‘I am engaged to be married, sir.’

Sir Philip stared at him for a long moment and then asked, ‘To whom?’

‘To a young lady in France, Hélène St Clair. Her father is an architect in Paris.’

‘And when did this engagement take place? Why were your mother and I not immediately informed of this?’

‘With her father’s permission I have been paying my addresses to her for the last month. She was the reason that I stayed on in France. When I heard about Justin and I was going to come home, I proposed to her and she accepted my proposal.’

‘I see.’ Sir Philip’s tone was chilly. ‘And what did her father say to this sudden proposal?’

‘He said there must be nothing formal until the spring as Hélène is still quite young, not yet eighteen, but if we were still of the same mind in the spring, he would give his consent.’

‘Did he now? Of course by this time they will have realised that Justin’s death meant that you will one day have the title.’

‘I doubt if that was a factor in his consent,’ Rupert said.

‘Do you? Then you’re a bigger fool than I took you for.’ His tone softened as he went on, ‘Put her out of your mind, Rupert. The daughter of a French architect has no place in your future. You will be the tenth Baronet Chalfont, and your wife must be a lady of your own class, so that the bloodline of good English stock will continue in your children as it would have in Justin’s.’

‘I shan’t desert her,’ Rupert said quietly. ‘Hélène is the love of my life and I would find no other love like her.’

‘What has love to do with it?’ Sir Philip demanded petulantly. ‘People of our class don’t marry simply for love; there are other considerations that are more important.’

‘Not to me, sir.’

‘Well, there should be,’ retorted his father. ‘Love comes later, when you grow together in marriage. Look at your mother and me.’

‘But you love my mother,’ asserted Rupert.

‘Of course I do, but that wasn’t why I married her. I liked her, certainly, and she was a suitable bride, but the love came later. The marriage was proposed by your grandparents. Everyone could see that it was a good match and we’ve been very happy together. If I’d married the first young woman I’d fallen in love with, it would have been a disaster. No, Rupert, you must put this young French girl out of your mind and settle down and start a family with an English girl of good family.’

For a long moment Rupert said nothing. He was still shocked by his father’s revelation about his illness. He should have realised, and perhaps he would have if he’d seen his father before Justin died, but as he hadn’t he had put down Sir Philip’s frailty to the suddenness of Justin’s death. He knew he should say nothing further about Hélène and their understanding – he must let his father get used to the idea. There was nothing wrong with marrying a French girl; she came of a respectable family with an independence of her own upon her marriage, and once his family met her, he was certain they would understand his love for her and learn to love her too.