“Oh really, Alpin, must you be so difficult and so stupid about it?” the Countess reprimanded him.
The Duke did not answer and after a moment she added,
“You would be far happier with a young girl whom you could teach to love you as you want to be loved and who would listen adoringly to everything you said to her, than if you married some stuck-up young woman who is only too aware of her own attractions, especially when the chief amongst them is her moneybags.”
“That may be your idea of a happy marriage, but it is not mine. Incidentally, Cousin Moira, I am sick to death of the whole subject and absolutely refuse to discuss it any further.”
“It is all very well for you to talk like that. Have you realised that your Castle is falling down for want of repair, that the McBaren estate is sn
