So that left only the rumour of homosexuality, something that was always a possibility. Even he, a happy and untroubled homosexual, had to be fiercely secretive about being one, and Sergei was a highly decorated military officer and Major-General of the elite 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment. If the rumours about him were ever substantiated, it would mean Sergei being stripped of his rank, his military decorations and, most probably – and most devastating of all for a Russian – exile.

Was that why, in the royal world of early marriages, Sergei had waited until he was nearly thirty before he had married Ella? For anyone who was sexually deviant, marriage was the greatest of all cover-ups, and something nearly all men of his own persuasion resorted to eventually. It was something Ernie knew that he, too, would resort to one day, but with luck, that day still lay some way in the future.

The ball that evening was to take place in the Winter Palace, and Ella and Alicky, assisted by half a dozen ladies’ maids each, dressed for it in the palace together. Ella wore a dazzling Parisian gown of the same ruby-red as the rubies at her ears, throat, wrists and at the centre of her diamond tiara. Alicky, because of her age, was all in white. Her décolleté, off-the-shoulder gown was of silver-beaded chiffon, sashed in silk, and in her hair were white roses that had been sent by train from the Crimea. Her jewellery was demure: a single string of pearls and matching drop-earrings that had once belonged to her mother.

Looking in the mirror, wearing her white elbow-length gloves and carrying a swan-feather fan, Alicky realized for the first time that although she wasn’t beautiful in the way Ella was, she was beautiful in her own, very different way.

As if reading Alicky’s thoughts, Ella said, ‘You look as beautiful as a snow princess from a Russian fairy-tale, but try and remember not to give the impression of being as icily cold and frigid as a snow princess. I know how you hate being amongst vast numbers of people who aren’t familiar to you, but as my sister and as a visitor, you will attract a lot of attention. If you keep a smile on your face, there will be nothing for you to worry about. Everyone will love you.’

Alicky steeled herself for the aspect of the evening that she knew was going to be an ordeal. Struggling to keep the nervousness she now felt from showing in her voice, she asked, ‘How many people are likely to be at the ball, Ella? Three hundred? Four hundred?’

‘Goodness, no.’ There was loving laughter in Ella’s voice. ‘This isn’t Darmstadt. The standard number at a Winter Palace ball is three thousand, and the ballroom and the galleries surrounding it are so vast they can accommodate that number of people easily.’