The Cinder Bullies (21)

"Sometimes royalty has a way of bullying other people. I am not sure that bringing someone who might turn out to be a cinder bully to live with us, is such a good idea," thought Bessie to herself, the following morning. Bartley did not seem to be apprehensive about the prince's pending visit to the estate. In fact, he seemed to be looking forward to it. Bessie knew that this particular prince might try to make life difficult for her and her husband, as well as for the young folks who had been, or had worked as scullery maids, including Nadia and Rosa.

"I guess time will tell," she said aloud. Her husband looked up, but did not say anything.

"There is something not quite right about all of this," thought Nadia to herself, later that same morning. "I have an uneasy feeling. Princes don't usually consent to living on estates with strangers, unless for some reason they cannot live in their own homes, which are normally castles. I wonder what is really going on? Maybe his parents have been friends with the estate owners for a long time?"

Nadia decided that she should speak with Rosa about him before she talked to Cindy, or the other the young folks about their new project proposal. Rosa was coming over shortly, with some new table napkins she had made especially for the welcome home party. Nadia wanted to formulate a concrete plan with her, in advance of the prince's arrival.

Millie showed up with Rosa, a little while later, as she wanted to talk to Cindy about the welcome home party.

"I may not have the social graces I need," she said to Millie, quietly. "Let's talk about what is proper for young ladies and what is not."

Millie smiled, because she knew that Cindy was far more gracious and proper than the majority of the boorish, cinder bullies would ever be at any party. Regardless, she assured Cindy, they would deal with them together if any of the guests became difficult, or obnoxious in any way. Scullery maids had built in armor when it came to cinder bullies. She knew that Cindy, being very shy by nature, would never go out of her way to confront them, but she certainly would know how to ignore them. Millie would stick up for her, and if necessary, get help from Rosa and Nadia.

Nadia was actually more concerned about the prince, than the local cinder bullies.

"Let's talk to the young ladies about this young prince first, just in case he turns out to be a cinder bully too," said Nadia to Rosa.

Rosa agreed that it might be a good idea to do it immediately, because he could show up at anytime, unannounced.

"I will speak to Xaviar about him later."

"We don't even know his name yet," Nadia said to Cindy and Millie. "But, one of the guests for the welcome home part is a prince."

Millie became excited immediately. Cindy did not appear to be particularly interested in him. She was much more interested in Xaviar.

"Since we don't know the prince, when he does show up here, let us know immediately. Hopefully, he will prove to be a wonderful young man," said Rosa. "Like Xaviar."

"Dancer will bark if there are strangers here," said Cindy.

"I can't believe we are having a royal visitor," said Millie excitedly.

"As long as he is not a royal pain," replied Cindy, laughing at the antics of her puppy.

Later, Xaviar became quite apprehensive when Nadia told him about the prince, simply because he did not want to encounter any conflict or competition with respect to Cindy and Dancer. He felt very protective of them. But, if the prince and Millie were able to be friends and get along well, having him visit would be fine. Nadia understood.

"Hopefully, he is not a cinder bully," he thought to himself. "He could make life hell for all of us."