He was very sceptical as to whether the Comte and Comtesse really did exist or, if they did, whether their title was genuine.
Any number of homeless emigrés from France had arrived in England, giving themselves aristocratic backgrounds to which they were certainly not entitled.
The Marquis determined that on his return to London he would seek out some of the real French aristocrats who had not yet returned to France, as they had been invited to do so by Napoleon Bonaparte, and discover if the family of de Prêt really existed.
At the same time he told himself that whatever he discovered, whatever he learnt about Nicole de Prêt would not in any way affect his marriage to Romana.
That was a fait accompli that nothing could alter but at the same time, he was beginning to think that things
