It was not the first time that Henry had been sent on strange missions for his employer and, as he was usually the conveyor of notes, flowers and presents to the ladies the Earl was interested in, he referred to himself jokingly when he was among the other servants as ‘Eros’.

“Get along with you!” the housemaids would say. “You ain’t got no wings, ’Enry, and never likely to ’ave ’em!”

“You’ve got no idea what I can do with me bow and arrow,” Henry would boast.

They would scream with laughter as he chased them round the passages at the back of Hellington House, only to be reproved by the butler or the housekeeper for making a noise.

Now he jumped down from the phaeton and made his way back towards Shepherd’s Market.

Like all his Lordship’s staff, he admired the Earl wholeheartedly not only for his appearance but also because he was an outstanding sportsman and it was therefore a very enviable position to be in his employment.

The Earl was not aware that the servants who had been with him since he returned from the War all preferred service with a bachelor.

Most of them had found that in a position where their employer had a wife, life was far more arduous, far more difficult and there was inevitably much less freedom.

The Earl expected everything to be perfect where he was concerned, but he was never niggardly or petty.

There was no one amongst his servants who had not tales to tell of how difficult their lives could be when there was a nagging mistress, or worse still, a cheese-paring one, in contrast with the tolerance of a good Master.

Of one thing Henry was sure, that the Earl would not be looking for a wife in Shepherd’s Market, in fact, he assumed that he had altogether another position in mind for the girl in grey.

There had been bets in the stables for some time as to how soon the place left empty by the last ‘bit of muslin’ would be filled.

‘Bet her jumps at the chance,’ Henry said to himself.

*

It was after six o’clock when the Earl, reading the newspapers in the library at Hellington House, was interrupted by the butler to say that Henry wished to speak to him.

“Show him in!” the Earl ordered.

Henry came into the room and there was a smile on his face that told the Earl before he spoke that his mission had been successful.

He was a very small and wiry little man who looked far younger than he actually was and had, as the Earl was well aware, an exceptional way with horses.

He was also completely honest, but he had an adventurous streak that, the Earl thought, complemented his own.

He put down The Morning Post.

“Well, Henry?”