Chapter 4There were over forty people assembled for dinner in the anteroom to the Banqueting Hall.
Never had Alida seen such a glittering display. The women, as she had anticipated, were indescribably glamorous in their Paris creations and beside them even Mary could only just hold her own.
Their crinolines seemed larger, their waists smaller, their décolletage lower and the elegance of their dresses more decorative than Alida could have imagined while their jewels were superlative.
Great ropes of pearls the size of birds’ eggs, diamonds that seemed too big to be real, emeralds, sapphires and rubies all glittered around long white necks or shimmered in dark hair skilfully arranged by Russian coiffeurs who had studied in Paris.
The men were mostly in uniform, their tunics of red, blue o
