Disclaimer: I wish that I had written Ella Enchanted. I can recite it from memory to this day, but I couldn't have dreamed it up out of my head. Therefore, I give all glory and homage to you, Gail Carson Levine. As for Hattie's letter, I didn't make it up either. If you think that I should have made up a different one, consider how well Ella knew Hattie and how convincingly she managed to sound like someone else to Char who was pouring over those two letters like crazy.

"'Isn't he wonderful?' I asked, wanting her to share my happiness."

Soon I was on my knees, I could barely walk. I was coughing and wheezing and could barely breathe. I was so dizzy I couldn't have taken another step even if my legs hadn't turned to jelly. We were only ten feet from the house. Mandy saw and bent toward me, looking sad but not as if this was unexpected.

She pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and ink that she had kept ready. She put the quill in my hand and helped me guide it to the inkjar. Then she said, "Write it, sweet."

I had no idea what she meant, but my hand began to move of it's own accord and instantly my complaints stopped. When the quill stopped moving, I looked down at what I had written and gaped at the page anew.

My dearest Wolleck,
I love you, and of course, my dearest, I will marry you.
Eleanor

"Mandy!" I cried as I felt my hands fold it and carry it to the mailbox.

"I'm surprised you lasted this long, love," she said softly. Then I realized what Mandy had been truly trying to tell me. Wolleck's letter had contained that command. That was the real reason we had to leave. Why hadn't my complaints started sooner?

Then I realized: of course they had. In my haste to leave, in my excitement, I had ignored them until they were too intense to be ignored. Now I was trapped, truly. I broke down sobbing. There would be no chance for us to escape now. It would be too late for us to slip away now.

"Stop it, Ella," Mandy barked. I stopped. "You will come with me instantly if you do not want to marry that earl."

I looked up, surprised that she was so militant about this when she had been passive before. She had not stopped Mum Olga from enslaving me, had not indicated she would save me from Father marrying me off to the earl, she had never stopped an order from anyone else before. What had changed?

I stood and followed her through the town and out of Frell all in a daze. In this daze, I didn't realize until we were too far away to go back that my magic book had been left in my room. Hattie discovered that Ella and Mandy were missing first. Thus she was the first to go to Ella's room. Thus she found the book.

The magicbook would obey only Ella, would change only in her hands. If Ella had handed Hattie the book, as she did once, Hattie would have seen the kind of tedious book that she would loathe. However, Ella did not hand Hattie the book, so she saw it for what it was. It would not change under her hands, it would not suddenly become a book devoted to her, but it would show her all that it had shown Ella right up to the the last time that Ella had held it in her hands.

The book showed Hattie the earl's proposal. It was all that Hattie needed to know. The foremost thought on my mind was Char. How would I explain running away from my stepfamily? Could I tell him now of my servitude? Where would I tell him to write to me? Would he hear of my "engagement" which was now in full swing since I had "accepted" the earl's suit? Could I go to Ayortha and see him now that I was free to leave the manor?

Where did Mandy mean us to go? "Mandy," I said as I struggled to keep up with her pace. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet, pet," she replied.

Then the idea came to me. I knew where I wanted us to go. Hattie received the mail on May 24th that was addressed to Mandy. Curious about Mandy's admirer and hopeful that the knowledge of him would give a hint to Ella's whereabouts, (Hattie hadn't yet decided if she would force Ella to marry the earl or not) she opened the letter.

She received a shock to find the enclosed letter addressed to Ella, and from Prince Charmont no less! And he was proposing! Why that little snake! If she were still here what Hattie wouldn't do to...

If she were still here ... but Ella wasn't. She was gone. And without her precious little book, she had no idea. Hattie smiled and sat down to write a response to the darling prince who had been so misled by her stepsister.

My dear Prince Charmont,
Your latest corespondence with my stepsister was received by myself. Ella and the cook, Mandy, were not here to except it.
Ella is absent because she has excepted the soot of the Earl of Wolleck, taking our cook with her when she left in the middle of the night to journey to meet him with her father.
You have been much deceived in her. It was her custom to read your letter aloud to us and crow over them, thinking it a feather in her cap to be writing to royalty, such as yourself.
For awhile she had ambitions to be queen, but she dispared of it and took Wolleck's offer. She would go into one of her dreadful rages if she knew the contents of your letter. I do not think she liked living on our generosity, and longed to lord it over us with greater splendor such as Wolleck's wealth could offer her. Though we fancy ourselves that our stile is very fine.
Your letter arrived the day after her shameful departure. I give you this piece of advice: think no more of the minks, for she has already forgotten you.
I am sorry to dismay you, but I hope you will be consoled by the fond wishes of this admirer.
Your angel of comfort,
Hattie.

Then Hattie sat down and began to write to Blossom and Wolleck.

©KatyMulvaney