“I want you to speak frankly to me,” Lord Dorrington said, “because I feel that somehow I must find a solution to your problems. They are indeed, I grant you, rather more difficult than I suspected at first.”

“I thought you might think that,” Alyna said. “If I had any money, I could go away and live by myself.”

“By yourself?” Lord Dorrington asked.

“Well, with an older woman, perhaps my old Governess who is retired or even with Martha, a maid who has been with Mama since I was a child.”

“Do you think you would be happy living alone?”

“If I had lots of books to read, I would not worry about anything else,” Alyna answered. “You see Papa made me realise how one can journey round the world and still be sitting at home in an armchair. We made so many wonderful discoveries together. I learnt about people, their customs and their relationships. We read books in French and Italian and he promised me that, when I left the Seminary, he would take me to Italy.”

Alyna sighed.

“I suppose now I shall never see the glory of Rome.”

“It is a place you might easily visit with a husband,” Lord Dorrington suggested.

“You are still thinking I might get married,” Alyna said accusingly. “You are as bad as Mama! How could I tolerate living day after day with the type of young man who never reads a book and is interested only in gaming and drinking?”

“You are very critical,” Lord Dorrington said. “You must have met only unusual men.”

“The ‘crème de la crème’ of Society!” Alyna said with a scathing note in her voice. “Tonight the young gentleman who took me down to dinner thought that Magna Carta was a horse running at Ascot!”

Lord Dorrington threw back his head and laughed.

“You must have a penchant for picking out the ignoramuses. I will guarantee to find you some men who are not only intelligent but well educated.”

“And do you really think that your friends would be interested in the unattractive penniless daughter of Lady Maude Camberley?”

There was a pause.

Then Lord Dorrington repeated,

“Unattractive?”

“Look at me!” Alyna said.

He turned sideways in the soft-cushioned carriage to do as she had asked him.

It was difficult to distinguish her features under the elaborate coiffure that must have taken a hairdresser hours to achieve.

Curls hid her forehead and the outline of her cheeks. Only her eyes were clear to see, frightened, defiant and still starkly desperate.

“Do you really imagine that I would shine in the smart fashionable world?” she asked as he did not speak. “Mama was right when she said the only quality that I have is that I am young and the Prince in particular likes women to be young, fair-haired and blue-eyed.”

The voice was bitter.

Then Alyna added,