“I hope she is capable of it,” the Marquis remarked coldly as if it was improbable that she would be.

Gretna was just about to protest when she remembered what he thought of Mistress Fitzherbert and pressed her lips together.

‘I must get away,’ she thought to herself a little wildly.

She picked up her bonnet from the floor and rose to her feet.

“I would not appear rude for the second time, my Lord. But it is getting late. I have to find my friend and I wish – to be on my way.”

“My carriage is waiting for you and will convey you to wherever you desire to go,” he replied.

“Your carriage,” she exclaimed in dismay. “Oh, I would not want to put you to any inconvenience. A Hackney carriage – is all I require.”

“Since you have not been particularly fortunate in that mode of transport up till now, I suggest you avail yourself of my offer,” the Marquis retorted. “My coachman is entirely trustworthy and, if it will make you any happier, I will not offer to accompany you.”

“I thank you – my Lord,” Gretna said in such a tone of relief that he laughed.

“You are at least honest. Is my company really so obnoxious to you?”

“No, no, please, you are not – to think that,” Gretna said quickly. She wrung her hands. “Oh, dear! Once again I am being rude. I did not – mean it, my Lord, I promise you.”

“I believe you. I can quite understand your feelings in not wishing to arrive at your friend’s house with a gentleman in attendance. It would only require more explanations. No, you must just tell her that after an accident to the stagecoach, which happened near my house, I arranged for my coach to see you safely to your destination’s end. Will that suffice?”

“Yes – indeed.”

“Well, that is settled then.”

“I had best – go,” Gretna said, making a move as if to walk towards the door.

“One moment!”

The Marquis’s voice arrested her. She had half-turned away from him and now she turned back.

He was looking very grave, she thought, and yet somehow she fancied that there was still a ghost of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

She could not help thinking how well he fitted into this luxurious and yet so obviously a man’s room.

His travelling coat of steel grey was plain enough and yet anything he wore appeared to acquire an elegance and at the same time a grandeur that Gretna thought suddenly would have made him outstanding in whatever company he found himself.

She realised suddenly that after commanding her to wait he had not spoken and now she looked up wonderingly into his face, curious as to what he was about to say.