That took Robert by surprise. “Oh… yes, so I did. But I have already made other arrangements for that. It seems the townsfolk set that up and I completely forgot. Come, let me apologize to them.”
Robert went over to where the twins were waiting.
“I am so terribly sorry, but I misspoke when I invited you to judge the baking. Other arrangements have been made. But you are welcome to join us for tea with the Queen.”
Geoffrey and Miriam turned and looked at each other and shook their heads.
Geoffrey answered, “No, thank you. We have had quite enough of the stuffy bits. We are ready to play. I want to do the welly wanging. I am sure I can toss a Wellington boot farther than any bloke in Cambridgeshire.”
Robert laughed. “Very well. As you wish. Enjoy yourselves.” He turned to Diana. “But you will be joining us, will you not?”
“Of course, I am family, and would not miss tea with the Queen.”
“Come then, let us escort your mother and father to the other tent.” Robert offered his arm and Diana took it.
* * *
Robert looked at Diana as he escorted her toward the refreshment tent following her mother and father. She looked even more beautiful than he had ever seen her before if that was possible. He had to keep reminding himself that she was engaged. Blast it. But with the Queen and guests in attendance, he felt certain he would be able to distract himself from her charms.
Within the confines of the refreshment tent, there was an area that had been set up as a reception area for Her Majesty. On one side of the tent, there were the tables where the tea, cakes, and sandwiches were being served. Opposite, was an area defined by an oriental carpet with two stuffed chairs on either side of a tea table where the Royal couple sat. Straight backed chairs and small tables lined other areas of the tent.
As Robert and Diana entered, he could see that the Professor and Mrs. Browning were already sitting in straight backed chairs chatting with the Queen.
“Might I get you some refreshment?” Robert offered.
“Yes, please,” Diana said, as she watched her father and mother, sipping tea.
“She is much lovelier and younger than I imagined,” Diana said to Robert.
“Remember, she became queen at a very young age, and although she has been on the throne many years, she is still in her prime,” Robert said as he led her to the tea service table.
Robert could see Amelia watching him from where she was seated with the Viscount at a table in a corner of the tent. But he ignored her as Diana was served her tea and a plate of sandwiches and cakes.
Robert did not take any tea but led Diana as far away from Amelia as possible. They sat at a table.
“You are not taking tea?” Diana asked, as she shook out her napkin and placed it on her lap.
“Not this afternoon. I am still a little bit nervous about hosting both Her Majesty and such a large event.”
“It all seems to be going very well. I hope I will be able to stroll around the rest of the fete with Mother and Father later. It looks to be well organized and a lot of fun.”
“That was the intention.”
“I hope the twins did not upset you by not wanting to come to tea.”
Robert chuckled. “Not at all. That is what is so refreshing about them. They are spontaneous and do what they like. Unlike a certain Earl I know who is too bound by traditions and responsibilities.”
They reached a pause in their conversation. Then Diana said, “I was able to read the first few pages of the galley proofs and your book appears to be most interesting. I am going to set aside some time tomorrow morning to get more deeply into the book before the celebration.”
“Oh, a celebration?” Robert asked. “And I am not invited?”
“It is for my father’s colleagues at the college to celebrate his order. You are welcome to come if you like, but I thought you might have your hands full with your own entertaining.”
“Indeed I shall.”
“How long will Her Majesty be staying?”
“She leaves tomorrow afternoon. And then I intend to collapse into a stupor for at least a whole day before I start getting the estate back to its normal order.”
“I wish I could assist you,” Diana said quietly.
Robert felt a rush of feeling for her. “As do I, Diana.” He reached over and took her hand.
She looked up at him a little startled and withdrew her hand.
“Forgive me. I became overcome by a moment of gratitude.”
“It is nothing,” she said looking shyly up at him. “I was just surprised is all.”
“It was careless on my part. I am most sorry.”
Robert could see that the Professor and his wife were leaving the Queen and he said, “Your parents are leaving. You must excuse me, I need to attend to Her Majesty now.”
“Of course.”
Robert stood, bowed slightly, and headed over to the Queen. She was still seated in her chair and conversing with an attendant as he approached.
“Your Majesty, I thought the ceremony went very nicely,” he said.
“As expected,” she replied.
“And now that the ceremony is over how might you wish to spend your time? Do you wish to return to the house or would you care to witness the Morris dancing, which I believe will start shortly”
The Queen turned to her attendant and conferred with him, then turned back to Robert.
“I should like to see some local dancing. It has been a great while since I have had the privilege of being thus entertained.”
“I shall have a place made ready for you in one of the pavilions so that you may view the dancing more comfortably.”
“Oh, no. I should not like that.” She turned to her attendant. “ Let me take your arm and we shall stroll amongst the crowd.” She turned back to Robert, “And I should also like to see the results of the baking and flower competitions, if I may?”
“Certainly,” Robert said smiling. “Whatever pleases you. One moment, and I shall alert your security detail.”
The Queen stood and chatted with a few of her attendants who were standing nearby.
Robert went to the Queen’s Guard who were standing at the entrance to the tent and alerted them to the fact that the Queen would be visiting the fete.
Three of the guards returned with him.
“Your Majesty I am ready to accompany you whenever you are ready,” Robert said.
Robert could see that Diana was now with her parents as they were leaving the tent, and just then Amelia came over and took Robert’s arm.
“Her Majesty is visiting the fete now,” Robert told her.
“Is that wise, with such an indiscriminate crowd?”
“I think you are being unfair to our stable Cambridgeshire citizens. We are hardly known for rabble rousing,” Robert insisted.
Amelia waved her hand in the air. “If she so wishes.”
* * *
Diana went looking for Miriam and Geoffrey when her parents decided to wander the competition tents to see the winning entries which by now had been adjudicated.
She found Miriam holding a glass of beer as Geoffrey participated in the Welly Wanging.
“How’s he doing?” Diana asked.
“Want a sip?” Miriam asked, offering Diana her glass.
“I just had tea. I am good for now.”
“Old Geoffrey is neck in neck with the village champion,” Miriam added. “I never would have guessed he had it in him.”
The competition had been going on for a while—eliminating all but these last two. The champion held the top of the Wellington boot tightly in his right hand as he wound up and flung the boot high into the air. The boot went sailing and landed a great distance away—farther than the achieved distance so far.
The crowd cheered their hometown champion.
Then it was Geoffrey’s turn again. He stood a great distance back from the throw line. He took the boot in his left hand and winding his arm
in fast circles, he ran forward to the line and threw the boot far, far, far. And beat the last shot from the champion.
But Geoffrey had just touched the line with his foot. So, the champion was given another chance to beat Geoffrey.
Back the champion went with his boot to the throw line. He wound up and let go. But the boot slipped from his hand and went careening into the assembled crowd—missing his mark and making Geoffrey the new champion.
“Miriam screamed and shouted, “Geoffrey, Geoffrey. Champion of the world.”
Diana clapped more discreetly but was happy for her friend.
Geoffrey shook the loser’s hand and came running over carrying his trophy of a gold Wellington boot. He hugged his sister.
“I told you,” he said beaming.
“Now if only you could use that skill as a profession,” she teased.
“How is the baking apprenticeship going?” Diana asked.
“Pardon the pun, but I got sacked.”
“Then what now? Have you not almost exhausted all possible professions known to the modern world?” Diana asked with a smile.
“I was thinking of being a traveling minstrel. I cannot play any instrument but I have a great sense of time and could beat out a rhythm on the back of a pie tin.”
Just then the crowd began to shift as they noticed the Queen and her entourage emerging from the tea tent. Robert and Amelia were accompanying her and they headed for the tent where the flowers had been judged and went inside.
The crowd shifted again when the Queen disappeared and attention returned to the races. There was to be a sack race, an egg and spoon race, and, lastly, the three-legged race which the twins announced they had entered.
The first race got underway. The sack race attracted mostly youngsters, as anyone over the age of twenty found repeated hopping to be more of a chore than a delight. The race was a tie—a twelve-year-old boy and a fourteen-year-old girl. Both were from the village.
Absolutely no one won the egg and spoon race. Every egg dropped from the spoon of each participant. That had never happened before so they ran the race again. And to everyone’s surprise, no one won that time either. The organizers felt another try would begin to strain the audience’s interest and it was dropped with no winner declared.
Geoffrey and Miriam were preparing for their race when it was temporarily suspended as the Queen had emerged from the flower tent and the Morris dancers formed to present their entertainment.
The eight dancers were all men. They were dressed in the traditional Morris costume of white shirt and knee length pants with white stockings. They wore black vests and had bells tied just below the knee. They wore straw hats festooned with ribbons and they carried sticks about four feet long that they would use in the dance.
The crowd made way for the Queen’s party as they prepared to watch the dance.
The dancers began, accompanied by two accordions, a drum, and a pennywhistle. It was a simple dance with the men turning and stomping, creating patterns as they twirled and struck their sticks in a ritual fight. The bells at their knees shook as they created syncopated rhythms before the Queen.
The Queen and the crowd were delighted when the dance had finished, and there was so much applause the dancers returned for a short encore.
Her Majesty seemed to be enjoying herself, and when the dancing had finally finished, she and her party walked over to where the three-legged race was about to begin.
The twins’ legs were tied together and they were ready to go.
Geoffrey said to Diana, “We are going to win. Just you wait and see.”
“What makes you so confident?” she asked.
“Because we are twins. We think alike and behave as one,” Miriam answered.
The Starter banged a cymbal and the race began. And right from the start, the twins took the lead. They seemed to have no trouble at all moving together. It was like they had practiced this all their lives.
However, another couple was catching up with them. It looked like they were two brothers—both towheaded with freckles and toothy grins.
At one point Geoffrey caught his foot on a rock and the two almost tumbled over. However, they righted themselves and found that they were just a hair behind the two boys.
Geoffrey grabbed hold of Miriam’s waist and lifted her up so that her outside leg was off the ground and he was the one moving them forward. The crowd went wild as they began to catch up and then overtook the two boys. They won the race by a length and even the Queen shouted and waved.
However, the boys protested saying that it was unfair as Miriam was not running but was being carried.
The judges conferred and came to the conclusion that there was no rule prohibiting what they had done, and they were declared the final victors—the judges raising the twins’ hands.
However, an attendant from the Queen went over to the judges and spoke to them privately. After that conference, the judges further announced, “Her Majesty, the Queen has been so delighted by this event she has awarded the victors the Queen’s garter.”
A gasp escaped from the crowd.
The attendant again whispered to the judges, and they further added, “Not the order of the Garter, which is an honor of the highest rank, but a garter from the Queen. She always carries a spare one just for occasions like this—or if one breaks.”
The crowd appreciated that slightly bawdy comment.
Presently the Queen, who seemed to be getting into the spirit of the event, came over and stood before the twins.
She held aloft a ladies’ garter and proclaimed, “I, Queen Alexandrina Victoria do hereby bestow the Queen’s garter upon…” she leaned in to get the contestants’ names which were whispered to her. “…Geoffrey and Miriam Sinclair for their victorious achievement in the three-legged race on this the twenty-second day of June in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-three.”
Loud roars went up from the crowd and Geoffrey and Miriam were hoisted onto the shoulders of several local lads and paraded around the field.
Diana was standing on the sidelines watching the procession when Robert came over.
“A glorious day, is it not? First, your father gets his Order of Merit, and then your friends are honored as victors by the Queen. You will have a lot to jot down in your journal this evening, will you not?”
“I do not keep a journal, Robert. I have quite enough writing in my life without doing that as well,” she answered.
Diana’s Mother and Father came over to them.
Father said, “Your mother is still a little weak from her illness and I have to admit I am fatigued as well. Do you think we might leave now?”
“Certainly, Father.” She looked around to see where the twins were so she could say there were leaving.
Robert suggested, “If you want to stay, I can have the carriage return your parents now and you and the twins can return later.”
Diana smiled. “What an excellent idea. I would hate to tear my friends away from their victory laps.”
“I knew I invited them for a reason.” Robert said, “What a dull afternoon it would have been without them. Do you not think?”
“I keep them on hand for just such occasions like this,” she said with a giggle.
Chapter 22
A few days after the investiture, Diana was returning from the post office after posting her Christmas chapter off to Sir Cecil, as he had requested. She stopped by the green grocer’s for a number of items and stopped at the Goodwin Sisters’ to return a shawl they had left in the gallery the day they were attending to the gallery during the fete.
“Oh, Diana, thank you,” Kitty said, “I wondered where that had got to.”
Abigale appeared at the door with a book in her hand. “Do you have time to stop for tea?” she asked.
“Thank you, but I do not. I need to start supper soon as Mother is still somewhat recovering from her illness and I do not want her to overexert herself.”
“How very sensible
you are,” Kitty said, touching Diana’s arm in sympathy. “I have always said you were the model daughter.”
“Thank you, dear ladies.”
Then Diana scurried home. Not to start supper right away but to take a few moments for herself. It had been a rather hectic week and now she wanted to contemplate what her next writing would be after delivering her chapter to Sir Cecil.
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