“I must see him, there is nothing to be gained.by not hearing what he has to say.”

They sat in silence, although Gretna could hear the pounding of her heart, until the door opened again and the butler announced,

“The Marquis of Stade.”

He entered the room, looking more grim and formidable, Gretna thought, than usual. She found it hard to look at him and hard to rise to her feet, which had suddenly become unsteady and sink down in the conventional curtsey as he bowed first to Mistress Fitzherbert and then to her.

“I hope you will pardon my intrusion, madam,” he began and his voice was harsh and his words conventional although they seemed to be spoken with an icy coldness that made Gretna feel as if she must shiver.

He had advanced as he spoke and now stood near to Maria and almost facing herself and vaguely, with one less frightened part of her brain, Gretna noticed the exquisite cut of his dark blue cloth coat and how the unusual severity of it made him seem larger and more imposing than usual.

His Hessian boots were polished until one could see the furniture reflected in them and the snowy whiteness of his breeches was echoed only by the crispness of his cravat.

He should have looked a dandy, Gretna thought wildly, and instead he seemed merely strong and terrifying, a man who could frighten her more than anyone she had ever met in her life before.

“Is there anything I can do for you, my Lord?” Maria was asking in her soft melodious voice and in a quite unhurried manner as if she was not the least perturbed by this sudden intrusion.

“I have come to request, madam, that my young cousin, Miss Gretna Hayden, shall accompany me to the house of my grandmother, the Dowager Marchioness of Stade, who will be delighted to offer her hospitality for so long as she wishes to remain in London.”

Gretna gave an exclamation of surprise and Maria ignored it.

“That is most generous of your grandmother,” she said quietly. “But Gretna has only just arrived to visit me and I am glad of her company.”

“That I can well believe, madam,” the Marquis replied in a voice heavy with sarcasm. “But if you will pardon my presumption, I think my cousin’s interests would be best served if she visited those who she is related to by birth.”

“That, of course, must be for Gretna to decide,” Maria answered. “I have told her that she can make her home here when she wishes and for as long as she wishes. If she desires to go to the Dowager Marchioness, then I shall, of course, be reluctant to part with her, but I will respect her wish.”

“But I don’t want to go away,” Gretna came in hotly.