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anyone, but she said glibly and without thinking as she always did, ‘Oh, office work, typing, that kind of thing.’
    Barbara’s mouth curled in contempt. ‘No uniform, no real war work?’
    Georgia sprang to her defence. ‘Lots of people did all kinds of important things in the war and they didn’t wear uniform. My mother did lots and she was never in any of the armed forces. She drove an ambulance.’
    Any moment now, somebody was going to ask Georgia where her mother was, and Freya decided to prevent this happening by saying decisively that they would take coffee in the library. ‘Georgia, why don’t you give Mrs Partridge a hand clearing the table and then you can help with the coffee.’
    Georgia rose slowly to her feet, not looking as though she was very keen on the idea. Rather to Freya’s surprise, Polly said, ‘I’ll help, too.’
    ‘That’s right, Polly, you give a hand with the washing up as well,’ Gus said. ‘That was a most delicious meal, Mrs Partridge. You are some cook.’
    Mrs Partridge nodded her head in recognition of what was her due, and then said, ‘We’ll have to see about getting ration books for all of you.’
    Barbara, who was going out of the door, stopped and looked round, her mouth in an O of surprise. ‘Rationing! You can’t be serious. What’s rationed?’
    Georgia was very happy to tell her. ‘Meat and bacon and butter and sugar.’
    Freya said, ‘It isn’t as bad as Georgia makes it sound, because everything is gradually coming off rationing. And living in the country with so much provided on the estate you won’t go short of anything here. But Mrs Partridge is right, you’ll all need ration books.’
    Polly said, ‘I read about rationing and austerity. But you do have lights. I thought everybody in England sat about in the dark, because there isn’t enough coal or enough power to keep the electricity on.’
    Hugo said, sounding amused, ‘It’s been difficult, but things are better now.’
    Gus said genially, ‘I, too, am pleased to see electricity in the Castle. I had wondered whether we would have to cope with candles, oil lamps and flares on the wall.’
    Freya said, ‘My uncle was always very up to date. And when the Castle was requisitioned during the war, the Army did a lot of work on the plumbing and wiring and so on. Although there are still parts where it needs modernising.’
    Polly said, ‘Pops is keen on electricity. He loves messing about with wires and things.’
    Gus stood by to let Freya leave the room in front of him. ‘I kind of got interested in it because of going on some archaeological expeditions. I’m no archaeologist myself, the written word is my thing, but I like to keep up with what’s going on in the field. Some of these sites you need to know how to use a generator and rig up lighting.’
    ‘There are dungeons here you could excavate,’ Georgia said. ‘Bet you’d find all sorts of interesting things.’ She gave Polly a sideways look. ‘Skeletons, I shouldn’t be surprised.’

Chapter Two
    Scene 1
    Lady Sonia was spending the midnight hours at the Blue Venetian, a newly fashionable London nightclub. Rupert Dauntsey, coming on after a dinner party, had stopped off in the hope of finding her. She waved at him to come over and join her table.
    ‘All by yourself, Sonia? That doesn’t seem like you.’
    She gestured towards the tiny dance floor, where couples, picked out in pools of blue from the spotlights, were dancing. ‘I’m with the Hunsonbys, but they’re on the floor. Sit down, it’s an age since I’ve seen you.’
    Rupert said, ‘No, let’s dance.’ He liked dancing with Sonia, who was light on her feet. He pulled her chair back for her, and they went on to the floor, moving into a swift quickstep.
    Sonia was wearing one of her Paris frocks and was looking at her best. Hers was a Plantagenet beauty, marred only by a frequent look of discontent, which made her perfect Elizabeth Arden mouth droop at the