CHAPTER THREEThe Conté burst headlong into the room and faced the Marquis who was standing beside Lanthia.
“I saw you coming out of my wife’s room!” he roared. “How dare you go in there? You have insulted me and I demand – ”
The Marquis realised that the angry Spaniard was about to challenge him to a duel!
Realising that disaster beckoned the Marquis, thought quickly of how to avoid a challenge. Not because he was frightened of facing the Conté in combat, but because duelling had been strictly forbidden by Queen Victoria.
Duels did take place secretly in Green Park, but if it was discovered, the duellists were forced to go abroad into exile for a year or perhaps two.
And that was something the Marquis did not wish for under any circumstances.
Nor did he relish the scandal of being ch
