The bottle was quite full of a white, colourless liquid.

Jenny Prask nodded to herself and carefully put the bottle back.

There was very little she did not know about the proceedings of her mistress.

Then she went out of the room into the gallery, and peeped down to watch the other guests assemble.

She saw Miranda Brown, Stella, Sir Chichester Splay, Dennis and Harry Luttrell come from their different rooms and gather in the hall below.