Peaches and the Queen — Edith Layton

Presenting a never-before-published, holiday short story from Regency author Edith Layton!

Christmas is coming to Victorian London. A poor boy living with his milliner sister in a marginal part of town discovers his cat is missing. His old dog can't live without the cat, so he searches -- and hears that the Queen has kidnapped his cat! Queen Victoria's favorite moggie strayed, and her minions scooped up the wrong cat -- or so the boy and his sister think.

This Christmas novella tells how an earnest young Beefeater, his world-weary superior, and one of the wiliest criminals in London each try to find the right cat without disturbing the old queen, win the boy's cat back -- and woo the pretty sister -- before the Queen leaves London for her Christmas holiday.

From the servants at the palace and the Queen's own chambers, to Billingsgate and the mudlarks' favorite taverns, the adventures are many among the high- and low-life of Victorian London.