Mrs. Bramble took the dress Lady Hackle had left and hung it on the outside of the wardrobe. “You realize what she’s up to, don’t you? There is a gentleman here she wants you to meet. It’s all the talk downstairs. This entire party was planned so she could match the two of you, and I have to say, my lady, I don’t approve.” Mrs. Bramble took these liberties in the way she spoke to Lady Tremaine because she had worked for the family since Lady Tremaine was a little girl. But Lady Tremaine wondered how Mrs. Bramble would react to her new plan to run a tighter ship. She knew Avery would be on board—he was a by-the-numbers sort of man—but how would Mrs. Bramble handle it?

Lady Tremaine realized Mrs. Bramble had continued talking while she drifted off into her own thoughts. She was still going on about this mysterious man Lady Hackle wanted her to meet.

“No one has heard of him. He’s not from these parts. They say he’s royalty from some distant land who is looking for a new wife.”

Lady Tremaine was intrigued but didn’t let Mrs. Bramble know. “And what happened to his old wife, then?” she asked, trying to make light of the serious atmosphere in the room.

“Well, she died, of course.” Mrs. Bramble scoffed. “There are wild stories about the land where he’s from. They call it the Many Kingdoms. Oh, you should hear the tales, my lady! Mothers there often die mysteriously and well before their time, and these widowers always replace them with new wives who themselves meet a terrible fate.” Mrs. Bramble’s eyes were wide and her lips pursed. Lady Tremaine couldn’t tell if Mrs. Bramble was angry or worried. Her eyes were full of concern, but her lips looked as if she was on the warpath. Perhaps she was both. “I won’t have my lady bundled off to distant lands where stepmothers are reviled!”

Lady Tremaine knew what this was about. She had been her nanny, and then her mother’s lady’s maid, so she looked at Lady Tremaine almost like a daughter.

“Well, I don’t intend to be bundled off anywhere, Mrs. Bramble, and as for these stories you’ve heard, must I remind you how foolish and bored some of these servants in the country can be? What else is there to do but weave hysterical tales about places they’ve never visited for themselves?”

Mrs. Bramble laughed. “I dare say they have their jobs to do,” she said, but Lady Tremaine wondered. She imagined a bit of gossip downstairs was just the sort of thing the servants looked forward to.