baroness

But the balancing act ended when she read from the Old Testament—Jewish Scripture—on a day of national celebration, and the 13-year-old daughter of a baroness loyal to the Nazis informed on her.

“We hoped Ashton would give up, but he had his spies watching us, always. Some awful baroness . . . an earl of something or other . . . ,” Mater Lumley said.

“Is that any way to greet a baroness?”

Penelope hoped that the presence of her husband did not mean the baroness was now being entertained at the house as well.

The baroness described the court ruling as "nothing less than an establishment win for the government in a case that was too big to lose".