Jane Feather - The Emerald Swan

"Don't forget that you're not supposed to know the duke is really Henry," Imogen murmured in a harsh, urgent whisper as they stepped into the barge.

Maude and Miranda merely exchanged a look and Imogen said no more. Something had happened to change the Lady Imogen during the sisters' absence. No one said anything about it and the earl had dismissed all Miranda's tentative probing in such fashion that she'd lost interest in the exercise.

As the barge pulled into midstream, a small creature in a red jacket sprang from the bank to land amidships with a gleeful cry. "Oh, Chip!" Miranda exclaimed. "You're not supposed to come. I told you to stay with

Robbie… no, don't jump on me, you'll make me all dirty!"

Chip ignored this and wrapped his arms around her neck, disarranging her ruff. His bright eyes darted around the circle of faces, looking for possible objections to his presence. Gareth sighed and held up a hand to silence Imogen's embryonic protests.

"He'll have to stay on the barge at Greenwich, Miranda. Can you convince him of that?"

"I'll try," she said a shade doubtfully, disentangling Chip's arms from her neck. She held him up away from her and he put his head on one side, such a picture of supplication that she burst out laughing, quite unable to scold him. Chip grinned in response and jumped down. Solemnly, he went around the group, holding out his hand to be shaken. But he didn't attempt to approach Imogen, who had retreated to the rail with an air of resigned disgust.

Henry of Navarre was not waiting in the halls of Greenwich but anxiously pacing the quayside at the palace water steps. He had been staying as a guest of the queen since his betrothed's illness had coincided with his host's absence on urgent family business. Now he eagerly awaited the Lady Maude, newly restored to health and once again able to take her place at court.

And he'd been told to expect a surprise.

When the two young women stepped from the barge flying the Harcourt standard, Henry stared, dumbstruck for the first time in a very eventful life. Which one of them was his? Then he saw the serpent bracelet on the wrist of the girl in turquoise. His eyes flew to the earl of Harcourt, who smiled, took Maude by the hand, and drew her forward.

"You see that the Lady Maude is fully restored to health, sir…oh, and pray allow me to present the reason for my absence-Maude's twin sister, the Lady Miranda d'Albard."

Miranda curtsied with a demure smile and Henry, still stupefied, bowed over her hand.

"You must be quite astonished, my lord duke," Imogen declared, her voice strong, her smile confident. "As are we all. My brother discovered that Elena's other daughter has been living in a convent since that dreadful night when nuns found her, a poor abandoned babe and-"

"Indeed, Duke, it is an amazing story," Gareth interrupted smoothly before Imogen could become en-mired in detail. "I had news of Miranda's whereabouts some weeks ago, but since I wasn't sure how I would find her, it seemed best to investigate the situation before making the details public."

"Indeed," Henry said, still quite unable to grasp the reality of this glowing pair of young women who had the identical gleam of mischief in their identical blue eyes. "Her Majesty is unaware of this… this surprise?"

"For the moment," Gareth said with something approaching a grin. "If you will escort Maude, Duke, 1 shall escort her sister. The queen is expecting us."

Maude slipped her hand into Henry's arm and smiled up at him, her long lashes fluttering. "I have missed you, my lord," she murmured.

"Not near as much as I have missed you, ma chere," Henry responded, his eyes sparkling with pleasure at her admission. "You're quite recovered?"

"Oh, yes, indeed, sir," Maude said blithely. "I've never felt better in my life."

"Curiously, I don't think I've ever seen you looking better," Henry observed, with a slight frown. "You seem to have caught the sun… across the bridge of your nose… here." He lightly brushed the feature in question. "I do believe you have a dusting of freckles there. Now, how did you acquire those on a sickbed?"

"I sat in the window, my lord," Maude replied demurely. "I found the sun good for my spirits. I trust you don't find the freckles distasteful?"

"No… no… not in the least," he said hastily. "Quite delightful… just a little surprising," he added in an undertone.

Maude smiled.

The party continued up the tiled pathway to the sweep of lawn in front of the palace. The scene was now familiar to Miranda and held none of the terrors of her first appearance at court, but on this occasion there were other worries. Henry appeared to have accepted the earl's "surprise" but how would others react? The answer came swiftly.

The Rossiter brothers were the first to see them. Brian was rendered mute, his mouth opening and closing, his eyes on stalks, darting between the two identical visions. Kip's smile was that of a man who has been proved right. He bowed over Miranda's hand and cast a quick complicit glance at Gareth, who merely returned it with a bland smile of his own.

"Her Majesty will receive the earl of Harcourt." Gareth nodded to the chamberlain. "My wards…" He offered an arm to each. Henry relinquished Maude with clear reluctance, and his eyes continued to follow them with frowning speculation.

They progressed through the series of antechambers to the queen's privy chamber, apparently oblivious of the stares and whispers that accompanied them. But Gareth was aware of the sisters' tension because he was so aware of his own. This was the acid test. If the queen accepted the story then no one would ever question it. And for all his protestations, it did matter to him. His ambition was as powerful and driving as ever. It had simply taken on another dimension. Miranda.

Elizabeth was rarely startled but when the earl of Harcourt presented the Lady Miranda d'Albard she simply stared in silence for what seemed an eternity. Then she rose from her chair and demanded, "Explain, my lord. I do not understand this."

"I have been trying for many years to discover what had happened to Maude's twin sister, madam," Gareth said smoothly. "I've had people asking the length and breadth of France and I've followed various reports, but until a few months ago they all proved fruitless. But then I received news of a young woman living with the Cistercian nuns in Languedoc. I took the opportunity to follow up the report on my recent sojourn in France. You can imagine my delight when I found Miranda." He drew Miranda forward. "You can see, madam, that there can be no doubt that she is the missing d'Albard twin."

The queen examined Miranda closely. She walked all around her as Miranda remained in a deep curtsy, praying that this «time she'd be able to recover without awkwardness. "Well, I must congratulate you, Lord Harcourt," Her Majesty pronounced eventually. "The resemblance is quite extraordinary. But you must have been amazingly vigilant in your pursuit of the mystery. I wonder why I had no idea that the girl existed?" Her plucked eyebrows rose and her vibrant eyes flashed. Her Majesty was not best pleased. She didn't like surprises.

Gareth bowed and humbly apologized. "An oversight, madam. The search was something of a hobby of mine. I never expected it to succeed. I assumed as did her father that Miranda had been murdered with her mother and her body had somehow disappeared."

"I see." Her Majesty continued to examine Miranda with a frown. Maude stood silent and unregarded. Miranda wondered desperately how long she would have to remain in a curtsy. The position was growing increasingly uncomfortable, even for an acrobat. Finally, the queen turned away from her and she was able to rise. She glanced sideways at Maude, who grimaced sympathetically. The queen had not acknowledged Miranda's presentation; she might just as well have been inanimate.