“Stop crying, my precious and let me tell you what I feel about you.”
Noella was so astonished that she opened her eyes and looked up at him and realised how close his face was to hers.
She felt herself tremble, but it was not now with fear. Instead there was a sudden hope in her heart like the first glimmer of an evening star.
Instinctively, without realising it, she moved a little closer to him.
“Now suppose we start at the very beginning,” the Earl suggested, “and you tell me who you really are.”
“I-I am not – your sister!”
“I am very glad about that.”
“You are? But I – ”
“Who are you?” he interrupted. “That is what must come first.”
“I-I am Noella Wakefield. My mother and your mother were close cousins and were brought up together.”
“So you are distantly related to me,” the E
