His voice became more cynical as he finished,
“They were not likely to do so to my face.”
“No, of course not, but did nobody know ‒ that you had been married?”
“Of course they knew!” the Earl said impatiently as if she had asked a stupid question. “The Ambassador announced it not only to the English newspapers but also to the French as well. When I returned back here, I found piles of congratulatory letters and, of course, a large number of Wedding presents.”
“It must have been – terrible for you, my Lord,” Minella said softly.
“What I have just told you,” the Earl said, “is known only to my mother and to my wife’s father.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“I have told my friends,” the Earl went on, “that my wife has to be with her father, who is in poor health in the South of France. Whenev
