“It’s extremely unfortunate that I can do nothing about my eyes. They are sometimes green, sometimes grey, and nothing can make them a pretty bird’s egg blue.”

“You are a very unusual person,” Lord Dorrington remarked.

“Because I face the truth?” Alyna asked. “Papa said to me a long time ago, ‘never lie to yourself, Alyna, never pretend to be what you are not’.”

“I think the truth, as you see it, is perhaps unnecessarily harsh,” Lord Dorrington said slowly.

“Are you suggesting that I should believe it likely that I could become the toast of St. James’s?”

She lifted her chin defiantly.

His eyes seemed to search her face and then he said,

“Everybody has a different idea of beauty. To one man it means one thing, to another something quite different.”

Alyna turned her head away from him.

“You asked me why I shall never marry,” she answered, “and I have answered you. All that concerns me is how I can avoid having to – wed the Prince!”

“I think that is a battle you will have to fight on your own,” Lord Dorrington said. “But I want you to make me a promise.”

“A promise?” she asked quickly.

“A promise that you will have to keep,” he said his voice very firm.

“What is it?” Alyna asked.

“I want you to swear to me on the memory of your father, whom I think you loved, that you will not attempt to take your life again unless I give you permission to do so.”

There was silence in the carriage.

Alyna was looking down at her hands.

“And if I do – not give you my – promise?” she asked at last in a very small voice.

“Then I shall turn the horses round,” Lord Dorrington said, “and take you back to your mother.”

Alyna gave a little cry.

“You could not do anything so cruel! So treacherous!”

“I shall most certainly do so if you don’t give me your promise,” Lord Dorrington asserted.

There was a touch of steel beneath his voice that told Alyna that he was not threatening her idly.

“I thought you were being – kind to me,” she murmured.

“I am, although you may not realise it,” he answered. “Do you give me your promise?”

He put out his hand as he spoke and almost unwillingly she put her fingers in his.

“Swear to me, Alyna,” he prompted. “Say what I have told you to say, so there can be no mistake.”

He felt her fingers tremble and then hesitatingly in a low voice she said,

“I swear on the – memory of – Papa that I will not take my – life until you give me – permission to do so.”

“Thank you, Alyna,” Lord Dorrington said and released her hand.

“It’s not fair! You have no right!” Alyna cried.