CHAPTER 2The tapers in the chandeliers were burning low when an exquisitely attired gentleman sauntered with a bored cynical expression on his face up the marble staircase.
The noise of the crowd thronging the Reception rooms was, he thought, not unlike the parrot house at the zoo.
He was unimpressed by the glittering jewels of the women in their transparent gauze and gold-threaded muslins or by the diamonded decorations that adorned the chests of the men, who reminded him of a crowd of peacocks preening themselves as a prelude to mating.
Several people spoke to him, but with a brief nod the gentleman passed on until finally he found his hostess holding court to a dozen or so of her male guests, every sentence uttered by her lilting voice bringing a guffaw of laughter or exclamations of
