Paris, France

July

1773

Elise's stomach turned as the carriage stopped. A beautiful morning wasted attending a stupid party. She turned in her seat and felt the itch of pins on her scalp and the discomfort of her gloves being too big.

"How long, mama?" Elise asked, "Must we stay?"

"Yes, we must stay. It's a birthday party for Madame Henriette. Others your age will be there, too. You have nothing to fear." Julie assured as she patted her daughter's hand.

"The girls are no fun." Elise muttered.

The carriage door opened and a hand extended for Julie to take. Elise was jealous of her mother. Chocolate brown hair pulled back and a green dress, Julie opened her matching fan and looked to her daughter to join her. Elise wanted nothing more to be her age, to sit with adults than with the other daughters.

Elise joined her mother and looked to her feet, her eyes grazed over the blue dress that her mother said went with her daughter's eyes. She nibbled on her tongue as the servants escorted them inside the mansion. Elise looked over the women, divided in groups under the lavish rooms. It looked like a garden. Embroidered flowers speckled over the couches and rugs. The women never looked like Julie. Always powdered and perfected. Her mother didn't need it though and proudly let her natural beauty shine through.

"The other children are just this way." The bald butler continued, "I will gladly escort her."

Julie nodded and released her daughters hand, "I'll just be here, darling. Be good now."

Elise let out a sigh that she intended her mother to hear. The butler continued with small talk but Elise easily ignored him. She looked at the grandfather clock and was upset to see that it was only mid afternoon. The party would go on until the sun would set. Elise's stomach dropped as the commotion of young girls laughing began to echo down the mirrored halls. She felt her heart beat a little faster as the butler opened the door.

"Mademoiselle Elise del a Serre," the butler introduced, "Has come to join."

Elise looked at the other faces of the girls sitting at a table, each of them with a porcelain doll that looked like them. Elise remembered her doll… As she gave it away in the city when her mother wasn't looking to a girl in rags and a dirty face. Elise remembered the girl crying and didn't know why she would do that.

"Mm-hmm," one of the girls cleared her throat, "Do you have a doll, Mademoiselle Elise?"

Elise made her way over to the circle of chairs and took an empty one she played with her gloves and looked at the rest of the eyes that looked at her as if she was a pile of garbage.

"I don't. I lost it." Elise cleared her throat.

"Well what do you plan to do then?" A brunette girl piped, "Because we're playing with dolls."

Elise watched the girls as they groomed their dolls; they seemed to ignore Elise, which wasn't known to her. Her eyes looked to the door and the sliver of light it let in, wishing that she could make an escape to her mother. The door handle jiggled and a face peered in.

Mousy brown hair was highlighted with blonde colors from sun exposure; she had a gray servants dress on and a fabric doll under her arm with buttons for eyes. Elise watched as the girl made sure her lopsided bun was in place before coming inside.

"Adelle!" The brunette girl started again, "You know what father said about you playing with us."

"Mademoiselle Simone, I've finished my chores." Adelle chirped, she looked to the faces, "I have a doll, too."

"Well, we were just finished playing with dolls." Simone put her doll in her seat as she got up, "We were just going to go for pastries in the kitchen."

The four other girls fluffed their hair and put their dolls on their chair, each taking a final look to Elise before following Simone, noses raised, out into the hall; leaving a distraught Adelle looking at the floor.

"I'll never be good enough for them." Adelle muttered she took a few steps towards the circle and plopped on the ground, "It took me a month to make her."

Elise pushed herself up and joined Adelle on the floor, "Good. Sometimes it's good to not be like certain people."

Adelle looked up to her, "Do you really think so?"

"I know so."

Elise smiled and looked to Adelle and realized that she had the most peculiar look about her. A round face with eyes, one that was golden and the other that was the richest blue, her eyes went from Elise to her own doll.

"I'm Adelle by the way, what's your name?"

"I'm Elise."

"Well Mademoiselle -"

"No, Adelle. Elise is just fine." Elise smiled, "What should we do? We're in a room surrounded by dolls."

Adelle shrugged for a moment and a devious smile pulled at her plump cheeks, "It would be funny if they went missing."

"It would." Elise retorted her heart began to race, "Shall we hide them?"

Adelle kept her rag doll tucked under her arm, and two fair dolls under her available arm. Elise followed with the remaining dolls bundled close to her. They made clinking sounds as they scurried down the hallway and around a corridor. Adelle turned her back to a door that swung open, leading them out into a vast garden divided up into sections of beautiful flowers. Elise looked out over the hill and saw a maze that looked like the one she had at her own home. With orchards and flowers and benches, it would be terribly easy to hide all of the dolls.

"What are you doing?" A small boy bearing a bucket of ashes came out the same door that Elise and Adelle had used.

"None of your business, Will." Adelle said, "Go sweep a chimney."

"Ferme la bouche, Adelle." Will said as he placed down a buck and wiped his brow, showing his pale skin under a thick mess of black hair. He sighed and picked up the bucket before bowing to Elise, "Pardon my language, Mademoiselle."

"It's Elise. I also could care less, really." Elise shrugged and smiled, "It was nice to meet you, Will."

Will smiled, exposing his grin that had a missing tooth and mostly adult teeth growing in. He slumped off as Elise saw Adelle running down the hill, pausing every few moments to place a doll in a shrub or under a bench.

"Come on, Elise!" Adelle giggled, "We'll be running out of time soon!"

"Hold on!" Elise giggled; she placed one doll in the dirt and looked at the one that resembled Simone. Her doll taunted her just as much as Simone did. She took one last look at her doll and tossed as far as she could into the orchard, "That's the last of them."

Adelle came scurrying up with her doll tucked at her side, "That was so much fun."

"We should go before anyone sees us." Elise took a deep breath, she was jealous of Adelle's loose bun and light dress, "Let's get back inside."

Adelle nodded and they made their way up the trail and to the back of the mansion. Pushing the doors open and walking down the hallway until they heard a cacophony of high-pitched screeches.

"SHE DID IT, MOTHER!" Simone yelled, "THEY TOOK OUR DOLLS!"

"That is absurd." Julie interjected, "Why would they do that?"

Elise looked to her mother as she wiped her face and shook her head. She gazed at Adelle and focused on her for a moment, probably stunned by her eyes just as Elise was. Her focus was pulled back as another girl started to cry.

"That is enough! Henriette!" One of the mothers barked to the host of the party before turning to Julie, "Why would Simone lie, Julie?"

"Perhaps because she's an arrogant entitled little child." Julie said confidently, looking over to all the other teary eyed children and finally over to Simone and her mother, "Just like her mother."

Gasps filled the room as Elise felt the force of her mother's hand grab hers and pull her away. Elise took one more look at Adelle before she made her way out the door and away from the scene. Julie didn't wait for the butler to open the doors, she rushed ahead and cursed under her breath as she pulled open the final door and looked out towards their carriage. The men stammered and tried to meet the pace of Julie.

"Promise me you'll never be like them, Elise." Julie's eyes locked with her daughter as she put a loose hair back into place, "I forbid it."

Elise didn't quite know what her mother meant; she didn't feel like those girls anyway, she just nodded.

"Why are we still not moving?" Julie muttered, "GO!"

Elise lurched as the carriage started to move forward leaving behind the mansion, the party, and perhaps the most fun Elise had in a very long time. Perhaps this was the one party she wished would have continued longer.

"You know," Julie sighed, "We could steer this carriage better than them."

Elise thought of herself at the reins and giggled.