I put down my coffee cup. “I have to go up and change my wet shoes and stockings. Would you like me to bring down the children when I come?”

“How kind.” She touched my arm gently. “You have been such a help to me, Georgiana. I see now why the queen spoke so highly of you.”

“What about Sissy?” I asked. “She shouldn’t be left out.”

“Of course not. Huxstep,” she called after him, “send up two of the staff to have Miss Elisabeth carried down to the library.”

“And about their mother . . .” I began. “I presume you’ll want to break this news to them yourself?”

“If my daughter has made a good recovery, I see no reason why they should need to know,” she said. “Especially if it transpires that she tried to take her own life. They have had enough upset in their young lives. They must see their mother as their rock.”

I went upstairs thinking that actually I’d been no help at all. Jack had arrived, and I hadn’t managed to stop him from picking up his chicken, ruining a hunt or, apparently, from killing his uncle. In my eyes, my visit so far had been a hopeless failure. I paused at the top of the stairs. Could Jack have crept down that path behind his uncle and stabbed him to death? It seemed so unlike the glimpses I had had of his character. He had been angry with Cedric yesterday. He’d even challenged him to step outside and fight. But that was man to man, not sneaking up behind someone’s back. The Jack I had seen was a simple sort of chap. He’d punch someone if they insulted him. But kill him? I shook my head. Nothing about that body on the path made sense to me. I wished the inspector would hurry up and get here.

There was no sign of Queenie—probably down in the kitchen having elevenses, knowing her. She had an absolute fondness for cakes and biscuits. So I changed my shoes, draped my wet stockings over a chair by the fire, took off my wet skirt and rubbed my hair with a towel before I went upstairs to the nursery. I was nearing the head of the stairs when I heard voices, and saw the three Starlings coming toward me.

“You’re wanted in the library, I believe,” I said.

“Oh, so that’s where Ceddy’s been hiding out,” Julian said. “We wondered where he’d got to.”

“Of course we didn’t exactly go looking for him this morning, after last night,” Adrian said. “We were seriously put out, weren’t we, boys?”