THE HOUSEKEEPING LOUNGE, TUCKED BEHIND Mrs Moffatt’s office, was already thronged by the time Nancy arrived at dawn. Coming here always made her feel nervous – if you wanted to fit in as a chambermaid at the Buckingham, this was the place to do it – and today her heart was beating like a panicked bird.

Rosa and Ruth had arrived early to lay the long tables, and Nancy joined the girls as they found their places. A big pot on a counter held the morning’s porridge, and rack upon rack was filled with bread and toast and yesterday’s pastries, no longer fit for the guests of the Buckingham Hotel but more than adequate for those who toiled in its service. What was rubbish to a lord was a delicacy to an underling – but that, Nancy silently observed, is England all over. The Buckingham Hotel just shows England up for what it really is. She could feel her stomach grumbling. At least this was a good sign. After so many days of not eating because she was so fearful about anybody finding out it was her in the Grand, she was starving. Perhaps the fear was beginning to dissipate.

This morning, Mrs Moffatt kept her girls waiting. Nobody would eat until Mrs Moffatt had delivered her morning address. Some of the girls were starting to mutter their discontent when the doors opened and Mrs Moffatt stepped through, leading the team of gentlewomen housekeepers behind her. Each one of them looked as imperious as the last.

‘Miss Nettleton,’ Mrs Moffatt began, in her brusque business-like voice.

She knows, doesn’t she? Somebody told . . . Beneath the table, her knees started knocking. All of her life, every ambition she had, flashed in front of her. All of it squandered, for something as silly as an illicit trip into the ballroom.

‘Your turn with the tea. Do the honours, won’t you?’

Relief flooded her body. ‘Right away, Mrs Moffatt.’

As she got up to begin pouring, she heard Rosa titter behind her, ‘Right away, Mrs Moffatt. Two sugars, Mrs Moffatt. How do you take yours, Mrs Moffatt?’ The Lancashire accent Rosa was putting on was a knife in Nancy’s side, but she was too startled to look around.

Why are they being so snotty, all of a sudden? Because they saw me talking to Raymond de Guise?

Mrs Moffatt began, ‘Girls, we have much to do today. Charlotte, Maureen, Flo, Mrs Whitehead is going to take you to fifth to prepare the Atlantic for an honoured guest. Agatha, Edie, Vera – you’re on third and fourth. Rosa, Ruth, you’ll be in the ballroom with Nancy. The rest of you, listen out for your name. We have much to do . . .’