Queen Joanna enjoyed eating breakfast in the Morning Room with its high glass
windows that let everyone see the outdoors. The trees before her made her think
they were a colorful symphony playing music. The leaves were fantastic with reds,
yellows, and oranges all competing for her attention. She gladly studied them all!
Maria traveled to visit her father, but the other lady-in-waiting was an older
woman who was exceptionally competent. Joanna was alone at the day’s events.
After breakfast, she decided that if her friend thought her past so shocking, there
was no hope for the rest of the Royals to accept her. She might as well do as she
pleased. She left the Royals and walked the gardens alone. Samuel had looked for
her all morning. She slipped out while the breakfast crowds were thick, but he
eventually found her near the statues.
“Your Royal Highness,” Samuel called to her, but she turned to walk away from
him.
He caught up to her and she stopped walking. Samuel was dressed in his
morning suit. Joanna wished she would have avoided him. The wind blew her hair
and her bangs moved, but the secure braid held. The garden hedges were waist
high and the small leaf boxwoods and red fruited holly bushes made the gardens
full of color even without flowers.
“Will you not wait one minute for my address?”
“I wish for solitude this morning,” she said. Joanna did not look at him; rather
she looked at the ground, her hands together to display her pensive mood.
“Allow me to apologize for my impertinent remarks last night. I have no excuse
and will not give you any. What I said was inexcusable.” He stood near her and his
eyes tried to catch hers, but she averted his. “Sometimes I forget how young you
are. You seem older than your years.”
“This remark explains why you insulted me?” She stared at him and he returned
her look with a contrite one of his own.
“No it does not. I need to explain my error to you. When you get older — how
can I say this? We make plenty of mistakes and need more forgiveness the more
years that we live.”
This remark made her less angry.
Beyond the hedge near where they stood was a circled path. Impeccably
manicured grass grew in the middle of the circle. Joanna heard a swish and she
looked to see the Duke of Seine in his white fencing clothing. She had stopped
near his working space. William practiced waving his sword as he spotted them