The Noble Ladies' Orphanage

Chapter 26

"Did you see the Margrave's wife's dress?" Elizabeth asked the other girls in the carriage. All eight Hapsburg and noble Czech orphans had crowded into the one carriage, along with their chaperone Agnes. Peter sat up top, driving the horses.

"It looked so heavy with all that beading and lace," Ursula said. "I was wondering how she could walk."

"Your mother looked beautiful," Livie said. "You favor her."

"She did look beautiful," Maria said. "But I don't favor her. My sister does."

"She does, too," Livie said. "But so do you."

"Hey Peter," Maria said, sticking her head out of the window.

"Yes?"

"Are you cold?"

"Huh?"

"Quick, how do you say 'Are you cold' in Czech?" she asked Ester.

"Není ti zima," Ester said.

"Není ti zima?" Maria shouted out the window to Peter. Her breath made clouds that drifted up toward Peter.

He laughed. "Ja," he said.

"Maria," Agnes said, "that is not proper behavior for a girl of your station. You know better."

"Sorry," Maria said.

The girls chattered along until Peter pulled the carriage up to the front door of the Noble Ladies' Orphanage. He hopped down and held the door open, helping Agnes out first and bowing to her. The girls began piling out, thanking Peter, and hurrying into the door. Maria exited the carriage last, and Peter held on to her gloved hand longer than he'd held on to the other girls' hands. She smiled up at him and he kissed her hand before turning back to the carriage door to close it and lead the horse around the building to the stables.

"Shut the door!" Radka hollered from the staircase. "You're letting all the cold in!" The nobles looked up to where Radka's voice had come and saw all four peasant girls struggling to carry a strange-looking contraption up the stairs.

"What are you doing? What is that?" the noble girls asked.

"Nothing," Karolina said. "It's nothing."

They had reached the top of the stairs and wheeled the strange chair down the hallway and into their room before the rest of the girls could see it. They closed their door.

Livie got to their door first and knocked. "Can I come in?"

"Sorry, not now," Karolina's voice said from the other side of the door.

"I just want to see. I won't tell if it's a secret," she said quietly.

"We're tired," Karolina said. "We'll see you in the morning."

Livie turned around to the other girls who had gathered around the door and shrugged her shoulders. The girls all went back to their rooms to change out of their formal clothes.

Inside the peasants' room, Zdenka sat in the wheeled chair, and Karolina pushed her around the room. Zdenka squealed when Karolina ran.

"It's perfect!" Karolina said. "It was worth every skipped meal. I can't wait to get it to him."

"How will you do that?" Zdenka asked.

"Maybe Marcus can take it in his wagon, but I wish Thursday would get here sooner."

Karolina tipped the chair back onto just its back wheels and turned Zdenka around, causing her to squeal again.

"What's going on in there?" Mariana asked through the door. "Time for bed."