The mysterious queen and the lost shoe

The next day brought a new invitation from the palace. Another ball was organised for the following week.
"Another chance for Bernardine and Clotilde to catch the prince," thought the countess. "That foreign queen won't dare to show her face after the way she just disappeared."
Of course the countess insisted that the whole family needed new, more splendid dresses for the next ball.
"And that includes you, Aurore," she said. "You owe it to your sisters to look like a sister-in-law to a prince."

Aurore again wrote a letter to her seamstress and one to her advisor. Cindy received a new list of tasks from her stepmother, as well as a bag of lentils that needed sorting.
"If you work a bit harder than last week you might get your chores done and then perhaps you can come with us to the ball."
To make absolutely sure that Cindy could not go Bernardine and Clotilde had some more tasks that needed doing "with absolute urgency. Did you hear us Cinders? Mucky Cinderella."
With Aurore's help the two lists were soon reduced to one list with jobs that really needed doing and the two girls soon got through those. The lentils didn't need sorting at all as Cindy and Aurore found out. On the day of the second ball Cindy was keeping herself busy with some futile job for Clotilde when the countess left with her daughters and Aurore. Dame Emelyne's cream and gold coach arrived not long after the coach of Countess du Bellefleur was gone. Cindy was again dressed in a sumptuous dress and told to be back by twelve. She promised she would and left for the ball.

Conrad and the prince were waiting near the entrance. Every party that entered was quickly ushered past the prince and into the ballroom. The countess saw the prince at the entrance and said, "How nice of you to welcome my daughters personally. My Bernardine was so honoured that you chose her to open the ball. I hope you'll find her worthy of that honour again."
Conrad took Aurore by the hand to claim her for every dance. He saw the prince's peril and said to Aurore, "Look, Eric has problems with the countess. She won't leave him alone. Somebody will have to rescue him."
"Eric? And the countess? What does she want Eric for? She's only interested in the Prince."
"He is the prince."
"But the prince isn't called Eric. I saw his name on the invitation."
"He's called Eiríkur after a Viking ancestor, but he prefers Eric."
"He's not a hunter then, like you. Or is that a lie as well?"
"I'm not a hunter, I'm Eric's personal servant and his friend. Now I have to help him to get rid of that woman." And Conrad led the countess with some force to the ballroom.
When he came back Aurore had a question.
"If Eric is the prince, why was he courting Cindy? Or was she just a pastime? I have heard that the prince is in love with some beautiful queen."
"I don't think he meant to toy with Cindy, but last week when that queen arrived … It was love at first sight for him. About midnight she suddenly disappeared and now he is waiting for her, hoping she'll return."
Midnight, thought Aurore, that's when Cindy had to go. Could it be her?
Then the beautiful queen arrived. The prince immediately went to her to greet her and together they entered the ballroom to start the dancing. Aurore had recognised her friend. She didn't have to worry about Cindy.

It was a wonderful evening. The prince and Cindy danced all the time. It was nearly twelve o'clock when a servant tried to catch the prince's attention. The king and queen invited their son and his partner to meet them. When the prince turned around to ask her, the mysterious queen had disappeared again. When the countess and her daughters came home, they found Cindy in the kitchen asleep with a dress that needed repairing in her lap. This of course was a good enough reason for the stepmother to vent all her anger and frustration on the poor girl again.
"You lazy, good-for-nothing, little tramp. I don't know why I let you stay in my house. As soon as I have turned my back you start to sleep. You filthy beggar, out of the goodness of my heart I gave you a roof over your head. And this is how you repay my kindness. "
She would have gone on until morning but Aurore reminded her of the fact that there would without any doubt be another ball the net week.
"The prince is still looking for a bride, so I think we should have our beauty sleep. Don't you think so?"
"Oh! Of course! Bernardine! Clotilde! Quickly, to bed, and don't forget your facemasks, my darlings. I want you to look your absolute best next week. And you, Cinders, you finish that dress before you go to bed. You'll be severely punished if it isn't done tomorrow morning."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure she does. I'm not feeling too well, so I'll stay up a bit longer."
"Yes, you do look dreadful, Aurore. And with your dark hair and brown eyes you look plain at the best of times."
As soon as the three women had gone Aurore quietly asked Cindy, "Do you know whom you danced with all night?"
"I danced with Eric. Who else? Why do you ask?"
"Don't you know? Eric is the prince … and you are the mysterious queen everyone is talking about."
"Oh no! It can't be! What's going to happen now?"
"One day he'll come to take you away from here and marry you."
"But I'm just Cinders now, a kitchen maid. He'll never marry me."
"No matter what has happened to you, you are still Sandrine du Bellefleur, only daughter of the count du Bellefleur. It is not your fault that our stepmother refuses to do her duty by you. If there is another ball next week then I'll make sure that you can go."
"If he thinks I'm a queen that means he doesn't even recognise me."
"Don't worry, Cindy, he will. Anyway, it's a good thing nobody recognises you. Just imagine what she would do if she knew."

At the palace Conrad found Eric sitting on a chair in the ballroom, staring in the distance.
"Hey, can I talk. I need to ask you something."
Eric didn't move, just said: "Sure, you can ask me anything."
Conrad sat down next to Eric, facing the same direction. He daren't look at his friend while he asked: "Actually it's Aurore's question. She'd like to know if you were just toying with Cindy."
Eric turned to face Conrad.
"I told her you didn't mean to. I'm sure you didn't but … well … did you? Toy with her?"
Eric sighed, turned back, looking at the wall opposite as if he was hoping to see the answer there.
"I thought I had found the right girl for me. Cindy is just … But when she appeared … she's a queen and Cindy … Sometimes I think I still love her and then I try and picture her and … I can't. All I see is that queen, looking at me, smiling at me. … God … listen to me, I don't even know her name and … I have to ask her, Conrad. I want that woman to be my queen. … And yet … we've had such good times together; you and Aurore, Cindy and me … as if it was meant to be."
Conrad kept quiet. There was nothing he could say to help his friend. This was a problem Eric had to work out on his own.

As expected, news of a third ball at the palace spread round the town and a third invitation arrived at the du Bellefleur house. The countess asked Aurore for more money to dress her daughters and herself for this important occasion. She also took all the household money for that month and said, "A bit of fasting will do us good and once Bernardine is queen, we can eat all we want."
Aurore allowed the countess to take the money. For herself and Cindy she dipped in her own piggybank. While the countess and her daughters ate dry bread and drank plain water, Aurore and Cindy still had nice meals.

Cindy, who wanted to meet the prince as herself and not as a mysterious queen, asked again whether she could go to the ball with the rest of the family. The only reply was three lists of chores, one from her stepmother, one from Bernardine and one from Clotilde. On the morning of the ball, the countess came with a bag in which she had mixed the peas with the lentils and a good shovel-full of ashes. She gave the bag to Cindy and said, "Cinderella, if you finish all your work and sort these peas and lentils you can come with us to the ball." Then she left the kitchen. Cindy could hear the countess and her daughters laughing outside the kitchen and sighed.

Of course Aurore had already taken care of the lists. At midday she brought a sack of peas and a sack of lentils and together the girls filled a sack of ashes.
When it was time to leave for the ball, the stepmother entered the kitchen to see what Cindy was doing. It looked as if she was still sorting the peas and lentils and, pretending to be kind, the countess said, "My poor girl, I'm so sorry that you didn't finish your jobs." And in her normal voice she added, "Did you really think that I would let you go to the ball, sooty Cinderella? You look so filthy. People would think I had brought the chimney sweep. Now you make sure there is nothing left to do when we come back from the castle." Then she left with Bernardine, Clotilde and Aurore.

Aurore and Conrad immediately disappeared to the garden. They didn't need anybody else. The prince only needed his queen and once Cindy had arrived, he didn't let go of her for a moment. They danced every dance together and forgot the rest of the world existed. But time hadn't stopped for them. The clock struck twelve and the spell that love had woven was broken. Cindy looked around, saw that it was indeed as late as she feared and tried to get away. The prince held her hand.
"Please, don't go."
"I must go. I can't stay any longer. Please, let me go. "
The queen had seen that something was not right with her son. She went to him and asked him what the problem was. This distracted the prince and Cindy managed to get away. The prince ran after her. He saw his mysterious partner run out of the palace and down the staircase towards her waiting coach. Then Cindy stumbled and lost her shoe. She turned around to pick it up but the prince was too close, so she left the shoe, ran to the coach and got inside. The coach drove away at full speed and the prince saw it disappear into the night. He picked up the shoe and went inside.
"She's gone. She just left her shoe. I still don't know who she is or where she comes from."
"You'll have to marry somebody else then," said the king. "I can't keep organising these parties so that you can meet with this woman. There are more important things I can spend that much money on. Schools for instance, or hospitals."
"I'm sorry father. The only woman I want to marry is the one who wore this shoe."
"As you wish. Tomorrow we'll go to every family that was here tonight and the first girl that fits this shoe will be you bride."
"But, father…"
"Don't 'but father' me. That is my decision and that is final. You've had enough chances to ask your mystery beauty to be your wife. Now you are going to marry the girl that can wear this shoe."

The prince tried to persuade his father to give him another week but the king was adamant. When the guests heard the king's decision they rushed home to bathe their daughters' feet in ice-cold water so they would shrink and fit the shoe. And none ran quite as fast as the countess and her daughters. They left so fast that they forgot Aurore was still in the palace garden and Conrad had to take her home on his horse.
Inside the house the countess was trying every trick in the book to make her daughters' feet as small as possible: iced water, slimming creams, strange and smelly mixtures of herbs and god-knows-what. When Bernardine and Clotilde were finally in bed, their feet thickly smeared with cream, wrapped in a layer of cloth soaked in the herb-mixture and packed around with ice, Aurore had some time to talk to Cindy.
"What happened tonight?"
"I forgot the time and when I ran away I lost my right shoe. It was so late when I was back here that your people went away without the dress. I stuffed it in your trunk together with the shoe. I had just reached my bedroom when our stepmother arrived and I had to bring ice and herbs and all sorts of things to wrap our sisters' feet in. And why did you arrive later?"
"Oh, they forgot me at the palace. The prince is to marry the girl that can wear your shoe. That's why Bernardine and Clotilde are trying to shrink their feet."
"That shoe could fit anybody. What are we going to do?"
"Don't worry, Cindy. I'll think of something."
Aurore wasn't sure what they could do. If it came to it she would send Cindy to the castle dressed in the ball gown, wearing the one shoe, to ask for the other one.