CHAPTER 11
At the very same time Tiger Lilly was helping her Mum unload Mrs Tommo’s basket of goodies, Prince Xavier was rushing through the door of the Summer Palace to greet Serena. “I see you’ve had a splendid day,’ he shouted as he lifted the Princess high above his shoulders, swinging her round. ‘I can always tell!’
She wished he would stop treating her like a three-year old, going through this ridiculous swinging-round act every time he came near, especially with the servants around. She’d told him a zillion times. Made no difference. She loved her dad, course she did, but he was so stubborn, insisted on doing things his way no matter what. Listened to no one but himself.
‘And you, Miss Penny. Enjoy your day?’
‘Very much, Your Majesty,’ Miss Penny replied, smiling at the Prince. ‘The Shanghasi is truly wonderful, so much to see. They say the one in Paris is even better, but I find that hard to believe.’
The Prince nodded. ‘So how about joining the Princess and me for dinner? That way you can both tell me about your day.’
Miss Penny smiled a thank you - would have much preferred an evening resting in her room, but a royal suggestion was nothing if not a command. True, she had enjoyed her day: the Shanghasi was indeed marvellous and something she would never forget, but something about Serena worried her still. Nothing she could place, put a finger on, but a definite something. When, for instance, had the Princess ever spent a day without a grumble or a whine? When a time when she had smiled at everyone as though truly enjoying their company? And just now! How quickly had Serena agreed to have her join them for dinner! Usually she made no bones about wanting that particular time alone with her father, sulked if it couldn’t b so. This time, though, she had even used the word ‘delighted.’ and that was definitely not a Princess word. No two ways, the Princess was up to something, something too sweet to swallow and, as Penny turned to leave, she caught a questioning eye from the Prince that signalled a need to know how Serena had been that day. Penny smiled a yes, a good day. And who to say otherwise? No saying at all.
‘Right then, see you both in twenty minutes,’ said the Prince.
Serena was sure they could hear every beat of her heart and suddenly, quite suddenly, she was scared. Really scared, though why she did not know. This was supposed to be the big moment, the moment she had looked forward to, enjoyed rehearsing, but now it was here and she was scared. Oh, not the kind of scare you got riding high on a circus ride, but one that that left a heavy, lead-brick feeling deep inside. She took a breath, told herself it was far too late to be thinking such thoughts. Well, it was too late, wasn’t it? No, actually it wasn’t - couldn’t be easier. All she had to do was continue up to her room, change, join her father and Miss Penny for dinner and make out as if she still had the necklace. She could think of a way to get the necklace back from the log easy enough and that would be that.
But, no it wouldn’t do. No! She had waited long enough. Anyway, her father had always given in to her in the past, so why to think he wouldn’t do now? Of course he would. And so the Princess squared her shoulders, gritted her teeth, turned and walked towards the stairs: One step, two steps, three – and she was on the extra wide step. She stopped, took a breath, counted to twenty, raised her hand to the neck of her cloak, spun on her heels and screamed: ‘My necklace! My birthday necklace. It’s gone! Stolen at the Circus.’
Silence. She could not believe it. Both of them quiet. Both staring, not moving, just staring at her.
Finally, and after what seemed an age, the Prince said: ‘Gone! What do you mean, gone? Are you saying you took the necklace out with you; that you have lost it?’ He said it so quietly she could hardly hear his words. ‘The Princess Yarna Necklace gone!’
She raised her eyes to his; made sure they had a touch of tears, nodded.
‘Are you telling me you actually wore it to the circus, took it with you despite all I said when I gave it to you yesterday morning? All my instructions! Did I not say it was never to be taken outside without permission and how much trust I was placing in your hands? Did I not tell of the trouble I had persuading the King and Queen that you were responsible enough?’ He said it in a still low voice.
‘Yes,’ she said, matching his quietness, lowering her head.
He turned to Miss Penny. ‘You knew about this?’
‘No! If I had, I would have done something. Certainly wouldn’t have allowed her to take it to the Circus.’
‘You were with her all day and never once noticed?’
‘Yes, hard to believe, but I didn’t. Had no idea.’
‘Yes, hard to believe,’ echoed the Prince.
Serena wondered if this would be a good time for tears, but the Prince was now looking at her in a way she had never seen him look before, in a way that said to forget about tears, at least for now.
‘I simply cannot believe just how stupid I have been,’ he continued through tight -drawn lips. ‘You knew - had to know because I made sure you knew - that you were being given the necklace to wear on your ninth birthday because your Great Grandmamma had been given it on ninth her birthday almost a hundred years ago and because, like a fool, I had the silly idea that it would be an appropriate and beautiful thing for you to wear in her memory. To make it a kind of birthday tradition.’ She had never seen him so angry.
‘You do know what I mean by appropriate, I suppose?’
‘Yes, the right thing to do.’
‘Well I was wrong! Your Great Grandmama was obviously a much more responsible nine-year old than you are: a great deal more. However, I think we had best leave all questions of responsibilities and rights and wrongs until later, until we have done all we can to get it back. What I want now is for you to concentrate on where you think the necklace might have been taken from you: anything at all that might help; anyone acting strangely; anything suspicious Think hard and think quickly - a search has to be made and there’s no time to lose.’
She was well prepared. She told of the stalls she had visited, the time she spent at the Big Top; the rides; who she had sat next to; stood close to; had talked to. He listened intently, but soon as she had finished he turned to leave. ‘Serena,’ he said: ‘I can’t begin to say how disappointed I am in you. The necklace is a valuable and cared-for family heirloom, and I trusted you with its care. My Grandma Yarna loved her necklace and I loved her.’
He turned: ‘Miss Penny, please arrange for a tray to be taken up to the Serena’s apartment - she’ll be staying there for now – and soon as that’s done, I would like you back here to help me organise a search. By sheer good luck, I happen to know there’s a small garrison of soldiers out on a field exercise not far from here and I’ll have them brought in to help immediately and I’d like to see a detachment of Suchno police on the streets of Yeltsin by morning. By first light if possible. Whoever has the necklace has to be caught and punished.’
Serena sat on the edge of her bed. All right, so it was proving more upsetting than she thought. She had expected him to bellow and shout and yell his loudest for the Police, the Army and everyone else he could think of; but he had been so matter-of-fact, so cold and distant; not once telling her not to worry, not once saying that everything would turn out fine in the end. Not one bit the way he usually was. Worse than anything was when he said how disappointed he was with her. That hurt, really hurt. Hurt even more when she reminded herself that it wasn’t her fault. Wasn’t his stubbornness a big part of the trouble? No, more than a part. After all who was it who refused to talk about the locket, turned his back every time?
Yes, and the necklace! Granted, so he did go on quite a bit about Great Grandmamma being given it on her birthday; about it being a hundred years old and about making it a tradition every year , but he hadn’t made it sound all that important . Now, suddenly, they were the most important and stupendous things ever known to man. He also said she had let him down, said how the necklace was a valuable heirloom and how much he had cared for Grandmamm
a. Well, she couldn’t remember him saying all that much about her before, hardly ever heard him mention her. In any case, she was heirloomed to death, traditioned out and tired of all things history! And then there was Miss Penny! Staring across at her at her like a cross-eyed owl with not a single, solitary word to help.
Wait, hold on! What was she thinking? Just because her father wasn’t reacting the way she thought he would, she was allowing things to upset her. But why! The plan was on track, in two or three days the anonymous letter would be in the post, the necklace would be found and hopefully, fingers crossed, her father would realise how upset she had been and – hold your breath – maybe, just maybe she would have her mother’s locket. No, everything was fine and, as she reminded herself, she had nothing to lose. And so, having remembered she had nothing to lose and that she was not really to blame, Princess Serena lay back on her bed and was soon asleep. Was still asleep when a knock on the door brought a maid into the room.
‘The Prince is at breakfast. Said for you to join him. Please, as soon as you can.’
Serena sat up. ‘How does he seem?’
‘Seem? Who,the Prince?’
‘Of course the Prince, Silly. Does he seem angry or grumpy or upset? Anything like that?’
‘No, he seems fine. Not what you’d call exactly jolly, but then he’s been up all night.’
‘All night!’
‘That’s what they are saying in the kitchen.’
‘I see,’ said Serena, dismissing her with a flick of hand. ‘No need to stay. I’ll see to myself this morning.’
She dressed as fast as she could, took a last look in the mirror: another rub at her eyes, a little more scrabbling of her hair and it would be as if she had been awake half the night, worried out of her mind. She rushed down the stairs and there he was, waiting patiently, his breakfast barely touched.
‘Good news,’ he said immediately.’ He said it with a smile, but it was a thin, smudge of a smile: not cold, not warm. Lukish. But, as always, there was a reach of hand as she sat down beside him.
‘Yes, the best of news,’ he repeated. ‘Your necklace is back safe and sound and, thank heavens, no worse for wear.’
‘Oh,’ said Serena.
‘Yes, they caught the culprit first thing this morning. Red-handed. A young girl would you believe, picked up by soldiers soon after they set out on their search. Had it in her pocket, would you believe! And what a story she had to tell. Something about it being found by her little sister and wanting to put it back where it was found,’ added the Prince with a laugh. ‘Incredible!’
‘Oh,’ said Serena.’
‘Yes and no doubt she’ll have a different story to tell by the time she appears in court. Not that it matters, she is obviously guilty. The main thing – least for us it is - is to make sure this whole business is over and done with as little fuss as possible. Family Courts – and this is what this one will be – are usually held in Suchno, but I have already arranged for this one to be held here at Yeltsin. More than anything, I want this whole business kept away from all knowledge of the public and there will be a much better chance if it is held out here. They say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but believe me, it is not always so if you are a royal. Speaking of which, I’m quite sure the King and Queen will hear soon enough , but I’d much rather I‘d be the one to tell them, not have them reading it in the newspapers Anyway, we’ll worry about that when the time comes, when we can see sparks flying high over Suchno.’
‘Oh,’ said Serena.
The Prince pushed away from the table, placing a hand on her shoulder as he turned. ‘I’m sorry about last night, the things I said. I was really upset and you must admit to being foolish. Very, foolish indeed.
‘By the way, you are not eating your breakfast,’ he added as he walked to the door.
‘Oh,’ said Serena.