
.

68
   A type of inexpensive processed ‘meat' with huge portions of fat. Each slice is so full of fatty chunks it resembles crazy paving
.

69
   Brugel's answer to e-Bay, where the auctions work in reverse. The seller nominates a high beginning price, then reduces it by increments. The first bidder to put their (electronic) hand up ‘wins' the bid. Many Brugel estate agents try the same technique, with mixed results
.

A
t this point in time, the chances of the words ‘model student' and ‘Ondine de Groot' being used in the same sentence were slim. However, when it came to laundry work, she excelled. Growing up in her family's hotel had given her all the training she needed for long working hours and little free time.

‘Thank you, Ondine, you doing great job,' Draguta said as they folded the clean clothes into neat bundles.

Ondine grinned. ‘You're welcome.'

‘Here. Take sheets and towels to Infanta and make up room.'

Ondine accepted the bundle of linen and headed up the stairs to the Infanta's wing.

‘You took long enough,' the Infanta said as Ondine arrived.

‘My apologies, My Lordship,' Ondine said, using the correct form of address this time. She looked around the Infanta's rooms for an empty surface so she could put down her linen, but there were none. It looked like burglars had ransacked the place, but surely if they had, the Infanta would have been screaming the house down and calling for the police? Then Ondine realised the Infanta had opened the door herself.

‘Ma'am, where is the butler?'

‘She quit. Rude girl.'
⁷⁰

‘I see,' Ondine said, looking around. In his basket, Biscuit lay on his back, paws akimbo, snoring contentedly. A pang of jealousy shot through Ondine at how much she'd love to trade places with the dog. She spotted a small patch of clear space on the floor and put her linen down. Then she headed for the bed and began stripping it.

‘You needn't take that “high and mighty” attitude with me, girl,' the Infanta said. ‘I know what you're thinking.'

‘Ma'am, I'm thinking I have a lot of work to do today.'

‘Don't answer back.'

Great Pluto's ghost, no wonder the last butler quit!

Without prompting, the Infanta said, ‘You don't know what it's like to have your life ripped away from you. To have your hopes and dreams dashed.'

Ondine kept busy changing the bedsheets. Last time she was stuck listening to the Infanta, in the kitchen, she had had nowhere to avert her eyes.

‘I was going to be married to a prince, you know. Not one of those Slaegal princes, they're a schlip
⁷¹
a dozen. Over there, you lift up a rock and you find a prince. My prince was a real one, from the house of Hollenstotder-Betansk. The arrangement was already made. The date set for the week after my sixteenth birthday.'

The Infanta gave a noisy sigh. ‘Am I going to have to pour the tea myself?'

Far from finished with her present task, Ondine stopped making the bed and walked to the table.
She lifted the lid and found the teapot empty. Great, she'd have to start from scratch. On the dresser she found the kettle, also empty, so she walked to the Infanta's kitchenette and filled it. When it boiled, she tipped some of the water into the pot, swirled it round to warm the porcelain, then poured the water out.

With a note of surprise in her voice, the Infanta said, ‘You know what you're doing.'

‘Thank you, ma'am.' Ondine put two teaspoons of leaves in the warm pot. The moment the kettle boiled again, she poured the scalding water over the leaves and the water turned a satisfying dark brown.

‘How do you like it, ma'am, weak or strong?'

‘Strong and stewed.'

Ondine nodded and checked the milk jug. The leftover milk in the bottom had formed a thick band of dried scab around the inside wall. Ick! Back to the kitchenette then. Scrub, scrub, nearly done. Just for a cup of tea!

‘At this time of day, I take it with lemon. I only like milk first thing in the morning.'

Ondine thought,
You could have told me that before I wasted my time scrubbing the jug!

In the fruit bowl she found three lemons. She chose one, washed the skin and cut it into thin slices. Then she put a slice in the teacup, grabbed the strainer and poured the Infanta her cup of tea.

‘May I return to making your bed, ma'am?'

‘Of course. You know, if things had been different, I would have been in the south wing, instead of up here on the draughty north face.'

Ondine got straight back to work and finished with the bed, then carried all the dirty linen to the laundry chute in the bathroom. The fabric made soft
dadud
noises as it fell against the chute's angled walls.

‘When they thought I'd be the ruling Duchess, I used to have my linen changed every day. Now I'm lucky if it's changed once a week,' the Infanta said.

My heart bleeds
, Ondine thought as she scooped the Infanta's used towels off the floor and dropped them down the chute. All she had to do next was put the clean towels on the rails and get out of there. Being around Anathea made her twitchy and nervous. If she
stayed too long, the Infanta would make her clean the bathroom. As far as Ondine was concerned, her job was done.

‘And another thing. This is a fine cup of tea, Ondine. Thank you.'

‘You're welcome, ma'am.' The batty old cow had said something nice! Ondine decided to return the favour as she made her way to the door. ‘I hope you have a lovely day.'

‘Come back here, I haven't finished with you. Here, let me pour you some tea.'

To Ondine's surprise, the Infanta poured her a cup. ‘Do you take sugar?'

‘Yes, two please.' Why didn't she just excuse herself and walk out? Her job here was done. Draguta needed her back in the laundry.

‘Do you know what it's like to have to bow, scrape and curtsey to someone you despise, Ondine?'

Lord Vincent appeared in her mind. ‘Yes, ma'am.'

‘I believe you do.' The Infanta looked at her for a while, then a slow, knowing smile spread over her face. ‘You've met Vincent, haven't you?'

‘Wow, you're good.'

‘He's a piece of work, let me tell you. Far too eager to take over. Thinks he's got it all worked out. With Vincent, the fire's burning but the cow's still in the field.'
⁷²

A giggle escaped Ondine's lips. She couldn't think of anything sensible or non-committal to say, so she drank her tea.

‘I was thirteen years old when it was all taken away,' the Infanta said. ‘Thirteen! Old enough to understand my duties, my obligations and my destiny. Old enough to know that when people bowed and curtseyed to me, it was because of my God-given birthright. I was
someone
. They called me “Duchetta Anathea”. The little duchess. I would have been only the third ruling duchess in all of Brugel's history. Oh, I had such lovely plans for making Brugel truly great.'

The Infanta's top lip curled in contempt as she said, ‘Then
he
was born. The mewling snotty-faced brat.
A sickly child by all accounts. Not that they'd let me see him at first. My mother had been ordered bed rest for months before he was born. I was forbidden to see her. I hadn't even known she was pregnant when the orders for her bed rest came. But I knew what was being done. They must have known a boy would be born, otherwise there would not have been such a fuss.'

The Infanta looked at the ceiling before she continued. ‘I knew it was a boy the morning I was not called Duchetta. My father the Duke arrived to tell me the news. He called me
Infanta
. After that, I was called Infanta by all the staff, and bows were not made. Only nodding heads. When I was finally allowed to meet my baby brother, I was ordered to curtsey to him. A few weeks later, news arrived that my engagement was broken. Thirteen years old and my life was over. How do you like that?'

It was hard to know if the Infanta was asking a rhetorical question or a real one. Either way, Ondine didn't have an answer.

A resigned look came over Infanta Anathea's face. ‘You're a good listener, and you make a good pot of
tea. Your talents are wasted in the laundry. How would you like to work for me? I need a new butler.'

Warning bells went off inside Ondine's head. ‘Ma'am, I'm honoured but –'

‘You will be paid double the money.'

That made things interesting! ‘Can I think about it?'