‘I mean you are to encourage him,’ Emilie snapped.

‘Encourage him to do what?’ Mistral enquired.

Emilie opened her mouth to reply, then she looked at Mistral and, seeing the enquiring innocence of her eyes, she was at a loss for words.

‘Be pleasant to the Prince,’ she said hastily. ‘Make him feel that he is welcome in our company and that you like him.’

‘I do like him,’ Mistral said. ‘But why may I not be nice to anyone else, Aunt Emilie? There are other men who might like us to welcome them too.’

As she spoke, she thought of Sir Robert, and she had not been prepared for the anger in her Aunt’s raised voice or the darkness of her expression.

‘There are no other men we want to welcome,’ Emilie said furiously. ‘Have I not made that clear already? It is Prince Nikolai with whom we are concerned. You will be nice to him and to no one else. If you disobey me, I shall punish you! But I think you would be wise not to disobey my orders.’

There was something so menacing in Emilie’s expression that instinctively Mistral shrank away from her.

‘I will do as you say, Aunt Emilie,’ she said and somehow managed to escape from the room and into the sanctuary of her own bedroom.

What did it all mean? And why was Prince Nikolai so especially favoured by Aunt Emilie?

It had begun on the very first night they had visited the Casino. Emilie had risen from the roulette table when Prince Nikolai walked away from it and had followed him. Mistral was sure of that now, although at the time she thought she was mistaken and her aunt was just promenading through the rooms aimlessly as other people did. And then, as the Prince had paused, obviously undecided as to which table he would visit next, Aunt Emilie had fallen against him.

She said that her foot had caught in the carpet, but Mistral could see no reason why it should have done so at just that particular spot. But Aunt Emilie had stumbled and in doing so had caught at the Prince’s arm as if for support, and the gold pieces that he held in his hand had been scattered over the floor. People sprang forward from all sides to pick them up while Aunt Emilie apologised.

‘You must forgive me, sir,’ she said. ‘I cannot apologise sufficiently for my clumsiness. My foot caught in the carpet and it was only by clinging on to you that I saved myself from falling. I am afraid I am too old to fall easily.’

‘Pray do not mention it again, Madame,’ the Prince said courteously. ‘I am glad to have been of service.’

A lackey held out a handful of louis.

‘These are all I have managed to save, Your Serene Highness,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid some have been taken for luck.’

The Prince laughed.