‘She is so clever with men,’ Lencia thought. ‘She twists Papa round her little finger and now she has done the same with the Ambassador. She always gets her own way. It is Alice and I who are going to suffer.’
They were certainly ignored for the next few days.
The Countess was in a flutter as to what she should wear in Sweden and which of the magnificent collection of Armeron jewels she should take with her.
She had them all brought up from the safes to her bedroom and sat trying on the tiaras one after another.
There was the diamond set, the emerald set and then the sapphire set and there was the pretty turquoise and pearl set too that Lencia remembered her mother wearing and looking just like a Fairy Queen.
It was a relief when her stepmother put it to one side and sniffed,
“I don’
