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PROLOGUE

Hyde Park, London

8 April 1912

AS SHE FELL to her knees and burst into tears, he looked all around the park Just as he’d expected, it was e wouldn’t be fashionable for a long tiars who slept on park benches with nothing but newspaper over them

He carefully wrapped the chronograph in its cloth and slipped it into his backpack

She was huddled beside one of the trees on the north bank of the Serpentine, on a carpet of faded crocuses

Her shoulders were shaking, and her sobs sounded like the desperate cries of an injured animal He could hardly bear it But he knew from experience that it was better to leave her alone So he sat down beside her in the dew-covered grass, gazed at the smooth surface of the water, and waited

“Have tissues been invented yet?” she finally sniffed, turning her tearstained face to him

“No idea,” he said “But I can offer you a ht for this period”

“GM Did you pinch it from Grace?”

“She gave it to me, don’t worry You can blow your nose on it all you like, Princess”

She smiled wryly as she handed him the handkerchief “Now it’s ruined Sorry about that”

“Oh, never ”

Tears shot straight back into her eyes “We shouldn’t have abandoned her She needs us! We’ve no idea if our bluff ork … and no chance of ever finding out now”

“We’d have been even less use to her dead”