“Do you – really understand? And you are not – angry with me about it?”

Before he could reply she said,

“I know how much you have been – hating me – and I could feel it all the time we were being married – and because you hate me – I do not – want you to give me – a baby.”

The Duke found it difficult for the moment to find words in which to answer her.

Then he replied,

“I want you to believe me, Honora, when I tell you it was not you I was hating but the fact that I had been forced to marry so precipitately in order to avoid, as I told you frankly, becoming the husband of Princess Sophie.”

“I know it made you very – angry,” Honora said, “but when I – tried not to agree to marry you – Aunt Aline made me – do so.”

The Duke frowned.

“How did she make you do that?”

“She told me I must either marry you – or become a – nun,” Honora said simply.

“Do you mean that?”

Honora nodded.

“She said she would send me to the Convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor the – next day – and I knew it would be – wrong for me to take – the veil when I have no vocation to do so.”

“It was a diabolical idea,” the Duke said, “and you were right to refuse.”

“So – even though I had no – wish to marry you,” Honora said, “I – could not – escape.”

She made a little sound that was very young and lost as she added,

“Because neither of us wished to be – married and I know – how much you hated it – I am sure it would be – wrong for us to have a baby when it was not born – of love.”

As the Duke found it impossible to find the right words in which to reply, Honora went on,

“When I was – small I remember somebody saying to Mama,

“‘How beautiful your little girl is! I suppose that is why you called her ‘Honora’.

“Mama smiled and replied,

“‘As you are aware, Honora means “beauty” and my husband and I knew she would be beautiful because she was born of love.’

“The friend laughed and said,

“‘That is certainly true. I have never known two people as much in love as you and your husband. It makes us all very envious’.”

Honora told the tale in a soft little voice.

Then she said,

“I think – perhaps if we have a baby born in – hate, it will be – ugly – or even – deformed.”

The Duke drew in his breath.

Then he put out his hand and laid it over Honora’s.

“I am sure what you are saying is unfounded,” he said, “but I think, Honora, it would be wise for us to start again and get to know each other a little better before we think of starting a family.”