CHAPTER TWELVEBy the day of the ball, the castle was in a positive fever of activity. An army of servants was charging from one end of the castle to the other, feverishly fetching, carrying and cleaning, hastily preparing rooms for guests staying the night — though in fact very few were, most preferring to make even journeys of several hours duration after the festivities. Considering the treacherous state of the local roads, I hoped the coachmen concerned would remain at least partially sober.
As soon as the children became Zsuzsa’s responsibility again, I was swept into service by Elisabeth, to oversee the arrangement of various small matters such as cloak-rooms, flowers, buffet tables, card tables and so on; and it was in fact while carrying out these duties that I realized the main pr
