Lord Pronett drew in his breath, but again he was sensible enough to say nothing.
“Now I realise,” Clive went on, “that you have just made a mess of something, which was far too big for you to even contemplate let alone put into action effectively.”
”If you are talking of my marriage to Alissia,” Lord Pronett said, “it was her stepmother who suggested it.”
Clive knew that this was true from what Nancy had told him already.
“For a marriage to be happy,” he continued, “it has to depend on the two people concerned loving each other. I can understand you wanted to marry into the aristocracy to make certain of your position at the Royal Court. But it is something that you could never have achieved with a wife who hated you.”
“I can appreciate that – now,” Lord Pronett replied, “but I swear
