“I will fetch her back.”
“What would be the point?” Richard asked. “She will not do what you ask, and besides, although I like Benedicta very much, I don’t want to marry her either.”
The Duke said nothing and after a moment Richard added,
“You could hardly expect me to, considering she is in love with you!”
There was a moment of silence and the expression on the Duke’s face made Richard draw in his breath.
Then surprisingly he said in a quiet and different tone of voice,
“What makes you think that?”
“It was obvious from the way she looked at you and when I asked her – she did not deny it.”
The Duke did not speak and after a moment Richard said bravely,
“I told her that you had sworn never to marry, but she understood – as you refuse to do – that neither of us could marry anyone un
