The gentlemen made their bows as Lady Elstead turned, her lips drawn in a smile that would fool nobody.

‘Good morning.’ Even the two words seemed to exclude the lady upon Lord Martley’s arm. She was fair, and one of those ladies who, unlike Lady Elstead, inclined to the slender, if not slightly emaciated, with the approach of middle age. She was probably only a little over forty, and from the vestiges that clung to her as closely as did her gown, it was clear that in her youth she had been a considerable beauty, but now she was beauty’s ghost. There was no trace of grey visible in her hair, but it had lost the lustre of pale gold it once possessed, and the fine bone structure of her face was rendered to gauntness. Her eyes, however, were large, and almost violet blue. Sighing suitors in their day had called them limpid pools, but as she stared at Lady Elstead they were hard as sapphire.

‘Mama, I do not think you have been introduced to Miss Felbridge, and Miss Gaydon,’ announced Lord Martley, with the veriest hint of panic. ‘Ladies, may I present you to my mama, Lady Pirbright.’

Both young ladies made their curtsies, and were acknowledged with a gracious inclination of the head.

‘I knew your mama, Miss Gaydon. You have been blessed with the look of her.’

‘I have been told the likeness is very pronounced, ma’am,’ replied Henrietta quietly.

‘Indeed. She was extremely pretty, as are you, my dear.’

Henrietta blushed, but wondered why the ‘she’ had been given such stress.

‘Dear Honoria,’ murmured Lady Elstead, shaking her head. ‘It saddened me that she always felt she was in my shadow.’

‘Yes, it must have seemed so looming, and black,’ agreed Lady Pirbright, with an air of innocent corroboration.

Lord Martley cast glances at both the other gentlemen, glances of mute appeal and interrogation. Mr Felbridge looked as confused as the viscount himself, and Lord Henfield’s expression was that of the male confronted by a situation involving the ‘weaker sex’ which he could neither comprehend nor control. It also contained a strong hint of relief that neither lady had anything to do with him, and he could play the innocent bystander indefinitely.

‘Have you a favourite exhibit, ma’am?’ enquired Caroline desperately, and earned a look of gratitude from Lord Martley.

‘I have not as yet studied all of them,’ answered Lady Pirbright, as she ‘studied’ Caroline critically. Caroline later admitted to Henrietta that it quite put her to the blush, and she could not decide whether the lady was looking for a fault in her person or her dress. ‘One needs to spend some time with each, for it is easy to form an initial impression which later proves over-generous.’ Her look became more of a glare, and Caroline subsided into silence.