Chapter Eighteen #3
She walked out of the room. Charles went back to reading his newspapers quickly before deciding he needed to make sure he was appropriately dressed for their stop at the prince’s. He took a last bite of egg, set his newspaper down, and rose to leave the room. This was going to be a busy day.
He ordered the carriage readied before going upstairs. He knew it took a while to harness the horses and have them ready.
They left precisely on time. It didn’t take long to get to the prince’s residence. Charles looked up at the structure in amazement. This was where the prince also entertained. The palace was huge, with plenty of room for various sizes of functions. The prince and his wife loved to entertain.
Arriving at the entrance, the couple disembarked the carriage and were led to a small room where they waited and waited for someone to direct them.
Finally, a young man wearing spectacles entered the room.
From the looks of his dress and mannerisms, Charles concluded he must work for the prince himself.
“I apologize for my tardiness. I’m Mr. Temple, one of the prince’s secretaries. I understand you’re here to practice on the piano you’ll be using?”
“Yes, I am. The prince invited me.”
“If you’ll just follow me, I’ll show you to the ballroom.”
She was outside the room. As soon as Charles tried to go with her, he was stopped. “I’m sorry, sir, only your wife can come. You’ll have to wait here.”
He was about to protest when Cathryn spoke up. “Either my husband accompanies me, or I’ll leave now without practicing.”
“I’m just following orders, milady,” Mr. Temple said.
“Understood. Now what are we going to do to resolve this?”
“Your husband still can’t go with you.”
“We’re at an impasse then. I’m leaving in that case.”
Charles had remained close-mouthed the entire time as he’d been treated badly.
Cathryn seemed to have everything under control.
He extended his arm and pulled her closer.
Together they walked through the palace to the main door to take their leave.
Mr. Temple followed close behind, trying to get them to change their mind.
No matter how much he groveled, Cathryn stuck to her belief.
Ladies shouldn’t be alone. Especially in a situation like this where any man would love to take advantage of a woman like her.
She was a married woman, and if she wanted her husband to accompany her, he would.
If men like Mr. Temple wanted to play the prince’s game, she would simply remove herself from the situation.
“Very well,” Mr. Temple finally said. “Your husband may accompany you.”
“Thank you. I want the room cleared unless the people are working on readying the room for the party.”
Temple sighed, knowing he’d met his match. “Very well. Most everything has been done and anything else can wait until you’re finished.”
She and Charles followed Temple to the ballroom. The shiny black piano sat on a large riser. Stairs were just behind the piano stool. “Very nice,” Cathryn said.
“Did I tell you the piano has just been tuned? You should find it a delight to play.”
“No, you hadn’t told me that. I appreciate that being done.”
Charles found a chair to sit in and set it off to one side. He watched his wife climb the three stairs to the large piano and sit down on the bench.
She ran her fingers across the keyboard and began doing some exercises to loosen not only her fingers but also to test the piano. Each one was unique, and it was up to the player to know what it was.
First, she broke into one of the pieces requested by the prince.
She’d decided to play the pieces at rehearsal in order to hear how it would be played later.
Charles closed his eyes and listened to the sound.
While he played and played well, his talent did not come close to matching his wife’s.
Her playing seemed to soothe him and help him relax.
By the time she was through with the requests of the prince and his wife, Charles was almost asleep.
“What did you think?” she asked.
“Superb.”
“You don’t think I need to play them one more time?”
“No, not unless you’re unhappy with something. I think you’ve done what you set out to do.”
“I’m satisfied. I think I can leave feeling good about everything,” she replied.
He got up from the chair and walked toward her, meeting her at the bottom of the steps. “Shall we go to lunch like we planned?”
“Absolutely.”
“I think you’ll enjoy the place I picked out.”
“You’ve got me curious, but first I’d like to find Mr. Temple and thank him for obliging me.”
“Good idea.”
They followed the hallway in the direction Mr. Temple had brought them.
Nearing the door they’d entered through, they found it was not as busy as when they arrived.
Charles spotted Mr. Temple outside, speaking with none other than Cathryn’s mother.
He glanced over at his wife and saw she’d seen her mother as well.
“What is she trying to do?”
“Why don’t we thank Mr. Temple and leave? I have a feeling she’s trying to get in to listen to you rehearse.”
“Yes, let’s. I’m counting on you to get us away from her.”
They walked over to the prince’s man and thanked him, before acknowledging Cathryn’s mother.
“I was trying to get in to hear you rehearse. You can always use a good critique.”
“No need for you to come here, Mother. I’m quite satisfied with how things went.”
“You may think so, but your father and I think you need someone to represent you, speak for you if you’re going to continue playing for the public.”
“And I suppose that someone would be you and Father?”
“Of course! Who better?”
Charles decided to use this as a perfect place to extract his wife. “If you’ll excuse us, we have a couple of appointments and we can’t be late.”
“Mother, we’ve got to go, but understand this: I’m not playing professionally. This was a special request which I accepted. Now if you’ll excuse us.”
Charles led her out to their carriage, leaving his mother-in-law stunned by being snubbed by her own daughter. Or, in her eyes, she was being snubbed.
He sat down next to Cathryn, and as he did, the carriage slowly began to move. “You were brilliant, my dear.”
“I’ve learned through trial and error it’s the only way to keep my mother’s bizarre actions under control.”
He smiled. “You do it so well.”
“Enough of my mother. We’ll have to deal with her antics again tonight. I’m hungry, and you promised lunch.”
“I did, didn’t I? We could either go to the Brown Hotel and eat at their brand-new restaurant or we could go to a chip shop. Arthur introduced me to one.”
“Let’s go to the new restaurant. Although I adore fish and chips, I’m afraid all that grease would be a bit heavy to eat today,” she said.
“The Brown Hotel it is,” he replied. He then knocked twice on the roof, telling the driver where they were to go.
“I’m intrigued at what this new place serves, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I understand it’s become popular in a short period of time,” he said.
“Hmmm. May I ask a question?”
“Of course you can.”
“Are we still leaving the day after tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Yes. Unless you’d like to stay on.”
“No. I just have a couple appointments and will need the carriage.”
“Very well. We can talk about it later. I only have one or two appointments myself. Should be no problem.”
“Thank you.”
He peered out the window at all the people walking in a hurry around him, having always done this at earlier stages of his life.
He got through some of his discomfort of riding in a carriage by ignoring everything around him and solely concentrating on the people, strangers all off to an appointment or to visit with a friend.
Charles always wondered why he was odd, different than his two siblings. No matter how he tried to come up with a logical answer, it was something that wasn’t talked about. Looking at all the people outside, he couldn’t be the only one.
“I know that look, Charles. Get out of your head.”
He turned to her, nodding. “I was watching the people, wondering how many more people like me are out there.”
“Well, stop. I’ve told you before you’re unique and no one is like you. You’re one of a kind.”
He patted her hand which had been on his thigh since they’d entered the carriage. “Thank you for reminding me.”
They passed the Brown Hotel. Charles tapped on the roof of the carriage and finally, they came to a halt. He’d been very specific in where they were going. He opened the door and stepped out. “I thought I told you this was where we were going for a meal.”
“You did, it’s just there’s no room in front of the establishment to do that,” the driver said.
Charles looked back towards the Brown. What he saw was a swarm of people lined up waiting to gain entrance. “Send a footman and see how long a wait there is.”
He opened the door to the carriage and found Cathryn in the spot he’d been occupying moments before. “I’ve sent a footman to see how long a wait we’d have.”
“It’s certainly a popular place if all those people are waiting for a table.”
He nodded and closed the door. Walking back to the coachman, he could see the young footman and Coachie discussing something. Charles imagined the wait was probably longer than anticipated.
“How long?” he asked, approaching the pair.
“More than an hour. Starting tomorrow, you must have a reservation to dine here. They weren’t expecting this reaction.”
“I can imagine,” Charles replied. “In that case, let’s return home. I’m sure Cook can come up with something.”
He climbed back into the carriage. “We’re going home. The wait is well over an hour.”
“Oh my. They must be good if the line to get in is that long.”
“Evidently so.”
“The day is lovely. We could go home and eat on the terrace if you’d like.”
He nodded. “That sounds nice. Just you and me, none of the crowds.”
“Not that I don’t like to eat out, it’s simply the fact you can rarely hold a conversation because of all the noise. People just don’t know when to be quiet or enjoy the ambiance.”
“You’re right,” he said.
They kept riding along. It didn’t take long before the commercial shops began to turn into residences.
Traffic reduced as well. When they pulled up in front of the house, Charles led his wife inside.
Immediately, she went to the kitchen to get things started with the cook.
It would be an easy meal, and probably better than anything she could find at a restaurant.
A short time later, she met Charles on the terrace. The day was sunny, which needed to be enjoyed. Cooler weather would soon be on its way. He was standing against a baluster looking out at the gardens.
“We could have gotten a hamper and gone to one of the parks,” she said, approaching him.
“This is nicer. We have the place all to ourselves, and we don’t have to deal with the bugs and sit on the ground.”
“I concur on all.”