CHAPTER FIVE“I am so deeply distressed, dearest Gretna, that I never received your letter,” Maria Fitzherbert was saying for the tenth time as Gretna somewhat stumblingly related how she had arrived in London to find such a poor reception at the deserted house in Park Street.
“All the same,” she continued, “your letter should undoubtedly have been brought here to me. I will send a footman to Park Street immediately to find out what is happening. The caretaker must be told to let me know if he is ill and he cannot carry out his duties.”
“It was tiresome of me to arrive – at such short notice,” Gretna said apologetically. “But I had no idea what else to do.”
“You were quite right to come,” Maria Fitzherbert assured her. “Indeed have I not often said over and over again that I was always t
