A little while later Belinda tapped on my door, looking elegant and somber in dark green. So Queenie could do things right if she tried occasionally! I hadn’t brought a black dress with me so I was stuck with the burgundy velvet. In respect of the situation, however, I had decided not to wear any jewelry and put on long, black gloves and my black-velvet stole. As we went downstairs, Belinda glanced up at the ceiling again. “They really should cover those nymphs and satyrs if this is a house in mourning,” Belinda commented. “They are enjoying themselves far too much.”

“The ancient Greeks seemed to go in for that sort of thing, didn’t they?” I said. “Zeus was always changing into the shape of some creature or other to visit an unsuspecting lady.”

“Mmmm.” Belinda’s face became pensive. “I wonder what sort of creature might have produced a rather nice encounter? I never thought much of the swan, did you? Too much flapping around.”

I laughed. “I’m actually glad you’re here, Belinda. You’re so nice and normal.”

She looked surprised. “You have Darcy here, darling. You should be in absolute bliss . . . creeping down the halls at night for a nice roll in the hay.”

“Belinda!” I frowned. “The dowager duchess is a close friend of the queen. If word got back to her . . .”

“What could she do, darling? She can hardly send you to the tower or marry you off to a mad prince.”

I had to smile. Belinda went on, “You’re over twenty-one, aren’t you, and your cousin the Prince of Wales misbehaves all the time.”

“Yes, but not at Buckingham Palace, I’m sure.”

Belinda sighed as we entered the foyer of the dining room. “You royals and your sense of duty. Quite amazing!”

Edwina and the other members of her family were all wearing black, and we apologized for not bringing black frocks with us.

“How could you possibly have known something like this would happen?” Edwina said. For the first time one could see the distress on her face. “How could anyone ever have thought that Cedric, of all people . . . that such tragedy could strike this family again. I am only glad that my husband was not alive to experience this. It would have broken his heart.”

The dinner gong rang, and we went through. Jack sat beside me, looking uncomfortable in his dinner jacket. I noticed that he kept tugging at his bow tie as if it was strangling him, and wondered if he was thinking of the silken noose that is the privilege of a duke.

“You look very smart,” I said, trying to ease the palpable tension in the room.

“I feel like I’ve fallen into a bloody nightmare,” he said. “For two pins I’d run off and jump on the next boat back home.”