Aline Langstone came sweeping into the room looking resplendent and very beautiful in a gown of pink silk covered with a pelisse in the same shade.

As the butler closed the door, she held out both her hands and said in the caressing tone she always used when they were alone,

“Ulric, darling, I had to see you!”

The Duke ignored her outstretched hands and enquired,

“What are you doing here, Aline?”

“I am on my way to stay with the Stillingtons,” she replied, “and, as I had virtually to pass your door, it gave me an excellent excuse to tell you how much, my dearest, I have been missing and longing for you.”

The Duke was aware that in fact she had extended her journey by at least fifteen miles and there was a hard expression in his eyes which she did not understand as he replied,

“I think, Aline, it was most indiscreet of you and, if it becomes known you have come here, it will doubtless give rise to a great deal of gossip.”

The Countess shrugged her shoulders.

“If anybody hears of it, which is unlikely, I shall explain that I brought you some rather important wedding presents, which actually you will find in the hall and George is not joining me at the Stillingtons until tomorrow.”

“I am on my honeymoon, Aline,” the Duke replied, “and I think it was a great mistake for you to come here.”

“Do not be so stuffy, darling,” Aline replied, moving a little closer to him. “I am here and I want you to tell me that you are glad to see me and that you still love me.”

She lifted her face to his and there was no mistaking the expression in her eyes or the invitation on her lips.

The Duke however made no response except to stare at her in a way that she found bewildering.

She did not know that at this moment he was suddenly finding, incredible though it seemed, that Aline Langstone no longer appealed to him either as a beautiful woman or as one he desired.

The Duke was used to his love affairs, and there had been a great many of them, coming to an end slowly but inevitably.

But he had never known such an absolute finish to an affaire de coeur, what might almost be called a ‘fall of the curtain’ as he felt at this moment.

He had been so easily aroused by the Countess in the past and had thought that her beauty drew him not merely as a man but as a connoisseur, and he could hardly believe that at this moment she evoked no response in him whatsoever except one of irritation.

He was incensed that she should have followed him to the country and that she should dare to intrude in an unprecedented manner in the first few days of his honeymoon.

He was aware that, if people heard of it, it would confirm any suspicions that had been in their minds before he married Honora.