She marched boldly to the entrance and May followed, glad to see that people were indeed going in and out without being challenged. They crossed a corridor and Mrs Kelly put her hand on May’s shoulder and pushed her gently through another doorway.

May gasped and stood speechless. Before her was a room so splendid and so beautiful that it surpassed anything she had ever seen in Mrs Kelly’s book of fairy tales. Above her head was a great, curved ceiling decorated with coloured panels; to either side, tall red columns, which glowed in the light of many lamps, rose to support the roof, and between them were sculpted figures of men. But it was the floor that held her entranced. Made up of hundreds of vividly coloured tiles, it had a border of intricately patterned squares, while in the centre was a design that looked like a many-pointed star surrounding a circle of bright blue.

‘What is that, in the middle of the floor,’ May asked, when she had got her breath back.

‘That’s the royal coat of arms, the queen’s own special symbol.’

May’s eyes wandered over the floor. There were flowers and sea creatures and geometric patterns. It was too much to take in at one go.

‘Well?’ Mrs Kelly asked quietly, after a few minutes.

‘Oh, ma’am! It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Thank you! Thank you for bringing me here.’

The teacher smiled. ‘I thought you would appreciate it. I think it is a wonderful work of art.’

‘But how was it made?’ May asked. ‘It’s all such tiny pieces.’

‘The design was drawn by a man called Charles Cockerell. The tiles were made in the Midlands by a company called Minton, but the actual laying of them was done by Italian craftsmen who were brought here specially because they were experts in this kind of work.’

‘It must be wonderful to be able to design something like this,’ May murmured.

‘Yes, indeed. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be done on such a huge scale. Small things can be beautiful too. Now, have you seen enough? I think we should be moving on.’

May turned away unwillingly, but as they made their way out of the entrance something else caught her eye.

‘Oh, ma’am. Look at that lady’s hat!’

Mrs Kelly laughed. ‘You see? As I said, things don’t have to be on a huge scale to be beautiful.’

‘It’s got a bird on it!’

‘Not a live bird. Just a model made of bird’s feathers. Look, over there. There’s another one.’

‘Oh, it’s got flowers and ribbons, and there’s another one with more feathers, but different. I wish I could have a hat like that!’