Lili asks for ladies
“Lili!” Egelric scolded. “What are you doing, still in your nightgown?”
“What am I supposed to wear?” she whined. “None of my gowns fit.”
“I told you to bring some of your little dresses with the big bellies, henny. I knew you would be needing them before we went home.”
“What do you know about it?” she grumbled.
“I was right, wasn’t I?”
“Yes, and that is what is so abominable about you. You’re never wrong. But I would not have needed them if I hadn’t eaten so much candy. So that shows you what you know!”
“It shows I knew how much candy you would eat!” he laughed and reached around her to pinch her behind.
“Ach! You’re abominable!” She squirmed away and stomped over to the mirror, furiously enough that he could hear her bare little feet slapping across the floor.
Egelric waited until he had seen the corner of the smile she was trying to hide, and then he went to flop down in the chair and prop his feet up on a stack of pillows he had previously assembled for the purpose.
“You may borrow one of your sister’s dresses for today,” he said, “and I shall send someone to fetch some of your dresses for you. But I did not think you had eaten so much candy last night that you would find it impossible to put on the gown you were wearing yesterday.”
“I can’t wear the same gown twice in a row!” she gasped.
“Ohhhh.”
“What a heathen you are.”
“It’s as much as I can do to remember not to wear the same socks for a week at a time,” he admitted.
“Who’s here for dinner today?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Her Highness the Princess is here already, and young Sigefrith. And I already saw—”
“Is Wyn dining here today?”
“Aye,” he smiled.
“I shall ask Hetty to seat him beside me,” she said. “I declare, I never see him any more.”
“Young Sigefrith came unencumbered by his family, if that’s what you’re worried about, Lili.”
“Noooo, not at all,” she said, studying her face intently in the mirror so she would not have to meet his eyes. “I simply miss talking to Wyn. I shall be glad to return home and have him to myself again.”
“And to think I was looking forward to having you to my own self!”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m not the sort of lady that Wyn likes anyway, apparently.”
“No. You’re not jealous, are you?”
“Of whom?”
“Of Mouse.”
“Why should I be? Has he made her an offer?”
“No, Lili. The poor idiot hasn’t even figured out he’s in love with her yet. Though I imagine he’ll get around to noticing it once we’re home and he realizes that although he has to make an effort to see her, he will want to.”
“Or perhaps he will simply forget about her.”
“Perhaps,” Egelric agreed.
“Perhaps once he is far away from her he will start thinking about all of her faults.”
“And if he does not, his lady will remind him of them—is that it?”
“No! I’m certain I shall never think to mention her at all,” she sniffed. “Why should I?”
“I don’t know, Lili. But listen to me now: I don’t want to hear one word of criticism of that young lady pass your lips. Do you understand me?”
“What did I ever do, that you should say such things to me?” she cried.
“Nothing. I am warning you ahead of time. If it is unnecessary, then you are free to ignore it.”
“It is unnecessary! I suppose that shows you what you know!”
“What I know is that whenever Mouse is before you, you turn up your cute little nose as if she were thirty feet tall.”
“I must turn up my nose at everyone, as I am so pitifully short.”
“Standing on your tiptoes should be sufficient with Mouse.”
“What an idea, calling oneself Mouse, anyway!” she huffed, as if she could bear no more.
“What is it, Lili?” he asked sternly. “Is it simply because she has spoiled your little plans regarding Ana? For if that’s all it is, you may cut it out now. The Baron would not have given Ana to Wyn anyway, so it is just as well he didn’t fall in love with the girl.”
“No, that is not ‘all it is’,” she mumbled. She appeared not haughty but unhappy.
“What is it, then?” Egelric asked her, more gently now. “Come here and sit a blink, henny.”
Her lips still pouted and her feet still stomped, but she came and sat on his lap.
“Now, tell me truly why you are unhappy about Wyn’s late foolishness, if it’s not jealousy and it’s not because he foiled your plans.”
“Why don’t you tell me, since you think you know everything about me better than I do?” she grumbled.
“I only know what goes on in this big belly,” he said with a pat to her growing bump, “but what goes on in this little head is a mystery to me.”
“I simply want Wyn to marry some lady who will be my friend,” she whined.
“But couldn’t Mouse be your friend?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Certainly you haven’t been very friendly with her so far, although I think a friendship with a girl like Mouse would do you some good. However, Lili, I find it a little unfair of you to ask of Wyn that he choose his wife for your own benefit. Don’t you suppose we could obtain a friend for you by other means?”
“How? In Germany all of the families are old, and there are always young ladies to spare. But here there aren’t enough at all. We can’t even find enough for our young men, much less have some left over to be friends with Lili.”
“Then we shall import some from Germany, or from other places where young ladies are in abundance. But we shall allow Wyn to choose the wife he wants, shan’t we, Lili?”
“Yes,” she said eagerly, “but you shall get some for me that like dancing and gossiping, and not only sewing and talking about religion. Also they should like… ahhh… music! And singing…”
“And candy,” he said, slipping his hand down to pinch her again.
“And—candy! Oh!” she shrieked. “You abominable man!”
