“It seems as if I am just a problem to everyone. I cannot think why Prince Ahmadi should want me when no one else seems to.”

“No one else?” Lord Dorrington enquired.

“Mama has never been very fond of me,” Alyna said, “and I have been thinking of what she said last night. Do you really think that Papa had no – affection for me?”

She sounded so young and so obviously hurt by what had been said that Lord Dorrington replied kindly,

“You must be intelligent enough to realise that, when women are incensed, they say a lot of things that are not true, but which they use as weapons.”

He let his words sink in before he went on,

“Your mother was angry with you, she wished to hurt you and she succeeded. There is no reason for us to assume that what she said was the truth. She would have said it anyway.”

“I see what you mean,” Alyna answered. “It is just that I loved Papa so much. I suppose you could say that there was no one else I could love in my life. But I did love him and I was happy when I was with him.”

“Then that is sufficient and it is quite unnecessary to probe any further,” Lord Dorrington said. “I think people are too inclined to analyse their emotions and to question their affections until, if we are not careful, they disappear through too much investigation.”

Alyna laughed.

“That is a warning to me for being too introspective about myself! I will not do it anymore. I will just accept what the Gods offer me and be grateful for it.”

“That is the first really sensible thing you have said this evening!” Lord Dorrington approved.

She bent forward to look out of the window.

They had by now left the streets of London and the coach came to a standstill in a country lane.

“Why are we stopping?” Alyna asked in surprise.

“It’s a warm night,” Lord Dorrington replied, “and I thought that you would find it pleasant and it would certainly be faster, if we did the rest of the journey by curricle.”

“What a wonderful idea!” Alyna exclaimed. “I hate sitting inside a coach.”

A footman opened the door.

They alighted to find Lord Dorrington’s curricle waiting for them drawn by his famous chestnuts. which Alyna had seen him tooling the first day she had noticed him in Hyde Park.

She was covered with a warm rug, she pulled the hood of her cloak over her hair and then they set off at a spanking pace.

It had grown dark while they were driving out of London, but there was a moon rising in the sky and the stars were brilliant.

It was warm, but there was a freshness after the heat of the day that made Alyna feel suddenly invigorated.