And at home, while his adoration showed itself in a thousand ways and in expressions of the deepest and most profound affection, he still took none of the liberties nor indeed behaved with any of the familiarity that might have been expected from a man off his guard in the house of his mistress.

‘Is it true or is it not true that they are wed?’ Gretna asked herself as she sat down on her bed and then she remembered the bitter voice of the Marquis and his words, ‘I feel, madam, that you are admirably suited to the life you have chosen.’

She had never heard greater contempt in any voice and she had never believed that any man could look at her with such scorn.

And yet how could she have chosen differently? Perhaps, if she had tried to explain to him, she thought now, perhaps if she had told him how sweet Maria was and what a good influence she had upon the Prince, he would have begun to understand and might not have been so ready to censure her.

What was more Gretna had not been in the Prince’s society all these past weeks without realising that he was a very exceptional and superior young man. Doubtless there were amongst his friends wild persons who drank too much and gambled too high and who were talked of as being roués and depicted in the cartoons as indulging in the most outrageous excesses. But there were also his close friends who were men whose reputations stood high in the State and whose characters and abilities were unquestionable.

Gretna had met Charles James Fox and been fascinated by his scintillating wit. She had heard him spar with Richard Brinsley Sheridan at a dinner table and wished that she could write down every word that they had spoken so as to be able to read it again and learn how words can become a weapon and a delight in the hands of those who know how to use them.

But handsome Mr. Sheridan, with his quick repartee and severity of temper, had seemed no more astute than Mr. Edward Burke, the orator and Politician or indeed than Earl Gray or Sir Philip Francis, who had a biting bitterness that seemed to please the Prince when he was more than usually incensed with his father and suffering the frustration that he felt towards all those who censured him in Buckingham House.

Could all these charming and talented people be only pretending when they paid court to Maria Fitzherbert? And would the beautiful Duchess of Cumberland and Lady Clairmont and Lady Clare and all the others appear so friendly if they really believed that she was living a life of sin?

It was so impossible to reason it out logically. Maria had said that she was to trust her and Gretna was prepared to do that from her very heart.

*