All the church bells in Darmstadt rang out to greet her and if she had been a boy I’m sure they could not have rung louder. Ernie was in and out of the nursery all day long, lifting her out of her cradle and driving the nurses to distraction. Mother said she’d never seen a man so devoted. She hinted that I was luckier than Missy. That Ernie was considerate, unlike Nando who showed no interest in his children and grew quite resentful when a confinement put Missy hors de combat in the bedroom. ‘You see?’ she said to me. ‘It wasn’t so very bad, was it? And things have worked out perfectly well with Ernie, just as I said they would. If only you’d give the child a different name. It’s going to be so confusing.’ Mother’s objection was that she now had two granddaughters named Elisabeth and, as Missy had used the name first, that Ernie and I should be the ones to back down and choose something else. ‘Marie’s a pretty name,’ she suggested. ‘Or Vicky, or Alice.’ We compromised.
What do You think about The Grand Duchess Of Nowhere?
