‘Oh, no,’ wailed Rose. ‘I’ll never get it back now. Where does that drain go?’

‘Down into the castle cesspool, my lady. I am right sorry. I never thought it would just come flying off like that.’

‘I’ll need to tell Captain Harry,’ said Rose miserably.

She went upstairs and asked a footman to tell the captain to meet her in the morning room. Rose waited nervously, rubbing her sore finger.

Harry came in and stood looking at her. ‘You sent for me?’

‘Yes. I have some very bad news.’

‘That fellow hasn’t come back!’

‘No, it’s my ring, the one you gave me.’

‘What about it?’ he demanded sharply.

‘I was wearing it on a chain round my neck and I decided to try it on. I could not get it off. The cook put some goose grease on it and pulled. It came flying off but it rolled away and went down the kitchen drain and it’s now in the cesspool.’

‘No doubt a fitting burial for it,’ he said harshly. ‘Is that all?’

She turned her face away. He went out of the room and slammed the door behind him. He stood with his back to the door, breathing deeply. Then he heard the sounds of weeping and opened the door again. Rose was sitting in a chair by the window. She had her face buried in her hands and was sobbing.

He went quickly across the room and knelt down beside her. ‘I did not mean to be so cruel,’ he said. He drew her hands away from her face. Taking out a handkerchief, he mopped her tears. ‘You see, I had hoped you wanted to wear my ring again.’

‘I did,’ said Rose with a gulp.

He drew her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her and turned her face up to his. ‘Oh, Rose,’ he said and bent his mouth to kiss her.

Just what is going on here?’ demanded Aunt Elizabeth.

Harry held firmly on to Rose. ‘Congratulate us. We are to be married.’

‘No, that you are not. Not without her father’s permission. Leave her alone until then. There’s a telegram for you.’ She held it out.

Harry released Rose and took it from her. He read it and swung round to Rose, his eyes shining. ‘They got him. They caught Jeffrey Biles. You have nothing to fear any more.’

‘Where did they find him?’

‘It doesn’t say. I’ll go back to Inveraray and phone Kerridge.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Rose.

‘Oh, no, you won’t, miss,’ said Aunt Elizabeth. ‘Not while you’re under my care.’

‘It’s all right,’ said Harry. ‘I won’t be long.’

Rose waited impatiently for the next few hours. At last Harry came back. Rose would have rushed to meet him but Aunt Elizabeth made her wait with Daisy in the drawing room.

He came in and smiled at her. ‘Jeffrey Biles was arrested at a lodging house in Dumfries. He’d put on a false moustache and a maid at the lodging house caught sight of him gluing it on. She told her mistress, who reported him to the police. Biles tried to say he was doing it for a joke, but the Dumfries police had a description of Jeffrey Biles and so they put him in the cells and contacted Scotland Yard. He’s on his way south. He’ll be charged first with the murder of his sister and then with the murder of Madame de Peurey. I sent a wire to your parents, Rose, to say we would all be returning to London.’