“She has not been sleeping well,” she said. “Some chloral in her milk…”

“Do it now,” he said urgently, “I’ll carry her to my bed and you tell… No, that will not answer. My servants will pretend to be shocked and will tell Alice’s uncle that she is abed with me. You keep to your own quarters. Quickly.”

Alice was tossing and turning on her bed when Miss Snapper crept into the room, a glass of hot milk in her hand. Alice was tormented by thoughts of the Duke holding that blonde hussy in his arms.

She had longed for him and dreamed of seeing him again through the long, lonely months and he had not even a thought to spare for her. Not that she was in love with him! That was ridiculous. She had looked on him as a, sort of father or as the uncle he pretended to be. He was not kind. He was heartless. A philandering phantom who did not know that fair hair was desperately unfashionable. Alice looked up and found Miss Snapper bending over her and cringed against the pillows.

“Here is something to help you sleep,” murmured Miss Snapper in a soothing voice.

“Milk,” said Alice wretchedly. “I do not want milk.”

“But it will help you sleep,” urged Miss Snapper.

Sleep! Alice realized that was what she longed for more than anything. To die, to sleep, to blot out the wicked world and its bullies for a few hours.

She drank the milk while Miss Snapper watched her with satisfaction.

In the shadows in the corner of the room, the Duke watched also. He had been hidden in the walls of the anteroom where Miss Snapper and Webb had had their enlightening conversation.

He watched grimly as Alice collapsed quickly into a deep drugged sleep, watched as Miss Snapper signaled to someone unseen in the corridor, and then Webb entered and picked up Alice’s slim body and carried her from the room.

The Duke quickly slid down through the floor and placed himself in a prominent position in the hall where the last of the guests were leaving. Miss Snapper, meanwhile, retired quickly to her own modest room. Some thoughtful servant had left a glass of warm milk by her bed. Miss Snapper gave a thin smile. It wasn’t drugged anyway. She picked it up and drank it down in one gulp and began to prepare herself for bed.

In his room, Webb placed Alice in his bed and slowly began to undress. The stage was set. By now his valet should be informing Alice’s uncle of his niece’s disgrace.

“What!” yelled the Duke in a great voice so that a few of the last guests and the Earl and Countess of Markhampton turned round in surprise. “My niece in bed with Lord Harold Webb! Is this what you encourage in your house?” he demanded of the Earl. “Seduction of innocent virgins?”