He was looking more elegant than she had ever seen him in satin knee-breeches, a cut-away coat with long tails and a cravat so dazzlingly white and skilfully tied that she could not believe that any other dandy could have achieved it.

As Alyna reached the bottom step of the stairs, Lord Dorrington held out his arm.

“I am exceedingly hungry,” he said, “but may I say it was worth waiting to see you look so lovely.”

Alyna glanced up at him quickly.

“Do you mean that?” she asked, “or are you teasing me?”

“I never tease females about their looks,” Lord Dorrington replied. “That is something they have a lamentable lack of humour about.”

Alyna laughed, as he had meant her to do.

“That is better,” he said approvingly. “I know this sort of occasion is conventionally solemn, but I like you so much better when you are smiling.”

“Then I must try and smile,” Alyna said, “for I wish to please you, my Lord.”

He had been leading her as they spoke down a passage hung with pictures and now they reached the banqueting hall. It was a huge room, the ceiling reaching to the roof and at one end there was a Minstrels’ Gallery with a carved screen so that the players could not be seen. Set in the long wall there was a huge Medieval fireplace of fine stonework.

The room was panelled, but any impression of gloom was dispersed by the crimson velvet curtains and the seats of the high Restoration chairs, which were also covered in red.

The long oak refectory table was set, Alyna noticed as she seated herself, with magnificent gold plate, decorated with the same star-like orchids that she wore in her hair.

“Thank you for my beautiful flowers,” she said as she put her bouquet down on the table beside her.

“I have been growing these particular orchids for a number of years,” Lord Dorrington replied, “and I have never picked one of them until now. I think the occasion warranted such a sacrifice even though I am certain that my Head Gardener will hand in his notice tomorrow morning.”

Alyna laughed again.

As the meal progressed she knew that Lord Dorrington was making every effort to amuse and entertain her.

He had a way of saying things that she found inevitably made her laugh. She liked the twinkle in his eyes as he teased her and his subtle mocking at anything pompous.

She began to feel the terror that had gripped her that afternoon and was still overshadowing her, recede from her immediate consciousness until she was much more at ease and her nerves no longer felt tense.

The food was delicious and Lord Dorrington persuaded her to drink a glass of champagne, after which it was even easier to laugh than it had been before.