Page 55 - RotalTutor

let you take the blame for something that was my fault.” “So what? I would have missed a ball. You could have been whipped. That is far worse.” “But it would not have been right. Besides, no girl should miss her eighteenth birthday ball.” To Alexander there was always a right and a wrong, and he lived his life that way, no matter the consequences. She found herself in awe of this young man that she had so desperately tried to hate all of her life. He was, in so many ways, the kind of person she wanted to be, but was not. Perhaps that was why she had hated him, or maybe there was even more. She tried to push it from her mind. They arrived at her door. Alexander bowed, refusing to lift his eyes. “I truly am sorry, Princess, for what I did to you. It was a horrible thing, and I am ashamed of myself. I was just so angry when you hurt Lady. She is the only real and lasting friend I have ever had, besides my parents.” Alexander’s voice quivered as he spoke, and Louise felt even more ashamed. Alexander would not have done anything if she had just humiliated him, but his anger was because of Lady. His words struck an all-too-familiar chord with her as well. The court was not a place where one usually has deep and abiding friendships. It was looked upon with great disdain if a person of nobility befriended servants, and those of nobility came and went with such frequency that a long-lasting friendship was never possible. 53