Georgiana went to the docks first. Madame Balrong was taking inventory of the goods, wearing a large sunhat. The moment she saw Georgiana, she waved to her.
"Is everything here?" Georgiana asked.
"Everything is here. Look." Balrong lifted the lid of a wooden crate with her white lace-gloved hand. It was filled with glass bottles.
Georgiana took one out, pulled out the cork, and drank directly from the bottle. She nearly spat it out.
"What is this?" she said, smacking her lips.
"Sparkling water." Madame Balrong looked at Georgiana. "Is there a problem?"
"Why does this water taste so awful?"
La Rochefoucauld also took a bottle, pulled out the cork, drank a sip, and sampled it. "It's Chateldon water."
Georgiana looked at Madame Balrong. Madame Balrong glanced at her, then hurriedly lowered her head.
As if she were afraid Georgiana would see the "country bumpkin" look on her face.
The luxury-brand soda water Georgiana usually drank was made in Britain and carried a faint sweetness. This Chateldon mineral water, meanwhile, was bitter and astringent, thoroughly unsuited to her taste. Yet it was water supplied exclusively to the royal family of France. "The Sun King," Louis XIV, had long suffered from all kinds of illnesses. Doctors searched everywhere and found this natural mineral water in Chateldon, in central-southern France, supposedly capable of restoring bodily functions. Louis XIV drank it year-round.
Originally, its scarce production meant only Louis XIV could enjoy it. Now, anyone with money could buy it.
It practically needed "noble status" printed on the bottle. Europeans in the nineteenth century believed strongly in mineral-water therapy, and there were many hot-spring resorts as well. Georgiana was like the child in the Muggle fairy tale who said the emperor wore no clothes. She had bluntly declared the water foul-tasting, but would