  &quot;Juniper?&quot; I call as I teeter on a stool, once again surrounded by dim-witted sewing maids armed with metres of white fabric and specially sharpened pins.
  &quot;Yes, milady?&quot; Juniper answers, emerging from my study with a Russian grammar book I asked her to bring me. Yekaterina said she would help me learn some of it while I m performing my balancing act. If she must be around, at least I can take advantage of her few beneficial qualities. Malina and the Russian nuisance follow in Juniper s wake as the British Chief of Staff wades through the sea of sewing maids and white cloth.
  &quot;Why are we still doing dress fittings when the wedding has been postponed indefinitely?&quot;
  &quot;Because Lady Berkeley has decided that we will finish the fashion-related aspects of the wedding while Yekaterina is staying with us.&quot;
  &quot;I am delighted to help,&quot; Yekater

  Rumours are terrible things. I know I should not trust the things I hear from servants when they are conversing with each other and I just happen to be passing by. Indeed, I once heard a servant say, back at Grandmother s chateau, that Zira has devil s hooves instead of feet, which is entirely false (although I can understand how someone might get confused, given Zira s general disposition and the sorts of shoes she generally wears). But rumours about Dmitri and Yekaterina float through the Berkeley mansion like the fog that Giacomo is currently trying to teach me to create. I can t focus on that just now. My mind moves in endless circles from rumour to memory to rumour and back again.
  &quot;She was sitting on his lap during their English lessons. He tried to push her off, but she would not be persuaded. I can t imagine why Their Excellencies let those English lessons go unsupervised

  No stars tonight to pierce through the darkness of the sky, much less that which lingers in my mind. A solid mass of dark depressing water vapor obscures the azure, diamond-studded blanket that envelopes the earth at night. I sit beneath it on the roof of the Berkeley mansion regardless. My need for solitude and peace is far greater than my desire for perfect weather. Dmitri will probably disturb me at some point, but that s just as well, I suppose. We need to talk.
  For now, though, I am ensconced in a corner of the garden, plucking a petal from a daisy for each unpleasant thought I have of Yekaterina or Dmitri. The petals, with but a murmur from me, turn into all manner of insects that can be found around water, mostly mosquitoes and dragonflies. The mosquitoes wisely do not bite the one who made them but fly away in search of other people to annoy. I hope they find a certain irrita

&quot;Juniper?&quot; I call as I teeter on a stool, once again surrounded by dim-witted sewing maids armed with metres of white fabric and specially sharpened pins.
  &quot;Yes, milady?&quot; Juniper answers, emerging from my study with a Russian grammar book I asked her to bring me. Yekaterina said she would help me learn some of it while I m performing my balancing act. If she must be around, at least I can take advantage of her few beneficial qualities. Malina and the Russian nuisance follow in Juniper s wake as the British Chief of Staff wades through the sea of sewing maids and white cloth.
  &quot;Why are we still doing dress fittings when the wedding has been postponed indefinitely?&quot;
  &quot;Because Lady Berkeley has decided that we will finish the fashion-related aspects of the wedding while Yekaterina is staying with us.&quot;
  &quot;I am delighted to help,&quot; Yekaterina recites, though not without genuine feeling; it s simply clear that she has been taught this p

Chapter 46 Pins and Tornados