CHAPTER FIVEBettina made certain that she was up early next morning. The ball was over and it was time for Cinderella to come down to earth.
That meant packing up the beautiful velvet cloak and the imitation gold necklace. They had to be returned to Mrs. Tandy today. Cinderella’s finery had turned back to rags.
She permitted herself one last look back at the previous evening, when she had reigned as belle of the ball and the Earl had gallantly championed her against her enemies.
It had been a glorious evening and it would never come again. So she allowed herself just one sweet memory and then put it out of her mind. Or at least, she tried to.
Over breakfast she chatted to her father with determined cheerfulness, refusing to let him see the sad cloud that had mysteriously settled over h
