I opened my door and jumped as Queenie stepped forward to greet me. “Oh, there you are, miss. I’ve been that worried about you. I heard the princess come upstairs a while ago and then you didn’t show up and something funny was going on down in the courtyard below.”

“Nothing to worry about, Queenie,” I said. “We were just looking for a piece of jewelry that must have fallen off when the princess got out of the car.”

“Oh, that was you down there, was it? Thank God for that. I thought it was one of them ruddy ghosts. They say this palace is bloody well haunted. Down in the kitchen they said there’s ever so many ghosts drifting around. In fact I think I saw one, earlier this evening. Something in white, wafting across the courtyard. Horrible it was.”

“Yes, I’m afraid that must have been one of the ghosts,” I said rapidly. “Princess Sophia, the daughter of George the Third, but don’t worry. She’s quite harmless. She drifts around looking for her lost child.”

“She might be harmless but I don’t want to bump into her. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. I sat here all evening wondering if ghosts could come up the stairs and through walls.”

“I think you’re quite safe, Queenie,” I said. “And anyway, I’m back now. As soon as I’m undressed you can go to bed and you know very well that no princess would haunt the servants’ quarters.”

“Yes, that’s right, ain’t it?” She perked up then. “Come on then. Turn round and I’ll take your necklace off.”

Queenie finished undressing me and I climbed into bed. The fire had burned down to embers and it was cold in the room. I couldn’t resist going over to the window and pulling back the curtain to take a peek at the courtyard below. Someone was moving around down there. I could see a torch dancing but the person holding it was invisible beneath the archway. Fortunately so was the body. And I realized that the holder of the torch must be the major, covering the body with his blanket. There was nothing else to do but go up to my room and get undressed. My hot milk was delivered. I drank it but it didn’t seem to warm me. I curled up into a ball and tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.

Bobo Carrington. Now that I thought about it I had heard the name before. One of the glamorous young women who was always photographed at nightclubs or at the races. But what on earth was she doing here, trying to get into Kensington Palace?

Chapter 11

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

KENSINGTON PALACE