Summary: Family celebration of Alexia Ashford's admission to Harvard University.
I
Alexia Ashford and Mary-Anne Campbell were looking at a chamber portrait of Anne of Great Britain, the last Stuart queen of the United Kingdom. Their ancestor gleamed in a shimmering red gown trimmed with a simple ermine cloak.
"Someday you will be like her." Mary-Anne stroked Alexia's fine hair, standing to her right. "A queen."
II
Too much noise in the castle hall. Too much crowd. Alexia wandered among the excited adults trying to locate her father. She spotted Tony, Mary-Anne and Walter, some distant cousins of the Douglas clan she knew by sight, but not her father. Frustrated, she changed her strategy and began searching for shelter. By chance, she stumbled upon a forgotten armchair in which she curled up, wishing that the party in her honour for her admission to Harvard would end as soon as possible. If Alfred had been with her, they would have devised a way to sneak out of the room to spend the rest of the night playing in the gardens. But he wasn't, and neither was her cousin Auguste. There was no way out, and she had grown tired of hiding her discomfort at being surrounded by drunken relatives who kept shouting, singing and playing the bagpipes. She would have slipped off to the Stuart gallery, to enjoy better company with the mute portraits of her ancestors, but Mary-Anne had closed the door. In the end, she had no choice but to bear her despondency alone.
She closed her eyes to concentrate on her less chaotic inner world. She thought she would fall asleep until she noticed a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes in fright.
"Are you all right, Alexia?" Tony pulled his hand away.
"Where's my father?"
"He's outside. On the balcony. With Aberdeen's cousins. Do you want me to call him?"
"No. I'll go."
Alexia sat up. Tony walked halfway with her and then broke away. She crossed the stony threshold of the balcony to catch sight of her father sitting with the cousins. As soon as she poked her head out, one of them, the one smoking an oversized cigar, waved his hand for her to join them.
"There's your daughter, Lexia."[1]
Alexander turned around. As soon as he saw his daughter, he patted his legs so she would sit on him. Alexia complied so she could tell him she didn't want to be there.
"How are you?" Alexander asked.
"How does it feel to go to college so early? Aren't you afraid, little one?" The other cousin interrupted Alexander. The cousin with the cigar took a puff.
Alexia didn't answer.
"She's looking forward to it. It'll be a matter of adjustment," Alexander replied instead.
"How nice. The best Campbell, you'll see." Both cousins laughed.
"Vader. Ik wil terug naar mijn kamer."[2] Alexia whispered in his ear as the two cousins talked to each other.
"Oké."
Alexander and Alexia got up.
"I'll be right back."
Alexia walked ahead of her father. She needed silence.
Notes:
[1] Alexia Ashford's family nickname.
[2] "Father. I want to go back to my bedroom" in Dutch.