They settled at the table which overlooked Green Park to Marion’s right and the room with its inquisitive tea drinkers to her left.

Tommy ordered without asking her opinion. ‘Two teas, please, with cheese scones and butter.’

The waitress departed and Tommy spotted someone he knew across the room and waved. Marion looked over her shoulder to see who: an older woman with scarlet lipstick swiped above and beyond the outline of her lips (and with a lot of it tinting her teeth) was grinning at him and beckoning him over.

Tommy shook his head, tapping his watch and mouthing, ‘No time. Sorry.’

The tea and scones arrived. After the waitress had left, Tommy bowed his head a little and bent towards Marion, whispering, ‘Frightful woman. An American journalist, Mrs Beatrice Gould. To be avoided at all costs. How’s your tea?’

‘Very nice, thank you.’

‘Wait until you taste the scones. Heavenly. Joan and I come here whenever we feel the need to be bucked up. She’s in the country most of the time. West Sussex, place called Bepton. London is no place for the children.’ He stopped buttering his scone and looked up at her. ‘Unless you are a princess, eh?’

Marion had just taken a bite of scone and was unable to reply.

Tommy carried on. ‘How is it going in the schoolroom?’

She swallowed and took a sip of tea to help wash down the delicate crumbs. ‘Very well, thank you.’

‘Not too much interference from their mother?’

‘She is very supportive,’ Marion answered carefully. ‘Why do you ask?’

Tommy wiped his neat moustache with his napkin. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not trying to catch you out. It’s the Queen who tells me how frustrating the Duchess can be. No regard for your timetable, I suppose?’

‘We have mornings in the schoolroom, then in the afternoon we play in the garden, or sometimes the Duchess takes them out.’

Tommy put his teacup down. ‘I applaud your diplomacy, Miss Crawford. Many others would – and have – been gossiping with me by now.’ He held his hand up to stop her protestations. ‘I promise I have not brought you here to test your loyalty, but if I had, you would have passed the test.’

Marion didn’t answer.

He pressed her. ‘So, why did you come to work for the family?’

No one had really asked her this before, so her answer was unprepared. ‘It was all rather odd really,’ she said. ‘I had a place waiting for me at Glasgow University to study child psychology. There is a lot to learn. The importance of a decent diet, good education and nurture cannot be underestimated in the development of the brain. We have many children living with little food, love or education in Scotland. Without those basics, their futures promise little.’ Marion stopped, embarrassed suddenly by her own passion. ‘Sorry.’

Tommy raised his eyebrows. ‘Whatever for! Tell me more.’

‘My own upbringing was happy, but hardly wealthy. I needed to earn some money to pay my university fees, so I took a summer job looking after the children of the Earl of Elgin, in Scotland.’