“How were they? What were they like on ship?”

“Oh, no better place for a pack of young girls than a naval vessel,” he snorted. “The two oldest flirted with every sailor they saw, while the younger two ran full speed along the decks like it was their own personal playground. More disruptive than a barrage from six-inch guns, to have young girls aboard.”

“We girls do cause havoc, don’t we?” commented Mrs. Bainbridge. “What about the prince and princess?”

“He stayed up on the bridge throughout and peppered us with questions. He was a military fellow himself, you know. Once he was on the ship, he never looked back.”

“Did Princess Alice?”

“She was distraught. In tears, much of the time.”

“Naturally.”

“Yes. She stayed at the stern, watching Corfu and Greece disappear. I remember that Talbot fellow stayed with her.”

“Did he?” asked Mrs. Bainbridge as Sparks shot her a look.

“Yes. Couldn’t hear what they were saying, of course, but he seemed to be comforting her.”

“Her husband should have been doing that,” said Sparks.

“Not every husband is the comforting sort,” said Buchanan-Wollaston. “Not every wife needs comforting. My Dora handled my absences without bursting into tears about it every other minute.”

“No doubt,” said Sparks. “Did you happen to know why the princess was crying?”

“Oh, there was something,” he said. “Something she left behind at the villa, don’t know what. ‘We have to go back,’ I heard her say to her husband at one point, but he dismissed her out of hand, and I can’t blame him.”

“No, of course you can’t,” said Mrs. Bainbridge.

“And Talbot was quite the stalwart. Whatever it was she left behind, he said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll get them back. When things are safe.’”

“Any idea what it was?” asked Sparks.

“None. We got into Brindisi the following day, sent them on their merry way, and went back to acting like a proper naval ship. I am quite astonished to hear that the baby boy we carried over in an orange crate is now a suitor to our princess.”

“He also ended up in our Royal Navy, you’ll be glad to know,” said Mrs. Bainbridge.

“Did he?” said Buchanan-Wollaston, looking pleased.

“Yes,” said Sparks. “He served quite valiantly during the war, no doubt due to his early exposure to you and your crew.”

“I doubt that highly.” Buchanan-Wollaston laughed. “But I’m glad one of our boys may be joining the royal family. Puts us one up over the army, what?”

“Yes, it does,” said Mrs. Bainbridge, giving him a tight smile. “Now, you left the Calypso shortly after that?”

“Yes. They sent me here for senior officer war training. I ended up as an instructor after that. I had one last command—the Carysfort in twenty-seven, then they kept me land-bound with the Reserve Fleet in Devonport. After that, it’s all been lecturing and making up lost time with the missus.”

“Who has the Calypso now?” asked Sparks.

“The crabs and the little fishies,” said Buchanan-Wollaston. “She took an Italian torpedo amidships in 1940. The captain and thirty-eight men went down with her. The rest of the crew were picked up at sea.”