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Back One Enchanted Evening Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. The Grand Masquerade Ball
  5. Five Months Earlier . . .
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. September 1936
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. October 1936
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-one
  29. November 1936
  30. Chapter Twenty-two
  31. December 1936
  32. Chapter Twenty-three
  33. Chapter Twenty-four
  34. Chapter Twenty-five
  35. Chapter Twenty-six
  36. Chapter Twenty-seven
  37. Chapter Twenty-eight
  38. Chapter Twenty-nine
  39. Chapter Thirty
  40. Chapter Thirty-one
  41. Chapter Thirty-two
  42. Chapter Thirty-three
  43. Chapter Thirty-four
  44. Chapter Thirty-five
  45. Epilogue
  46. A New Year
  47. Extract from Anton Du Beke’s next novel’
  48. Acknowledgements
  49. About the Author
  50. Letter from Author

‘Your Highness,’ he ventured, ‘shall we?’

The orchestra were striking up another tune. The guest singer Alfredo Bianchi had emerged from the ranks to stand beside Archie Adams. He crooned the opening words of Archie’s first ever hit.

The crown princess took the principal’s hand – and it was then that, with his free hand, he reached up and took the mask from his face. Dark almond eyes stared out. Black hair sailed wild around his perfectly imperfect face.

‘Your Highness,’ the principal dancer began, ‘my name is Raymond de Guise. Welcome to the Buckingham Hotel. For the rest of the evening, I remain at your service.’

All across the dance floor, the professional dancing couples came apart as the guests streamed down to meet them. Still at the balustrade, Maynard Charles watched Raymond de Guise guiding the crown princess to the dance floor. And, in that second, all of the worry, all of the anxiety, all of his fear for the future of his hotel and country, evaporated away. Whatever had happened backstage at the Buckingham ballroom, and whatever was coming, outside in the real world, could wait. For now, Raymond de Guise was where he belonged, the king of the dance floor, putting on the performance of his life – and, if only for a fleeting moment on this most tempestuous night, everything was right.

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-five

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BY THE TIME THE OMNIBUS reached Westminster, Hélène Marchmont knew it could go no further. The snow that tumbled down had turned the abbey into a castle plucked straight out of the pages of the fairy tales she used to read – the fairy tales she one day wanted to enjoy with Sybil – but it had transformed other things too. London was swiftly becoming iced in white, and the windows of the omnibus were plastered in snowflakes so that she could barely see the streets outside. ‘We’re not going over the bridge,’ the driver said in his gruff Glaswegian accent, stepping outside to see the state of the road for himself. ‘I’m taking her back to the depot before I have to spend the night with her. All change!’

Some of the rag-tag of other passengers put up a protest, but Hélène did not have the time to lose. Reeling out into the falling snow, she pulled down her cloche hat – it provided so little comfort from the cold – and peered up and down the Horse Guards Road. Ribbons of white were twirling everywhere, St James’s Park itself hidden behind the shifting veil. As the rest of the passengers fanned out, some bound for Westminster Bridge, some back the way the omnibus had brought them, Hélène looked desperately for a hansom cab. But it was all so futile. It was New Year, and London was a fantasia of white. She may as well have looked for a single specific snowflake among the many millions that fell.