“No, of course not,” Alisa said quickly.
Then she added,
“Supposing – because I would not do what he – suggested that he stops the – cheque?”
She remembered how once her father had stopped a cheque because he found that he had paid the same bill twice.
“That would leave three pots of cream unpaid for,” Penelope said quickly, “and I cannot believe that any gentleman would behave so meanly.”
“No. I am – sure you are – right,” Alisa agreed.
She was thinking that whatever she felt about his behaviour at least the Earl was a gentleman of honour.
She did not know why she was so sure, but she was, and she thought too that Penelope was right when she said that losing fifty pounds would be to him no more than backing a horse that lost a race.
Penelope kissed her cheek.
“Cheer up, dearest,
