“I am well aware of that,” the Marquis said.
“My relative has told me tales of His Highness’s behaviour,” Dalton went on, “which are so unpleasant, so disgusting, that I would not soil my lips by repeating them to your Lordship.”
He looked at the Marquis almost pleadingly as he added,
“There’s never been a young lady come to this house, my Lord, who’s been kinder or more pleasant to every one of us, including Willy, whose finger she healed and who thinks she’s an angel sent from Heaven to help him.”
The Marquis thought it was extraordinary how everyone high or low should react in the same way to one young woman, but he merely asked,
“Will you order Crusader to be brought round from the stables in an hour’s time, Dalton. I want a drink, a bath and I will change into my riding clothes.
