“You make me sound insufferable,” Lord Dorrington complained.

“I often thought it was very unfair,” Elizabeth admitted. “But like everyone else, because I loved you, I wanted you to have the best.”

“I think that is what men always get!” Alyna remarked. “The best! While women have to put up with what is left over.”

“I can see I have a female revolution on my hands,” Lord Dorrington remarked, “I think I had better return to London before dinner and seek the masculine support of my Club.”

“You are staying for dinner!” Elizabeth interposed with a cry. “Heavens, but I must go and see if we have something decent to eat!”

She hurried from the salon and Alyna said with a smile,

“There you are, a typical example. It is good enough for us, but it is not good enough for him.”

“When it comes to being fed,” Lord Dorrington replied, “I think a Knight Errant earns his keep.”

His eyes twinkled as he continued,

“I have been wondering how you were thinking of me and now I know.”

“Were you afraid that I was still resenting you being so autocratic and masterful the first time we met?” Alyna asked.

“You were very incensed with me,” Lord Dorrington answered. “Will you now admit that life has some compensations?”

“I do admit it,” Alyna conceded. “I am so happy with your sister. I have never had a companion of my own age to talk to, to laugh with and when I went to bed last night I thought that I had just spent two of the happiest days of my life.”

“There will be many others equally if not more enjoyable,” Lord Dorrington said.

“I hope so,” Alyna answered him.

She put down the cup that she held in her hand and rose to her feet.

“Could I,” she asked eagerly as a child, “could I see the gowns you have brought for me?”

“I suspect that my groom will have given them to the maid, who will have taken them upstairs to your bedroom,” he said. “But go and look at them by all means.”

Alyna glanced at the clock on the chimneypiece.

“I will just look to see what they are like,” she said, “and then I must read the children the story that they think is about you. Afterwards I will change for dinner. We dine early, as I expect you know.”

“Country customs!” Lord Dorrington said with a smile. “But tonight they are acceptable because I wish to get back to London.”

“You are going to a party?”

“Yes, at Carlton House,” he said. “If I am not present, the Prince of Wales will make enquiries as to the reason for my absence.”

“Then we certainly must dine punctually,” Alyna agreed and with a little smile she left the room.

Lord Dorrington was standing looking after her when his sister returned from the kitchens.