‘Of course, Lady Vernham.’ He handed his hat and gloves to a footman, and followed her up the stairs. He was left waiting but a couple of minutes before her ladyship, divested of her spencer and hat, entered the room.

‘The time has come, Henfield, when you either have to do something, or leave London, and by doing something I do not mean making an even bigger mess of your existence by offering for Miss Yate. She is a decent enough young woman, but there is bad blood in the Leyburns, through her mother. I have heard her brother seems determined to ruin himself and the family name in short order, and I would be most distressed if Gorleston looked in her direction.’

‘I have no intention of offering for Miss Yate,’ declared Lord Henfield, surprised.

‘Well, I wonder if she is thinking the same or not. Lady Leyburn is certainly living in hope.’

‘Then she is doomed to disappointment, ma’am,’ he replied acerbically.

‘That is something, I suppose. Now, what final catastrophe has driven you to look as if you would like to shoot something, possibly yourself?’

‘I … I bumped into Henrietta, Miss Gaydon, in Piccadilly. She is … she looks heart-broken.’

Lady Vernham said nothing as to why she was not surprised by this statement. ‘Really?’

‘Yes. You see, when we … when we fell out, it was because she had done something, something thoughtless, trying to advance the cause of Lord Martley with her cousin.’

‘Well, any but a fool could have told you they were smelling of April and May for weeks.’

‘Yes, but it seems that there is some very deep dislike that exists between Lady Elstead and Lady Pirbright.’

‘I know of it.’

‘Well, from what I gathered, even though Martley was able to offer Miss Felbridge every comfort, even without his parents’ approval, Lord Elstead turned him down, at Lady Elstead’s insistence.’

‘Foolish woman.’

‘This has made Miss Felbridge deeply unhappy, and thus also Henrietta, who is most attached to her cousin. Never having had a sister, I think she has taken her to heart as she would a sibling. If you had seen her face this morning … And she threw at me that I was in some ways culpable, because I had not agreed to help machinations to bring the marriage about. In fact, I had told her she should not dabble. Even so, there was nothing I could have done, was there?’

‘No.’ Lady Vernham was not quite listening to him. ‘Nothing you could have done, Henfield, except, perhaps, tell me.’

‘Tell you, ma’am?’

‘Yes, for you see I know exactly why Maria Elstead and Augusta Pirbright hate the very sight of each other. I am also perhaps the only person who may be able to resolve not the animosity, for that is in their bones by now, but the bar to Martley making the Elstead girl a very good husband.’

‘You are?’