Thalia had been so intent on talking to the Earl that she had not realised when the waiters left the room that they had extinguished all the lights except for the four candles on the dining table.

There was, however, another light and, only as Thalia turned from the table, did she become aware of it.

She had been sitting with her back to the curtains at the end of the room that she supposed concealed a window.

Now they were slightly drawn back and she saw no window but another room in which was a bed.

There was a small chandelier containing three candles at the side of one of the curtains that draped it. There were lace-edged pillows and on the bed a cover of frilly pink, also a Boucher colour, decorated with love-knots and turquoise blue ribbons.

For a moment Thalia stood as if turned to stone. Then she moved towards her cloak, which was lying on a chair beside the sofa.

Only, as she reached it, did she realise that while she had left the table the Earl had not moved.

He was watching her from the high-backed chair in which he had sat at dinner and once again he held his glass in his hand.

“I wish to go home, my Lord.”

“Supposing I don’t let you?”

“I think you would find it – difficult to – prevent me.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Yes. Equally I should be very disappointed.”

“Disappointed?” the Earl questioned.

“When I was talking to you at dinner, I thought that you were not only intelligent but also a gentleman in the correct sense of the word. I would not wish to be disillusioned.”

“That sounds very plausible, Thalia, and what I might have expected from you,” the Earl said. “At the same time, since you have made it clear that you have no wish to see me again, what you feel about me after tonight can hardly be of any particular consequence.”

As Thalia sought for a reply, she thought that once again they were arguing as they had at dinner, almost as if they fought a duel with clever words.

Because she could find no ready answer, she bent down and picked up her cloak and put it over her shoulders.

“I intend to leave, my Lord,” she said. “Are you going to stop me by brute force? That, as you must know, is the last resort of an animal without brains.”

“No, I will not make that sort of attempt to stop you,” the Earl replied, “but shall I say instead that I will call on you tomorrow and, if you are not back from the shop where you enjoy working, then perhaps I will discuss the alternative situation I have offered you with your mother.”

Thalia gave a little gasp and then with her eyes blazing with anger she walked back towards the table.