Zela felt her heart give a little throb.
It flashed through her mind that perhaps her father was going to marry again.
It was an eventuality that she had always feared.
She thought that in his loneliness he might find any woman, whatever she was like, better than having no one to talk to except herself.
Her father rose from the table.
“Let’s go to the study,” he suggested. “What I have to tell you is for your ears alone.”
Zela wondered what it could possibly be, as her father picked up his glass of brandy.
When they entered the study, the arrangements of flowers and the bright afternoon sun streaming in through the windows made the room seem very attractive.
The Earl walked over to the mantelpiece and put his brandy glass on it and then he turned to face his daughter.
Without bei
