Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky Read Free Book Online Page A

spider. Alice’s expression was pure rapture, though, and she held the note as though it reported the surrender of the whole Denland army.
    ‘Don’t keep us in suspense, please, Alice,’ Emily remonstrated. She could hear urgent running feet above them. Drawn by Alice’s shriek, Poldry came down the stairs as
though ready to repel invaders.
    ‘Alice, just tell us,’ Mary insisted, but Alice was waltzing herself around the kitchen, clutching the letter to her breast.
    ‘Who is this young chap, ma’am?’ asked Poldry, whose eyes had grown no sharper with the years.
    ‘I am hoping that Alice can now enlighten all of us,’ said Emily meaningfully. ‘Alice, if you please?’
    For once, though, Alice seemed speechless. All she could do was hand the letter over to Emily to read.
    “To the daughters of the Honourable Gareth Marshwic at Grammaine House”,’ she read. ‘“Take note, one and all, that by royal decree you are hereby invited to
Deerlings House on the last day of autumn to celebrate the great advances that His Majesty’s forces have made against the wicked inhabitants of Denland.”’ That explained
Alice’s mad excitement, for sure.
    ‘A dance,’ she said hollowly.
    ‘I suppose our social calendar has been a little vacant,’ said Mary weakly. She and Emily exchanged glances of equal weariness. ‘I fear it will be somewhat weighted in favour
of us ladies.’
    ‘No, you don’t understand,’ insisted Alice. She grabbed the note back from Emily. ‘By royal decree, you see.
Royal
decree.’
    Emily started, ‘It doesn’t necessarily mean—’
    ‘But it does. Look, there’s the seal and everything!’ Alice said. ‘It’s the King. The King is coming to Deerlings House!’
    ‘I can’t imagine why he would do such a thing,’ Mary said uncertainly, ‘with the war to occupy his time.’
    ‘If I might speak,’ Soldier Belchere said, ‘it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility. The King feels greatly for the privations besetting his subjects. He considers it
his duty to travel the country and restore the morale of his people.’ She reeled these words off like a speech learned by heart. ‘So he may be at Deerlings. Who can say?’
    Alice had forgotten her dislike of the messenger. ‘The King! The King, Em! And he won’t be alone. There will be lords and knights and officers and soldiers and . . .
men
!’
    ‘Alice!’ Emily said, with an embarrassed glance at the grinning Belchere, but her sister was too transported to hear her.
    ‘I will require a new gown, of course,’ Alice declared.
    ‘We cannot afford new gowns,’ Mary objected. ‘You will have to trust to your own skills, and work with one of your old dresses.’
    ‘But we must have new gowns, all three. We cannot turn up at Deerlings looking like urchins!’ Alice declared, as though this was a matter beyond argument. ‘Mary, we will be
before royalty! We cannot turn up in three-year-old fashions, patched and stitched as best we can.’
    Mary looked to Emily for moral support, but her sister was already frowning thoughtfully.
    ‘If you are to have a new gown,’ she said slowly, ‘you must not spend another penny between now and the ball.’
    ‘Yes, of course!’ Alice agreed readily.
    ‘And I shall do the same, for I think this time you are right, and we will definitely need new gowns.’ Emily felt an echo of Alice’s excitement rising inside her. The King
himself coming so near – or even the faintest chance of it. She would be a fool not to grasp the opportunity.
    ‘Thank you for the message, Soldier Belchere,’ she remembered. ‘Please, take some refreshment before you go, and I’m sure Poldry here can find a coin for you.’
    After the messenger’s departure, Mary cornered her, looking betrayed. ‘Where will this money come from, Emily?’
    ‘We will have to save and scrape.’ Emily found it hard to meet her sister’s eyes. ‘In this, though, Alice is right. The honour of our family is at