Chapter 10
ALL OF A SUDDEN, Johanna found the hall too hot and too noisy. The smell of sweat mingled with perfume and food made her feel dizzy. The tight bodice of the dress constricted her breathing. Everyone seemed to be looking at her, and those haughty noble faces carried expressions of pity. She could hear their mocking voices. Poor simple girl. She really didn’t know what she let herself in for, didn’t she?
She pushed herself through the crowd until she came to the side of the hall.
Through a set of double doors, she ended up in the gallery that ran between the hall and the garden, a long corridor, with on the right-hand side doors that led into the hall. Muffled sounds of talk and laughter and music filtered through the closed doors. Moonlight slanted in through the arched window
