It was only as she nearly reached the landing that she thought she must try to hear what her mother and the Prince were saying and came down several steps.

The door of the salon was open.

“I told you she would be sorry,” Lady Maude remarked. “I am sure in her heart that she is very much in love with Your Highness. It is just that she is so unsophisticated, so very inexperienced.”

“And that is how I wish her to be,” the Prince replied. “But I think my tablets have taken away some of the fear.”

“They have made her very sleepy,” Lady Maude commented.

“That will not matter until we are married,” the Prince answered. “I have decided that you should send the announcement to The Gazette tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, Your Highness, I am so glad!” Lady Maude enthused.

“And we will be married next week,” the Prince went on. “That will give you time to ask your friends to the Ceremony, which must be, of course, a very fashionable one and to arrange the Reception.”

“Next week!” Lady Maude faltered.

“I wish to have Alyna quickly to myself,” the Prince answered. “What is more, as soon as our honeymoon is over, I intend to return to Kahriz.”

“You are taking her with you?”

“But naturally. She must take her place as my wife and my people will wish to see her.”

“I think, Your Highness, Alyna will find it very strange to leave England so quickly after you are married.”

“Once we are married and she is mine,” the Prince answered, “Alyna must learn to do as she is told. As I have already said to your Ladyship, I anticipate no difficulty.”

There was something in his voice that made Alyna shiver and she realised that she could listen no more.

She went up to her bedroom and closed the door.

Then, as she was changing her gown, she heard the Prince’s voice in the street outside and, peeping between the curtains, saw her mother step into his coach.

He followed, giving the footman the name of a well-known gambling house.

Alyna let the curtain fall.

They were gone and the coast was clear.

Swiftly she did up her gown and put a dark cloak over her shoulders.

Taking a note from a drawer she put it on the dressing table.

Then she put the pillows of the bed under the bedclothes so that anyone coming into the room would think, by the light of a candle, that she was in bed and asleep.

Leaving the room in darkness, she went out onto the landing and began to descend the backstairs.

This was a dangerous moment, but she was certain that the servants would be in the basement having their own supper.