She was thinking that when her husband had to flee the country he had thought that, with what he had left them, they would at least be comfortably provided for until his return.

It had been one of those dramatic and unexpected events that had dropped like a meteor from the skies to change the lives of people when they were least expecting it.

Sir Denzil Caversham had always been a charming but impetuous man who, ever since he was a small boy, had got into unexpected scrapes.

He had been in trouble at school, at his University and even at one time in his Regiment.

Then he had married and settled down and his relatives had thought that their anxieties regarding him were over.

He would live the quiet life of the country Squire, happy with his beautiful wife and content with the ancient Manor House and estate, which had been in the Caversham family for five hundred years.

But Sir Denzil had been a man who needed friends and he had found it impossible to keep away from his Clubs, from the excitement and entertainments of London, where the companions of his more raffish days welcomed his return effusively.

Although he could not afford it, he and his wife had rented a house in Mayfair for the Season and regardless of expense had entertained until they were back in the swim of what was known as the Beau Monde.

As Lady Caversham was extremely beautiful, she had enjoyed the balls, the Receptions and the assemblies almost as much as her husband did.

They returned to the country only for the hunting and shooting and gradually had begun to spend more time in London, arriving almost before the daffodils were in bud, and leaving often long after the Season had come to an end with the Prince Regent moving from Carlton House to Brighton.

It was only Thalia who missed the country even though she enjoyed the teachers and Tutors who came to the house in Brook Street.

But they could not make up for the fact that riding in Hyde Park was not the same as riding over the fields at home, and her dogs had to be left behind because she could not exercise them as much as they needed in London.

Then three years ago disaster had struck.

Sir Denzil, who was inclined to be unpredictable especially when he had been drinking, got into an argument at White’s Club over some quite trivial subject that ended in his being insulted.

Thalia was never quite certain what the real source of the quarrel was in the first place, although she suspected it concerned a woman.

Whatever it was, it resulted in Sir Denzil being involved in a duel, his opponent being a Statesman of considerable stature.

They met at dawn in St James’s Park and Lady Caversham was not told of what was happening until the duel was over.