She had her family and a few friends, especially Gretchen. Theodore had been married a long time now, and had children, but she still saw him from time to time. She’d asked herself many times down the years if she shouldn’t have tried harder to get married, but somehow or other she’d never met Mr. Right. The truth was, she realized, that she’d always wanted someone like Hans or Theodore, and they weren’t so easy to find. Perhaps if she’d taken up Sean’s offer long ago and stopped working for the Masters, she’d have had a chance. Well, it was no good worrying about that now. And taken all together, she considered, it wasn’t such a bad retirement for a girl who’d been raised within sight of Five Points.

Five Points. What if His Lordship asked her where she’d been born and raised? What was she supposed to say? “Down Fourth Avenue,” Sean had told her. But the thought of those days, and the memories that came with them, had filled her with an awful, cold horror. She’d blush, she’d say something foolish, she’d expose the sordid truth about the family and let them all down. “Don’t worry,” Sean had said. “Leave it all to me.”

It wasn’t so bad for Sean. He already knew these people. After losing his wife three years ago, he’d taken up travel, and he’d made a trip to London the previous year with his son Daniel and his family. That’s when Daniel’s daughter Clarissa had met young Gerald Rivers. She was a well-brought-up young lady, a good horsewoman, and she’d been hunting when she’d met him. He had just returned from a visit to America himself, and was soon captivated by her lively American ways. His parents must have taken note of her obvious fortune too. But Gerald and Clarissa were both young, and it had been agreed by all the parties that they should wait some months before any negotiations were entered into about an engagement.

When Sean had first told Mary about the business, she hadn’t been that surprised. Everyone knew about the British aristocracy’s new interest in American heiresses; Sean himself had described it very well.