The Earl then said to his wife,
“We shall have eight men staying in the house for the Steeplechase, the rest will be with our neighbours.”
“I have been meaning to ask you whom you have invited,” the Countess replied.
The Earl reeled off seven names and then he added,
“And lastly this morning I have persuaded the Marquis of Melverley to join us.”
“Melverley?” the Countess exclaimed. “I had no idea you knew him.”
“I did know his father very well,” he replied. “And Melverley Park is not much more than twenty miles away from us in the country. But then since the young Marquis inherited the title, he has, I understand, never gone back to Melverley Park, which has naturally upset the people on his estate.”
“Why has he not gone home?” Imilda enquired.
“I don’t rightly know,” her father re
