Truth about Leo Read Free Page A

ago…”
    â€œPfft.”
    I’ve told you before that my German relatives refuse to allow me to visit them, since Dearest Papa angered all of them by marrying my beloved mother, who was, if you recall, English and thus an enemy of the state of Sonderburg-Beck. Therefore, your insistence that my companion, Mrs. Julia Deworthy, and I vacate Yellow House is nothing short of murder. To be blunt, we have no family but you, Frederick, to provide us with succor. You were executor of Dearest Papa’s will, so you know full well that all he retained from his inheritance in Sonderburg-Beck was a useless and little-known title. I regret as much as you do that my beloved mother’s modest fortune was lost in bad investments, but that regret is all I possess.
    Julia touched her lightly on the arm. “His Royal Highness, the crown prince, was most insistent that we leave dear Yellow House before the fifteenth of the month, and we are but three days shy of that date. I do not wish to worry you, my dear princess, but perhaps another visit to those obliging gentlemen in town might be in order?”
    â€œI have nothing left to give to the pawnbrokers, so it would be of little use to speak to them.”
    You will naturally understand how hard it is for me to ask…no, beg on dutifully bended knee…that you either give up your determination to use my home as guest quarters for official visitors or relocate Mrs. Deworthy and myself to another of your houses. You have plenty of them, and we do not require grand accommodations. We are, in fact, quite used to shifting for ourselves. A simple cottage would do nicely for us, even one in the country. Surely you must have dozens of cottages, Frederick. It cannot be a hardship to turn over one to me, your neediest of all relatives. Do not fail the Bible and our ties of blood by throwing us onto the street.
    Yours in cousinly poverty,
    Princess Dagmar Marie Sophie of Sonderburg-Beck
    Dagmar signed her full name with a defiant flourish. She might have to humble herself to her annoying cousin, but she’d be damned if she disavowed her father’s title.
    â€œPerhaps there is something, a little trinket, something you overlooked…” Julia’s sentence trailed away as Dagmar set down the quill and sealed the envelope by tipping the nearest candle over the paper.
    â€œI can’t even afford proper sealing wax, Julia. Don’t you think if there was anything else to sell, I’d sell it?”
    Julia’s face crumpled into abject despair. “If only I had some means to provide for us—”
    â€œYes, but you don’t.” Dagmar immediately felt like a heel. She might have heard that lament numerous times each day, but she didn’t have to belittle Julia about it. After all, she was the one who should be supporting them both. She turned in the chair and took her friend’s hands in her own. “Sweet Julia, my apologies. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. Frederick is right: I’m rude and intolerable to be around. You have nothing to feel bad about—your father didn’t lose your mother’s inheritance through bad investments, after all. Please forgive my bad temper.”
    Julia threw herself on her knees (she was prone to such dramatic gestures). “Oh my dearest princess, my very, very dearest Dagmar, do not speak so of yourself. You are everything that is good and generous. I was lost, alone, friendless in a strange country when your sainted mother took me in and gave me a place. Had she not done so, I would have been driven by poverty into that most heinous of all professions.”
    â€œHousemaid?”
    Julia’s gaze dropped and a maidenly blush pinned her cheeks. “You are so innocent, dear Princess. So untouched.”
    Dagmar thought for a moment. “The night soil collector?”
    â€œConcubine!” Julia said with a gasp, one hand clutching her throat as if speaking the