feeling guilty that perhaps I had been misjudging him. Maybe he was not a villain , but just the victim of tragic circumstances. But then there were the servant’s versions of events, which although close to my mother’s , put things into a rather shadier light.
Gwen was the palace’s wash maid and as such was the easiest to tap for information without being spotted or overheard. When I saw her in the gardens pegging out the bed sheets , I pounced, having carefully thought out my questions beforehand.
After a small amount of small talk about the weather and palace life , I asked her as casually as I could, “So Prince Vincent, he’s handsome isn’t he?”
“Yes, m’lady. He certainly is that.” She shook her head and removed a peg from her ap ron pocket before continuing, “O n the outside , he’s a very pretty fella.”
She turned to me and looked at me in a way that told me she was telling me more but was afraid to loosen her tongue in case she came to harm.
“I’ve heard that he’s not quite so handsome on the inside though, Gwen. Is that right?” I picked up a corner of one of the sheets, hoping that this act of solidarity might gain her trust.
“So they say.”
“What do they say exactly?” I asked, smiling at her reassuring ly .
“I don’t know, Miss. I shouldn’t be talkin’ bout fine folks with my low tongue.”
“Gwen, it’s only me and no one need ever know that you told me.”
She smiled, caught on the fence of indecision. Then she relaxed and with relief I saw that she was going to spill the beans.
“Well, Miss, t here was some talk about the princess Annabel , h is first wife. You know? The one that fell from her horse … supposedly fell from her horse. It was Martha’s husband, Joe that found her. In the woods she was … all beat up. Her body was covered in bruises – it were as if she had been bare - knuckle fighting.”
“The result of the fall?”
Gwen laughed, “Aye, so the palace said, but Joe said ‘ I t must’ve been a bloody strange thing to fall of f a tethered horse and get that much damage .’ No,” she shook her head, “there were someone did that to her. Someone punched and kicked her to death.”
“Oh,” I said, thinking of something to say that might encourage her to talk on about the rest of his wives . I didn’t need to think for long though, as Gwen was in full storyteller flow.
“Then he married that other girl, princess Lucia. She was a pretty little thing. The palace said that she died during an early childbirth and she did, but that’s only a part of the truth. Sally, my cousin works over at the palace as a chambermaid . She was close to the events as you can get, so I knows it isn’t just gossip. The princess was pregnant but it was very early days, she was barely showing and he was still visiting her chambers at night. I don’t think he was too happy about being told to go back to his own sleeping quarters and so a fight broke out. He’s got a fierce temper , so he has. Sally went to go in and see that her mistress was all right , but his footman grabbed our Sally by the arm and told her to be leaving them alone. Told her that the business of a husband and wife were no business of the serving staff.
“She stood outside of the door for twenty minutes listening to her mistress sobbing and her master raging in anger. It was as if he were breaking everything in the room. Sally begged the footman to go in and calm the situation but he just smiled and said, “Our master is a passionate man .”
“There were horrible high - pitched screams, as if an animal were in distress. Then the prince came storming out of the room, blood on his white undershirt and the look of the devil in him. She ran in to find her mistress on the floor, curled in a ball and blood everywhere. She lost the baby , and by morning her own life was lost too.”
I gasped at the thought of it. Although I didn’t like Vince nt and suspected him of a shadowy and
Gwen was the palace’s wash maid and as such was the easiest to tap for information without being spotted or overheard. When I saw her in the gardens pegging out the bed sheets , I pounced, having carefully thought out my questions beforehand.
After a small amount of small talk about the weather and palace life , I asked her as casually as I could, “So Prince Vincent, he’s handsome isn’t he?”
“Yes, m’lady. He certainly is that.” She shook her head and removed a peg from her ap ron pocket before continuing, “O n the outside , he’s a very pretty fella.”
She turned to me and looked at me in a way that told me she was telling me more but was afraid to loosen her tongue in case she came to harm.
“I’ve heard that he’s not quite so handsome on the inside though, Gwen. Is that right?” I picked up a corner of one of the sheets, hoping that this act of solidarity might gain her trust.
“So they say.”
“What do they say exactly?” I asked, smiling at her reassuring ly .
“I don’t know, Miss. I shouldn’t be talkin’ bout fine folks with my low tongue.”
“Gwen, it’s only me and no one need ever know that you told me.”
She smiled, caught on the fence of indecision. Then she relaxed and with relief I saw that she was going to spill the beans.
“Well, Miss, t here was some talk about the princess Annabel , h is first wife. You know? The one that fell from her horse … supposedly fell from her horse. It was Martha’s husband, Joe that found her. In the woods she was … all beat up. Her body was covered in bruises – it were as if she had been bare - knuckle fighting.”
“The result of the fall?”
Gwen laughed, “Aye, so the palace said, but Joe said ‘ I t must’ve been a bloody strange thing to fall of f a tethered horse and get that much damage .’ No,” she shook her head, “there were someone did that to her. Someone punched and kicked her to death.”
“Oh,” I said, thinking of something to say that might encourage her to talk on about the rest of his wives . I didn’t need to think for long though, as Gwen was in full storyteller flow.
“Then he married that other girl, princess Lucia. She was a pretty little thing. The palace said that she died during an early childbirth and she did, but that’s only a part of the truth. Sally, my cousin works over at the palace as a chambermaid . She was close to the events as you can get, so I knows it isn’t just gossip. The princess was pregnant but it was very early days, she was barely showing and he was still visiting her chambers at night. I don’t think he was too happy about being told to go back to his own sleeping quarters and so a fight broke out. He’s got a fierce temper , so he has. Sally went to go in and see that her mistress was all right , but his footman grabbed our Sally by the arm and told her to be leaving them alone. Told her that the business of a husband and wife were no business of the serving staff.
“She stood outside of the door for twenty minutes listening to her mistress sobbing and her master raging in anger. It was as if he were breaking everything in the room. Sally begged the footman to go in and calm the situation but he just smiled and said, “Our master is a passionate man .”
“There were horrible high - pitched screams, as if an animal were in distress. Then the prince came storming out of the room, blood on his white undershirt and the look of the devil in him. She ran in to find her mistress on the floor, curled in a ball and blood everywhere. She lost the baby , and by morning her own life was lost too.”
I gasped at the thought of it. Although I didn’t like Vince nt and suspected him of a shadowy and