At the first opportunity Lady Desdea expressed her dissatisfaction to Madouc. "Everyone is most upset with you."
"What is it this time?" asked Madouc, her blue eyes innocent.
"Come now, young lady!" snapped Lady Desdea. "You ignored our plans and flouted our desires; my careful instruction was no more than the droning of an insect. So then!" Lady Desdea drew herself up to her full height. "I have taken counsel with the queen. She has decided that your conduct calls out for correction, and wishes me to use my best judgment in the matter."
"You need not exert yourself," said Madouc. "The celebration is over; the princes have gone home and my reputation is secure."
"But it is the wrong reputation. In consequence, you shall be set to double lessons for the rest of the summer. Further, you will not be allowed to ride your horse, nor even go near the stables. Is that clear?"
"Oh yes," said Madouc. "It is very clear."
"You may resume your needlework at this moment," said Lady Desdea. "I believe that you will find Devonet and Chiodys in the parlor."
Rainy weather came to Sarris and lingered for three days. Madouc wistfully occupied herself with the schedule arranged for her by Lady Desdea, which included not only interminable hours of needlework, but also dancing lessons of a particularly tiresome nature. Late in the afternoon of the third day heavy clouds drifted across the sky, bringing a night of rain. In the morning the clouds were gone and the sun rose into a fresh and smiling world, fragrant with the odors of wet foliage.
Lady Desdea went to the small refectory where Madouc was accustomed to take her breakfast, but found only Devonet and Chiodys, neither of whom had seen Madouc. Odd, thought Lady Desdea. Could Princess Madouc have kept to her bed, by reason of illness? Perhaps the princess had gone early to the conservatory for her dancing lesson?
Lady Desdea went to investigate, only to find Master Jocelyn standing idly by the window, while the four musicians, playing lute, pipes, drums and flute, rehearsed tunes from their repertory.
Master Jocelyn, in response to Lady Desdea's question, merely shrugged. "And if she were here: what then? She cares nothing for what I teach her; she skips and jumps; she hops on one leg like a bird. I ask: ‘Is that how you will dance at the Grand Ball?' And she replies: ‘I am not a devotee of this foolish strutting and smirking. I doubt if I will be present.'"
Lady Desdea muttered under her breath and turned away. She went outside to look up and down the terrace, just in time to discover Madouc perched proudly on the seat of a pony-cart with Tyfer trotting briskly off across the meadow.
Lady Desdea gave a cry of outrage, and sent a footman to ride after the pony-cart and bring the truant princess back to Sarris.
A few minutes later the pony-cart returned, Madouc now crestfallen and Tyfer moving at a slow walk.
"Be so good as to dismount," said Lady Desdea.
Madouc, her face screwed up into a resentful scowl, jumped to the ground.
"Well then, Your Highness? You were expressly forbidden to use your horse or to go near the stables."
"That wasn't what you said!" cried Madouc. "You told me that I was not to ride Tyfer, and I am not doing so! I summoned the stableboy Pymfyd and required that he bring up the cart, so I never so much as approached the stables."
Lady Desdea stared with twitching lips. "Very well! I will rephrase the order. You are forbidden to use your horse, or any other horse, or any other beast, be it cow, goat, sheep, dog, or bullock, or any other means of propulsion, on any sort of vehicle or mode of transportation, including carts, carriages, wagons, boats, sleds, palanquins and litters. That should define the exact scope of the queen's command. Second, even as you tried to evade the queen's command, you also became remiss with your lessons. What is your response to this?"
Madouc made a brave gesture. "Today the rain is gone and the world is bright, and I preferred to be out in the air, rather than toiling over Herodotus or Junifer Algo, or practicing calligraphy or pricking my fingers at needlework."
Lady Desdea turned away. "I will not argue with you the relative merits of learning versus torpid idleness. What must be done, we will do."
Three days later Lady Desdea, in a troubled spirit, reported to Queen Sollace. "I do my best with Princess Madouc, but I seem to achieve nothing."
"You must not be discouraged!" said the queen.
A maid brought a silver dish on which were arranged twelve ripe figs. She placed the dish on a tabouret close by the queen's elbow. "Shall I peel, Your Highness?"
"Please do."
Lady Desdea's voice rose in pitch. "Were it not disrespectful, I might declare Her Highness a red-headed little brat who needs nothing more than a good whisking."
"No doubt she is a trial. But continue as before, and brook no nonsense." Queen Sollace tasted one of the figs, and rolled up her eyes in pleasure. "Here is perfection!"
"Another matter," said Lady Desdea. "Something very strange is going on, which I must bring to your attention."
Queen Sollace sighed and leaned back in the cushions of the divan. "Cannot I be spared these intricate complexities? Some-times, my dear Ottile, and despite your good intentions, you become most tiresome."
Lady Desdea could have wept for sheer frustration. "It is all the more tiresome for me! Indeed, I am baffled! The circumstances transcend anything I have known before!"
Queen Sollace accepted another plump fig from the maid. "How so?"
"I will recite to you the facts exactly as they occurred. Three days ago I had reason to reprimand Her Highness for scamping her work. She seemed unconcerned-pensive rather than remorseful. As I turned away, an extraordinary sensation struck through every fiber of my being! My skin tingled, as if I had been whipped by nettles! Blue lights flashed and flared before my eyes! My teeth set up an uncontrollable rattling that I thought must never cease! I assure you that it was an alarming sensation!"
Queen Sollace, munching at the fig, considered Lady Desdea's complaint. "Odd. You have never taken such a fit before?"
"Never! But there is more! At the same time I thought to hear a faint sound issuing from Her Highness! A hiss, almost inaudible."
"It might have been an expression of shock or surprise," mused Queen Sollace.
"So it might seem. I will cite another incident, which occurred yesterday morning, as Princess Madouc took breakfast with Devonet and Chiodys. There was an exchange of banter and the usual giggling. Then as I watched dumbfounded, Devonet lifted the milk jug, that she might pour milk into her bowl. Instead, her hand jerked and she poured the milk across her neck and chest, and all the while her teeth were chattering like castanets. Finally she dropped the jug and rushed from the room. I followed, that I might learn the reason for her strange convulsion. Devonet declared that the Princess Madouc had prompted her to the act by uttering a soft hiss. There was no real provocation, according to Devonet. She informed me: ‘I only said that while bastards might wet into silver chamber pots, they still lacked the most precious of all, a fine pedigree!' I asked: ‘And then what?' ‘And then I reached for the milk jug; I lifted it and poured milk all over myself, while Madouc sat grinning and making a hissing sound.' And that is what happened to Devonet."