“I’ll say good night then,” Darcy said and went off down the other hall. There was no sign of Queenie so I managed to undress myself and get into bed. I had just settled down for the night when there was a piercing scream from somewhere nearby. I leaped out of bed and rushed out into the corridor, not even stopping to put on my dressing gown. The scream had definitely come from somewhere close to me, and the only other room I knew to be occupied in this hallway was Belinda’s.

My heart was in my mouth as I opened her door.

“Belinda—are you all right?” I called into the darkness.

“Only just,” came the reply.

I groped for a light switch and turned on the light. Belinda was standing beside her bed, her hands on her chest as if recovering from a shock, while in her bed beside her Queenie’s disheveled head poked over the eiderdown, blinding in the sudden brightness.

“What on earth?” I demanded.

“I got into bed and I touched human flesh,” Belinda said, still taking deep breaths. “Not that it’s the first time I’ve found someone unexpected in my bed, but given the circumstances, I thought it was a body.”

“Queenie!” I exclaimed.

She looked sheepish as she climbed out of the bed and straightened the covers. “Sorry, miss. You know how sleepy I get late at night. You told me to help Miss Belinda with getting undressed. Well, I was all ready and waiting for her in her room, and that eiderdown looked so soft and warm, so I thought I’d just lie down for a while and next thing you know, blow me, I must have nodded off.”

“Queenie,” I said angrily, “if this ever happens again, you’ll have to go. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lady,” she muttered, proving that she could use my proper form of address if she really put her mind to it.

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

UP TO LONDON, THANK GOODNESS

We set off early the next morning. Fortunately the rain had passed during the night and the sky was bright and clear. The moment we were clear of the estate we started talking normally, as if a great cloud of doom was lifted from us.

“It feels as if one has just got out of prison, doesn’t it?” Belinda echoed my feelings. “I can’t wait to get back to London, darlings. I don’t know what made me come down here in the first place.”

“You were hoping to snag a rich husband,” I said and watched a smile twitch on Darcy’s lips.

“How brutally frank you are, Georgie. Not a good quality in a lady. Thank heavens you’re stuck with Darcy, as most men can’t abide frankness.”