CHAPTER NINEGisela was awoken by Maria hurrying into her room and pulling back the curtains noisily. There was nothing soft-footed or gentle about her this morning and, as Gisela sat up in bed a little startled, she said,
“There is a letter, fräulein, from Her Majesty.”
For a moment Gisela could only stare rather stupidly at her thinking that she could not have heard aright.
The night before she had cried until she was utterly exhausted and then lain awake, tossing and turning. It was only as the first fingers of dawn came from between the heavy curtains that she fell into an exhausted dreamless slumber.
“A letter?” she questioned at length, hearing the tiredness in her own voice.
“Yes, a letter, fräulein,” Maria said impatiently.
She indicated where she had placed it on entering the
