“Sir Roderick is very ill, in fact he is dying,” Lord Melburne said. “But you have not yet explained to me, Romayne, why you should post down from London in this unexpected and impetuous manner.”
She looked at him and her eyes narrowed for a moment.
“Did you really expect me to do anything else,” she asked and her voice was hard, “with Nicholas Vernon proclaiming far and wide that you have become affianced to some unknown female called ‘Clarinda’?”
Lord Melburne was silent. He was remembering the listening footman who had set off immediately towards London after his first visit to Sir Roderick. Of course Clarinda had been right. The man had gone in search of Nicholas and related to him all that he had overheard. Now Nicholas Vernon, as he had always anticipated, intended to make trouble
