a concoction of blended Scotch, amaretto and cointreau, which George invented last year. I don’t advise it.’
‘I call it Drummon Hell,’ Prince George told her proudly.
He had the reputation of being a bit of a hell-raiser and Bella had been wary of meeting him, but she found she liked him. It was impossible not to; he was a Labrador puppy in human form.
Bella took one of the glasses, with a word of thanks, and they moved further into the drawing room. As soon as they were out of earshot of the Queen she hissed, ‘I hate whisky.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll drink it.’
‘And I forgot to curtsey to your mother.’
‘She’ll get over it.’
‘But Lady Pansy won’t. She looked really disappointed. You know, more in sorrow than in anger.’
‘Pansy’s an old fart,’ he said brutally. ‘Don’t worry about it. Lots of people don’t curtsey these days.’
‘I have tried, honest. But I just can’t get the hang of it.’
‘No sweat. When you have to, it will come naturally.’
Bella was alarmed. ‘When I have to? What do you mean, have to? You just said lots of people don’t.’
Richard looked mischievous. ‘Wait and see.’
Bella looked round the room. There was a smattering of dinner jackets but the men were mostly in kilts, worn with crisp white shirts, a frilled or lacy stock, and a waisted black velvet jacket with gold buttons. They looked very fine. The women were more varied in their dress. If they had had the same instructions as Bella, none of them had resorted to stiff shiny satin and puffed sleeves. Some of the older ladies were wearing long white gloves, above the elbow. The cannier ones kept pashminas to hand. Bella saw that Lady Pansy herself was in a stiff violet crinoline that she had probably been wearing in the eighties.
No black permitted, Bella remembered from Lady Pansy’s notes, low necklines discouraged and sleeves were obligatory. Lottie had howled with laughter: ‘Where do they think they are? In a cathedral?’ she’d said. But now, looking at one of her fellow first-timers who had ignored the spirit of the notes and opted for festive décolletage, Bella felt sorry for the woman. Diamonds and gooseflesh was not a good look.
She did not have long to pity her, however. There were three mighty raps at the door, followed by an earsplitting noise like an elephant farting. Then the doors were flung open and in marched a piper, kilt swinging.
At once there was a scramble to fall in behind him.
George hissed in her ear, ‘We all march round the room after him, and divide so women go to the left and men to the right. Then we go down either side of the room and meet in front of the doors and join up with a partner and go into a Grand March.’
The name was vaguely familiar but that was all. ‘Sorry. My mind’s a blank.’
‘Don’t worry about it. It’s dead easy. Just do what everyone else does. All you need to do is make sure that nobody queue jumps when you go to meet your partner. It’s a favourite trick.’
‘I didn’t realise it was so competitive.’
‘Blood on the floor,’ said George cheerfully. ‘Keep your eye on Richard. You may need to make a grab.’ And he waved cheerily as he peeled off in the other direction.
‘I will.’
Bella nearly lost him, though, when Chloe, in a figure-hugging lacy dress that was only just this side of decent, darted in front of her at the last moment, just as Bella was about to step out in front of the big doors to meet him.
‘Excuse me,’ she said in a breathy, little girl voice that exactly matched her wide-eyed stare.
But Richard was too quick for her. With a nifty softshoe shuffle that Fred Astaire would not have been ashamed of, he slid momentarily out of his line and in again behind a grey-haired man, who at once stepped up to the place in front of the doors. The Hon Chloe had no choice. She gave the elderly party her hand and they marched off together down the middle of the drawing room, now cleared of furniture.
As they met and followed, Richard took Bella’s hand and laid it gently on his velvet-jacketed arm,
‘Fifteen love to us,’ he murmured.
A terrible desire to giggle took hold of her, as they marched solemnly down the freezing cold, overfurnished room, and round the edge again to join up in fours. The servants just about managed to clear a wide enough path through the