Chapter 3As the ladies left the dining room, Indira was aware that Lady Sinclair was regarding her with undisguised hostility.
Before dinner the Marquis had introduced other members of the house party who had arrived, then said,
“I think I must honour our unexpected guest tonight, to assure her not only how delighted we are to have her here at Ardsley Hall, but also to apologise for the unpleasant treatment she received on her arrival in England instead of the welcome she might have expected.”
The story of Indira’s treatment at the hands of highwaymen had lost nothing in the telling.
One after another the guests had come up to her before dinner to say how intolerable the situation had become in the country and that theft, robbery and violence were becoming so habitual that something wo
