Elsa wondered if Minnie actually knew what had happened to the woman in the cupboard, and who had done it. Then she dismissed the idea as absurd. It was just Minnie showing off, being the center of attention as usual.
Olga straightened her shoulders and followed after her, but there was no swagger to her walk and she did not look to either side of her, as if just for the moment she could not bear to meet anyone’s eyes.
Liliane glanced back before the drawing room door closed. Elsa thought she was taking one more glance at Hamilton to reassure herself that he was still upright, or even catch his eye and warn him.
Then Elsa realized it was at Julius that Liliane was looking, and there was anger in her face, just for a moment, and an unanswered pain, as if he had denied her something.
Elsa’s head was spinning. Lady Parr was saying something and she had no idea what it was. Liliane and Julius had been in Africa at the same time, before either of them were married. It had been at the same time as Eden Forbes had died.
They took their seats, all watching the Princess of Wales. Elsa was invited to sit next to her. It was going to be hard work, but for some reason the Princess seemed to wish her to.
“Your husband is a very commanding man,” the Princess observed conversationally, but she was watching Elsa’s face as she spoke.
Perhaps that was how she guessed at people’s replies: She read the emotion when she could not distinguish the words.
Elsa smiled. “Yes, he is, ma’am.” She inclined her head in agreement. “And he cares passionately about this project.” She kept her sentences short.
“Of course,” Alexandra said with humor in her voice. “It has much to offer.”
Did she mean to Africa, to the Empire, or to Cahoon personally?
Had she read in his face how hungry he was for recognition, a seat in the House of Lords, and all the social honor that that would bring him? She must be used to being courted for her position, not for herself. For that matter, had she any idea how many women the Prince flirted with, touched intimately, even slept with? Or did she refuse to look because it was unbearable?
How much would Elsa be wounded in mind and heart if she knew Cahoon had made love to Lady Parr? Not much; only revolted if he came back to her afterward. And if she were honest, she thought perhaps he would not. That was a strange kind of rejection too, a sort of loneliness half wanted, half painful.
Alexandra was asking something again. Elsa thought how difficult it must be always having to be the one to initiate every conversation, but one did not speak to royalty until they spoke first. She could not help, much as she wished to.
“You will miss your husband when they begin to build,” Alexandra went on. “Or will you go to Africa yourself?”
“I don’t yet know, ma’am,” Elsa replied.
“I hear Africa is very beautiful,” Alexandra continued.
Elsa must make an effort. She could see the look of open contempt on Minnie’s face.
“You should go,” Minnie said suddenly. “It would give you something to talk about. It is such a bore to have nothing whatever to say.”
She knew that with her face turned toward Elsa, Alexandra would not hear her.
“Frightful,” Elsa said tartly. “Especially to those who insist upon saying it just the same.”
Alexandra turned to look at Minnie in time to see her face flame red. She seemed to understand as well as if she had heard. “It seems a shame to miss an adventure,” she said quietly.
“She has nothing to keep her at home,” Minnie added. She did not say that Elsa was childless, but it was implied. Minnie herself was childless, but still young enough to change that.
“I imagine you will be going,” Olga said suddenly to Minnie. “You will certainly want to follow the men!”
Minnie arched her eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?” she replied icily, but there was a hot flush in her cheeks still.
Lady Parr’s face flickered with amusement.
“Do you wish me to repeat it more loudly?” Olga inquired.
At home Minnie would have stormed out, as she had an impulsive temper like her father’s. Here, she was forced to remain.
“I imagine it will be necessary to begin in both Cairo and Cape Town,” Alexandra murmured, as if she had heard none of the last ex-change. “You know Cape Town, do you not, Mrs. Quase?”
“I have a slight acquaintance, ma’am,” Liliane answered. “I’m afraid I don’t know Cairo at all.”
“I thought you knew Cape Town quite well.” Minnie looked puzzled. “Papa said you had lived there. Was he mistaken?”
Liliane faced her squarely. “He probably told you that my brother died there,” she replied, her voice trembling so slightly it was barely discernible. “Or perhaps it was your husband who told you. He was in the area at the time.”
“Julius never tells me anything,” Minnie replied. “But then I dare say you know that. You knew him before I did.” She frowned. “Although it does seem odd that he should not have mentioned it at all.”
“Perhaps you were simply not listening?” Elsa suggested.
“I suppose he told you?” Minnie retorted. “You are always listening. I don’t know what you expect to hear. Or perhaps it doesn’t matter, just so long as it is something.”
Elsa looked at her gravely. “I am sure you would like to reconsider that remark,” she observed. “You cannot have meant it.” She allowed her gaze to wander to Alexandra, then away again quickly.
Suddenly Minnie understood and the blush spread from her cheeks down her neck to her bosom, but there was of course no elegant way for her to explain that she had meant Elsa’s vanity, not the Princess’s deafness.
For the first time in the evening, Olga laughed. It was a rich, extraordinarily pleasant sound, more attractive than Minnie’s higher, louder voice.
There was another half hour of chatter, gossip, polite nothing-ness, before the gentlemen rejoined them. Cahoon was in charge, talking so earnestly with the Prince it seemed an effort for them to even acknowledge the ladies. They returned almost immediately to their conversation.
Simnel and Lord Taunton were obviously discussing finance, the language of which was sufficiently esoteric, and therefore they had no need to be particularly discreet. Hamilton came in last, walking so close to Julius it was not difficult to guess that Julius was both steering him and preventing him from falling over.
Liliane saw them and started to rise, then sank back again, biting her lip. To have gone to him would have made the situation even more apparent. She sat silently, her face tense, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
“I feel we are a great step closer,” Cahoon said with a smile. He looked at Taunton. “We have certainly received both support and excellent advice. I look forward to being in Africa again. I can almost feel the sun on my skin, the heat, the dust, the smell of animals.” He looked at Lady Parr and then at Alexandra. “Africa is unlike any other place on earth, ma’am. It is almost as if one were carried back to the dawn of creation, when everything was new and barely finished.
There is an energy to it that stirs the blood and fires the brain.” This last was to Lady Parr only. “You would love it!”
She smiled at him, the vision of it lighting her eyes. “I will.” It sounded more like a promise than a mere remark.
Elsa caught Alexandra’s eye, but neither of them spoke. Perhaps such understanding was better without words.
“It’s not all. . glamour.” Hamilton spoke with a slight slur. “It’s also dirty and as hot as the stones of hell. Except, of course, when it’s wet. Then it’s more like being boiled alive.”
“I dare say we wouldn’t go into the jungle,” Olga filled the silence that followed. She turned to Liliane. “Isn’t Cape Town very pleasant?”
“The climate is most agreeable,” Liliane replied, looking from Olga to Hamilton and back again. “I should rather like to see Cairo.
Wouldn’t you, Julius?”
“Julius doesn’t care about any of them,” Simnel put in before Julius could reply. “He’ll probably be riding around the capitals of Europe being charming, eating the best food, drinking the best wine, and in no danger of getting dirt on his boots, never mind fever or snakebite or charged by a bull elephant. But he won’t see a million
