“You didn’t see any on your way up here?” Mummy said. “Those woods are teeming with giraffes and zebras and God knows what.”

Belinda peered into the trees, still not sure if we were pulling her leg. “And there may be lions. We haven’t seen them yet,” I added, still feeling rather cross with her. “What are you doing here, Belinda? You really have a nerve.”

“Darling, I got sacked from Harrods when this obnoxious Frenchwoman told my boss that I wasn’t really French. And your postcard arrived the same day. I said to myself it must be fate, so I used my last paycheck to buy a ticket. And another piece of absolute luck—I met Mrs. Goldman on the train. Helped her with her case, actually. I had no idea who she was until she told me. So it really had to be fate, didn’t it?”

“Yes, but what do you want to do here?”

“I told Mrs. Goldman I was a costume designer. Well, I could be, easily. You have to admit I have a flair.”

“Yes, you do.”

She glanced around, then pulled me closer to her. “But now I’m thinking I might have found my sugar daddy instead. Isn’t Craig Hart divine? Did you see how attentive he was to me? Is he married?”

“Not at the moment, I don’t think. But he’s fickle.”

“He was pursuing Georgie until you arrived,” Mummy said. “I can’t think why.”

“He even kissed me last night,” I said with a grin. “Darcy saw and was not amused.”

“And what’s Darcy doing here then? And isn’t that Algie Broxley-Whatsit? What a little creep he always was—he groped one at hunt balls.”

“They are doing exactly the same thing as you, Belinda dear,” Mummy said. “Using my fame to get themselves a job on a film.”

“How screamingly funny.” Belinda laughed loudly. There was a stirring in the bushes and some kind of antelope bounded out. “Ye gods,” Belinda said. “You weren’t joking about the animals.”

While we dressed for dinner I told Belinda about Queenie.

“Well rid of her, darling. She was a millstone around your neck,” Belinda said. “Now, if Darcy plays his cards right and becomes a film star you’ll be able to marry him and afford a real maid.”

I was surprised at the jolt of horror I felt as she said this. Did I want my future husband to be a film star? I knew it would make him a lot of money, but it would mean a life very different from the one I had visualized. And women throwing themselves at him. Darcy was only human and I’d seen the way Stella was already ogling him.

“Tell me, Georgie,” Belinda went on. “Do you think I might really have a chance with Craig Hart?”