Just for a moment the corners of her mouth twitched and he thought that he saw the suspicion of a twinkle in her downcast eyes as if she told him without words that for many women, whatever one did to make them look beautiful and however much they hoped and paid, it was an impossible task.

It was strange, the Earl thought, but he knew that was what she was thinking, even though she had said not a word.

The milliner stood waiting and now, as if she felt that he was being unnecessarily tardy in paying the bill, she held out her hand.

It was a small exquisitely shaped hand with long thin fingers and she wore, the Earl noted, no rings.

“Thank you, my Lord.”

She was prompting him, almost demanding the money and, as if she goaded him into a reply, he said,

“Here is the amount that is on the bill, and here is a guinea for yourself.”

It was then she raised her eyes to look into his and he saw a flash of anger in them.

For one moment he thought that she was about to refuse to accept his ‘tip’. Then, almost as if she recollected something, perhaps the position in which she found herself, she merely said in what he thought was a deliberately meek manner,

“Thank you – my Lord. I am – of course – grateful.”

She curtseyed, took the money from his hand and turned away with what was suspiciously like a little flounce of her gown.

Then she gathered up her boxes and had gone from the room without speaking another word, not even to her client.

Chapter Two

Thalia came out of the back door of Mrs. Burton’s millinery shop and looked to where, at the end of the street, a figure was waiting.

She hurried towards an elderly woman dressed like a respectable servant, who smiled as she approached.

“I am sorry, Hannah, if I kept you waiting,” Thalia said, “but there were lots of boxes to pack up at the last moment. Thank goodness I did not have to deliver them.”

“It’s not right for you to do such menial jobs anyway!” Hannah answered crossly.

Thalia laughed.

“Beggars cannot be choosers, as you well know, and actually I have had a most entertaining day. I will not tell you about it now, but will wait until we reach Mama. How is she?”

“As she always is,” Hannah replied, “countin’ the days until your father’s return and watchin’ for a letter that never comes!”

Again Hannah’s voice was sharp with anger and Thalia understood because, if there was one person whom Hannah adored, it was her mother.

They walked briskly along the streets that were not so crowded as they had been earlier in the day until they reached Hay Hill.

At the bottom they crossed the road and entered Lansdowne Passage.