She told me to get into the carriage, but as soon as I did so, the door was slammed and the carriage started off apparently without the driver having received any instructions. At first I thought it was a stupid mistake, that I had got into the wrong carriage and that the coachman had mistaken my identity. But after I had tried the windows and the doors and found them all securely fastened, I began to feel alarmed. The carriage drew up at a Villa and I got out, trying to explain that there had been an unfortunate mistake and asking that I should be sent back to the Hôtel de Paris.

The servants, however, spoke only a foreign language, so I entered the Villa, hoping I would find someone to whom I could make myself understood. I suppose I should have been immediately suspicious because the servants were natives, but it did not strike me as peculiar because many people here have dark-skinned attendants, and it was only when the Rajah appeared that I realised that I was trapped.

‘He told me that he had abducted me deliberately. He said some very strange things and behaved in a very strange manner. I cannot tell you what he said – I could never repeat it to anyone. But he left me alone for ten minutes – ’

Mistral drew a deep breath as if the very memory of those moments were unsupportable. Then she continued bravely,

‘I managed to escape through a window and climb down the lattice which was nailed to the side of the house. Before I reached the ground, the Rajah discovered that I had gone and he would have caught me again. I heard him calling for his servants and sending them in search of me. But even as they came from the house, the Prince arrived. He had heard my Aunt say that I had been abducted and had rushed from the Restaurant to try and find me. He took me away in his carriage. My finger was bleeding so badly that we stopped at his Villa to bind it up. He had just finished bandaging it when – you – arrived.’

Mistral’s voice, low and hesitant, died away. She felt Sir Robert’s arm tighten about her, then with his free hand he took her bandaged fingers in his and raised them to his lips.

‘I will deal with the Rajah later,’ he said grimly. ‘I suppose I owe the Prince an abject apology.’

‘You thought that he had kidnapped me?’ Mistral asked.

Sir Robert nodded.