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Purnell. And you are willing to renounce Miss Carstairs, Dom. And you have such a
tendre
for her. I am sorry. What is Miss Purnell like? Will I like her as a sister-in-law?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Lord Eden said. “I have had only the merest glimpse of her. Edmund says she is lovely. He is the one who found her, you know. And he has already rushed over there to make his offer. I don’t think Lord Beckworth will pay much attention to his visit, though. Edmund is in no way responsible.”
    â€œBut it is just like him to bear the burden,” Lady Amberley said. “I do hope the father says no to him. Edmund will not like a forced marriage. I have hoped he will marry someone quite special.”
    â€œBut she is all right for me, Mama?” Lord Eden asked.
    â€œI consider the question quite irrelevant, Dominic,” she said, fixing him with a steady eye. “You have very badly compromised the girl. You must marry her. Anyone with an ounce of sense in his head must see that. We will just have to hope that Miss Purnell is someone special too.”
    â€œDom.” Madeline raised his hand to her cheek and looked into his pale face. “I am so very sorry, dear. I feel dreadfully guilty, you know, because I am largely responsible for what has happened. If I had not teased you with Sir Hedley Fairhaven, you would not have made the mistake you made, and Miss Purnell would not have been abducted. I wish there were something I could do.”
    â€œYou could go and marry Miss Purnell,” he said sourly and ungraciously.
    She bit her lip. “I wish I could, Dom,” she said.
    He squeezed her hand and jumped to his feet. “I know you do, Mad,” he said. “But this is not your fault. You are not to think that. Cheer up now and smile at me. I don’t want to leave here with the added burden of knowing I have made you miserable. Come on, you goose. It is not the end of the world. I am going to arrange for a marriage if I can, not an execution.”
    Madeline smiled bleakly at him. “I wish it had been me,” she said, “tied to that bed, I mean. I could have had a good fight with you, Dom, with both feet and both fists and perhaps even my teeth. I would have left you with bruises and cuts to wince over for a month. And I would have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I cannot enjoy seeing you in such disgrace.”
    â€œHm,” Lord Eden said, turning to leave. “Good day to you, Mama. I am sorry to be such a constant source of disappointment to you. Perhaps one day I will be able to do something you can be proud of. Take it easy, Mad, and take off that tragic expression this minute. This is not the end of the world. It only seems to be.”
    â€œWhat a self-pitying little speech,” Lady Amberley said as he reached the door. “You are my son, Dominic, and as such a source of enormous pride to me. You do not have to earn my love, you know. There is nothing you could possibly do to forfeit it. That is not to say that you do not do the most unbelievably stupid things on occasion. Go now and see what you can do to put this one right.”
    She smiled at his retreating back as Madeline withdrew a handkerchief from a pocket and blew her nose loudly.

A LEXANDRA SAT VERY STILL, HER HANDS HELD in her lap, as Nanny Rey finished pinning her hair into its smooth chignon. She had thought her punishment would be over this morning. But it seemed not. Papa had summoned her to the salon again. He must have more to say to her. Perhaps he had decided that, after all, one afternoon and evening of solitary confinement with her Bible were just not enough. Indeed, she had rarely before known fewer than three days of such punishment. She had assumed that his awareness of her social commitments had influenced his leniency.
    â€œThere,” Nanny Rey said, patting her on both shoulders from behind, “you had better not keep his lordship waiting, lovey. Not after