‘I told them I was going down to the East End to do charity work.’

‘Nonetheless, there is no need for all of us to turn up at the prison. It would occasion too much comment and a prison is no place for a lady.’

‘Oh, I wish I were a man,’ complained Rose.

Harry smiled at her. ‘I am so glad you are not. Now, I had better take you home.’

* * *

Outside the earl’s town house, Harry helped Rose down from the car. He bent and kissed her hand. ‘When all this is over,’ he said, ‘we will find a way to get married.’

‘We may have to elope,’ said Rose.

‘I am sure I will find a way to persuade your parents. I know they have told me I am not to see you, so find out some social engagement you are going to, telephone my office and I will try to meet you there.’

Rose felt that wings were bearing her into the house. I really do love him, she thought, and then her face fell as Brum informed her in severe tones that Lady Polly was asking for her.

Rose went to her rooms first to change the drab clothes she had chosen to wear while detecting. She rang for Hunter and was dressed in a tea gown.

‘There you are!’ exclaimed Lady Polly. ‘Brum tells me that you arrived home in Captain Cathcart’s car. We told you to have nothing to do with that man.’

‘He happened to be in the East End at the same time,’ said Rose, ‘and I was glad of an escort home.’

‘Did you go on your own?’

‘No, Mrs Becket accompanied me.’

‘That was not enough. Two of the footmen should have been with you. Now I want you to look your best tomorrow night. We are going to Mrs Blenkinsop’s musical evening and Lord Cherm’s son, Roger, is going to be there. He has been travelling abroad, which is why he has not been seen at the Season before. He is eminently eligible.’

The telephone was in Matthew’s office. Rose stood on the first landing, watching the office door in the hall until she saw Matthew come out. He put on his hat and coat and left.

Rose darted down the stairs and telephoned Harry. ‘I’ll look through my invitations,’ he said. ‘If I haven’t got one to Mrs Blenkinsop’s, I will manage to get invited somehow. Be careful. No more detecting.’

The next day, Rose was informed that her father had gone to his club and that her mother was lying down with a headache, although Hunter, the lady’s maid, confided that the ‘headache’ was actually a cream treatment to whiten the skin and remove any tan, and was supposed to take all day.

Rose decided to call on Daisy. Daisy greeted her with relief and delight. ‘I thought I was going to be stuck here all day. I told the captain I wanted to take up my duties as detective and he said I had to stay at home because of the baby. Men! What do you have in mind?’