‘Oh, look, our first course is here,’ Millie announced, grateful for the distraction.

Suddenly, all one hundred guests had steaming-hot bowls of soup in front of them. Jacinta marvelled at the efficiency of Her Majesty’s wait staff and wondered how on earth the chefs managed to serve up that many plates all at the same time.

‘Hello Mr Balfour.’ Alice-Miranda turned and smiled at the butler after he set a bowl of soup down in front of her and another in front of Caprice.

‘Hello Miss Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones,’ the man whispered, keeping an eye on Langley. He knew the man would disapprove of his fraternising with the guests.

‘What’s this slop?’ Edgar demanded.

‘It looks like mushroom soup to me,’ Millie said, staring at the creamy brown liquid in front of her.

Edgar dropped his napkin on the floor. Just as he leaned down, Braxton Balfour swooped in to pick it up. ‘Leave it!’ the boy barked. ‘I can do it.’

Braxton Balfour looked as if he’d almost had his fingers taken off by a terrier. ‘Sorry, Sir,’ the man mumbled, stepping back.

Edgar tugged on Caprice’s arm. She ducked her head down, pretending to search for Edgar’s napkin. ‘Did you do it?’ the lad asked.

Caprice smirked. ‘Of course I did.’

‘How did you know which one was hers?’ the boy asked.

‘I checked the plan that was on the wall in the kitchen. That Langley is really obsessive-compulsive,’ Caprice whispered. She sat up and passed Edgar his napkin.

‘This soup smells delicious,’ Alice-Miranda said, smiling at Caprice.

‘It’s just mushrooms,’ Caprice replied. She promptly turned to continue talking to Edgar.

All around the table, diners were delicately dipping their spoons into their soup bowls in the proper fashion, pushing the spoon from the front to the back. Except, not everyone was finding it as easy as they should have.

‘Gosh, this soup is thick,’ Millie said as she tried to push her spoon through the bowl.

Jacinta looked over at Millie. ‘What’s wrong?’

Millie frowned. ‘My spoon’s stuck.’

‘Well, that’s ridiculous.’ Jacinta leaned over to take a closer look.

It seemed that Millie wasn’t the only one having trouble.

‘Freddy, what on earth are you doing?’ Elsa whispered to her husband.

‘There’s something wrong with my soup,’ Freddy whispered back while trying to force his spoon through the bowl.

‘Yum, this is delicious.’ Alice-Miranda took a spoonful of soup and smiled at Caprice. ‘Your mother is a whiz.’

Edgar’s jaw dropped and he elbowed Caprice sharply in the ribs.

‘Ow!’ the girl protested.

‘I thought you had this all worked out,’ the boy said through gritted teeth.

‘I did!’ Caprice snapped. ‘Those idiots must have got the bowls out of order.’

Several guests were having similar troubles.

‘I say, this soup is awfully stodgy,’ Lord Luttrell commented as he attempted to dig his way through it.

‘What’s wrong with it?’ Sloane asked as Millie wrestled with her spoon.

‘I don’t know.’ Millie battled on, determined to get a taste. She gave it one last push until the spoon released without warning. A huge brown splodge flew across the table and smacked Caprice right on the nose.

‘Ahhh!’ the girl shrieked like a banshee. Caprice picked up her own spoon, poised to launch a counterattack.

Alice-Miranda flung her arm out to stop her. ‘No!’

A little further down the table Lord Luttrell had also finally managed to free his spoon, flinging a glob of soup at Lord Adams.

‘Steady on, Luttrell!’ Lord Adams exclaimed, wiping at his forehead with his napkin.

Queen Georgiana looked up and was stunned to see soup catapulting from one side of the table to the other. ‘Good heavens! This is not the dining room at Fayle, for Lord’s sake.’ Her Majesty shouted. ‘Langley!’

The butler’s eyes were almost popping out of his head.

Edgar and Louis both glared at Caprice, who was mopping at her face and snivelling.

‘You were supposed to only put one strip on her bowl,’ Edgar hissed, pointing to Alice-Miranda.

Caprice wrinkled her nose. ‘Well, there was some left over and I wanted to be sure.’

‘Caprice, I’m so sorry!’ Millie exclaimed. ‘My spoon was stuck and I couldn’t get it out. I don’t know what happened.’

Suddenly, a huge dollop of soup flew into the air and landed with a splash on the front of Alice-Miranda’s dress. She had no idea where it had come from but the look on Freddy’s face said it all. The man’s jaw just about hit the table.

‘Oops.’ Alice-Miranda picked up her napkin and dabbed at the runny mess.

Queen Georgiana leapt to her feet. ‘Stop! Stop this at once!’ she commanded.

The chinking of cutlery silenced and the guests stared at one another, wondering what on earth had just happened.

‘What’s the matter?’ Lawrence glanced to his right and realised that several of the diners including his niece were covered in soup. ‘Oh dear, what a mess!’

Further down the table, Marjorie Plunkett twitched nervously. She wondered if whoever was sending those notes had created the soup fiasco as some sort of diversion, though it did just seem like a childish prank.

‘Freddy, pick up your bowl, please,’ the Queen directed.

The man balanced the dish while his mother felt around underneath it.

‘Aha! There’s something here.’ She picked at the thin strip on the underside of the crockery.

Millie held up her bowl and Jacinta did the same, nimbly releasing the offending magnetic gunk and holding it up for all to see.

‘What’s that?’ Sep asked.

All of a sudden Jacinta’s salad fork flew up from the table and attached itself to the strip.

‘How curious,’ Marjorie marvelled at the hovering cutlery.

‘It’s magnetic,’ Lord Adams said, examining his strip. ‘Must be terribly strong.’

Queen Georgiana had managed to prise the strip from her son’s bowl and now had a jangling row of silverware hanging off it too.

‘My dear guests, I do apologise for this dreadful trick,’ she said. ‘Rest assured that I will arrange to have your clothes cleaned and the expenses taken from the allowance of the two boys whom I suspect are responsible.’ The Queen glanced from one side of the table to the other, staring down her grandsons. Louis and Edgar sank in their seats. ‘If anyone needs to freshen up, we’ll hold off the next course until you return.’

Freddy glared at his sons. ‘It’s all right, Mama. I’ll deal with those two after dinner. And I promise you – losing their pocket money will be just the start.’

Queen Georgiana felt the tickle of a grin on her lips. While she was utterly horrified by her grandsons’ behaviour, hearing their father step up to the mark was a very pleasant surprise.

Several of the diners began to make a move.

Alice-Miranda looked at Caprice. ‘Do you want to go upstairs and get changed?’ she asked.

Caprice wiped her tear-stained face and nodded.

Millie watched from the other side of the table. She had a nagging suspicion the girl had something to do with the debacle. But she had no proof and there was no point accusing Caprice without it.