She made a little sound that was almost a sob as she added,
“Have you any idea what it is like when you have nothing to live on but hope and to watch someone like your Lordship throwing money away in such a profligate manner?”
She spoke aggressively, but, because her voice was soft and musical and the lips that uttered the words were sweetly curved, the Marquis surprisingly did not fly into a rage.
Instead he deliberately sat down in an armchair and crossed his legs.
“When I came here, Miss Lingfield,” he said, “it was to talk about you. We seem to have diverged very far from the subject in question.”
“There is no need for you to interest yourself in me, my Lord,” Valeta replied, “except where it concerns the rent of this house.”
“That is not true,” the Marquis parried. “I am in fact
