“The
prince cancelled the ball? Because Fi...” Robert catches himself
just in time, “Because the girl didn't show up?”
“He
did!” She tells him, “Bang on the stroke of ten. Had quite the
tantrum, literally pushing people out the door. There were some very
bruised egos that night, I can tell you.”
“So what
happened next?”
“He
locked up the palace, for quite a few days nobody went in, nobody
came out. Then one day to great fanfare he sent out heralds with the
shoes.”
“The
shoes?”
“She'd
left them, you see.”
“The
girl left her shoes?”
“She
did. And somehow he got it into his head that the shoes were the way
to find her. He had copies made, a hundred they say, and every girl
in the Nine Valleys had to try them on. Those that fit were sent
here.”
“Why
would he do that?”
“Far as
I can tell,” the woman sniffs, “So that he can call them
imposters and throw them all in jail.”
