Mr. Barnham rose from his desk to walk in the same manner that the Marquis had done to the window and back again.
“I have been racking my brains, my Lord,” he said, “to think what else you can do. We know Lord Kirkhampton will be watching, trying to trip you up and attempting to force you into the position where you will have to excuse yourself and perhaps look foolish in doing so. Unless she is completely and utterly impossible, there must be something we could make of her.”
He threw out his hand.
“If she is uneducated, uncouth and ungraceful, she can be tutored into some semblance of acceptability. If she is young enough to be adaptable, nothing is impossible.”
The Marquis stared at him in a bemused fashion.
Then he said almost beneath his breath,
“Tutored into becoming my wife? My
