“What can you mean, Sire?” Maria enquired anxiously.

“I have thought of something,” the Prince said in a very different voice from the way he had been declaiming so wildly the moment before. “It will be sensational, it will be worth it to see my father’s face. I will call his bluff, if bluff it is. And if not then I will carry out my threats to the very letter.”

“You must tell me, Sire, what you intend to do,” Maria pleaded unhappily.

To Gretna’s astonishment the Prince, where he had been in the utter depths of despondency, now seemed quite animated. She had realised before that he was always in extremes and, now that he was resolved upon a certain step, it was quite obvious that nothing anyone could say would stop him.

“I want writing paper and a quill,” he demanded.

“Pray, don’t do anything rash,” Maria begged him. “Let me send for Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan. Let’s at least consult with them before you take any decisive step.”

“I have made up my mind,” the Prince insisted airily. “I have been crushed and put upon long enough. I am a man not a frightened boy to stand trembling in case I don’t receive my week’s pocket money. No, His Majesty shall have a reply. The reply of a man who will stand no more of this infamous and unreasonable treatment.”

“Oh, please, Sire, please!” Maria appealed to him.

She put her hand on his arm as he walked towards the writing table.

He picked up the quill and raised it to his lips.

“Marriage, Maria! That is the condition. Marriage! We both know the answer to that command.”

“Sire! Sire! You must be subtle, you must be clever over this and you must not do anything rash.”

“I shall do what should have been done before,” the Prince said. “I will send my father an ultimatum that either he pays my debts or I will take steps immediately to economise in a manner such as neither he nor his pie-faced advisers have ever imagined possible.”

“But, how can – you do that, Sire,” Gretna asked.

It was presumptuous of her to ask the question and yet she could not help it bursting from her lips.

The Prince looked across the room at her with a faint smile on his face.

“I shall do just what you suggested. I shall shut up Carlton House, sell my horses and reduce every expense in my household, even those necessary to my birth and rank, until I have totally liberated myself from my present embarrassments.”

“But, Sire, you cannot do such a thing,” Gretna protested.