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It was a beautiful summer afternoon at Chrestomanci Castle. The sun was shining, the roses were blooming, and the cats were napping in the sun. Michael was reading The Temples of Atlantis in the hammock under the oak tree. Most of the other students had walked down to the village. All was peaceful in the castle except in Millie’s room where Christopher was driving his assistants to sheer irritation.
“A little more to the left,” said Christopher.
Conrad and Henrietta picked up the dressing table and moved it a foot to the left.
“No, right a little.”
Conrad and Henrietta moved the table to the right a few inches.
Christopher studied the result and then looked around the room. “Actually, let’s try placing the dressing table against that wall instead.”
Conrad groaned. He and Henrietta had been moving all the furniture around Millie’s room for the last hour and a half in every single possible permutation of furniture arrangement possible.
“We already did that wall!” Henrietta exclaimed. “An hour ago!”
“I know,” said Christopher. “But it actually looks better against that wall.”
“Move it yourself,” Conrad said, collapsing on Millie’s bed.
Christopher looked haughty but waved his hand and the dressing table floated up and settled down against the other wall. He spun slowly around the room, considering all the furniture placement. Conrad silently determined to thump him if he asked them to move the furniture around some more. Perhaps Christopher noticed the expressions on Conrad and Henrietta’s faces because he nodded and said, “The furniture looks better this way.”
“Oh good,” said Henrietta. “I’m going to -”
“Not so fast,” said Christopher. “We still need to organize the bookshelf.”
“What’s wrong with the bookshelf?” asked Conrad. “I used a stasis spell when we were moving it earlier so none of the books fell out.”
Christopher conjured a stack of books onto the bed. “Not all of Millie’s favorite books are on the bookshelf. Here are those sappy ballet books. And those adventure books that you like. And those detective books with no magic.” Stacks of books kept dropping onto the bed almost burying Conrad.
Conrad moved some Peter Jenkins books off his lap. “These books are the rare off-world books from the castle library! For everyone to borrow and read!”
“And that’s exactly what I’m doing. Borrowing these books for Millie. Why don’t you arrange them on the bookshelf?” Christopher conjured a vase. “And Henrietta, why don’t you go down to the gardens and gather some flowers to put in this vase.”
While Conrad arranged the library books on the bookshelf, Christopher experimented with the color scheme of the room. The wallpaper turned navy blue, pale green, yellow, lavender, and red. The curtains turned red, forest green, white, pink, and white again.
Henrietta came back with a bunch of yellow roses. “Here,” she said.
Christopher looked from the flowers to the vase. “Those flowers clash with the vase.”
“I got told off by Old Angus for picking the flowers. And I got a scratch from the thorns.” Henrietta conjured a black vase. “It’s easier to change the vase instead of the flowers. You’re not making the walls red, are you?”
“I’m still deciding,” said Christopher.
“It looks like the room is on fire,” said Conrad, looking up from The Murder at Alderley. He was doing more reading then shelving of the books.
“It looks like a bordello,” said Henrietta bluntly. Conrad turned red.
“Language,” said Christopher loftily. “You’re shocking poor Conrad.” But Conrad noticed that Christopher’s ears had reddened.
In the end, they settled on sea green walls with white curtains. Christopher changed the colors of the chair covers and the blankets on the bed to match the walls.
“Why are you making such a big deal about decorating Millie’s room?” asked Conrad as he finished arranging the books.
“Millie is coming home for good from finishing school tomorrow,” said Christopher. “We’re just decorating to celebrate her homecoming.”
Henrietta winked at Conrad behind Christopher’s back. “But Millie isn’t coming home for good. She’ll only be studying with Gabriel for the next two years.”
Conrad saw where she going with this. “Millie will move out of the castle when she gets a job. Unless Gabriel hires her to work for him,” said Conrad doubtfully.
“Even if she takes a job working for Gabriel, Millie will move away when she gets married,” said Henrietta.
Christopher stopped fiddling with the vase of flowers and stared at the space behind them with his vaguest look. He didn’t say anything for several minutes.
“Well, I’m going to walk down to the village to join the others,” said Henrietta.
“I’ll go with you,” said Conrad.
They left Christopher vaguely rearranging the flowers and closed the door softly behind them.
“We certainly gave him something to think about,” said Conrad.
*****
Gabriel and most of the staff and students gathered in the drawing room before dinner, which had been pushed back an hour. Millie’s train from London was scheduled to pull into Bowbridge Station at 6:30, and Hawkins was picking her up in the carriage. Christopher had spent most of lunch discussing the superiority of cars over carriages. However, Gabriel had shown no signs of caving in and buying a car for the castle.
Everyone mobbed around Millie when she entered the drawing room in her traveling clothes. Millie handed out chocolates from Switzerland. Henrietta and most of the students immediately ate a couple. “Wait until after dinner to eat them,” chided Millie.
“Here’s a copy of today’s Zurich Financial Times,” said Millie, handing a newspaper over to Bernard. “I bought a copy at the train station this morning.”
An ecstatic Bernard immediately buried himself in the newspaper.
Christopher came into the drawing room exquisitely dressed in a tailcoat with a green and gold waistcoat and narrow black trousers. Only the fact that he would be indoors all evening had prevented him from wearing a top hat.
“What time is the opera?” Gabriel asked sarcastically.
Christopher ignored him and seized Millie’s hands. “Millie, welcome home. How was the train ride from Switzerland?”
Millie stared at Christopher in dumbstruck silence for several moments. “The trains were on time,” she stammered at last.
“Let me help you carry your bags to your room.”
“I’ve got them,” said Millie. “I shrunk my luggage to about an inch high, and I’m wearing them on a chain around my neck.”
“Well, I’ll walk you to your room then.”
When Millie and Christopher joined everyone in the dining room ten minutes later, Christopher looked sullen, while Millie looked rather irritated.
“Did Millie like her room?” Conrad asked Christopher.
“No,” said Christopher, pushing his potatoes around his plate. “She was rather annoyed at all the changes we made to her room.”
After dinner, most of the students gathered in the little drawing room though Christopher sulked off to his room.
“Why did Christopher decide to rearrange all the furniture in my room?” asked Millie. “And changed everything else that couldn’t be moved.”
Conrad and Henrietta exchanged a look. “I think he just wanted to decorate your room as a welcome home present,” said Conrad. “And Henrietta and I helped.”
“And has Christopher become even more vain in the last few months? His clothes this evening!”
“I think he dressed nicely because it was your first night home,” said Conrad soothingly.
“Christopher dressed up that way to impress you,” said Henrietta.
Millie turned pink and said, “Oh.” She looked abstracted for the rest of the evening.