At that moment Emile appeared beside his wife at the door and stared down at them.

‘Well, miss,’ he said. ‘What makes you think you’re welcome in this house?’

‘My husband and I have come to visit you before we leave for England,’ Hélène said, apparently unmoved by his anger.

‘Your husband!’ snorted Emile. ‘What nonsense is this?’

‘No nonsense at all,’ replied Rupert. ‘Hélène is now Lady Chalfont of Pilgrim’s Oak, Somerset, England.’

‘I gave no permission for her to marry.’

‘And none was asked for,’ answered Rupert, ‘but we are indeed married.’

‘And what about Monsieur Barnier, may I ask? Hélène is still engaged to be married to him.’

‘Hélène made it clear she had changed her mind about her marriage with him some weeks ago,’ Rupert said.

‘And I thought you’d changed your mind about marrying Hélène,’ Emile blustered. ‘What do you say to that, young man? You wrote and told her you were married to someone else, so how can you now be married to her? Answer me that!’

‘I did indeed marry someone else,’ admitted Rupert, ‘but unfortunately my wife died. Until the day before yesterday I was a widower; now I am the husband of a woman I’ve never stopped loving from the first day I saw her.’

‘Poof, all this love stuff. What about duty? Eh? What about that?’

‘Papa,’ Hélène said, her voice clear and strong, ‘I think it very undignified to be discussing all this on the doorstep. If you won’t allow me to cross your threshold, we shall leave at once and we shall not return. It’s your decision.’

‘Of course you can come in,’ said Rosalie before Emile could overcome his surprise at the way Hélène had addressed him. ‘We shall go into the drawing room.’ And turning to the butler, who was hovering in the background, she said, ‘Didier, please bring us some refreshment. I’m sure Lady Chalfont is tired after her journey.’

Outmanoeuvred, Emile turned on his heel and disappeared indoors. Rosalie held out her hands to Hélène, who ran up the steps and into her mother’s embrace.

‘My dearest child,’ Rosalie murmured. ‘Thank God you’re safe.’

‘I’m sorry I ran away, Maman,’ Hélène said softly, ‘but I couldn’t marry Simon.’

‘I know,’ replied her mother as she led her indoors. ‘We can talk later. Don’t worry, your papa will come round to your marriage eventually, but in the meantime the less he knows about your time in Paris, the better. It will be easier for him, for all of us, simply to say that you are now married to Sir Rupert Chalfont and will be moving to his estate in England.’ She turned to Rupert and extended her hand. ‘I’m glad Hélène has come home a respectable married woman, Sir Rupert. It is something my husband will come to accept in time. For my part, I know she will be far happier with you than she would ever have been with Monsieur Barnier.’

Didier closed the front door behind them and went to the kitchen, where the news of Miss Hélène’s return was already the excitement of the day. Annette and Agathe were closeted in the housekeeper’s room.