Gretna felt a little of her triumph ebb away from her. How often she had remembered that no Roman Catholic might marry a member of the Church of England and had tried to make it an excuse for Maria and the Prince.

Now she knew why Maria had kept silent despite the insults and despite the insinuations that were made wherever she went. Now she knew why, when the cartoons and lampoons depicting her in an idle manner were shown to Maria, she had put them gently in the fire and refused even to look at them.

Maria knew in her heart that she was married. She knew before the eyes of God that she was married. What did it matter what lesser people thought?

Very carefully Gretna covered up the Certificate with the letters and, closing the box, locked it. She knew that she would never speak of this to Maria and she knew as well that she would never tell anyone what she had seen. This was a secret that must never be revealed, which no one else should ever know about.

And quite suddenly she realised that she admired the Prince more than she had ever admired him before. Maria had taken a risk because of her love. His risk had been infinitely greater.

By one action, by a defiance of all the rules and laws of the Realm, he had risked everything for his love and his devotion to one woman.

In that moment she saw him not as an irresponsible, impetuous, passionate young man, but as a Knight who was prepared to chance what might be far worse than death in the pursuit of his ideal.

Gretna blew out the candle and tiptoed from the room. Outside on the landing she put her hands to her face and tried to think what she must do and tried to remember that the Prince was waiting for Maria, the carriage was outside and a footman on the doorstep.

It was hard for the moment to return to the more mundane and ordinary things, having discovered inadvertently one of the most sensational and world-shaking of them all.

Then, she remembered that she must steel herself to behaving as if nothing had happened and she knew then that the best thing she could do would be to go to the Prince and explain that Maria was asleep and she could not waken her.

On the landing was a wardrobe. She opened it, looking for a cape of some sort. The first one she saw was one of blue velvet edged with fur, which Maria often wore and which covered her dress completely.

It was a little long for Gretna, but she put it on, thinking that it would save time rather than that she should run up another flight of stairs to where her bedroom was situated to procure a cloak of her own.