‘Miss Felbridge, come to my aid,’ requested Lord Chilwell, feigning misery.

‘Come, come, my lord, you should not be asking for protection from ladies.’ Caroline wagged a finger at him. ‘But if it gives you solace, tell me all about how terrible Lord Martley is, and I will listen very closely.’ She cast Lord Martley a look that bordered upon saucy.

‘Now who will be traduced? Miss Gaydon, I shall not listen to cruel words but beg you will tell me, will you be at the Donningtons’ tonight?’ asked Lord Martley.

‘Why yes, my lord, I believe we are engaged to attend, but I fear quite late in the evening, for we dine first at Lady Soughton’s.’

‘Good … that you are going, not that you will arrive late, of course.’ He paused, checked that the other ladies were listening to Lord Chilwell, frowned, and then spoke, his eyes not quite meeting hers. ‘Miss Gaydon, might I try and have a few words with you, upon an important matter. I cannot do so here, but if we were to sit out a dance …’

Henrietta blinked. He sounded very serious, which was unusual for Lord Martley. ‘If you wish, sir.’

‘Thank you.’

It dawned upon her that his reason for wanting to speak with her might be to tell her that he wanted to know if his addresses would be acceptable to her. He was such a nice young man it would be awful having to say that they would not, but … and poor Caroline! Her heart did seem rather set upon Lord Martley, and it would be quite awful for her to discover it was her cousin whose hand he sought.

Lord Elstead, who was an old friend of Sir Humphrey Soughton, accompanied the ladies to dinner. It was, as Henrietta had feared, seen as an opportunity by Lady Soughton to let her ‘pride and joy’ work his magic upon Henrietta, whom she saw as a good match. She therefore placed him next to Henrietta. Rather to Henrietta’s surprise, Mr Newbold was also invited, although he was seated on the opposite side of the table next to Lady Elstead.

Gerald Soughton was a young man secure in his own worth, and totally incapable of reading the boredom he induced in others. He was knowledgeable upon an eclectic selection of subjects, none of which were of the slightest interest to Henrietta, or Miss Clifton, who was seated upon his other side. The only entertainment for Henrietta was that Miss Clifton’s answer to subjects that bored her was to focus upon a word and change the subject, upon which Mr Soughton simply brought it back to his favoured topic. It sounded like some bizarre parlour game, and made for a most surreal conversation. When Henrietta glanced across the table, she could see that Mr Newbold was extracting every ounce of pleasure from it.