FINDING PRINCE CHARMING

Chapter 6

During mealtimes, the other servants started to notice Esmeralda's friendliness. Everyone expected it would not last but the new Esmeralda did not disappear. She kept helping Jane day after day after day and Jane kept saying, "Thank you, Your Highness" and "You are too friendly, Your Highness" until Esmeralda became embarrassed.

"Please, don't call me 'Your Highness' all the time, Jane. After all I'm only working here, just like you. My name is Esmeralda, but I'd rather you call me Esmé, like my father used to do when I was a little girl."

It took a few days before Jane dared to call the princess 'Esmé' and a few more before she completely forgot to call her 'Your Highness'.

Once she got used to calling the princess Esmé, and saw her as an ordinary girl, Jane started to enjoy having someone to help her. Esmé had accepted Jane as an equal, and for the first time in her life had the pleasure of gossiping with somebody her own age. Soon the two girls became friends.

Some weeks later after work when Esmé was about to go to her room in the attic, Jane said: "I've got an extra bed in my room. If we shared we could talk longer in the evening."

"I would love to. But would it be allowed?" asked Esmé.

"Of course," said Jane. "We'll get your things now."

When Esmé entered Jane's room with the few possessions she now had, she could hardly believe her eyes. This was not a bare little room like hers. This was like the guestrooms in her father's palace. There were soft carpets on the floor and a large window with thick velvet curtains. Opposite the window stood two carved beds with down-filled bedding. An equally richly carved wardrobe and two matching dressing tables with mirrors and combs and brushes were placed against the walls; a little table and two comfortable armchairs completed the furniture. And best of all: instead of a jug and basin, the room had a bathroom.

At first Esmé felt angry that she had been forced to sleep in a little bare room in the attic while servants had such sumptuous quarters. Then she remembered the room her own maid used at her father's palace and realised that she'd had absolutely no reason to complain.

From then on Esmé and Jane shared a room and Jane would tell Esmé about the people who lived and worked in the castle. She told Esmé about Mary, the cook, who every day at the end of day's work would have a little glass of sherry. She said how proud the head gardener was of his oldest son James who was following in his father's footsteps.

"You should have seen the beautiful new rose he bred a while ago; deep red with velvety petals. He's so good at his work," Jane said and blushed.

So did Esmé when she remembered what she had done with just such a rose.

Of course Jane told Esmé about King Henryk and the accident that had changed him.

"Before he was very handsome but after the accident he was totally different. We hardly recognised him. Just imagine, one moment you're good-looking, the next you're horribly scarred. We felt so sorry for him. He's such a good person. And you know, it doesn't matter what he looks like. He was our Prince Henryk and now he's our king and a very good king too."

And Esmé imagined how it would be if she suddenly wasn't the beautiful princess Esmeralda anymore. To her horror she realised that people adored her for her beauty but apart from that… what was there to like about her? There had been nothing likeable about the proud Princess Esmeralda. What had King Henryk called her? A beautiful statue. But when the statue is marred and loses its beauty it is totally worthless. Suddenly Esmé had a lot to think about.

Another time Jane talked about the work Margaret did and suggested they could do a bit more to help her out. Esmé didn't say: "No! I am a princess, I work hard enough as it is."

Instead she said, "What can we do to help her?"

"I've got a few ideas. Some of the less important work," answered Jane. Then she laughed, "Margaret IS a bit of a control freak."

ooOOoo

When Margaret noticed that Jane and Esmé did some of her work, she was very pleased. She wondered how long this apparent change in the princess would last as she was not at all convinced it was permanent. So she never told King Henryk about it.

She did say to Jane: "I heard you have become friends with the princess."

"Yes, Esmé's very nice really."

"Be careful Jane. Don't let her use you as her personal maid, now that you share a room. She's no better than you are. She's a spoilt girl and probably thinks it is a fun game to play at being a maid. As soon as she gets bored with it she'll start ordering you about."

"She wouldn't. We are friends you know."

"Just the same, Jane, be careful."

It was not just Margaret who worried about Jane and the apparent friendship between the two girls. One day Jane and Esmé were out in the garden, admiring the roses that James was working on now. It was a new variety, a white rose with a pale pink heart and pale pink edges on the petals. James said that it was to be called the Lovely Jane. At this Jane was so embarrassed that she ran away with the mumbled excuse that she needed something from James' mother for Mary, the cook.

When they were alone James said to Esmé: "Your Highness, I hope you won't hurt Jane's feelings. She never had a friend before and she believes your friendship is honest and real. Don't disappoint her. It would destroy her trusting heart."

Esmé sighed: "My name is not 'Your Highness', it is Esmé. Jane is my friend and I wouldn't dream of hurting her. I know you don't believe that I have changed, nobody does, but it is true."

"I hope you mean it, for Jane's sake."

"And you with your Lovely Jane rose. Do you mean it? For Jane's sake, I hope you do too," said Esmé as she turned to follow her friend to the gardener's cottage.

She could not help the little dig. Why didn't he believe she had changed? Why did he think she was still the spoilt brat the king had kidnapped? She wasn't stupid. She knew exactly how awful she had been, how unfeeling. Whenever she thought of it her cheeks burned with the shame.

Just then she saw Henryk and because she felt so ashamed she hurried away in the opposite direction. He saw her turning away from him and, not realising it was shame that drove her away, presumed that she didn't want to meet him because she couldn't bear looking at him. He thought that she was just as proud as ever, and that she hated him for what he had done. He wondered why he bothered. Why didn't he just send her home to her father and good luck to them? Look in the mirror, you fool, why would she ever consider you? But he couldn't give up hope; he might as well give up breathing.

ooOOoo

So, Henryk avoided Esmé, because he did not want to see disgust and hate in her eyes, and Esmé avoided Henryk because she was too ashamed. The only time they met was when he sent for her and took her to the room with the balcony so she could see his fight with yet another suitor who came to claim her, and even then they avoided looking at each other.

Would-be heroes arrived more often, now they knew where the princess had been taken. Sometimes they came in twos or threes; they would draw lots to see who could fight Henryk first. He never understood why they didn't go for him together. One by one he could beat them; two men would have been difficult and three probably impossible. Once or twice somebody arrived with a small army, but the king's men managed to chase them away. They had to allow the duels, man to man, but no amount of orders from their king would make them forget their duty, to protect the king and the country against invading armies. So far Henryk had always been the victor and Esmé was glad about it.

Actually Esmé was very pleased that nobody could beat King Henryk. Of course, when the first few suitors came, she cheered them on and was very upset when they lost.

That was until Jane had asked her, "Don't you care who you will have to marry?"

She then told Esmé about the gardener's friend, a merchant who traded abroad and always came back with new plants and the latest gossip. His big news had been that Esmé's father had offered her hand in marriage and his crown to the man who would bring her home, just like Henryk had told her.

Naturally her vanity had been tickled when she saw the men fighting, selflessly risking injury and even death just to gain her freedom. Even a girl less proud than Princess Esmeralda would have felt flattered. Jane's revelation made Esmé aware of the more mercenary nature of the knights' valour. Because of her changed attitude and new self-knowledge she realised her freedom might count for very little in the minds of these men; her father's kingdom all the more.

After that she stopped cheering for her potential rescuer. She didn't cheer for Henryk either but she was quietly pleased that he had come to no harm. She told herself that this was only because she wanted to stay with her friend Jane. Eventually she stopped pretending. She wanted Henryk to win; she wanted to stay. She wanted Margaret and James to see that she was not a proud, useless princess. She wanted them to know that she was a true friend to Jane. Most of all – although she didn't know why this was so important – she wanted Henryk to see that he had been right; she could change, she had changed.

ooOOoo

In the middle of October came the snow. No new challengers arrived; the passages to the castle had been blocked off. Everybody, including Esmé, breathed a sigh of relief. At least they didn't have to fear for the king anymore. The country was well prepared for winter. There was plenty of food for everybody. The fieldworkers were free to help around the castle, giving everybody time to prepare for Christmas.

The whole castle was filled with mystery now. Most people made the presents themselves. They spent their free time working on them, and all the unused rooms on the upper floor had now notices on them saying things like, "DO NOT ENTER" or "WORK IN PROGRESS" and so on. Jane had confided in Esmé that she was making a shirt for James, and had shown Esmé the cream coloured material she'd bought for it.

Esmé really wanted to give her best friend a present, but she didn't know what she could do. She went to James' mother to ask for advice and saw that lady busy sewing. When Esmé had explained what she wanted. James' mother looked closely at her as if trying to determine how serious she was.

She came to a favourable conclusion and said to Esmé, "Do you know how to do embroidery?"

"Yes of course," answered Esmé. "I'm actually quite good at it; I just never used to like it."

She then showed Esmé what she was working on and said: "I'm making this outfit for Jane and I would like to have some embroidery on the skirt and the bodice, but my eyes are not very good for such fine work anymore. Do you think you could do it? And do you want to do it?"

"Oh, yes, yes. Thank you, thank you that you trust me to help you with this," said the once proud princess and she kissed the older woman on the cheek.

Every free minute she had, Esmé worked on her project. This time she enjoyed the work, imagining Jane's face when she would get her present. She couldn't remember the last time she had looked forward to Christmas so much. It was as if it would never come. Esmé even had time to embroider the little apron that went with the outfit. But eventually Christmas came.

ooOOoo