‘But … they never prevented you from dancing with me or anything.’ Lord Martley looked rather panicked. Henrietta felt a twinge of guilt, but the poor boy really needed to consider things carefully. ‘Poor boy’ she called him in her head, though he must be at least six years her senior. It dawned upon Henrietta that at the outset of the Season she had thought all her swains glamorous men of the world, and now, after only two months, she had grown up a lot herself, and come to the realisation that when it came to the male of the species, the number of birthdays was not a good marker of maturity. She ought to have thought about it before, she decided, since Charles was actually nearly ten years her senior, and she had never thought of that span as very much at all. He was simply the ‘older brother’ she had never had. She frowned, as her inner voice reminded her yet again that Charles Henfield was not, and could most definitely never be, her ‘older brother’.

‘Miss Gaydon?’ Lord Martley had been running on, but had become aware she was not attending to him.

‘Oh! Oh, I am so terribly sorry, my lord. A thought occurred to me.’

‘About my predicament?’ He sounded eager to be reassured.

‘Yes,’ she lied, thinking rapidly, and thrusting Charles from her head with determination. ‘You must be honest with your parents, and prove you are an independent man, not their immature son. If you are to marry my cousin, you will make her life the happier if it does not come as a total surprise to your parents, and they can appreciate her for her own qualities, and not judge her upon what happened many years past.’

‘I tell them?’ He looked unconvinced. ‘Miss Gaydon, you have met my mama.’

‘I have, and I tell you that if you love my cousin, you will be able to face her, and Lord Pirbright. You tell them the truth, and you ask, openly, what makes Lord Elstead’s lineage and position insufficient to them.’

‘But it is Lady Elstead who …’

‘Yes. So they must therefore admit there is nothing on Lord Elstead’s side, and either have to reveal what caused the rift decades ago, which may seem foolish now, or pretend there is nothing, and agree that your desire to wed Miss Caroline Felbridge is perfectly reasonable.’

‘But they still will not like her mama.’

‘My lord, they will not have to live with her mama, nor even meet her often. If you suddenly announce your engagement without your parents having any idea that it is not I who am your chosen partner in life, they would be most reasonably indignant. Think of it.’

‘Yes, well, I see that is so, Miss Gaydon, but what if their reason for disliking Lady Elstead is … too great?’