Alyna felt that it was almost time for luncheon. Nevertheless she was hungry and ate a light breakfast. Then, dressed in one of her new gowns, she ran down the stairs.

Just as she reached the hall, Lord Dorrington came in through the front door and she saw by his breeches and boots that he had been riding.

“So you are awake!” he exclaimed. “Did you sleep well?”

“Need you ask?” Alyna smiled. “I am ashamed of being so indolent.”

“You had plenty of excuse,” Lord Dorrington replied. “Now you are awake, I have something to show you.”

He led her, as he spoke into a room off the hall that Alyna saw was the library.

From floor to ceiling the walls were covered with books and set in the long diamond-paned windows were heraldic Coats-of-Arms in stained glass.

“What a wonderful room!” she exclaimed.

“I thought it would please you,” he said. “I have taken pains since I inherited to keep the library up to date. I am sure there will be many books here that you will wish to read.”

Alyna looked round in delight. She had felt deprived when she was with her mother because The Ladies’ Journal was about the only reading material that Lady Maude was interested in having in the house.

What was more, when her father had died, her mother had sold all his books to the first purchaser who made her an offer for them.

It had been to Alyna almost unforgivable that the books that had brought so much delight to her father and herself had been bundled out of the house for a few pounds.

“And now come and look at some of my other treasures,” Lord Dorrington suggested.

All through the day they wandered about the house, which Alyna said more than once was as rich as Aladdin’s cave.

She had never imagined anyone could collect so many interesting things or know so much about each object.

She learnt that, when Lord Dorrington inherited the house and the estate on his father’s death, he had found much of the furniture and pictures were greatly in need of repair.

“My father was a sportsman,” he explained. “To him horses meant more than anything else. He was someone I greatly admired, but it was from my mother that I inherited a love of antiques and the need of books.”

He showed Alyna the inlaid furniture he had bought in France after the Revolution, the pictures he had purchased in Italy and the gold ornaments, the glass and enamels that he had bought in Venice.

Each piece had its own history and everything, Alyna noticed, seemed to have a special meaning for its owner. His strong well-shaped fingers almost caressed each possession as he picked it up.

The pictures particularly were a delight. Some were very old and Lord Dorrington told her how he had discovered them black with age in strange and unexpected places.

“How could they be restored so well to their original beauty?” Alyna asked.