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“And what if it is a childish trick? I tell you it will work all the better for its unlikeness and have heard no better solutions!”
Prudence sighed as she noted the determined look in her brother's eyes was mirrored in the Prince's.
"Well?"
The Prince looked around at those of his supporters still around him.
"Does anyone have a better suggestion than my Robin?"
The small group of men gathered around the Prince still clearly disapproved of the plan but none spoke out clearly. Prudence was torn between agreeing with them and wishing they knew just how many tight spots they'd managed to extricate themselves from before.
"What about you Master Alex?"
Prudence looked up as Hugh MacDonald addressed her.
"You seem to have a more sober head on your shoulders than your brother- can this plan work?"
She disliked being the centre of attention in these gatherings, in large groups she was confident in her ability to stay hidden but ever since Culloden they had been caught up in small, hidden, places and "Alexander Lacey" stayed hidden only by the shadow of his brother who was freer with his affections and much in the Prince's trust. Her quiet practicality had gained Alex a reputation for being calm and collected under pressure.
"Yes," Prudence answered cautiously. "It will be far easier for two ladies to leaves these islands and get away than any man whilst they are still looking for the Prince and your daughter is known in these parts so she may be able to avoid questioning."
"Then that settles it!"
Charles stood, clearly bringing the discussion to an end.
"If I must leave now then this is the only course of action. If you," he nodded to Hugh MacDonald, "can organise papers for us then all we need is to fit me out in a women's gown. Perhaps one of Mistress Flora's would fit me?"
"If I could suggest Sire, I think it would be better if you travelled as a lady's maid to Mistress Flora, they are often invisible to most people's eyes."
Robin grinned at Prudence and she knew he was remembering a swift exit they had made from Hamburg with Robin playing maid to Prudence after an unfortunate encounter with an irate father. Prudence resisted the urge to shake her head at him and wished, for the thousandth time, that the Old Gentleman had not sent them straight into Bonny Prince Charlie's path.
"Well," the Prince looked thoughtful, "that does make some sense and I suppose I can play the part of a maid as well as a Lady."
"Leave the costume to my brother and I Sire and we shall have it ready whenever Commander MacDonald decrees it is the right time."
"Well it's settled then, I shall put myself in your capable hands."
Prudence held her breath as Robin smiled at the Prince, why her practical brother had fallen quite so hard for this Prince and his cause she could never work out but hopefully now, at last, they would be able to free themselves from the heartache and defeat. that seemed to follow him around.
The date was set at once, with only three short days to pull all the details together. The Prince himself convinced Flora that her part in the plan was vital whilst in the background Alexander and Robin Lacey tried to make sure the plan would not be found out.
"We should be getting the two of you out of here and South not his Lordship."
John's gruff voice broke across Prudence's careful consideration of how much the Prince needed to know of being a woman.
"Ah John, if I knew of a way to convince my brother to leave without the Prince we should have left this place long ago."
Prudence rested her hand on the brown woollen dress she would need to dress the Prince in shortly.
"As soon as he and Flora are safely away then it will be more than time for the Laceys to disappear from the world. Though keeping Robin well hidden till they stop looking will not be easy."
John and Prudence shared a look, neither had been taken under the Prince's spell as Robin had and the last year had been a constant worry for both of them as Robin first freely gave his name and then his loyalty and finally his love to the Young Pretender.
"Alack my dear ones, what has you both looking so serious?"
Robin's question was clearly meant to be light but he couldn't quite keep the worry from his expression.
"Plans for your escape."
Robin shook his head at John.
"Not until Prince Charles is safely away."
The answer was expected but it still struck Prudence's heart with fear.
"Though I still wonder if I shouldn't go with him, he isn't as used to travelling in disguise as we and I'm sure some of what we've learned from the Old Gentleman and his tricks could be helpful to him."
"No!" Prudence exclaimed in horror. "You know the more people who go with him the more chance there is of them being stopped and betrayed."
Prudence slipped an arm around her brother's waist.
"No my Robin, it is time to leave before the situation becomes too hot for us both. If it isn't already to late."
Robin sighed but she felt the fight go out of him.
“Go, find the Prince, talk to him of walking in a woman's skirts for he will find it as challenging as you ever did in your youth.”
Robin's answering smile still did not quite reach his eyes but, with a kiss to Prue's cheek, he went.
“And so John,” Prue sighed, “I think it is down to you and I to find ourselves new lives.”
“It is all arranged Mistress Prue, the clothes and papers will be waiting just across the border for a Mistress Kate Merriott and her brother Peter who are journeying to London.”
Prue gave a wry smile at the names.
“I suppose I am to be brother Peter?”
John nodded, a disapproving look in his eyes.
“It is to be hoped that Master Robin will not be seen in the fashionable Kate I suppose. Well John, all is set then and we must help Robin's Prince on his way.”
Just before dawn on the allotted day Alexander & Robin were summoned to the Prince's room to help him into his disguise.
The Prince had already put on the chemise and was struggling with his stays as the siblings entered.
“Are all these undergarments really necessary?”
Robin ducked his head to hide his grin remembering well that he had made the same complaint the first time he tried them.
“They are your majesty.”
Robin smiled apologetically at the Prince and straightened out the chemise as Prue started to re-lace the ties.
“If you didn't wear them you would be noticed quickly from the way you stand.”
At that Prue gave a sharp tug and the Prince suddenly stood up straighter, his shoulders' pulled back.
“Careful!” he exclaimed. “There seems to be far more to being a lady's maid than I had imagined.”
Prue reached for the quilted waistcoat and petticoat John had found for them and started to slip it over his head.
“I am to be called Betty Burke, or so Mistress Flora tells me.”
“It seems a good name but you must try and remember to call her Mistress MacDonald now, remember she is your employer.”
Robin smiled again at the Prince but Prue could see clearly that it didn't reach his eyes. He started to fasten the waistcoat as Prue helped the Prince step into the petticoat.
“It is quite the reversal I know,” Robin said not looking up from his work. “But for now you must be Betty and carry Mistress MacDonald's cloak and try to stay in the shadows, unnoticed.”
The Prince nodded, listening carefully to the advice but standing so close by Prue could feel him stiffen just as obviously as she could hear the tremble in her brother's voice.
Robin rarely showed emotion but he had sobbed in her arms after Culloden and to see the Prince he had followed, at first only on the Old Gentleman's orders, brought so low was hurting him more than he would ever say.
“You have never explained to me how you two come to know so much about disguise. You had many adventures before you joined our cause I suppose but even you, Robin, speak so rarely of your history. I imagine at another time this would be a grand game for you- Alex dressing you for a great escape.”
Robin glanced up at his sister with a strange look in his eyes and Prue wondered what he thought when he saw her like this, dressed in a suit of men's clothes with her hair pulled back from her face and her whole stance confident and masculine,
“It hasn't been a game for a long time your majesty.”
The Prince looked curiously at Robin and Prue held her breath, wondering what question he might ask next, but before anyone could speak they heard a voice calling for Master Lacey.
“I must go, I promised the Commander I would check through your papers and bags again before you leave.”
Robin left the room swiftly and Prue found herself alone with the Prince.
“Could you not have taken that role? I had hoped Robin would talk to me some more of how to keep from detection as a woman.”
Prudence finished tying the last petticoat in place carefully before she spoke.
“We can both give you that advice Sire.”
And Robin cannot bear to see you like this, she added in her thoughts.
“You?”
The Prince turned to face Prue with a surprised expression.
“You have been disguised as a woman? I had imagined Robin alone...”
He stopped and regarded Prue carefully.
“I suppose there is a delicacy about both your faces but your height and whole manner would be against you. Did you succeed in playing a convincing woman?”
Prue felt a bubble of hysterical laughter rising in her chest.
“I have done in the past, though I am sure you are right in your imaginings that Robin makes a prettier lady.”
“There are always surprises with you Laceys.”
He reached for Prue's shoulder and gripped it tightly.
“You have been good friends to me and to your country- if I had the power...”
Prudence shook her head to stop him.
“We need no thanks Sire, Robin would be offended to hear you suggest such a thing.”
“No, you are right of course. Robin has been by my side during my darkest times and called it an honour.”
Prudence held the Prince's gaze calmly though her mind raced back to those awful days after Culloden when she would have let John spirit them away if only Robin had allowed it.
“You have a way out yourselves? You are in no less danger than I am myself.”
“Perhaps a little less Sire, we are less recognisable, but we will find our way to safety.”
For a moment the Prince stood, watching Prudence but seemingly seeing things far away from the look in his eyes and then he shook himself.
“Well Master Alex, in the absence of your resourceful brother, you must help Betty Burke come to life.”
Prudence bowed slightly and then reached for the practical woollen dress chosen for Betty. It was quick work to finish the Prince's toilette with a cream Apron and cap as well as a thick woollen shawl to be thrown over it all.
The Prince regarded himself in the mirror as Prudence gathered up the Prince's discarded clothes.
“Betty Burke,” he said before coughing and repeating in a higher voice, “Betty Burke.”
“If I may,” Prudence interrupted. “Try to speak softly, not in that squeaky voice. There are many women with pleasant low voices which will escape question where a high-pitched squeak might cause surprised.”
She straightened the cloth of his apron.
“Speak softly and try to keep your gaze focussed on the floor when men speak with you- they will assume it is modesty or shyness and hopefully leave you alone, especially when Mistress MacDonald is so lively.”
“I am Betty Burke.”
The Prince looked down modestly before his gaze flickered questioningly back to Prue.
“Speak in short sentences, or not at all if you can manage it, and try to always have something of Mistress MacDonald's in your hands- her shawl or purse or any belonging- so that it seems you have a purpose.”
“We must hope that our journey is free from any close inspections.”
“The Commander's papers will help with that and you have Flora and also her serving-man James with you. You must remember that you are there only to help Flora and that any trouble should be left to James.”
“I am to be helpless?”
Prudence nodded, wishing that Robin were here to help encourage the Prince and aid his chance of undetected escape. All she wished was for him to be gone from their lives and then to perhaps have a chance of being a “helpless” woman again.
“It will be hard to cover your reactions, that is why it is best to keep your eyes lowered and your hands full but the deception should only be for a short time.”
She watched as the Prince lowered his gaze again and then practised a shallow curtsey. It was wobbly and unpolished but it should be enough, she thought.
“Thank you Master Alex,” he said in the soft voice of Betty Burke. “Will you wish me a safe journey?”
“I will Mistress Burke, and I pray that it is swift and without trouble.”
Prue took his hand in her own and bowed her head to kiss it. As she looked up she saw a strange look in the Prince's eye as he looked at her hand- still soft and slender despite the months of fighting and hardship.
“Are you ready?”
Robin opened the door and carefully scrutinised his sister's work.
“I am,” Betty replied peering up at Robin between her lashes.
Prue could see her brother was rendered almost speechless by the transformation and she swiftly stepped to hold the door open.
“We were only waiting for you to tell us they were ready Robin,”
She willed Robin to pull himself together.
“Yes...”
Robin hesitated for a moment and then held out his arm.
“Will you come with me to your Mistress?”
Prince Charles took Robin's arm but as they walked away Prue could see he was still walking very much as a man would and not just that, as a royal Prince would. She hoped that Robin could gently hint that away but it was strange to see him, so clearly a man in women's clothes, when she had seen Robin so often disappear into Marianne or Rowena or Charlotte.
She turned and looked at herself in the mirror and regarded the reflection of Alex Lacey that looked back at her.
“A convincing woman.”
She whispered the words to herself and wondered when she would next get the chance to try for once Flora and Betty were safely away she knew that Alex and Robin Lacey must become sober Peter Merriott and his pretty sister Kate.
With a final glance at the reflection she forced herself to stand straight before turning to see what support she could give Robin in ensuring the Prince at least would be a convincing woman.