“You might consider falling in love first and then marrying the man in question.”

“Odd advice coming from you. And how long shall I wait for that to happen, dear sister?” Camille wrinkled her nose. “We have, after all, passed our thirtieth year, and who knows how many more opportunities for . . .”

“Happiness?” Beryl offered.

“Exactly.” Camille nodded. “This may be my last chance. I have no doubt he will make me very happy, and I intend to be an excellent wife.”

“And princess.”

“I shall make a very good princess.” Camille grinned. “We shall have little princes and princesses and grow old together. And we shall be very, very happy.”

Beryl smiled. “Then you should let nothing stand in your way.”

“I don’t intend to.” She drew a deep breath. “But I will need your assistance.”

“Oh?”

“I intend to go to Mother’s house the day after tomorrow, and it certainly wouldn’t be Christmas without my sister, my twin sister. . . .”

Beryl’s eyes narrowed.

“So”—Camille’s words came out in a rush—“I do hope you and Lionel will join us for Christmas in the country.”

“Us?”

Camille nodded.

“As in you, the prince and a troupe of actors pretending to be family?”

Camille sighed. “It sounds rather absurd when you say it that way.”

“There’s no way to say it that it doesn’t sound absurd.”

“You must understand, it’s not simply that we are not especially traditional, but Nikolai seems to have some sort of odd passion for an English Christmas. Yet another eccentricity, but then foreigners can be so very . . .”

“Foreign?” Beryl offered.

“Exactly.” Camille nodded. “He has read all of Mr. Dickens’s Christmas works. Oh, The Cricket on the Hearth and The Chimes and, of course, A Christmas Carol. And I want to give him a traditional English Christmas, with a proper sort of English family. It’s what he longs for.” She forced a wistful note to her voice. “It seems so very little, really.”

“As well as convince him he would not be marrying into a family of questionable propriety.”

“Oh, well, yes. That too.” Camille waved off the comment.

Beryl thought for a moment. “This is not the sort of thing Lionel would favor.”

“But surely for a man who wishes to be prime minister, it cannot but be helpful to know a foreign head of state.”

“You do have a point there.”

Camille stifled a satisfied smile. “And you can make him see how important it is to me. Besides, it’s been years since either of us spent Christmas at the country house. It will be like it was when we were children. We shall decorate and have a Yule log and sing carols and it shall be quite, quite wonderful.” A pleading note sounded in her voice. “Oh, please, Beryl, do this for me. I promise never to ask you to do anything involving actors for Christmas ever again.”