“Who cares, really.” Matty gave one of her slightly fake laughs. “So no more talk of politics or any other boring subject. We are all going to be happy and enjoy my wedding. I could have killed that awful man for spoiling the evening last night.”

“I don’t think he intended to have a heart attack,” I said cautiously.

“Maybe not, but I’m still angry with Nicky for inviting him. This morning Siegfried was muttering about trying to send one of the cars to Bucharest for the royal physician and Mama and Papa were distressed to hear that one of our guests had become sick.”

“I don’t think it was Prince Nicholas’s choice to bring Pirin along with him,” I said. “He’s a powerful man in that country. I rather suspect he does what he wants.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t invite him to my wedding,” she said. “He invited himself. I rather wish he’d hurry up and die and then we could all stop worrying about him. It’s like a cloud of gloom hanging over us, knowing he’s lying up there.”

I didn’t like to say that her wish had been granted. She turned to the other girls and obviously repeated what she had said in German, as it produced a titter of nervous laughter. I observed her critically. She was so different from the needy, unconfident girl I had known at school. I was almost prepared to believe she wasn’t the same person. I’d already been fooled by one imposter this year, so surely two was a little much. And her parents obviously recognized her as their daughter, so she had to be Matty, but she had certainly grown up in a hurry. The couturiere approached, clapping her hands as if she were directing a flock of chickens.

“Highnesses, we have no time to waste. So much work to be done. Now, who is ready to volunteer to be first today?”

I was anxious to get out of there and find out what was happening with Nicholas and Darcy. I was also uneasy in Matty’s presence. “I will, if you like,” I said.

The dress was fitted with nods of satisfaction. “This young lady has no curves, like a boy,” our couturiere said to her assistant in French. “On her the dress will look right.” I wasn’t so sure that having no curves and looking like a boy was a compliment but I took it for one, especially as she had very little to do in the way of pinning and altering. When I glanced at myself in those walls of mirrors a tall, elegant creation stared back at me. I noticed that the room was suddenly quiet and saw that the other girls had stopped talking and were now watching me.