He paused before he added very quietly,

“And that is all that matters for the moment.”

They dined in the oval dining room, where the polished table, clothless in the fashion set by the Prince Regent and decorated with gold candelabra and magnificent gold plate, was to Thalia as fascinating as if she were watching a performance at Covent Garden.

The servants moved silently dressed in their livery coats with crested buttons, serving them with exotic dishes on what she knew was extremely rare and beautiful Sèvres china.

To Thalia it was an enchantment that until now had existed only in her books of fairy stories, but she knew that the centrepiece of what was almost a pageant being unfurled before her eyes was the Earl himself.

If last night he had seemed imposing in the private room where they had dined, tonight sitting against the crimson velvet background of his chair at the top of the table he was magnificent.

His cravat was tied in an intricate design that she had never seen before and, as his eyes searched her face in the light of the candles, she felt as if she was playing the leading role in a drama.

They talked not exactly as they had done the night before, because there were often pauses in the conversation, yet, although they were silent, it was as if they were still communicating without words.

Thalia felt a strange excitement and there was also a shyness that she did not understand the reason for.

She told herself it was because she had never before been in such grand surroundings or alone with a man who was so splendid in his appearance.

As soon as the dinner was over, they left the dining room, the Earl walking beside her towards the salon, and then she said,

“I would like to look at your treasures, my Lord.”

“That, before you arrived, was what I wanted you to do,” he answered. “I wished to see if you appreciated them, but now they are unimportant beside you.”

“You are – flattering me.”

“I am speaking the truth.”

As they walked into the salon and she seated herself on the sofa, he said, looking down at her,

“I keep wondering what you have done to me. Ever since I have known you I find it hard to think of anything but you. When I went riding this morning, I felt that you were riding beside me and, when I came back to find your note saying that you would not meet me this evening, I felt an emotion I have never encountered before. It was one of despair.”

The way he spoke made it impossible for Thalia to answer him lightly.

For a moment she did not speak.

Then she said,

“I think what you are feeling is simply irritation because having been – spoilt all your life, for once you are – unable to have your own – way.”