I paced the room. Soon I’d need to start dressing for dinner and it was almost impossible to get into an evening dress alone. I thought of going down to Mummy and seeing if her maid could do my hair for me, as promised. It would be interesting to see what I looked like, properly coiffured. Still no Queenie. I opened my wardrobe, cautiously, as I wasn’t sure what might be lurking inside something of that girth, and took out my one presentable dinner dress. I couldn’t wear it for a third night in a row, yet neither could I wear the one with the scorch marks. Too bad that my mother was such a tiny little person, I thought. I know she’d travel with oodles of delicious clothes. Suddenly I had a brain wave. Knowing Belinda, she would have come with a trunkful of fashionable dresses. Maybe she’d let me wear one of her dresses tonight.

I hurried down the first flight of stairs and along the hallway to where I thought Belinda’s room was. As I passed a door I heard voices—a man’s voice, low and calm, and a woman’s voice raised in anger and shrill. “What were you thinking?” she demanded in French. “How could you? It will be the end of everything.”

I didn’t hear the man’s reply. Interesting, I thought, and continued down the hall. At what I hoped was Belinda’s door I knocked, never knowing what might be going on in Belinda’s room. I waited, and I was about to go away when the door was opened by a bleary-eyed Belinda.

“Oh,” she said, eyeing me with disappointment. “I thought you might be Anton. Sorry. I was taking a much-needed nap before dinner. Is it time to dress?”

“Almost,” I said.

“Come on in, then,” she said and led me into a small square room. She flung herself back on the bed and closed her eyes again. I looked around. It was plain and simple by castle standards. No terrifying wardrobe or chest for her.

“So who dresses you?” I asked. “I take it you didn’t bring a spare maid along in your trunk, did you?”

“No, I left the faithful Florrie at home. She goes to pieces if I take her abroad. Luckily Matty is being sweet and sending her maid to take care of me when she’s finished dressing her mistress. Her room is right next door. As you can see, I’m in what was probably a dressing room originally. Dashed inconvenient actually, as I suspect that the walls aren’t exactly soundproof, and one does have the occasional nocturnal visitor.”

I perched on her bed. “Belinda, the way you carry on, don’t you ever worry about, you know, getting in the family way?”