Paul was alarmed. Hannah was well able to keep other would-be suitors at arm’s length, but she could not dispatch the Prince Regent quite so easily. Flabby, dissipated and waddling along as fast as his gout would permit, he exuded an air of supreme entitlement. He was going to be first.

For once, however, royal prerogative was not respected. Someone yelled aloud as if in great pain, everyone turned in the direction of the sound, then a shot was fired behind them. Uproar ensued. The waiting pack scrambled for safety, cursing as they bumped into each other and bewailing the loss of their vantage points. The Prince Regent was hustled through the stage door by the two Runners. And Paul was left standing beside the lifeless body of a man whose dreams of meeting Lady Macbeth had died instantly with him.

CHAPTER TWO

When she heard the sharp knock on her door, Hannah fully expected that Paul had come for her. Accordingly, she nodded to her dresser and Jenny Pye went across the room to turn the key in the lock. Opening the door, she stepped back to allow Paul to enter. But he was not there. Both she and Hannah were shocked to see instead the solid frame of Micah Yeomans filling the space. He whisked off his hat.

‘Pardon this intrusion, Miss Granville,’ he said, ‘but there is someone who is very anxious to make your acquaintance.’

He stood aside to allow the Prince Regent to hobble into the dressing room with a beaming smile on his powdered face. A ludicrous chestnut wig sat on his head. Hannah was taken aback. She had never been quite that close to royalty before and, though she found her visitor verging on the grotesque, part of her was obscurely flattered by his attention. Before she could step out of reach, he grabbed her hand, lifted it to his lips and planted a wet kiss on it.

‘I am in thrall to your magnificence, dear lady,’ he said.

‘That’s a compliment I shall treasure, Your Royal Highness,’ she replied.

‘It will be the first of many, I do assure you.’

‘I am deeply honoured.’

Though she spoke firmly and retained her poise, Hannah was ill at ease. The look in the Prince Regent’s eyes was all too easy to interpret. It was the acquisitive glint of a lecher. He was not merely there to congratulate her on an incomparable performance. He was eyeing a prospective prize. Trembling inwardly, she kept asking herself the same question over and over again.

Where on earth was Paul?