“I’m afraid that’s exactly what she did mean. Do take a seat.”

“What was she thinking?” Belinda sat.

“I think the word for my sister-in-law is frugal, at best. She didn’t want to pay for the extra train tickets to send down the servants ahead of Binky. She reminded me of my grace and favor status, thereby suggesting that I owed Her Grace a favor.”

“What nerve,” Belinda exclaimed.

“My own sentiments exactly, but she obviously assumes I’ve hired a maid by now. She gave me a long lecture on the untrustworthiness of Londoners and how I should check all references.”

“Why didn’t you bring a maid with you?”

“Fig wouldn’t release one of ours and frankly I couldn’t afford to pay her anyway. But, you know, it’s not too bad. In fact it’s been quite fun. I’m getting rather good at it. It must be that humble ancestry on my mother’s side coming out but one gets quite a satisfaction from polishing things.”

Then suddenly it was as if I was hit with a flash of divine inspiration. “Wait,” I said. “I’ve just had a marvelous idea—I wanted a paying job, didn’t I? I could do this for other people and be paid for it.”

“Georgie! I’m all for standing on your own feet, but there are limits. A member of the house of Windsor acting as a char lady? My dear, think of the stink there would be when it was found out.”

“They don’t need to know it’s actually me, do they?” I gave a couple of whisks with the feather duster as I warmed up to the idea. “I can call myself Coronet Domestics and nobody need ever know that I, and I alone, am Coronet Domestics. It’s better than starving, anyway.”

“What about the lady-in-waiting thing? How does one turn down the request of a queen?”

“Very cautiously,” I said. “But luckily nothing in the palace happens overnight. By the time HM has it arranged,

I shall tell her that I am fully occupied and financially stable.”

“Well, good luck then, I suppose,” Belinda said. “You wouldn’t find me cleaning lavatories.”

“Oh, dear,” I said, coming down to earth with a bump. “I hadn’t counted on lavatories. I was thinking more a quick whisk with my handy duster. That much I can handle.”

She laughed. “I fear you may have a rude awakening. Some people are absolute pigs, you know.” She leaned back against the velvet upholstery and crossed her legs in a move that must have been practiced and designed to drive young men wild. It had no such effect on me except to elicit a wave of envy over her silk stockings.

“So how did you enjoy your outing with the attractive Mr. O’Mara?” she asked.

“He is quite dashing, isn’t he?”

“What a pity he’s penniless. Not exactly the escort you need at this stage of your life.”

“Maybe we go together well,” I said.

“You’ve tried, have you?” Belinda asked.

“Tried what?”