“And Princess Alice had said at luncheon today that she’d seen the major coming home, looking smart in his uniform, when she was going to bed. So I went up to her apartment to find out what time she went to bed and it was early. The major assumed I knew more than I did and he was going to kill me.”

“So you pushed him down the stairs?”

“No, I didn’t. Two of the family ghosts made him step backward and he lost his balance. Princess Sophia and the Wild Boy.”

“You’re not serious!”

“Deadly serious, Darcy. I’d seen Princess Sophia before, but she was wonderful. She came right at him as if she knew she was saving me.”

Darcy shook his head. “Amazing,” he said. “And to think it was Beauchamp-Chough all the time. I suppose we overlooked him because we thought his one motive would have been to protect the prince. And we thought he wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave an incriminating body lying around at the castle, thus implicating Prince George.”

“He meant to kill her with a Veronal-laced drink,” I said. “I think he drugged her, then went out to his regimental dinner to set up his alibi. He planned to come back and find her dead, having taken her own life. Only she must have had a high tolerance for drugs and alcohol, so she woke up enough to try to escape. My maid said she looked out of the window and saw something wafting about in the courtyard. I think that must have been Bobo staggering around, half doped. The major returned and caught her just in time and had to suffocate her. Then he saw our motorcar approaching and rushed back into his suite to act as if he had just come in the door when we came to find him. Obviously he didn’t think we’d go to look in the courtyard that night and believed he could spirit the body away before anyone found it.”

“So why did you go to look?” Darcy asked.

“I saw this greenish light glowing and I wanted to see what was causing it. It must have been the palace ghosts again because there is no light under that archway.”

“I don’t know.” Darcy shook his head. “Why can’t you ever leave well enough alone and behave like a normal young lady? Take up the pianoforte or embroidery, for God’s sake. Don’t always go looking for trouble. I can’t spend my life worrying about you every time you’re out of my sight.”

“There’s an answer to that,” I said. “Don’t let me out of your sight so often. And you’d be bored with me in five minutes if I took up embroidery.”

He took my face in his hands, looked down at me and smiled. “God, Georgie. I do love you.”

“I love you too,” I said.