“The least said about that the better! Lady Ellenborough set the whole of Athens by its ears after she not only took the King as a lover, but also having married His Majesty’s aide-de-camp, she then fancied an Albanian General who swooped down on Athens from his mountain lair and was soon the most talked of person in Court!”

“I have also heard, although it may be untrue,” Lord Castleford said, “that Queen Amalie herself had a tender regard for General Hadji-Petros.”

“I believe that was true,” Lord Stratford replied, “but she did not stand a chance against Jane Ellenborough, who with her fair hair and blue eyes had an attraction for men which made her irresistible.”

He glanced at Lord Castleford and thought he was looking cynical.

“There are women like that,” he said, “but not perhaps so commonly in England as in other parts of the world. Jane Ellenborough, whom I knew when she was quite young, was tempestuous, impulsive, incurably romantic and extremely promiscuous. Yet men who were no less sophisticated and cynical than you, Vernon, fell head over heels in love with her!”

“You frighten me!” Lord Castleford said. “I am glad that Lady Ellenborough is now too old for me to need to avoid her, but she sounds even in her heyday the type of woman in whom I would have no interest.”

Lord Stratford sat back in his chair and there was a twinkle in his eyes as he said,

“You are very confident of yourself, Vernon. It is strange that in all your travels around the world I have never heard of any scandal or even gossip connected with your name.”

“As you know, my Lord, I am wedded to my career!” Lord Castleford replied. “While I find some women amusing, I would never permit one to interfere with my ambitions or my plans for my future.”

“You have never been in love?” Lord Stratford enquired.

“Never, if by that you mean a maudlin state in which a man can no longer think clearly, when he believes the world is well lost for the sensations evoked in him, which can be nothing but transient.”

There was silence for a moment.

Then the Ambassador said,

“This is an aspect of your character, Vernon, that I have never considered before. I have the feeling that you are missing something – something that is important to your development as a man.”

Lord Castleford laughed.

“You talk almost as if I was peculiar in some way,” he said. “I assure you I find women an entrancing pastime and I will admit to having at various times in my life found certain of the fair sex quite irresistible!”

He gave Lord Stratford an amused glance as he added,