Chapter 18: Emily and Amelia's New Life in the Palace

     Prince Arthur invites five friends for a picnic at his favorite "alone" spot, Audrey Meadows, located along the shore of Veronica Lake, in Rudy Valley.  The friends are Prince Brian, Glenn Kellerman, Emily, Amelia, and Emily's Cairn terrier Hero.
     As they're enjoying their picnic lunch, Ghasan the Assassin makes another attempt on Prince Arthur's life.  Before he can pull the trigger, a bird snatches away his hat and causes him to fall from his tree.  On the ground, the injured Ghasan is sprayed by a skunk, suffers other embarrassments, and runs away in humiliation.
     Just as the six friends are getting ready to leave, the brake on Amelia's Bath chair slips and the Bath chair rolls down the slope with Amelia helplessly holding on.  The Bath chair crashes into a large rock called Oliver Stone and sends Amelia hurling into Veronica Lake.
     Fearing that Amelia will drown, Kellerman jumps into the lake to save her.  Then he learns, sheepishly, that he had tried to save a mermaid from drowning.
   Sometime thereafter, Emily learns her grandfather's identity and is told that her grandfather had come to visit from Manhattan.  Her grandfather, previously known as Louis, the rightful heir to the thrown of France and the "lost dauphin," has been hiding in plain sight as one of the most famous men in North America.
     Emily's grandfather is in the advanced stages of what is now called Alzheimer's disease and is given only a few months to live.   Emily's grandfather, caregiver, and wife are offered a home in the royal palace, with the best medical care, but his wife says it's best for him to return to Manhattan, the only home he still remembers.  Emily tearfully says goodbye to him.
     Emily's grandfather dies the year after the events in this novel, in January 1851.  Several of his friends and relatives finish his final work, Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. 

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