She would in fact have been very stupid had she not realised, when she looked in the mirror before she came downstairs, that the dress became her as no other garment had done before.

It was true that she had never thought of herself as having a particularly good figure, but now that her small pointed breasts were accentuated by the high waist, and it was possible to see the curved outline of her hips, she knew that she was at any rate perfectly proportioned.

She had been worried about her hair and then she had thought that nothing but the Grecian knot at the back of her head would seem correct.

‘Tomorrow,’ she thought to herself, ‘I will make more of a success of it.’

She hoped that Lord Dorrington would come again to see her in the other gowns that he had bought for her.

Dinner passed very pleasantly.

It was difficult to be anything but gay when Elizabeth was there. She teased her brother and told him about the story or play that she and Alyna intended to write.

She made him laugh by describing absurd situations in which she thought that they might all be involved.

It was at last with an obvious reluctance that Lord Dorrington rose to his feet and said that he must return to London.

“Come again soon,” Elizabeth pleaded. “You know we want to see you.”

“And I want to see you,” Lord Dorrington answered.

“I have in fact ordered a present for you. Alyna must not have everything and it should be ready tomorrow or the next day.”

“A present!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “What could it be?”

“It would spoil the surprise if I told you,” her brother answered.

Then, having kissed her cheek, he held out his hand to Alyna.

“Take care of each other,” he said, “and tell my nephew to continue to be your Knight Errant in my absence.”

“I will,” she answered conscious of the warm strength of his fingers as he held hers.

She had felt rather shy when he had come upstairs to the night nursery and found her telling a story to the two boys.

She had promised them a tale about Knights Errant, but she had been unable to find one in the bookcase downstairs and so she was inventing a story that held them spellbound.

“It’s all about you, Uncle Ulric,” Rupert piped up. “You were very brave!”

“I am glad to hear that,” Lord Dorrington answered.

“Go on,” Ivan said excitedly, “what happened when the Knight saw the big ogre?”

Alyna had looked embarrassed. The children were waiting for her to unfurl the tale, but with Lord Dorrington in the room she suddenly felt embarrassed and the words she had been about to say went out of her mind.

“I will tell you the rest tomorrow night,” she said.

Then, seeing the disappointment on their faces, she added to Rupert,

“You wanted to tell your uncle about the sort of whip you promised not to ask him to give you.”