Agnes and The Princess

I stood in front of the small mirror at the end of the lower maids’ quarters adjusting my freshly laundered apron.   My mother and I had sewn several from the fine white fabric that had been given to us when I had been chosen to be sent to the palace and become a maid.   

With my apron fixed and straight, I moved on to checking my cap.   The cap had been made from the same fine white fabric as the apron, mother had been shocked at the amount of the expensive fabric that was wasted when following the instructions told us to cut a large circle then add the channel that we strung the pretty ribbon through to tie into a bow and keep the cap tight.  I tightened the bow at the top of my head, and made sure my hair was fully covered.   

Back at home, I had worn a simple kerchief over the long golden blonde hair just as the other girls and women did when working, both to keep our hair clean and to prevent hair from getting into stuff where it shouldn’t.   Always with the kerchief some of our hair would show, a bit at the front peaking out along our hairlines, a few loose curls hanging just in front of our ears, the long braids hanging down out the back when we were girls, and then when old enough to be considered an adult, the buns we put our long hair up in peeking out just above the knot that held the kerchiefs in place.  Though the kerchief had never fully covered my hair,  when I helped mother in the kitchen it had never seemed unsanitary.  The kerchief had seemed quite sufficient to keep hair out of food even if it didn’t completely cover it, but when I arrived at the palace the head butler had given me along with the other new lower maids a stern lecture about how our hair must be fully covered for sanitary reasons whenever we were on duty especially if we were either helping the cook or serving food, so I wore the puffy cap pulled down to my forehead with the short ruffled brim reaching my eyebrows.

Of course when it came to being around the food, I had only ever been asked to help cook in the kitchen, never to serve the royal family or their frequent guests.   I thought the butler’s reason was silly, he said it was because I didn’t match the other maids, but even if it was silly it was his decision.   I was slightly shorter and more petite than the others, quite a bit more buxom, I had bright blue eyes instead of warm brown, and though my golden hair was covered my pale eyebrows made it obvious that I was blonde, not brunette like the others. .  He complained that having a maid that didn’t match the others made me too noticeable, too distracting.

The head butler was firm in his belief that servers should always aim to be as invisible as possible.  He’d stated rather proudly that he had served in the palace for over thirty years and was sure the king still had no idea what his name was.   I’d been confused about how the king had decided that he should be promoted to head butler without knowing his name, but the butler had rolled his eyes and informed me that as long as things went well the king was too busy running the nation to think about running the palace, and happy to leave all household management questions to the estate manager who reported to the queen.

“I can’t be seen like this.”   I listened to Cassia, who was kind of the leader of the other lower maids, whine.  “He will never forget this!”

Cassia had been moaning to the other lower maids for a half hour.   She’d woken up with a very large red pimple right on the end of her nose.   Cassia had been trying to get the attention of Prince Ethan, without the butler noticing that she was trying to catch the prince’s eye, and though the pimple might make her stand out in a way that could draw the prince’s attention, it wasn’t in the way she wanted to.  Cassia was convinced that she’d been chosen to serve at the royal palace because she was destined to marry the prince and become the next queen of our peaceful nation.  I had my doubts.

“Don’t worry, Head Butler isn’t going to ask us any details about why you are sick,”  Stephany assured Cassia as Francine and Holly nodded along.  

“What about Agnes?”  Cassia asked rather pointedly, glaring at me.

“If asked, I shall confirm that your infirmity is quite pernicious and likely contagious.”  I stated, as I turned away from the mirror, and headed to the door figuring it was likely that I would be the only one of us lower maids to show up for duty on time.  “Stephany, remember to wash your hands in hot water if you touch Cassia, you don’t want to wake up tomorrow similarly afflicted.”

As I walked out I heard Holly ask, “What does pernicious mean?”  as Stephany and Francine both jumped up from Cassia’s bed.   I stifled a chuckle as I rolled my eyes.

 

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It wasn’t until dinner time that the subject of Cassia’s sick day became the focus of the head butler.

“There are too many guests tonight,” he stated with exasperation, “the footmen and I need more than three lower maids to help with serving tonight.”

“Well then you are just going to have to use Agnes, and stop being so fussy that she doesn’t match.  If any of the dinner guests notice her ample bosom, bright eyes, and pale brows, it is likely they will just notice because they find her pleasing to gaze upon.”  The cook told him, then turned to me.  “You won’t do anything to draw attention, will you Agnes?”

“No of course not, sirs,” I assured them as I blushed about the way the cook had talked about my figure.

“I suppose I will just have to use her even if she is too pretty to just blend into the background,” the butler conceded as I felt my face flush even more at being called too pretty.  “A little distraction isn’t as terrible as having half the food go cold because we take too long serving it.”

 

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As I had quietly slid the bowls of hot soup handed to me by the footman, who was ladling the soup, in front of each guest, I’d kept a neutral expression and been as unnoticeable as possible.   It wasn’t till I was slipping a bowl in front of the guest across from Princess Erica that anyone actually looked at me.  It was just a quick glance from her before she returned her attention to the guest she was discussing historic trade patterns with.

I pretended I didn’t notice that Princess Erica kept stealing glances at me as I served the soup, then took away the finished bowls.  It was when I was placing a plate with the main course in front of the princess, that she truly locked eyes with me, making it impossible to simply ignore as she gave me a warm smile.  I felt a shy smile spread across my face, before I remembered my place in the palace and averted my eyes back down to the plate I was placing on the table and resumed my neutral expression.   Hopefully the butler had been too busy to notice the exchange.

 

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“AGNES!  WHAT DID YOU DO?!” the butler accused me as I was helping sort and put away the cleaned silverware.

“Nothing sir,”  I said in confusion.  “I don’t think I did anything… I don’t know, sir.”

“You did SOMETHING!” the butler informed me with annoyance.  “Princess Erika NOTICED YOU!   Her highness has requested the new girl bring her her nightcap this evening.”

“ohhh,” I let out as I found myself blushing again and remembering the little smile I had given her.  I hung my head.

“Well, don’t just stand there!” the butler chastised.  “Go get a tray, cup, saucer, and spoon, then see cook about the drink.”

“Yes sir,”  I said as I left Stephany, Holly, and Francine to finish putting away the dishes and hustled to collect the items the butler had told me to.

 

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I stood just outside the door to Princess Erika’s chambers, waiting and second guessing if I had knocked loudly enough, when I heard her call through the door  “Come in please.”

I entered Princess Erika’s private chamber. I had been in it before with the head housekeeper, Mildered, to gather bed linens for the laundry, but never when Princess Erika was in it.   It was a large space, but made cozy with careful placement of furnishings enhanced by having smaller alcoves off the main room.  There was a large fireplace with a sitting area, to the left of the sitting area was the first alcove that contained a desk and several book shelves.  Across the chamber was another alcove containing the princess’s bed, just to the side of the sleeping alcove was a dressing table, which was where the princess stood.

She was a tall woman, with an athletic build.  She wore her dark hair pulled back tightly into a bun of elaborate braids that sat on the back of her head just above her neck.  She’d only just begun to unfasten the elegant heavily embroidered green silk velvet gown she’d worn at dinner.  The top buttons were unfastened, down to the point it would have been hard for her to reach.

“Would you mind giving me a hand with all these buttons?”  Princess Erika requested.  

I hesitated about what to say and do for a moment, the butler’s instructions had been to enter, place the tray on the dressing table, curtsy, and leave without uttering a sound.   He’d repeated the instruction to not speak or make a sound multiple times, as I had waited while the cook, who was happy he didn’t have to take the nightcap up himself, filled the cup with a warm fragrant spiced drink made with milk and honey.  Princess Erika’s request felt like something I should respond to though, and of course Princess Erika had higher authority than the head butler.

“Of course your highness.”   I said, and placed the tray on the dressing table she stood next to.

“My ladies maid retired,”  Princess Erika informed me as I began undoing the buttons just below the small of her back.  “She’d been my nurse maid when I was a child, and I requested she stay with me when I reached adulthood, so she served here for many many years.  She most certainly earned her retirement, but she is hard to simply replace.  The Housekeeper, Mildred, has been helping me get dressed, and bringing in various experienced maids that I am supposed to choose a new lady’s maid from, but I haven’t really felt comfortable with any of them.  Unfortunately, half my wardrobe is not designed to be taken off by oneself, I can’t reach the buttons all the way at the bottom of this thing….”

I kept undoing buttons when Princess Erika paused, wishing that it was a faster task so I didn’t have to stand there in what was something of an uncomfortable silence.

“You’re very quiet,”  Princess Erika commented.

I swallowed, unsure what to do as again it felt like Princess Erika expected a response,  “I’m sorry your highness.  I was instructed not to disrupt you by speaking, your highness.”

“Of course you were,” she said with just a hint of frustration in her tone.  “I’d prefer it if you felt free to engage in conversation though, if you will?”

I swallowed again, feeling a little conflicted and beyond simply nervous. “As you wish your highness.”

After waiting a moment, while I continued to silently work down the long line of buttons, Princess Erika asked, “What is your name?”

I again hesitated, but answered as I undid the very last button revealing the bottom of Princess Erika’s stays, “Agnes, your highness.”

“Thank you, Agnes,” the Princess said warmly as she turned to face me, her delicate hands just below the neckline of the gown that had begun to fall from her shoulders, and looked directly in my eyes holding my gaze. “It would have taken me forever to do that by myself, and I probably would have damaged the gown.”

“T’was nothing your highness,” I said with a slight curtsy.  “Do you require anything more?”

“No,” this time Princess Erika’s voice held a slight hesitation.  “I won’t keep you from your own bed any later.”

I stood nervously unsure how to respond, and finally did the full curtsy that had been supposed to be the only thing I did after putting down the tray, but added,  “As you wish your highness.”

It was as I was closing the door behind me that I heard Princess Erika mutter softly, at a volume so low I suspected I wasn’t supposed to hear it, “I wish asking you to stay and just talk with me wouldn’t get you in trouble.”

 

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“Why does Princess Erika know your name?”  Butler angrily asked me the next evening.

“Her highness asked me what it was sir.”  I admitted looking down at my feet, which just peeked out past my skirts.  “I’m sorry sir.”

I could hear Cassia, Stephany, Francine, and Holly, behind me whispering.  Last night they’d asked me some prying questions, then gone off and whispered.  From the moment I’d arrived at the palace I’d never really been fully embraced into the group with them, but the cold shoulder had taken on a new level since Princess Erika had requested I bring her her nightcap last night.

“Well now she’s asking for you again,”  the butler complained.  “Her royal highness has requested that when you are finished serving dinner, which I hadn’t been planning for you to do, but I guess you will be now… her royal highness has requested that after dinner you bring her night cap up early and then stay to help her with some gowns.  So I both have to change who is serving dinner and then I will be short handed for clean-up.”

“Sorry sir,”  I apologized again.

“It’s a bit late for that,” the butler grumbled at me.

 

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As I had helped serve dinner to the royal family and their guests, I tried to simply keep my expression neutral and focus on the food, but every now and then Princess Erika would catch my eye, and I would have a hard time not smiling back at her.

It was even harder keeping a neutral expression as I waited outside Princess Erika’s door with the tray.   This time with not simply a single cup of the warm spiced milk and honey concoction, but a little pitcher of it as well as an empty cup.

“Come in,”  Princess Erika called through the door.  “Is that you Agnes?”

“Yes your highness,”  I confirmed as I entered her chamber.

Princess Erika, sat in one of the comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace reading a book, still in the heavy gown she’d worn to dinner.  As she looked up at me, reflections of the candles that provided the light she read by and from the flames that danced in the fireplace made her brown eyes sparkle with flecks of amber.

“You can just call me Erika,” Princess Erika offered with a casualness her status allowed her.  “It feels more fair since I can just call you Agnes.”

As with every exchange I’d had with the princess, I hesitated, unsure what to say and do.  I didn’t want to go against her wishes, but also I knew that doing as she asked went against what everyone else expected of me.  I decided that when the princess had told me she wanted me to feel free to engage in conversation last time, she’d meant she wanted genuine openness.

“I would get in a great amount of trouble if anyone heard me speaking so casually your highness,”  I answered truthfully.

“I wouldn’t want to put you in a difficult position,”  she assured me, though she sounded a bit frustrated.  “Could you use ‘my lady’ instead of ‘your highness’?  It feels more personal to me, but I don’t think anyone could say it was inappropriate.”

“As you wish, y…my lady,”

“I don’t want you to say or do anything you are uncomfortable with just because it is what I wish,  Agnes,” the princess insisted.  “I know our positions make it hard, but inside this chamber, I want you to be honest about how you feel.”

“I shall try y…my lady,”  I promised the woman who looked at me intently.  Then since the weight of the tray was beginning to feel awkward, I asked, “do you want this over on your dressing table as usual, or here by the fire?”

“Here would be wonderful,”  she said as she shifted another book that lay open on the table slightly to make room for the tray I began to set down.  “I see they sent only one cup.”

“Are you expecting company, my lady?”

“Just you Agnes.”  the princess smiled up at me, as she turned over the cup and began to pour some of the warm liquid into it, then lifted the cup towards me.  “We can share if you don’t mind.”

“Share my lady?”  I looked down at the delicate porcelain cup held before me.

“Do you not like it?”

“I’ve never tried it my lady,”  I said as the sweet aroma wafted up.  “It does smell delightful.”

“Please try some,”  the princess encouraged me with a broad smile.

I nervously took the warm cup from the princesses delicate hands.  “If you wish, my lady.”

“I just think you will enjoy it, Agnes,”  the princess said. 

I took a nervous sip from the fragrant cup.  It tasted very strongly of the expensive spices I’d only ever tasted in the fancy treats of the winter festival back home.  The sweetness of the honey, which was also too expensive to have been an every day thing at home paired delightfully with the spices.  It was everything I’d imagined it would be from the fragrance and more.

“It is an amazing treat, my lady.”  I said as I handed the cup back down to her.

“I’m glad you like it,”  the princess said as she lifted the same cup I had sipped from to her own pink lips.

“You wanted my help with a gown my lady?”  I reminded her why she had requested I be sent up early.

“Ah, yes,”  she said at the reminder.  “I was hoping you could help me pick something out for tomorrow.   Please sit and have some more of the milk if you would like.”

“If that’s what you wish, my lady,”  I asked because sitting in the princess’s presence was definitely something I knew I wasn’t supposed to do, but I also wasn’t supposed to contradict her.

“I want your wishes to matter too,”  Princess Erika insisted.  “My wish is that you be comfortable.  I don’t want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable just because I asked you to.  Can you promise me that you will feel free to tell me if you don’t want to do something.”

“I will try my lady,”  I said, the nervousness I had felt in the princess’s presence entering a new height.  

“I want to be able to be open with you Agnes,”  the princess began to explain. “I need to know that if I ask you to do something you don’t want to do, that you will tell me.  I need to know that how you seem to feel is how you really feel.”

“I don’t know if I can…”  I admitted even though I wanted to just promise her what she wanted, and not just because she was the princess and I was a maid.  “The head butler and head housekeeper would be very upset if I were to go against your wishes.”

“This is what I wish.”  She insisted.  “My wish is that here in this room, you can be honest and free.  That whenever we are alone together that you are allowed to, expected to, forget your place and just speak your mind.  I need to know you will say no to something you aren’t interested in without hesitation.   We can just keep everything that happens in this room in confidence.  Can you promise me that?”

“I think I can promise that, my lady.”

“Would you like to sit,”  she invited me, gesturing to the chair on the other side of the little side table.

“I’m more comfortable standing, my lady.”

“Ok Agnes,”  Princess Erika accepted with a half smile.  “If you change your mind, feel free to sit.”

“Thank you, my lady.”  I said as the princess got up and walked over towards a wardrobe.

“Now, I need your help picking out what to wear tomorrow evening, and make sure it is aired out and in good repair.”  Princess Erika announced as she opened the door, revealing the collection of gowns.  “My fiance, Robert, is coming tomorrow, and I should look like I put in an effort.  Please keep that confidential, we won’t be announcing the engagement till next month.”

Hearing the princess tell me that she was going to get married, I found myself with a sadness and disappointment I couldn’t explain or understand.  Even though I couldn’t really understand the feeling, I knew it wasn’t what I should be feeling, so I shoved the feeling down.  I put on a smile.

“Oh, you must be very excited,”  I said as I walked over to join her at the open wardrobe and looked at the variety of colorful fabrics, thinking about the way the girls back home would giggle over boys or the way Cassia was trying to get Prince Ethan’s attention.

“I wouldn’t say I was excited,”  Princess Erika snorted slightly with a stifled laugh.  “He’s a perfectly nice man, and since he is from a region where we would like to increase trade… Anyway he seemed like a good choice… Here, what about this one?”

She held a deep blue gown with silver and lighter blue embroidery to herself.  It was a lavish garment that must have taken months of labor to create.   The scooping neckline was a similar shape to the green dress of the previous evening, and would undoubtedly flatter her in a similar way, accentuating her long neck.

“I am sure your fiance will think you are the most elegant lady he has ever seen,”  I assured her as she draped the dress over the back of a chair.  “Seeing you in such a sensuous dress should enhance his yearning for you.”

“Robert doesn’t yearn for me,” she stated without any hint of concern about it.  “He understands that marriage for us is a political alliance.  It’s good for us to put on a bit of a show though.  People like romance.”

I watched as she pulled out another dress, a red one with gold embroidery, and held it up in a similar way to the way she’d held up the first one.

“That one is quite fetching too my lady,”  I said as she gently swished the long skirt of the gown back and forth.

“Which do you think is better?”  she asked me, as she smoothed the satin fabric to her waist so it didn’t fully obscure the shape of her bosom. 

“I would not say one was better than the other, my lady, just one might be a little more…um…uh…”  I tried to explain without being rude.

“Please don’t hesitate to say what you really think Agnes,”  the princess implored me.  “I need honesty from someone.”

“Of course my lady,”  I nodded and took a deep breath to prepare to be completely frank.  “Though both dresses are very lovely, the blue one suggests virtue, the red dress suggests passion.   I think it would be better to save the red dress till after your engagement is officially announced.”

“Hmmm,”  she let out as she looked back and forth between the two dresses.  “I see what you mean.  So I guess we’ll go with the blue one unless you think something else would be even better…”

I looked into the wardrobe Princess Erika gestured towards, as she walked back to the side table and poured more of the warm spiced milk into her cup.  I looked through the gowns, each of which had probably cost enough to produce to buy the small homestead I had grown up on.  The princess returned and stood next to me sipping from the cup as I sorted through the luxurious fabric.

I came across a gown of pale lilac dupioni, the embroidery was more restrained, just green vines with purple flowers.  I paused.  There was something about it that felt right, even though it wasn’t as expensive looking as the others with their silver and gold and smoother satin, but there was something about it.

“That’s one of my favorites even though it isn’t as showy,” the princess said as she looked over my shoulder.  

She handed me the cup and took the dress out of the wardrobe and held it up the way she’d held the other dresses earlier.  Something about the way she smiled down at it as she spread out the skirt over the skirt of the gown she was wearing.

“I’m not sure that one sends the message you intend,”  I said, and then completely forgetting my place added, “I do wish I could see it on you though.”

“Do you?”  Princess Erika looked at me with what seemed like a hopeful sparkle and a mischievous smile.

“I’m sorry my lady,”  I flushed with embarrassment.  “I shouldn’t have said something so inappropriate.”

“I meant it when I asked you to speak freely.”  She gently placed the lilac dress down over the others, and reached behind her to start undoing the gown she’d worn to dinner.  “I would be delighted to show you.”

“Here, let me help you.”  I swiftly returned the cup to the table and returned to help the princess with the long line of buttons.

“Thank you.”  The princess turned and smiled at me with a tender warmth after I reached the bottom button. 

She slipped out of the gown, and draped it over the other chair.  For a moment, she just smiled at me, standing comfortably in her chemise and stays, then she started stepping into the lilac dress.  I began to help her, gently lifting the weight up as she slid her arms down into the sleeves.  It was a simpler less fitted garment than the gown she’d just taken off, it was shorter with only a few buttons, and ribbons at the sides to allow for the fit to be adjusted.  I almost found myself a little disappointed when I secured the last button.

When I stepped back, Princess Erika swished the skirts back and forth a couple of times, then did a full spin with a delighted smile.   I watched, feeling a certain joy simply from seeing her smile.  When she stopped and looked up from her swishing skirt, she faced me, and our eyes met.  She looked at me intensely, her smile spreading even wider.  I felt my heart quicken, I wasn’t sure why.

“I can’t imagine anyone ever being more beautiful than you are right now,” I said without really thinking.

The princess flushed ever so slightly as she looked down, her smile turning slightly shy, but no less delighted.  “Thank you.”

I took a deep breath, and remembered my place and purpose.  “Unfortunately, it’s not really dinner attire.   If you were going picnicking, it would be a perfect choice, but for dinner, the blue dress is more appropriate.”

“Indeed,” the princess agreed.  “Maybe we should plan a picnic.  That’s the kind of activity that suggests romance.”

Princess Erika led me back to the seats, where I finally felt comfortable enough to sit with her.  We sat and discussed details about the picnic.  The princess passed the cup to me to share several times, insisting that there was more of the sweet spiced drink than she could consume.   As we sat and chatted, casually passing the cup, back and forth, the conversation wandered to other topics.  I started to forget both my place and the princess’s place in the palace and just relaxed and talked with her as one might with a friend.

I was chuckling at a story the princess was telling about learning to ride horses as a little girl at her aunt’s cottage, when we were startled by a knock at the door to the princess’s chamber.  The princess silently gestured urgently for me to get up, then reached out for me to hand her the cup I held.

“Who is it?”  The princess called out.

“I’m here to help you get ready for bed, your highness,” the familiar voice of the head housekeeper called through the door.

“Agnes is still here, Mildred,”  Princess Erika told the housekeeper waiting outside. “Couldn’t she help me get ready for bed?”

“NO, your highness,”  the housekeeper said firmly as she entered the chamber even though she hadn’t been invited in yet.  “Agnes is not ready for so much responsibility.”

“I’m fairly sure most adult women get themselves ready for bed, including Agnes.  How much harder is it to help someone else?”  Princess Erika asked her as the housekeeper looked around with a bit of a frown.

“All these dresses should not be out.”  The housekeeper complained, ignoring the princess’s question.  “Agnes, gather the cup and pitcher, and take the tray back to the kitchen.”

I started gathering up the items as the house keeper started gathering up the dresses.

“I was going to have Agnes take the dress I plan to wear tomorrow evening to be aired and pressed,”  The princess explained to the housekeeper.  “I want to wear the blue one…”

“I will take care of that,”  the housekeeper interrupted, as I finished gathering the china, and did a quick curtsey and started heading to the door.  “Did you have Agnes help you with buttons again?  If anything were to happen to one of the gowns, Agnes would get in a lot of trouble.  You don’t want to put Agnes in that position do you, your highness?”

“Of course not, but…”  I heard the princess respond as I began to walk down the hall, till her voice faded away, so I didn’t know how the conversation progressed.

 

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The next night, I stood outside the door of Princess Erika’s chamber once again.  She’d smiled at me a few times as I’d help serve dinner to her, the rest of the royal family, and the guests, including Robert.  Cassia had given me an extremely dirty look when she realized that I had pretty much replaced her serving dinner, and that she was relegated to helping the cook in the kitchen the way I used to. 

I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

“Is that you Agnes?”  

“Yes. my lady.”

“Please come in.”

As I entered, I saw Princess Erika looking around the corner from the alcove where she kept books and a desk eagerly towards the door with a warm smile.   I closed the door behind myself, assuring our privacy before I felt fully free to return the smile with one of my own.

“Do you want your nightcap in front of the fire, or at your desk, my lady?” said, as she got up and began to walk towards me, the hem of the blue gown we picked the night before swishing over the floor.

“I think I have done enough working for tonight, I was just writing some letters of introduction for some ambassadors…”  the princess said, then gestured to the chairs in front of the fireplace.  “Do you think you can sit with me for a little bit, Agnes?  Housekeeper Mildred, has told me that I shouldn’t be having you do the kind of stuff a lady’s maid does, so I no longer have that excuse to explain your time spent here, but…”

The princess looked at me with a frustrated sadness.   I felt it too.  A certain longing to simply spend time with her, but knowing that requesting to do so was inappropriate.  There was no good way to explain the desire to either the butler or the housekeeper.

“Only for a few moments, my lady.”  I said as I set the tray down on the little side table and waited, letting the princess sit first before taking the seat across from her.  

“Sometimes I think Housekeeper Mildred forgets I am an adult now,”  the princess said before lifting the drink to her pink lips, and taking a small sip.  “I definitely think she forgets I shall be queen in just a few more years when father abdicates so he can  retire and relax.”

“You’re going to be queen?”  I asked with slight confusion, as the princess pressed the warm cup into my hands to sip from as well.

“Of course I will,”  Princess Erika’s tone matched my confusion.  “I am the first born child, what would make you think I wasn’t going to be queen?”

“The other lower maids all say you will abdicate in favor of your brother, just as your aunt, Princess Filipa, abdicated in favor of your father.  They say it’s what women do, and pointed out that there hasn’t been a Queen in a couple of hundred years.”  I explained as I passed the drink back for her to sip from, her soft fingers brushing against mine as I did.

“Aunty Fifi just abdicated because she vastly prefers spending time with her horses than thinking about law, diplomacy, and trade,”  she told me then took a sip.  “I like horses well enough too, but I also don’t mind practicing state craft.   The only reason there was no queen for so long before my aunt, was just by chance.  My aunt was the first girl who happened to be first born in about two hundred years.”

I nodded, taking in the information as the princess passed the cup back to me, and began to wonder how Cassia would react to finding out attracting Prince Ethan’s attention would not get her an opportunity to be queen herself.   I definitely didn’t plan to be the one to tell her though.

“I won’t be abdicating for my brother,”  she continued.  “If I did he’d be most upset, he has even less interest in state craft than Aunt Fifi.  Ethan is hoping to lead a quiet life studying nature and writing books on the subject.  He’s halfway through one on the subject of the life cycle of frogs.” 

“The life cycle of frogs?”  I asked with a smile.

“Yes, he spent three years going down to the pond daily and observing them, taking meticulous notes and making sketches.   He claims to have made some discoveries that will revolutionize our understanding of nature.”

“When he’s finished, maybe I can get permission to borrow it from the library.  I wouldn’t count on it though, the butler has said no to most of the books I asked to borrow. ”   

“Permission?”  The princess raised an inquiring eyebrow as I took a sip of the sweetened and spiced milk.  

“Yes,” I nodded as I passed the nearly empty cup back to her to enjoy the last sip.  “We lower maids must ask his permission.  So far the only one’s he’s allowed me to read have been rather boring ones about housekeeping and protocol.”

“Well, I shall have a discussion with the estate manager about that.   There’s no reason you and other members of the staff shouldn’t be allowed to read whatever you want to.”  The princess put down the empty cup on the saucer and began to get up.  “In the meantime, if you’d like you can pick out something more interesting from my private collection.”

Princess Erika led me over to the alcove with book shelves.  The ones nearest the desk mostly looked like they were relevant to state craft, law, almanacs, histories of various nations, and what not.   Next to it was a bookshelf filled with what looked like mostly fiction though, the covers were more decorative, and several titles were familiar.  I recognized many of my favorite stories from having borrowed them from the school mistress before I’d left to be a maid at the palace.  I began to look through them more carefully.

“This series is one of my favorites,”  I mentioned as my fingers grazed over the familiar group that was about a girl who climbed a very tall mountain, up past the clouds, and found herself in a fantastical world there.  

“That author wrote other books that are a little more…uh….” the princess hesitated slightly, “grown up.  I just finished reading one… it’s over by my bed… I’d love to have someone I could talk about it with…”

The princess walked across her chamber to the alcove her bed was in.  Next to her bed, was a stack of books, mostly fiction I guessed from the size and decorations on the covers.  She selected the second book from the top, and held it tight to her breast as she returned back across the chamber.

“It’s called Andrea’s Awakening,” the princess looked a little embarrassed, or maybe just shy, as she held the novel out to show me.  “There aren’t many copies of it…  Most don’t consider it appropriate for young women to read…  You might find it disturbing…  Don’t feel like you have to read it…  I don’t want to make you feel like you have to read something… uh…”

I’d taken the tome from the princess’s hands, our fingers once again brushing, and turned to the first page, glancing at it briefly.

“If it seems too intense, I can just stop reading,”  I assured the nervous princess.  “I am very interested in reading it.”

“I look forward to hearing your opinion of it,” she smiled at me, then turned and opened a drawer in her desk.  “I have a bookcover I think will fit it, I use it when I take books out of my room.  I think it might be better if others didn’t know what you are reading.”

Princess Erika, pulled out the quilted and embroidered item, and together, we slipped the front and back covers into the little pockets.   I closed the now anonymous book, and held it close to my own body, and smiled at the princess.   I knew that she’d shared something more than just a book with me. I knew it was a secret deeper than the one she’d shared with me the night before about the unannounced engagement, even though I wasn’t fully sure what it was yet.  

“Thank you, my lady.”  

KNOCK, KNOCK.  The princess and I both startled and looked at each other with a touch of fear.  I wasn’t sure what we had to be afraid of, we’d done nothing wrong, but somehow we both were.

“I’m here to help you get ready for bed, your highness,”  the voice of the housekeeper called through the door.

“Go grab the cup and tray,”  the princess told me softly as she swiftly returned to her chair, then called out  “COME IN.”

As I also crossed back to the little seating area in front of the fireplace, I tucked the book under my arm, and started gathering the tray and cup as the door opened.

“Thank you for waiting patiently while I finished my drink,”  Princess Erika said to me, but not really for me.  “I would appreciate it if you could do the same going forward, I like having the clutter gone as soon as possible.”

“As you wish, your highness.”  I curtsied with a neutral expression and turned to leave, passing the housekeeper on the way, and giving her a smaller curtsy. “Ma’am”

As I entered the hallway, I heard the housekeeper begin to question the princess, “Was Agnes carrying a book.”

“It was just one I thought would be good for her to read.  I thought she might be able to relate to the main character, who was also a maid.”

“Some of the books you read aren’t very appropriate for girls like Agnes, they do not have the same level of exposure to the world and might not understand that some things written in books should not be imitated.”

“I don’t think there is anything in that book that Agnes can’t understand…” I heard faintly as I walked out of hearing range.

 

——————————————————————————-

 

“COME IN” I heard the princess’s familiar voice call through her chamber door the same way she had been each time I had brought her milk up the last few evenings.

Then I heard an unfamiliar male voice call out, “WAIT JUST A MOMENT!”

“It’s fine, I don’t need to keep secrets from Agnes,”  the princess contradicted, “COME IN.”

I carried the tray with three cups and a small pitcher into the chamber.  It was a good thing I was slightly prepared to see something unusual, or I may have dropped the tray in shock at the scene in front of me.   Princess Erika was seated at her dressing table on the upholstered stool that went with it, in nothing but a chemise with a towel draped over her shoulders.  The stool had a cloth draped over it, and below it was a sheet of paper.   Behind her stood a man dressed like a gentleman, not a servant, holding a comb.  As surprising as all that was, what was even more shocking was that the elaborately braided bun of hair that had been sitting on the back of Princess Erika’s head at dinner time, was now pinned to a little pillow on her table, and her loose damp hair barely reached her shoulders.

I stood frozen with my jaw hanging open, not sure what to make of what I saw.  Princess Erika turned and looked at me, her brow furrowing slightly when our eyes met.

“This is my hairdresser, Joseph.  He is also one of my closest confidantes.”  she explained.  “I know it’s quite unusual for a woman to have her hair cut.  Mother insists it would cause gossip and speculation if well known, so I usually keep it hidden.  Mother, Aunt Fifi, my retired lady’s maid, Joseph, and I guess you now, are the only people who know about it.  Though I think Mildred is beginning to suspect.  Both her and my brother, and a few others knew about the first time I had it cut, though not that I have kept it short.”

“It is not that unusual for women to have their hair cut, but it’s…”  I said tentatively as I put the tray on the little table by the fireplace.  “not seen as good…  Sometimes it must be cut if she is sick or badly infested…  Or sometimes if she needs money quite badly, she might sell her hair to the wigmaker…  So, it’s seen as something to be sad about or even ashamed of.   Have you been infirmed, my lady?”

“No,”  she assured me in a relaxed manner as she turned back to face her dressing table.  “I just prefer it this way.  It’s faster and  easier to just pin on a bun than to sit while my long hair is arranged into the elaborate styles expected of me.  I take it there were no women or girls in the village you grew up in who just preferred to cut their hair?”

I stood next to the table, watching Joseph combing the princess’s shockingly short dark hair smooth, and suddenly thinking about the blacksmith’s daughter.  Thinking about the rumors and gossip that I hadn’t quite understood. 

“Well there was one who I suppose might have…”  I cautiously began the tale.  “The blacksmith’s daughter, who was also his apprentice and helped him in the forge… Well she suddenly had her hair cut quite short one day.  She claimed she’d singed it in the forge’s fire, which seemed reasonable at first. But then she kept getting it cut over and over again, instead of growing it back, she said she just wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.  There was… talk…”

As I remembered the rumors, some were about her hair and why she might want it so short, but some were about other things, especially that she was getting too old to not be married. I started to begin to connect them to things I had begun to read in Andrea’s Awakening, and I thought maybe I was beginning to understand.  Then I remembered, overhearing my parents discussing my going to the palace…

 

“I think it’s probably for the best if she goes,”  Father said.  “I fear people are going to notice that she has no interest in any of the boys that keep trying to get her attention.  I worry they will soon start talking about her the same way they talk about the blacksmith’s daughter.  If she is off at the palace being a maid, people are less likely to notice.”

 

“I guess my mother was right then.”  Princess Erika conceded with mild disappointment that the queen’s concern was valid, as Joseph continued to comb through the short hair.  “We can be a bit more relaxed tonight, since I’m already out of my gown, the housekeeper won’t be disturbing us.  And I said I wanted you to assist Joseph with cleaning up after washing my hair, so you can stay for a while without it being an issue.  Would you mind pouring us each a cup of the milk?”

“Of course, my lady,”  I turned to the tray that I had forgotten was the reason I had been sent to the princess’s chamber, and began to pour the warm spiced and sweetened drink into two of the cups.  

Joseph paused the combing smooth of the princess’s hair as I handed him one of the cups, saying a quick “thank you,” and beginning to sip.  

When I handed the princess her cup, she deliberately cupped her hands over mine holding me there for a moment.  She looked up at me, our eyes meeting, and smiled so warmly it melted my heart, which was suddenly beating much faster.   A couple of days ago, the feeling would have left me simply confused, being halfway through Andrea’s Awakening, I had a new understanding of the reason I felt the way I did when the princess smiled at me.  It made me slightly scared, but not enough to avoid it.

“Thank you Agnes,” the princess said slowly, then moved her hands down, taking the weight of the delicate tea cup from me and releasing my hands.  “This will take a little time.  Sit and get comfortable.”

I shifted my eyes, up towards Joseph briefly and raised an eyebrow in a question.  The princess had said Joseph was one of her closest confidantes, but I wasn’t sure how far that applied to her wish for me to not stand on formality.

“Joseph won’t say anything about you pouring yourself a cup and pulling over a chair.” Princess Erika assured me.  “He understands that all the formality becomes tiresome to me.  Please sit.”

“As you wish my lady.”  They were words I said before, but this time, they felt different with a new meaning, not simply the correct thing to say according to protocol, but a genuine desire to make the princess, to make Erika, happy, the my in my lady almost feeling like a possessive.   

Erika gave me a soft nod, and smiled as I stood up straight and went to turn a chair so I could sit but still feel part of the conversation.  I poured myself a cup of the sweet milk as Joseph put his down on Erika’s dressing table and smoothed the hair once again straight, since looking up at me had caused it to move out of place.

I watched Joseph pause the combing once Erika’s hair was completely smooth against her neck, and reach into his pocket, and pull out a pair of very delicate looking scissors.  Joseph raised the scissor to the smooth hair, and took a small snip right at the princess’s neckline where the bun usually sat.  

Shnip.

The damp hair clung to her neck till Joseph swept it away with his comb onto the towel over the princess’s shoulders.  As shockingly short as the princess’s hair was, it was obviously going to be even shorter soon.

Joseph combed some more of Erika’s dark hair to the same spot as the place he had begun the hair cut, and snipped it short to match the length already there.

Shnip

“Have you ever had your hair cut short Agnes?”  Erika asked me, as she kept her head bent down slightly.

Shnip

“NO! my lady,” I said as my heart leaped at the chilling thought.  “I have been fortunate that it has never been a necessity.  I have never needed the money badly enough to consider selling it, I have never had such a high fever that the doctor ordered it, or any other such circumstance.”

Shnip

“And it never seemed like something you might just want to try?”  Erika chuckled.

Shnip

“No, my lady,” I chuckled too, but also nervously reached up to feel that my hair was still there, though of course I encountered my cap instead of my hair.

Shnip

“It occurs to me, I have never seen you hair Agnes,”  Erika observed.

Shnip

“Both the butler and the housekeeper insist I must keep it covered at all times for sanitary reasons since I serve food.”  I explained.  “At home, we wore kerchiefs that didn’t fully hide our hair.”

Shnip

“I’m curious now,”  Erika stated,  “Can you take off your cap and let your hair down for us to see Agnes?”

“OH YES! Please.” Joseph added eagerly, turning away from snipping the princess’s hair to look at me.  “From your complexion I assume you are blonde?”

I was a little torn.  I did want to show off the hair that was usually much admired when it was visible, hoping the princess would find it beautiful.  However, there was something about the way Joseph was so eager while holding the scissors he used to cut hair that I found a bit terrifying.   Plus I was supposed to have my cap on while working, especially while serving food, and I was here to serve Joseph and the princess the sweetened milk.  I considered just saying no, the princess had insisted that I could, but looking at Erika’s eyes…

“Are you quite sure the housekeeper won’t be coming?”

“Yes,”  Erika assured me.   

I placed my cup down, and reached up with both hands, and undid the little bow at the top of my cap.   I slid it off, and laid out the fine muslin cap in my lap, and then began taking out the pins that held the long hair back.  I felt the twisted coil fall heavily on my back.  I reached back and untwisted it as I brought the bundle forward over my shoulder and lightly finger combed out the curls.

“My it is quite beautiful,”  Erika admired, causing me to smile and blush.

“Yes indeed,”  Joseph agreed.  “A truly golden honey blonde, a rare color.  I thought it might be the more common dirty blonde from just seeing your eyebrows, but it is wonderfully warm and bright.  And such length and volume.   I assume the curls are natural.  Should you ever wish to try out the ease and comfort of short hair like the princess, I can get you a very good price for it.”

“No thank you,”  I said softly, and held my soft locks a bit more protectively.

“You buy people’s hair, Joseph?”  Erika asked, sounding a touch surprised.

“Of course my lady.”  He said as he returned his attention to snipping away at her hair.  “That’s how I am able to make the buns for you to pin over the ends of your short hair.  Even on ladies with long hair, such as your mother, when I am doing especially elaborate styles, I often need to add a few extra braids.   You remember me doing that for you before you had me cut your hair short.  And I won’t name names, but with ladies who have dirty blonde hair, adding in a few strands of brighter hair like Agnes has, makes it look a better color.”

“I suppose I should have thought more about where it came from.”  Erika said with a wrinkled brow.  “I hope the women whose hair my buns were made from weren’t too sad about giving it up.”

It immediately made me think of the time back home when the weaver’s shop had caught on fire and some of her equipment had been damaged beyond repair. She had travelled to the nearest city with a wigmaker and sold her hair to help replace it.  Afterwards, she’d come to my mother, crying and saying she was scared to go home and let her husband see how ugly she was.  Though possibly part of the reason she was so upset unlike the princess was that the weaver’s hair hadn’t been cut neatly as the princess’s hair was being cut, or like the blacksmith’s daughter, but had simply been cropped much shorter like men’s hair and quite sloppily.

“Don’t fret over that, my lady.”  Joseph said dismissively.  “One of the hair pieces is made from your own hair, and of course you were exceedingly happy to give it up.  Though most of the women I buy hair from aren’t quite as eager for short hair as you were, they are always very happy with the compensation they receive.  Though most of the time I buy the hair from the wigmaker, not directly from the woman who sells it.”

Though I thought about joining in the conversation, I decided not to mention how unhappy the weaver was.  I also refrained from asking Joseph if he always cut the hair off when he bought it carefully as he was cutting the princess’s hair neatly just to her nape, or if he just cropped it off much shorter with little concern over how the woman looked after.  The princess’s hair was gradually angling down to hang a little longer in the front where it was beginning to curl under her chin.

“I was quite happy the first time I had you cut it short.”  Erika reminisced.  “That time, I talked him into cutting it shorter than this.  Since I was leaving to go to Aunty Fifi’s cottage for a few months, I didn’t have to worry about being able to hide that it was cut short till it would have time to grow back.  I had Joseph cut it right up to here.”

She held her hand up indicating a level just above her delicate jaw line.

“At the time I thought it would be a one time thing,” Joseph commented.  “I thought the hair piece I made from your long hair would just be needed until it grew back, but then you insisted I only let it grow long enough to make hiding it easy.  Generally when women have their hair cut, they grow it out immediately.”

“So there are others who ask you to cut their hair?”  The princess inquired.  “I mean aside from selling it to you.”

“As Agnes mentioned, sometimes their doctor will order it cut.”  Joseph explained.  “Mostly to make bringing down a dangerously high fever easier.  Sometimes for other reasons.  Usually their lady’s maid who is tending to them does the deed, and I am brought in once they are recovering to neaten things up.  Occasionally though, I have been tasked with it, especially if it is a less sudden need.  One time a lady was having terrible neck pains, and her doctor believed the weight of her long thick hair was the culprit.  She had me cut it.

“Also, Ladies going on certain pilgrimages are expected to have their hair cut short before leaving.”  Joseph continued.  “Both to show they are humble and for convenience on the long journey.”     

“I had wanted to go on a pilgrimage when I was young.”  I jumped into the conversation.  “I didn’t know they often had get their hair cut.   I guess I’m just as happy I couldn’t afford it.”

“Well of course many sell the hair to help pay for the pilgrimage”  Joseph mentioned.

“I didn’t want to go badly enough to do something as drastic as that!”  I exclaimed,  then realize it might sound like I was saying that the princess was crazy.  “Not that it’s a bad thing… I uh… just I don’t want to myself…  The short hair is quite fetching on you, my lady.”

Erika simply chuckled at my backpeddling.  “No worries Agnes.  I know that I am unusual in this.   And you do have particularly lovely hair.”’

I blushed again and looked down at my feet.

“Their you go my lady,”  Joseph announced as he took the towel from the princess’s shoulders.  “As short as possible while still long enough to be pinned back.  Is it satisfactory?”

“Yes, quite.”  Erika smiled and began dusting herself off.

I helped Joseph cleaning up, making sure all the cut off hair got folded inside the paper before we tossed the bundle onto the fire.  We also emptied the wash basin he had washed the princess’s hair in, and gathered the towels.  Amusingly, Princess Erika tried to be helpful, though it was obvious she had little knowledge of how to clean.  Then Joseph departed, leaving Erika and I in privacy.

“Do you really think my hair is fetching?”  The princess asked me shyly.  “You didn’t just say it to be polite?”

“You are a most beautiful woman, my lady,”  I assured her.  “Including the short hair.”

“Would you like to feel it?”  Erika asked me cautiously, coming very close to me.  

“Yes my lady,” I said, and nervously reached up.  

I stroked my hand over the smooth glossy hair, down to the very slightly prickly freshly cut ends.  I smiled at the princess, our faces feeling dangerously close.  At the same time I felt Erika gently lift up a lock of my own loose hair, and wind it around her finger.  My heart beat fast.

Thoughts that almost frightened me raced through my head, pressing my lips to hers, pulling her closer, touching her beneath her fine linen chemise, taking off my own dress and stays.   I swallowed, I knew those thoughts were dangerous.  They were thoughts that were dangerous to have about any woman, and doubly so to have about a princess.   Even though I was near certain she had similar thoughts, I knew I could not act on them.

“I need to gather the china and take it back to the kitchen my lady or there will be questions.”  I told her as I stepped back, and began to gather my loose hair up and twist it into a quick bun.

“Of course Agnes.”  Erika nodded, as I pulled my cap down over the sloppy bun and tied the ribbon .  “Have you been enjoying reading, Andrea’s Awakening?”

“Yes, my lady.”  I paused, looked at her, and gave her a deep knowing smile, then began gathering china.  “I have been enjoying it very much.  The character Amy reminds me of you in many ways, though she is a candlemaker, not a princess.”

“I am most flattered,”  Erika blushed.

I had all the china gathered up, and no excuse to linger, even though I desperately wished to, so I curtsied and said, “Till tomorrow, my lady.”

“Good night Agnes.”

 

————————————————————–

 

When I walked into the lower maids’ quarters, Cassia, Stephany, Francine, and Holly, who had been sitting together talking, all fell silent and glared at me.  I felt their eyes following me as I walked towards the mirror to begin getting ready for bed.  

“Why were you in the princess’s chambers for so long?”  Cassia accused.  “It doesn’t take that long to pick up a few towels.”

“Her hairdresser hadn’t finished when I got there, so I had to wait.”  I simply stated, trying not to sound like there was anything more, as I stood in front of the mirror untying the hastily knotted ribbon on my cap.

“Why did you take up three cups for two people?”  

“I didn’t ask her majesty why she requested three cups.”  I said, trying not to get nervous as I fumbled with the knot that wasn’t as easy to untie as the neat bow I usually tied.  “It’s not my place to question her orders.”

“So her brother Prince Ethan didn’t stop by?”   Cassia said in an even more accusatory tone.

“What? No.”  I scoffed with genuine confusion, as I finally untied the knot.  

“We know Princess Erika has been asking you to come up so Prince Ethan can see you.”  Stephany claimed.

“You are imagining things,”  I rolled my eyes as I took off my cap, and saw how badly I had put my hair back up in my haste.  “The only people in Princess Erika’s chamber were Princess Erika and her hairdresser.”

“Why is your hair messed up?”  Francine joined in.  “Did Prince Ethan want to run his fingers through it?”

“Considering that Prince Ethan wasn’t there that would have been impossible.”  I said with frustration as I undid the messy bun.

“So why is your hair messed up?”  Cassia answered.  “IF Prince Ethan wasn’t there?”

“The hairdresser just had professional curiosity,”  I told them as I finished taking off my apron.     

“Really?”  Stephany said skeptically.  

“Yes,”  I said as I slipped off my dress, and turned to walk to the lavatory in just my chemise and stays.

I could hear them return to their gossiping in hushed tones.  I couldn’t make out every word, but I heard “Hiding something” and “Prince Ethan.”

Though I was getting more than just a bit annoyed with them not believing that Prince Ethan had no interest in me.  It felt like a rather ridiculous accusation, but then again it wasn’t that far from the truth.  Of course the truth was much more dangerous.  Possibly I should let them think that what I was hiding was that Prince Ethan was interested in me so they’d be less likely to figure out that it was Princess Erika herself who wanted to spend time with me.

 

————————————————————————————

 

Of course the other lower maids had questioned why it was that I was the lower maid being sent to assist with the romantic picnic Princess Erika was going on with Robert.  The head butler just told them that it wasn’t their concern.  Officially it would be Robert, Princess Erika, Robert’s valet, and me, the other lower maids were convinced that Prince Ethan was going to sneak into the group, presumably to see me.

I’d simply denied it as I had taken the lightest of the three baskets and blanket.  Robert’s valet, who introduced himself to me as Brian, simply smiled at the accusations as he took the two heavier baskets before we headed out of the palace.

We went to the front of the palace to follow Princess Erika and Robert, who stood ready for picnicking on the lawn.   Princess Erika wore the lilac dress, and held a parasol with a mossy green lace canopy, her hair pulled back, and mostly hidden under a straw hat with a wide brim.  She and Robert chatted in a cordial manner as they waited for Brian and I to arrive.  

We were almost there, when I spotted Prince Ethan coming from the other direction carrying his own lunch basket, a couple of books, and a case that I suspected had a set of water colors in it from the colorful stains on the outside.

“Off to make more observations at the pond?”  Erika asked him casually as he crossed by them.

“Yes, I want a better illustration of the developing pollywogs still inside the eggs.”  He informed her cheerfully.

“Have fun, and don’t get sunburned.”

“I’ll try not to.”  He simply said, then added.  “Enjoy your picnic.”

At the end of the very simple exchange, Brian and I arrived close enough to the princess and Robert that they began walking in the same general direction as Prince Ethan towards the woods.  Princess Erika folded up her parasol, and took Robert’s hand as we walked.   We all followed the same path for a bit, before it forked and Prince Ethan turned downhill towards the pond, and the rest of us took the fork in the other direction, heading uphill.   

As soon as we were well out of sight of Ethan, the princess and Robert stopped holding hands, and Robert fell back to walk with Brian, taking one of the baskets from him.  Princess Erika looked back at me, and took the blanket.  We walked on for a while through the woods that provided cover from the prying eyes of the palace till we came to a small glen.

“See, perfectly private,” Erika said as she began to spread out the blanket on the grass,  “we can fully relax.”

“Wonderful,”  Robert said as he set the basket he carried down on the edge of the blanket, and flopped down stretching out comfortably. 

I put my own basket down on the edge of the blanket, next to the one Robert had carried, opened it, and took out a bowl of strawberries.  and placed them out on the blanket.  Then Brian put down the basket he was carrying on the other edge of the blanket, but instead of starting to serve the food to the princess and Robert as I expected, he instead lay down next to Robert in a fully relaxed manner.

“Come join me under the parasol, Agnes.”  Princess Erika invited me as she sat down on the opposite side of the blanket from Robert and his valet.  “I’m sure you sunburn quite easily with your complexion.”

“It doesn’t seem quite proper.  Are you sure, my lady?”  I nervously asked, looking over at Robert and Brian, who admittedly seemed to not be particularly concerned about protocol as Robert held a strawberry for Brian to take a bite from.

“Don’t worry.  Robert and Brian won’t be telling tales on us,”  Erika assured me, as she patted the spot on the blanket next to her.

I smiled at her as I nervously sat down next to her, and felt her shift slightly so that our legs touched.  The four of us relaxed like that for a while, sharing the picnic food and listening to Erika and Robert casually chatting about the things that a young couple would do and say when courting, so they could put on a decent show.     

“I suppose there is something I should say about you, beyond that you are reasonably handsome.”  Erika speculated.

“You can say he has the tiniest flecks of gold in his green eyes that catch the candle light.”  Brian suggested as he looked deeply into Robert’s hazel eyes himself.  “You can say that you love the way his nose wrinkles slightly when he smiles.”

“Does she?”  Robert said in a teasing manner as he looked at Brian, with a slightly evil grin.

“Yes, I’m quite certain she does,” Brian said, though it was quite clear it was Brian who felt those things.

“And what should I be noticing about Erika?”  Robert asked, giving me a quick glance, before turning his attention back to Brian.

I stole a glance at Erika who smiled in encouragement.  My heart again quickened as I looked at her.  Nervous as it made me, I swallowed and played along with the game.

“You should notice that she has the most elegant long neck you have ever seen.   You should notice the way her cheeks raise up almost to her eyes when she smiles with delight.  You should notice the way her delicate hands glide over things.”  I said, looking down at the long fingers next to mine, then I looked up and smiled at her as she smiled at me.  “You should notice the way she always looks up from her work or book with eagerness when you enter a room.”

“I fear that last one doesn’t apply to me,”  Robert chuckled without any jealousy.  “When I disturb her work or reading she always just mutters ‘give me five minutes,’ without looking up.”

“I’ll try to seem more eager when people are around.”  Erika promised with a chuckle.  

“I’m sure few notice,”  Robert stated.  “I think Brian and I would like to go for a little bit of a stroll now.”

“That does sound like something l would like to do,”  Brian confirmed, getting up and dusting himself off.  “We’ll be a while.”

Erika and I watched Brian and Robert wander out of sight into the woods.   When they were gone, Erika and I relaxed a bit more.  She propped up her parasol in a basket and stretched out under it.  She took off her straw hat and a couple of hair pins, letting the ends of her short locks brush along her jaw.   Then she looked at me, and gestured for me to join her, so I stretched out facing her.

“It’s nice to have a little time for just the two of us.”  Erika commented as she reached up, and untied the bow that kept my cap tight.

“Yes…but you shall be announcing your engagement to Robert soon.”  I pointed out, as I felt the princess gently push the cap back from my head.  “just in a couple of weeks.  Shouldn’t you be focusing on finding time with him?  Especially once you are married…”

“That needn’t really change anything between you and I, Agnes.”  Erika claimed, as she reached behind my head and began to pull out hair pins.  “My father, the king, suggested three men who would be a suitable husband for me for various reasons.   When I met with the first and then the second, they each put in great effort to sway my heart with flattery and romantic gestures.  I was most bored by them.   When I met Robert, he explained that he was willing to play the part and do what was necessary to produce a few heirs, but confessed that he preferred the company of his valet to the company of ladies.  I told him that was quite fine with me.   Do you understand Agnes?”

“I think so, my lady.”  I nodded as my long golden curls tumbled loose over my shoulders.  “It’s not quite like getting to escape to the tiny world inside the giant hollow tree, like Andrea and Amy did.”

“You’ve finished Andrea’s Awakening?”  Erika smiled at me.

“Yes my lady,”  I confirmed and nervously took the liberty of reaching up and tucking her hair behind her ear, letting my fingers linger there.

“Unfortunately I have yet to find such a fantastical world to visit.”  Erika lamented,  “but as long as we are careful Agnes, perhaps we can be reasonably happy in the real world.  Do you think we can do that Agnes?”

“I would like to try my lady.”  I looked into her dark loving eyes.

For a bit, we discussed what book I might read next, ending with Erika stating, “So I shall give you The Unlikely Bard when you come up this evening.   It is a very good book, even if it doesn’t have quite as much kissing as there was in Andrea’s Awakening.”

“I did rather enjoy reading the kissing parts,” I admitted shyly.  “I t did give me some wicked thoughts about who I might like to kiss.”

“Would you like it if I were to kiss you Agnes,”  Erika asked with cautious anticipation.

“I think I would like it very much, my lady.”

We both pulled each other closer, and I parted my lips ever so slightly.  I felt Princess Erika’s warm, soft, very slightly wet lips press against mine.  I had allowed myself to be pressured into kissing boys a few times by friends back home, it had never felt the way they described, it had always been a disappointment.   As my lips moved against Erika’s though I suddenly felt all the magic I’d been promised and more.

We lay there under the princess’s parasol, kissing and just beginning to explore each other.  I stroked Erika’s neck, feeling her rapid pulse.  She played with my loose hair.  We stroked each other’s faces, looking into each other’s eyes.   

We took a little break from the kissing, and spent some time just talking, sharing food, pressing our bodies close.  We played with each other’s hands, I was a little embarrassed by the calluses on mine, but the princess said they showed strength.  Her hands were charmingly stained with ink.  Then we went back to kissing, her hand gently cradling the back of my head, my hand on the small of her back, feeling the buttons I was forbidden to undo.

“We’re back,”  Robert announced loudly well before they came into view, giving the princess and I time to compose ourselves slightly.  “We should pack up and get going, before it starts to get dark.”

“Yes, unfortunately we do need to get back to the palace before it gets too late.”  The princess agreed reluctantly.  “Plus, I have to get ready for dinner.”

“What happened to your hair?”  Robert asked with a certain concerned surprise when he sat down on the blanket across from the princess.

“Ooff,” Princess Erika let out, reaching up and smoothing her short hair back.  “I forgot.  Please don’t tell anyone I’ve had it cut short.  It’s a bit of a secret.”

“Here, my lady,” I said, scootching behind Erika, “let me fix that.”

“Of course. your highness,”  Robert assured her.  “I think we are both aware of the need to be discreet sometimes.  Did you have an illness that you kept hidden?”

“No,” Erika said as she put her hat back on, once again hiding the hair I had pinned back for her.  “I just find it more comfortable short.   And I think it might be time for you to start using something more intimate than ‘your highness.’”

“Does darling work?”  he asked.

While Erika and Robert discussed adopting pet names, I tried to put my hair back up without a mirror and not enough hair pins since I’d used a couple of mine to pin back Princess Erika’s hair.  Brian had begun to clean up, so I rushed to get myself put together as quickly as possible so I could help him.  Finally hastily putting my cap over the messy hair.

It took a bit to get all the dishes packed back into the baskets with Erika and Robert trying to help but really just distracting Brian and me.   It was quite late in the afternoon when we finally had all the baskets repacked, and the blanket folded up.  The four of us began to head back to the palace through the woods.  

When we reached the fork in the path, we happened to run into Prince Ethan who was heading back to the palace from the pond.  Princess Erika started chatting happily with her younger brother about his observations of the eggs.  By the time we emerged from the trees, we were a fairly loose group of five, with Princess Erika and Prince Ethan leading the way, and Robert and Brian at the rear, with me in the middle.

 

—————————————————————–

 

“Are the other maids still convinced that I am asking for you to cover for you having romantic rendezvouses with Ethan?”  The princess asked as she waited in her chemise, her short hair tucked behind her ears so the ends brushed just below her jaw, for me to put down the tray and cup.

“Quite convinced, my lady.”  I said with just a touch of exasperation as I turned away from the tray and into Erika’s waiting arms.  “Especially since the other day when we returned from the picnic with Prince Ethan.  Admittedly, him both leaving for the pond and returning from it at the same time we left and returned was a rather unlikely coincidence.”

“Annoying as the rumor is,”  Erika said as she stroked my cheek, “at least they don’t suspect the truth.  We must be cautious.  Eventually you can become my lady’s maid, and then you spending time here will be easy to explain.  The housekeeper is just very insistent that you aren’t ready, and I don’t want to make her suspicious by insisting too emphatically.”

“That is wise,” I told her, and then felt her begin to undo the bow on my cap.  “That however is less wise.  The other maids notice when my hair isn’t as tidy as it was in the morning.”

“I don’t think stopping will change their minds,”  Erika commented as she slipped the cap off and began to pull out hair pins.  “And I would miss seeing your hair greatly.   It is truly lovely.”

I blushed at the praise as my hair tumbled down.  Princess Erika began to run her fingers through the soft curls.  Then resting her hand in the long locks at the back of my head, pulled me in for a tender kiss.

“Agnes, I wish we could be like this every evening.”  The princess lamented.   “I only get to see your golden hair on evenings when you bring up my milk after the housekeeper has already helped me out of my gown.  And even then our time together is too brief.  I wish you could just stay for the whole night.”

“I wish so too, my lady.”  I admitted, as I leaned into her.  “One day we will, but till then we must be careful.”

I let Erika kiss me and run her hand through my hair for as long as I thought we could get away with, before hastily putting my hair back up, and heading back towards the kitchen.

It was as I was placing  the delicate porcelain cup in the washing basin that I heard the butler’s sharp disapproving voice behind me.  “AGNES!  There is a loose lock of your hair hanging out of the back of your cap!”

“Sorry sir,”  I said as I hastily reached back and felt around till I found the escaped ringlet and began tucking it in.  

I stood there for what was probably only five minutes, but felt like hours as the butler reminded me about sanitation and protocol, then threatened to relegate me to the laundry.  Of course Cassia, Stephany, Francine, and Holly stopped their own tasks to watch and smirk as I bowed my head down with embarrassment as the butler chastised me.

 

—————————————————————————–

 

I was groggy with sleep as the sound came from in front of my dresser across from my bed, and the faint light of a semi shielded candle showed the shadow of my four fellow lower maids rummaging through my things.

“I found her hairbrush!” Holly announced in a very audible whisper.

“SHHHHHH… You’ll wake her up,”  Stephany told her in a slightly lower but still audible whisper.

“What are you doing?”  I asked, not bothering to whisper, though my voice crackled a little from still being half asleep.

I heard a collective gasp and all four turned to face me.  Then their eyes darted back and forth as they all just looked a touch panicked.   Holly most notably was clutching my hairbrush.

“We’re looking for a pencil,”  Stephany finally claimed.  “You’re always reading and writing.  We figured you’d have one.”

“Yes,”  Francine joined in.  “We wanted to write a letter, letters, to our families back home.”

“And paper,”  Cassia added.  “We were also looking for paper to write on.”

“Why is Holly holding my hairbrush?”  I asked, suspicious of the clumsy answers.

“I thought the pencil might be under your hairbrush.”  Holly attempted to explain as she clutched my hairbrush closer defensively.

“The paper and pencils are in the desk we are supposed to share.”  I reminded them.

“Oh, yes, of course.”  Stephany nodded.  “We’ll go look there.  Come on.”

The whole group of four started off towards the desk.  Holly was still clutching my hairbrush as they moved.

“Leave my hairbrush!”  I complained.  

“Oh, right,”  Francine pretended they’d just forgotten, as the four of them shuffled back together.

All four of them bent over my dresser, as they opened the drawer I kept my hairbrush in, instead of just placing it on top and going.

“What are you doing!?”  I asked almost fully awake.

“Just making sure we put it back in the right place,”  Cassia claimed, as they finally started to push the drawer closed.

With the drawer closed, the group lingered for just a moment, then started to return to their beds.

“I thought you needed paper and pencils,”  I reminded them, even though I was completely sure that had been a lie.

“Oh right.”  Stephany said, actually genuinely sounding like she’d forgotten.

“I’ll get them.”  Cassia said, went to the desk, and took four pencils and sheets of paper, took them back to the beds, and handed them out.

The next morning I checked my dresser quite carefully to be sure nothing was missing or had been added.   Though many things were slightly out of place, it all seemed to be basically correct.   The checking really was just a precaution, since I figured what they’d been looking for was love notes between Prince Ethan and I, which of course there was no chance of them finding, since they didn’t exist.

 

—————————————————————————–

 

“AGNES!!!” The butler shouted at me, angrier than I’d ever heard him before.  “Take off your cap and let your hair down!”

“What?!” I asked in confusion as I turned away from helping the cook cleaning up from preparing lunches.  “You told me to keep my cap on at all times.”

“Well you obviously haven’t! Since I have caught you with hair hanging out of it before. ” He pointed out impatiently.  “Now take it off and let me see your hair.”

My hands were shaking slightly as I began to comply with the confusing order.  As I slipped the cap off I noticed Cassia watching and smirking, looking like she knew exactly what was going on.

“Why sir,” I asked with a touch of fear, and started to reach for hair pins.

“So I can compare it to THIS!” The butler responded holding up a single stand of long golden hair that dangled in a loose helix.  “The king found it on his lunch tray!”

“It can’t be mine,”  I said, though it did look like mine.  “I didn’t take the king his lunch, Cassia did.”

“Just as I thought, a perfect match!”  The butler ignored my argument.

 

As I looked down at the long single strand of hair the butler held next to my loose hair, seeing how the color and texture matched, I suddenly remembered them taking my hairbrush the night before, and realized that it had been what they’d been looking for, not nonexistent love letters.

“CASSIA YOU DID THIS!” I accused her as she stood smirking at me and I felt my ears burning with anger.    “When you took the king his lunch tray.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Agnes,” the butler said as he put his hand under my elbow without giving me a chance to explain.  “Cassia’s hair is so dark it’s nearly black and straight.  Now come along.”

The butler dragged me along by my elbow towards the housekeepers’ office chastising me as we went.  He’d given me no time to put my cap back on or my hair back up, so the long golden curls just bounced over my shoulders and down my back.  

I tried to explain, but between having a hard time thinking while being dragged along by my elbow and the butler not wanting to listen to me, it just never happened.  I was nearly breathless when the butler threw the door to the housekeeps’ office open without knocking.   The head housekeeper, Mildred, was there, at the desk bent over a ledger.  Behind her hung her apron and cap on pegs, her graying hair wrapped around her head in two simple braids.  She did not look happy about the interruption as she lifted her head and glared at the butler.

“I want to send this one to the laundry and get a different one for the kitchen.”

“I don’t need another untrained maid down in the laundry, and I haven’t got any that are trained for the kitchen.”  The housekeeper, huffed with annoyance.  “And you need that one because the princess keeps asking for her.  Even if it does make both of our jobs more difficult, we can’t just move her to the laundry.”

“Well I can’t have her around food anymore,”  the butler insisted.  “Her hair was on the king’s lunch tray today!”

“I can explain…” I tried to start, but didn’t get very far with the butler and housekeep both ignoring me.

“There’s a simpler way to deal with that problem than sending her to the laundry.”  The housekeeper interrupted me.   “Take the little lamb to Mistress Rachel, she’ll sort things out.”

“I hadn’t thought of that option,”  the butler nodded without further explanation.  “That should indeed solve the real problem.  Come along Agnes.”

I found myself being led out the door of the palace, wondering who Mistress Rachel was, and if I was going to be working for her now.

 

—————————————————————————————-

I walked along with the butler even though I was rather terrified to find out where he was dragging me to by my elbow, just trying not to stumble, as I held my cap clutched tightly.  We crossed the green lawn where a flock of sheep grazed, the butler chastising me about how much trouble I had been since I’d arrived, till we arrived at a small cottage.   

The butler rapped firmly on the door and called out,  “Mistress Rachel,  are you available?” 

The door opened, on the other side stood a somewhat plump older woman with an annoyed expression on her face.   She wore the simple practical dress and pinafore of a working woman.

“What do you want?”  She demanded.  “I have wool to spin and a flock to tend.”

“This lamb needs tending,”  the butler claimed, shoving me through the cottage door.  “She’s been sloppy about keeping her hair neat and covered.”

“What’s in it f’r me?”  Rachel complained.

“You can keep the fleece.”  The butler told her as he finally released his grip on my elbow.

“FLEECE!?” I asked terrified I knew what he meant but hoping I was wrong.

“S’pos it’s worth more than a hank of yarn at the market,”  The old woman said as she roughly grasped my loose curls and examined them.  “‘tis a pretty golden color, should fetch a good price from the wig maker.”

“OH!!!,” I let out as my stomach flipped.  “Please no sir, please no.”

“Stop fussing Agnes.”  The butler ordered me.  

“Come sit on this stool, Agnes,”  Rachel told me as she pulled the short stool from in front of her spinning wheel and placed it in the middle of the floor.

Then Rachel went and took a large spring shears from a peg on the wall.  They weren’t delicate scissors with a hinge that could be used with precision, but instead the type forged from a single piece of metal, steel I presumed.   They were a crude rough tool.

“Please please no,”  I continued to beg as I stared at the shears I knew Rachel almost certainly sheared her sheep with.

“Do as Rachel tells you Agnes,”  the butler ordered me.  “I don’t have all day to spend here.  I need to get back to supervise dinner preparations.”

I stood frozen as I felt my eyes begin to fill with tears.  I knew I couldn’t just refuse, but also I couldn’t make my legs move.   Rachel seemed to recognize that I was simply frozen with fear though, so instead of yelling at me she simply pushed me forward towards the waiting stool, forcing my legs to do what I couldn’t make them do.  When I reached the little stool on shaking feet, she pressed me down on to the stool.

I felt her hands gather all my long golden curls into a tight bundle.  She used the bundle like a handle, pulling my head to the side slightly.  Pressing up against me and bracing me against her soft belly.

“Now don’t fight me or I may nick your ear,”  Rachel warned me as I felt her place the cold steel blades right at my hair line in front of my ear.  As the shears closed, they pulled at the hair.

SSsssshhhhruch.

I felt the tension on the hair in front of my ear release.  Then I felt the cold metal advance further into my hair, scraping along my scalp just above my ear.  Then the shears closed again.

Shhhhhrunch.

As the shears moved upward, to my temple, I felt air on the scalp where the shears had already cut.

Sssshrunch, sssshhhrrrrrunch.

I sat there in shock as I felt the shears move up, to the hair just above my forehead.   

Sssssrrrrirunch,

The severed ends of the lock fell brushing over my forehead, and down in front of my eyes.   I gasped involuntarily and closed my eyes against the view of the sharply cut end of the lock.  As I closed my eyes, I felt the warm tear roll down my cheek.

Sssshhhhhhhhreeerrruch, sshhhrunch,  sssshhhrunch, shhhrunch, shrunch.

Mistress Rachel kept cutting, sliding the crude steel shears back and snipping.  I could feel she was cutting the hair off right against my scalp as she held me tightly against her.  She moved my head forward as she moved the shears around behind my ear.

Shreeech, sssssshhhhhrunch, ssshhhrrunch, shrirrunch, ssssssssshrunch.

Mistress Rachel pushed my head forward, exposing the back of my neck.  I felt the cold sheers snip away the tight curls.  Then she pushed my head away from her body, and started shearing the side of my head that had been pressed against her, this time cutting the hair from the bottom to the top.  Again snipping around my ear.

Ssshhhhhrrunch, shrrrrrunch, sssshhhhhrrirrrunch,  shrunch.

As the cold metal, reached just in front of the ear opposite where Rachel had begun, I felt the pressure let up.  I raised my head, and opened my eyes.  I was immediately met with the sight of all of my hair held in a tight bundle dangling from Rachelss hand.

I only sort of vaguely heard the butler and Rachel speaking over the rushing sound in my ears, as Rachel walked away to hang the shears back on their peg.    Then I watched Rachel begin to tie up the bundle of golden curls with a bit of twine.  I raised my shaking hands to my head, and encountered nothing but uneven tufts and stubble.  

I’d heard the expression about being so angry you saw red, and had always just assumed it was a metaphor, but as I watched Rachel causally wrapping my beautiful hair up in a piece of paper, through a scarlet filter, I suddenly understood it was not simply a metaphor.

“Agnes,  AGNES,  AGNES!” The butler screamed for my attention, then ordered me.  “Go get a clean dress and apron on, so that you’re ready to help serve dinner.” 

I stared at him in disbelief for a moment at the gall of expecting me to just get on like nothing had changed.   I put on my cap, pulling it down, hiding my nearly bare head and ran.  I startled the sheep as I ran across the field back towards the palace.  I didn’t pause as I ran through the kitchen to the back stairs, even though I heard the cook call my name in confusion.   I ran straight up the steps, and into the room I desperately wished I wasn’t sharing with the people who planned my humiliation.   I ran to my bed, and simply lay down in my dirty apron and dress,  pulled the blanket up over my head, and began to sob.

 

—————————————————————–

 

I wasn’t sure how much time passed lying on my still damp pillow, even though I had run out of tears, when I heard Cassia and Stephany enter the lower maid quarters.

“Agnes, butler says you have to come to help get dinner ready.”  Cassia told me.

“I can’t believe the butler still wants you around food, after what you did,”  Stephany remarked, “but he does.” 

I just pulled the blanket up higher, hiding more deeply under it, and accidently knocking my cap off, since without my long hair, it fit loosely.  I knew I should tell them to go away and leave me alone, but I couldn’t find my voice, so I just continued to hide under my blanket.

“Come on Agnes,”  Cassia complained impatiently, and then to my horror grabbed the blanket and pulled it back.

Immediately Cassia and Stephany started laughing.  I grabbed the blanket, and pulled it back over myself.   The tears I had thought I’d run out of, started flowing again as I listened to Cassia and Stephany guffawing.

“I thought for sure you’d be relegated to the laundry,”  Cassia finally said with satisfaction,  “but this is even better.”

I just kept hiding under my blanket till I heard them leave.   

 

——————————————————————

 

It was fully dark out before I was disturbed again.   It was Mildred the head housekeeper who came.

“Agnes, you can’t just hide in bed till your hair grows back.”  She told me pulling the blanket off.  “Now Princess Erika expects you to bring her her nightcap as usual.  She was ridiculously inquisitive over why you didn’t help serve dinner, asking if you were sick.”

“What did you tell her?”  I finally found my horse voice. 

“That you were upset about something that happened at lunch,” the housekeeper said with exasperation.  “Now come on, pull yourself together and come get the princess’s milk.”

“I can’t,”  I sobbed.  “I can’t be seen like this.”

“As long as you keep your cap on like you are supposed to,”  she told me, “no one will see your hair.  Now come on Agnes, out of bed.  Go put your cap on and I will get you a clean apron.”

The housekeeper simply pulled me up, and handed me my cap, shoving me to go get ready.  I went over to the mirror,  my cap in my hands.  I finally saw what my hands had felt.  My beautiful hair was gone, clipped as close to the scalp as the shears allowed. In place of the golden curls was uneven fuzz that didn’t really cover my scalp, the pale color blending to the skin making me look almost bald.  More tears ran down my cheeks as I carefully tied my cap on, hiding my bare head.   The cap looked too floppy without my hair under it, but at least it hid the shame of my crudely shorn head.

 

————————————————————————————-

 

My stomach had turned when I had knocked on the door, and it had taken everything in me to just stay on my feet.  I tried but failed to control the shaking as I stood waiting outside the princess’s chamber.  As I waited, the cup rattled, and the milk full of expensive spices and honey sloshed onto the tray.

“COME IN”  Princess Erika called out as she did each night.

I stood, still shaking, unable to make my legs move.  I swallowed, and tried to just move, tried to pretend everything was fine.  I looked down at the cup, there was as much of the sticky beverage on the tray as still in the cup.  I swallowed again as I felt new tears on my cheeks.

“Is that you Agnes?  Please come in.”

I took a deep breath, I still couldn’t move, so I called back instead.  “Can you come to the door for your nightcap, your highness.”

When Erika opened the door her beautiful brow wrinkled with concern.  “What’s wrong Agnes?”

She stood waiting, looking a little nervous in nothing but her chemise, waiting for a response.  I simply pushed the tray into her hands and shook my head, feeling the cap move more than I was comfortable with as I did.  Then I turned and fled down the hall.  As I walked away, I heard the clatter of the tray being carelessly placed on the floor, and then the soft patter of the princess’s slippers running behind me.

Erika caught me just before I got to the servant stairs, grabbing me and turning me towards her.  “Did I do something wrong, did I say something?”

“No you highness,”  I shook my head carefully to be sure my loose cap would move, and lost my fight to not simply sob.

“Come back to my chamber where we can talk freely.”

I felt frozen, part of me wanted to go hoping the princess would comfort me.  A bigger part of me feared Erika would reject me and just wanted to escape and hide under my blanket.  The fear that when we got to her chamber Erika would discover my shame and think I was ugly, was overwhelming.   I just stood there sobbing, not saying anything.

When Princess Erika realized I wasn’t going to respond or move, she took my hand and elbow, and began to lead me back to her chamber in a gentler version of the way the butler had dragged me around earlier.  She simply ignored the tray with her cup of milk, which had spilled as we walked past and through the door.   Inside, she simply steered me to the chair in front of her fireplace.  Then kneeled down in front of me, holding my hands.

“What’s wrong Agnes?”  She asked me, sounding sad and worried.  

I wanted to explain, but was too embarrassed to.  I was embarrassed by how much I cared about being pretty.  I didn’t want to admit how much the other lower maids hated me, I didn’t want to admit that I hadn’t figured out what they planned. I didn’t want to admit how badly I had defended myself.  I didn’t want to admit a strand of my hair had been on her father’s tray.  I didn’t want to get in even more trouble with the butler and housekeeper by telling her the part they had played in what had happened.  I didn’t want her to feel bad about having caused a lock of my hair to be hanging out of my cap the other evening.  So I just carefully shook my head and sobbed.

“Oh Agnes,”  Erika said and reached up and stroked my wet cheek.  “It breaks my heart to see you in so.”

After she stroked my face, I felt her hand going upward towards my cap, instinctively I reached up and held it down.  Holding my cap down didn’t prevent Erika’s delicate finger from brushing up under the band and feeling along my shorn hairline though.

“AGNES!!  WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR?!” Erika asked with urgent alarm and pushed the cap back.  “WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!”

I again just shook my shorn head, reaching up to cover my head, and sinking down out of the seat and into Erika’s arms.  I simply leaned into her lap as she held me and told me soothing things, telling me it would be ok, how I was still beautiful, how she’d take care of me and never let something similar happen again.

“We’ll go up to Aunty Fifi’s cottage,”  she promised.  “I’ll have Joseph come up and do what he can to fix this.”

 

———————————————————————————-

 

“It was such a very sensible idea you had,”  Princess Erika told Mildred the head housekeeper,  as we stood on the lawn, “making sure Agnes’s hair wouldn’t get into food again.  I don’t know why you didn’t just have it done with all the lower maids at the same time, instead of waiting till I found a hair in my food too.”

“Well, if it was possible to tell which one it came from,” Mildred admitted, “I’d only have ordered that one’s hair cut, but since their hair is so similar…”

“I am very relieved, you are having it done for all of them.   If any of the guests were to find hair in their food at my wedding banquet next week, it would be a disaster.  You should really just keep them this way,”  Erika suggested casually.  “When Agnes was tending to me at Aunty Fifi’s cottage, having her hair so short was very convenient.  She was always ready to tend to me at any moment.  Unfortunately, now that she’s my lady’s maid, I do need her to continue to grow it out since I need her to fit in at court.”

“Yes,”  Mildred agreed,  “I understand why you need Agnes to fit in, though I think getting her that braided hairpiece was a bit extravagant… I do still worry that she’s a little too inexperienced to be your lady’s maid.  But I suppose she did take good care of you while you were at Princess Filipa’s cottage, and Princess Filipa’s lady’s maid did send a glowing reference.”

“Keep your head down.”  Joseph ordered Stephany.

Stephany sat on a stool in the middle of the lawn as Joseph pressed the blades of his scissors flat against her scalp and closed them, sending tiny specks of her dark hair to soil the cloth draped over her shoulders.  On a little table next to her, was the bundle of her long dark hair, as well as the bundle of Holly’s long dark hair.   Holly stood off to the side, rubbing her own scalp that was covered in stubble so short it was probably the same length as the pile on one of Erika’s velvet gowns.

I watched as Joseph sheared the last remnants of Stephany’s dark hair down to stubble.  Joseph took the cloth off Stephany, and gave it a vigorous shake, sending the dust of Stephany’s hair to the ground.  Stephany got up and stood pouting next to Holly.

“I’m ready for the next one,”  Joseph cheerfully announced.

“Get going,”  Mildred insisted, giving Cassia a slight shove, then turning back to Princess Erika added, “I think you make a good point about just keeping their hair like this for a while.  It will be easier.”  

Cassia reluctantly sat on the stool, and scowled while Joseph spread the cloth over her shoulders.  As Joseph began preparing to cut Cassia’s hair, Prince Ethan walked up with a lady around the same age as him.

“Ah, Ethan, Sophia.”  Erika called over the younger couple who were carrying books and cases in casual clothing with a wave.  “Sophia, I’d like you to meet my lady’s maid, Agnes, she was helping Aunty Fifi with something when I came down to meet you after Ethan announced your engagement.”

I turned away from Joseph preparing to begin Cassia’s haircut, to smile at the young lady.  “I’m delighted to meet you Sophia.  Her highness mentioned you asked her for a little help with a few things.”

“Yes indeed,”  Sophia said gratefully.  “I really don’t understand any of the palace protocol.   When I met Ethan at the printshop, I didn’t even realize he was the prince, since he published his book on the life cycle of frogs under a pen name.”

“Oh, did you work at the printshop?”  I asked, glancing over to see Joseph taking out Cassia’s hairpins, then looking back to Sophia.

“No, I was there to discuss printing my own book, it’s about the social structure of bees.”  Sophia told me.  “We got to discussing our books, and how much we both found nature fascinating, and one thing led to another.”

“I can tell you how happy my little brother has been since meeting you.”  Erika told Sophia.  “Are you going down to the pond?”

“Yes,” Ethan responded with a big smile.  “Sophia and I are considering collaborating on a book about microscopic life in the pond.”

“I look forward to reading it,”  Erika said.

I nodded, and glanced back over at Joseph combing all of Cassia’s long straight hair up into his hand.  Though I was interested in listening to the conversation about the plan for writing the book, I kept part of my attention on what Joseph was doing to Cassia.

Joseph held the bundle of Cassia’s hair straight up in a tight grip about four or five inches above her head, letting the long ends dangle back over his hands.  He put the comb down, and took his scissor from his pocket.  He placed the blades of the scissors, flat against Cassia’s cheek, the tips of the blades inserted into her sideburn.

The first few strands released from Cassia’s scalp began to dangle next to her ear.  Joseph moved the scissors up, snipping along Cassia’s hairline.  He snipped his way up and over her temple to her widows peak, reducing her hair to no more than little bristles as he went.  I watched the hair slide backwards as it was freed. 

Joseph then brought the scissors to Cassia’s other sideburn, and began to snip upward again.  I was sure the hard metal blades pressed against her forehead were cold.  He snipped upward, severing all the hair a couple of inches back from Cassia’s hairline.

When Joseph reached Cassia’s widow peak again, he brought the scissors back down, and started again just above her ear.  He snipped at the hair, the blades of the scissors pressed flat against Cassia’s stubble covered scalp.   When Joseph had snipped his way up to the top of Cassia’s head, he went back down to start again just above her other ear.

As Sophia talked to Princess Erika about the things she’d seen under her microscope, Joseph kept clipping off Cassia’s dark hair.  He worked backward, repeating the pattern of snipping up to the top of her head, and going back down to above her ear, back and forth a few more times, till the top of Cassia’s head had been completely divested of her dark tresses.

With all the hair from the top of Cassia’s head cut, Joseph pushed her head forward with the hand tightly clutching the bundle of long hair and order her “keep your head down,” before twisting the long bundle out of the way of the sharp blades.

Joseph continued snipping starting from behind one ear and working all the way across to the next one,  then coming back and repeating it.  He worked his way down her bent head, snipping off the last of her long hair from her nape. 

Left behind on Cassia’s head was a mix of stubble, short tufts, and a few long wisps.  She sat there simply scowling with her arms angrily crossed infront of her as Joseph carefully laid out the valuable bundle of locks.  

“Now let’s neaten this up,”  Joseph cheerfully told Cassia, “so you can look nice like the others.”

From the way Cassia’s frown deepened when she looked at Holly and Stephany’s shorn heads.   She didn’t get to look at them long as Joseph pushed her head back down and combed up through the slight wisps of hair left at her neckline and began to snip them off as close to the skin as possible.   

The dusting of dark hair rained down on Cassia’s cloth covered shoulders and onto her apron.  Joseph snipped his scissors swiftly over Cassia’s mostly bare head, removing all the tufts and wisps left over from the original harvesting of her valuable hair, and evening out the stubble.   Joseph pushed Cassia’s head around as he worked.  Making sure he got every last bit from behind her ears that suddenly resembled jug handles, and from along her hairline.

When Cassia finally had nothing but a shadow of dark hair left, Joseph whipped off the cloth, and began shaking out the cloth.  Then he called out, “I’m ready for the next maid.”

“What is going on?”  Ethan asked, finally noticing the gaggle of shorn maids scowling in the middle of the lawn, as Mildred gave Francine a shove.

“Oh just a hygiene issue with the lower maids,”  Mildred dismissed the question.  “Nothing that you need to concern yourself about, your highness.”

“Huh,”  Sophia went.  “I’d assumed they had all just decided to sell their hair for something.  That’s part of what I did to afford my microscope.”

Sophia patted the wooden case she carried rather proudly, with a smile.

“Really?”  Ethan seemed surprised.  “You cut off your hair and sold it?”

“Yes,”  Sophia confirmed.  “Well not myself, the wigmaker cut it.  That’s why my hair only reaches a bit below my shoulders.  Though it was shorter when I first sold it, though not as short as he is cutting their hair.  I just let the wigmaker cut mine to just below my earlobe.”

“I’m so sorry, you had to go through that.”  Ethan said to his fiance.

“It wasn’t that big a sacrifice.”  Sophia shrugged.  “I actually kind of liked having it short, it was very easy to comb out and wash.  If it hadn’t been such a big deal to everyone else, I might have kept it short.”

“I don’t usually share this, but I had mine cut a few years ago before I went to Auntie Fifi’s cottage for several months, so I didn’t have to worry about appearances at court, just for convenience,”  Erika confided very softly to Sophia, not loud enough for the lower maids to hear.  “It was wonderfully easy and comfortable.”

“Your highness,”  Mildred chided in a whisper,  “if that were to get out, it could cause rumors about your health.   Even if it was known that you did it for convenience, it does rather suggest you engage in physical labor, which is not the impression you want to give people.”

“Oh, I’m sure I can trust Sopia to be discreet,”  Erika smiled at her brother’s young fiance.  

“Of course,”  Sophia nodded.  “I will not mention it to anyone.”  

“Darling,”  Ethan interjected,  “Let’s get down to the pond while we still have plenty of light.”

“Yes, of course,”  Sophia agreed, then said,  “It was lovely to meet you Agnes,” before turning to head down to the pond.

“I’m glad Ethan found such a compatible match even if father is a little frustrated that he wasn’t interested in any of the ladies father introduced him to hoping for a good political alliance.”  Erika smiled as she turned to glance at Joseph sheering away at the long hair that still hung from the back of Francine’s head, then turned to me, a smile spreading over her lips as our eyes met.  “Having found love has been so important in my life.”

“It is most fortunate that you and Robert both found love and happen to be a good political match.”  Mildred chimed in.

“Yes,” Erika said with a touch of humor, “We did both find love.  I think Brian and Agnes may have found love as well.”

I chuckled and blushed at the remark that I knew Erika had only said because she was sure Mildred would misinterpret it.  Then turned my attention back to Joseph snipping through the last few long locks on Francine’s nape.

“Well, it looks like Joseph is almost done making sure any danger of your guests finding hair in their food is eliminated.”  Mildred commented.

“Indeed.”  Erika said, giving me a slightly evil grin.  “And it should be much much easier for them to attend to their duties in general without all that long hair to fuss with.  Don’t you agree, Mildred?”

“Yes.”  Mildred simply agreed.  “I’m sure it will.”

“And I’m sure they will be much more comfortable.  Just like I was at Auntie Fifi’s where I could just have short hair while spending time riding.”  Erika added.

“Yes, I’m sure they will find it comfortable and convenient.”  Mildred.

“I miss that comfort and convenience,”  Erika commented, with a casualness I knew was an act.    “It’s such a pity that I can’t just keep my own hair nice and short since I have to keep up appearances at court.  I know in many ways my life is easier than that of a house servant, but there are occasional things I find myself jealous of.  Do you know what I mean Mildred?”

“Of course, your highness.”  Mildred went along.  “Every position in life comes with some benefits.”

“Getting to have short hair is definitely a benefit.”  Erika continued.  “It is just so light and easy.  No braiding and being poked when pinning it up.”

“Yes indeed, your highness.”  Mildred said I doubt with much thought.

“Oh I didn’t realize you thought so too,”  Erika said quickly.  “You should have said so sooner.  I’ll have Joseph stay and take care of you too.”

“Oh…. uhmmm… you DON’T have to do that, your highness.”  Mildred spit out in a fluster,  “I mean it’s most generous, but…”

“No need to feel like it’s too much.  Considering the way you’ve worked so long it’s the least I can do.”  Erika interrupted Mildred’s panicked sputtering, then tuned and called out.  “JOSEPH,  CAN YOU STAY AFTER YOU FINISH TRIMMING THAT ONE HAIR EVEN.  MILDRED WOULD LIKE TO GET A HAIRCUT TOO, SO  I OFFERED TO MAKE IT MY TREAT.  WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT HOW COMFORTABLE AND CONVENIENT SHORT HAIR WAS, AND SHE AGREED SO GIVE HER SOMTHING  NICE AND SHORT AND EASY SO SHE DOESN’T HAVE TO FUSS WITH BRAIDS AND PINS.”

“OF COURSE MY LADY.” Joseph called back.  

“thank you your highness,”  Mildred muttered through gritted teeth.  “that was most generous of you.”

Francine got up looking shocked and rubbing her stubble covered head.  Joseph briefly shook the dusting of dark hair onto the lawn.

“Come on over Mildred,” Joseph invited.

Once Mildred was seated on the stool in the middle of the lawn, fussing slightly with her cap clutched in her lap, Joseph spread the cloth over her shoulders.  The Cassia and the other lower maids started heading back into the palace scowling.  With everyone mostly out of hearing range, Erika and I could relax slightly.

“Feel better?”  Erika softly asked me as Joseph unpinned Mildred’s long braids from her head.

“I know I shouldn’t.”  I said a little guiltily but confessed,  “but maybe a bit.”

I watched as Joseph raised the sharp shears and sawed through first one then the other of Mildred’s long gray braids, then started combing her loose hair up and cutting all but a small amount, maybe an inch or so, off the length.   I watched the gray hair tumble into Mildred’s lap as Joseph began to crop her to the length it had taken mine a couple of months to grow out to.  

I turned away, and looked over at my beloved Princess who had orchestrated this for me as soon as my hair had been long enough to pin the ends  under the  golden braids Joseph had fashioned to wrap around my head, and I felt comfortable enough to return to the palace.  She looked mildly bored, as she watched Joseph continue to reduce Mildred’s hair to a simple crop.   She turned to me, and gave me a loving smile.

“We don’t have to watch to the end.” I said to her.

“As you wish my darling,”  The princess said and turned away from the scene.