He drew me to him, kissed me hard on the lips, then let me go. Reluctantly I went back into the ballroom. I went over to where I had been sitting beside Mummy and Stella. “I’m afraid I’ve lost your bracelet,” I said. “I had it on when I was dancing with Algie. Now it’s not there.”

“Don’t worry, darling. As I said, it’s only a copy. And the clasp was always a bit loose.” She sighed. “I think I’m going to bed. I thought there might be a man or two worth dancing with, but Stella is hogging Juan and frankly there is nobody else. And I do wish people wouldn’t keep staring. Really it is so tiring being a celebrity. You’ll notice Mrs. Simpson never bothers to show up at these things.”

She got up, picked up her white fur wrap and flung it carelessly over her shoulder. “Coming?” she asked.

“Actually I think I’ll stay a little longer. I might want to dance again.”

“After that outing with the clod-footed oaf I should have thought you’d had enough dancing for a while.”

I smiled. “You never know.”

Off she went. Stella and Juan came back to join me. “Your mama has gone to bed?” Stella asked.

I nodded. “Nobody worth dancing with. But I have to look for my bracelet. It was rather valuable and now I’ve lost it. It must have come off my wrist while I was dancing.”

“We’ll help you look, honey,” she said. “Won’t we, Juan?”

I watched her as she went around the room. She really appeared to be searching diligently. Would she have had a chance to remove my bracelet when we were sitting together, or as I got up to dance with Algie? It seemed too stupid to consider. I spotted Algie sitting alone with a glass of something green in front of him. I went over to him.

“You didn’t happen to see my bracelet, did you? It must have fallen off when we were dancing.”

“Golly, no,” he said. “That’s a rum do, isn’t it? Was that the valuable bracelet you were talking about? Must have fallen off when we were spinning around. Do you want me to help you look?”

So now he joined Stella. Soon the word got out and half the crowd was searching, but the bracelet didn’t turn up. In the end I went to bed. As I opened my cabin door the first thing I heard was a fierce snort of some wild animal. I turned on the light to find Queenie, lying on my bed, mouth open and snoring. And the second thing I saw was my bracelet, lying on my bedside table.