“Not for me, thank you,” Mummy said. “Far too many crashes on planes, even if the train does take longer.” She stood up and looked around the room with satisfaction as Cy blew us both a kiss and followed Stella from the room. “Well, this is nice, isn’t it? A few days to shop and play by ourselves.”

On the way out of the dining room we bumped into Sir Digby and Lady Porter.

“We meet again, Miss Daniels,” Sir Digby said. “How very pleasant.”

“What a surprise to find you staying here, Sir Digby,” Mummy replied, her voice displaying no enthusiasm.

“We decided to see New York for a few days before we go up to Boston,” Lady Porter said, “and we were told this is the place to stay. Horribly expensive though. And I don’t think we’ll be staying long. I haven’t liked what I’ve seen so far. So dirty and noisy, isn’t it?”

“Lady Porter is a country girl at heart,” Sir Digby said. “She doesn’t like big cities, although we’ve heard that Boston is supposed to be relatively civilized.”

“Are those Hollywood people also staying here?” Lady Porter asked.

“They are taking an aeroplane flight in the morning,” I said.

“Heavens. How adventurous.” Lady Porter snorted. “Dangerous things, aeroplanes. But what about Princess Promila? I understood she was supposed to be staying here. I expect she likes to eat in her room. Not terribly sociable, was she?”

So Princess Promila was also here? I waited until Mummy was busy with her various face creams and went down to the front desk.

“Princess Promila?” The clerk looked through his register. “She did have a reservation but she canceled it at the last minute.”

Of course that made me wonder whether they had discovered that the princess on board was really an impostor and had been apprehended on leaving the ship. It was so frustrating not to know. And now Stella Brightwell would be out of my reach. I was just dwelling on that very thought when the elevator opened and Stella herself came out. She glanced around quickly then crossed the foyer.

I only hesitated for a second, then followed her. She was walking fast and with purpose. The streets were still full of people on this warm evening and I tried to keep her in sight without giving away my presence. She crossed a major boulevard and then turned north, along the side of the park. This was very different from the New York I had seen earlier today. We passed grand mansions with long sleek automobiles waiting at the curb. The sounds of jazz music and laughter floated from an open window. Stella kept walking fast and then turned in to a side street.