The Bishop said: ‘Is it Your Highness’s wish that I and Miss Elphinstone should follow the Princess?’

‘It might be a wise thing to do.’

‘Perhaps Miss Knight would accompany us,’ suggested Mercer.

Miss Knight, fearing that she was at any moment going to disgrace herself by bursting into tears, could only think of placating the Regent. ‘I could not bear to enter that house.’ she said with a shudder.

The Prince Regent was looking a trifle bored. He said: ‘You must do what you will. I am due at a card party at the Duke of York’s.’

With that he left them. They stood bemused, listening to the sound of his carriage wheels as they faded into silence.

When Charlotte snatched up her shawl and bonnet there was one thought in her mind: she must go to her mother. There she would find refuge. She would wait to consult no one … not even Mercer. She must delay not one second for if she did it might be too late. Only her mother could save her from … prison, for that was what it would be. Cranbourne Lodge would be far worse than anything that had happened before. She had defied her father and she was sure that he would never allow that to happen again, if he could help it. But her mother would protect her. She ought to have gone to her long before.

She ran out into the street where she had never been alone before. What did people do when they wanted to get from one place to another? They took a hackney coach and there was one coming towards her now.

‘Stop!’ she cried. ‘Stop!’

The whip was held up to denote that the coach was free and a whiskered face was close to hers.

‘Hop in, lady, and where do you want to go?’

‘To Connaught House. Do you know the way?’

‘Connaught House. That’s the Princess of Wales’s place, that is. That’s where you want to go, is it?’

‘Oh, yes, please, and quickly. Can you hurry?’

‘Anything to please a lady.’

Up the Haymarket and on to Oxford Street. Charlotte looked out on the passing scene. What was happening now at Warwick House? What was her father saying? Had he discovered her flight? There would be storms. But never mind, she would be with her mother and she would not leave her. They would live together and have the people on their side.

‘Connaught House, lady.’

And praise to God, there she was.

What did one do? Pay the man? She had no money.

‘Wait a moment,’ she cried imperiously. One of the doormen was gaping at her.

‘Your Royal Highness …’

‘Blimey!’ said Mr Higgins the hackney coachman.

‘Pray give this man three guineas,’ said the Princess. ‘He has driven me here and deserves it.’

What an adventure! thought Mr Higgins. He would talk of this night for the rest of his life. And three guineas! She was a real princess, this one.

Charlotte went into Connaught House. ‘Pray take me to the Princess of Wales at once,’ she said.

‘Your Highness, the Princess left an hour ago for Blackheath.’

‘Then let someone ride there immediately and tell her that I am here. It is a matter of the utmost importance.’

A messenger was hastily despatched.

Mr Higgins was not the only one who believed this was going to be a night to remember.

The groom who had been despatched to Blackheath caught up with the Princess of Wales in her carriage, accompanied by Lady Charlotte Lindsay on the way to Blackheath.

She put her head out of the window and asked what brought him.

‘Madam,’ she was told, ‘the Princess Charlotte has run away from Warwick House and is at Connaught House. She has come to you for protection, she says. She sent me off immediately to tell you so and to beg you to return.’

The Princess of Wales chuckled.

‘Well, this will cause a bit of excitement in some quarters, I know,’ she said to Lady Charlotte. ‘Turn the horses,’ she commanded. ‘We’re galloping back to London with all speed.’

On the way she said: ‘We’d better have Brougham and Whitbread. Oh yes, we’d better have this done in the right manner. I’ll swear he’s champing with rage. So she has run away from him to me! It’s the best thing that’s happened for a long time.

‘Call at Mr Brougham’s house,’ she shouted, ‘and after that at Mr Whitbread’s.’

She was laughing softly as she lay back against the upholstery.

Mercer was the first to arrive at Connaught House. When Charlotte saw her she went to her and embraced her.

‘My dearest Mercer, I knew you’d come. I won’t go back. I am going to live with my mother from now on. I should have done it years ago. She loves me. She wants me. He never did.’

‘The Bishop is downstairs,’ said Mercer. ‘We came together. It was not very wise of you to run out like that.’

‘It was the only thing I could think to do. I feared that if I stayed it would be too late. He was there … with the old Bishop ready to carry me off to prison. I would never have been allowed to come to my mother.’

‘Where is your mother?’

‘She had left for Blackheath. She will soon be with me for she was not very far on the road and I sent a groom galloping after her. I am sure she will be here soon.’

‘She may feel embarrassed because you have run to her.’

Charlotte laughed a little hysterically. ‘My mother never feels embarrassed.’

‘We must wait and see what she has to say … when she comes … if she comes,’ said Mercer.

‘If she comes! Of course she will come. She would never desert me. I can’t think why I didn’t see it before. I should have run away long ago.’

Mercer looked dubious and for once Charlotte did not believe her friend was entirely with her.

‘You saw my father?’ she asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And he is very angry. Mercer, you are not on his side?’

‘Sides?’ said Mercer. ‘Why should it be a matter of taking sides? While I think you were right to refuse Orange, I do not think you should have run away.’

Charlotte was crestfallen. Could it possibly be that Mercer was afraid of offending the Regent?

There was the sound of carriage wheels below. Charlotte had run to her window. The guttural penetrating tones of the Princess of Wales could be heard below.

Charlotte turned to Mercer triumphantly. ‘She’s come. She turned back immediately. I knew she would.’

She ran to the door. The Princess of Wales was coming up the stairs.

‘Where is Charlotte? Where is my daughter?’

‘Here, Mamma.’

The Princess Caroline opened her arms with a dramatic gesture and Charlotte threw herself into them.

‘So my angel came to her Mamma! Bless you, my precious daughter. And what is he going to do about this, eh?’

The embrace was suffocating; but it was what Charlotte needed. Reassurance. Security. At last she had come home.

‘Travelling makes me hungry. It’s dinner time. We’d better eat, my love. I’ve an idea we may have company tonight. Now, Lindsay, love, give the orders. Tell them that I’m back … if they don’t know it. Tell them that I’ve got a very important guest and I can’t let her starve.’

Charlotte began to laugh. ‘Oh, Mamma, it is so good to be with you.’

All this time, she thought, I have tried to love him when she was waiting to love me. It had had to be a matter of taking sides and now she had taken hers.

Dinner was served in the dining room. Caroline was in good spirits; she kept bursting into laughter, imagining the scenes that must be going on around the Regent.

She laughed hilariously and Charlotte, in a state of near hysteria, joined in. Mercer was cool and seemed remote. She was not so happy with the situation as Charlotte was.

When they were half way through dinner the carriages began to arrive. The Duke of Sussex was the first to come. He had not seen Caroline since the Delicate Investigation in which he had played a part, but they greeted each other affectionately. Charlotte was immediately aware of his dismay.

‘You shouldn’t have run away,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t wise.’

‘Should I have stayed to be a prisoner?’

‘You should have stayed,’ he told her.

‘I hope,’ said Charlotte, ‘that some of you are going to be on my side.’

‘We are on your side,’ he assured her.

‘Yes,’ she said bluntly, ‘and on my father’s at the same time.’

But there was her mother. She could rely on her.

Lord Eldon arrived. That coal heaver! thought Charlotte. Trust him to come. He would do all in his power to humiliate her.

Dinner was over and no one seemed to be quite so merry as they had before. People kept arriving and each one whispered to Charlotte that he wanted to help her but he feared she had acted rashly. The best thing was to return to Carlton House and then try to come to some agreement with her father.

To all this she replied: ‘No. I shall stay with my mother.’

Caroline whispered to her: ‘Brougham and Whitbread will be here soon. I called at their houses on my way but they weren’t at home. I left messages for them to come at once. They’ll be here soon.’

She was right. They arrived in due course and they both looked grave. Surely they were not going to tell her that she ought not to have come!

Miss Knight arrived – unlike herself and tearful. What had happened to Cornelia? Charlotte had thought she would be calm and precise in any circumstances, but it seemed that the Regent had the power to change people; he had certainly changed Cornelia.

‘I have brought Louisa Lewis with Your Highness’s night things,’ she said.

The Duke of York, who had since arrived, not very pleased to have been called from his card party, but kind and gentle with his niece as always, retorted: ‘Night things! Charlotte cannot stay here. My dear niece, you must not spend a night other than under your own roof or that of your father.’