“How can you be sure of that? You say yourself that you have never met her until today. I have stayed in this house and I have seen how he treats her. I have seen – the love he bears for her and, more than that, the respect, almost amounting to reverence, which he shows her – on every possible occasion. Is that the behaviour of a man with his m-mistress? I know nothing of these matters, but it is not what I should have expected or believed would have occurred between a man and woman who are not joined together by something greater than – passion.”

Gretna almost whispered the last words and she saw that the Marquis was listening intently, his brows knit as if he strove to follow her reasoning.

Then he replied,

“You speak very convincingly, Gretna. I might even be inclined to believe you if it was not for one thing.”

“What is that?” Gretna asked.

“The Prince himself has denied the marriage.”

“I don’t believe it. When has he made – any such denial?”

In answer the Marquis put his hand in his breast pocket and drew out a letter.

“I promised to show this to no one, but I am going to break my word because I consider the circumstances justify my using any means in my power to take you away from here. This is a letter written by the Prince to Charles James Fox, the Politician. You have heard of him I am sure. A great orator and a man the Prince has, in my opinion, very wisely entrusted his friendship to.”

“I think I met him – last night,” Gretna murmured.

“He was there and, if anyone could obtain the truth on such a question as the Prince’s marriage, it would be Mr. Fox.”

He turned the letter over in his hands and then opened it.

“Charles Fox wrote to the Prince last December when the first wild rumours of his marriage to Mistress Fitzherbert began to circulate all over London. He stressed the damage of His Royal Highness’s rights to the Crown if he married a Roman Catholic. He even went on to say that, if it took place, it could not even be a legal marriage.”

The Marquis paused, looked down at the letter in his hand and then held it out to Gretna.

“Here is the Prince’s reply to his closest friend, a man whom he has always trusted.”

Gretna took the letter from him with trembling hands.

For a moment she considered whether it would be better not to read it and then she thought it would be merely childish to refuse. For a moment the writing danced before her eyes and then she read it slowly down to the last word.

“My dear Charles,