For a moment there was a stunned silence.
Then as Lady Fernhurst started to say, ‘It is illegal.’
Sir Richard sprang to his feet.
“You are nothing but one of those damned fortune-hunters!” he shouted. “How dare you take advantage of a young girl who was riding alone with no one to protect her. You ought to be shot!”
He seemed to spit the words at the Earl, who just stared at him apparently unmoved by his violence.
“Fortune-hunter?” he asked. “What fortune?”
Sir Richard remembered too late that Thelma was not supposed to know about her great-aunt’s Will. He looked uncertainly at Lady Fernhurst.
To cover up his mistake, Lady Fernhurst repeated almost hysterically,
“It is illegal! Of course it is illegal! I shall take you before the Magistrates and accuse you of abducting an innocent
