Her voice seemed to ring out in the tiny room and Nana looked at her in surprise.
“I don’t understand, dearie, what his Lordship was doin’ with your peaches, but it’s certain you must receive him, as I’ve told his groom.”
‘I cannot!” Celesta cried. “You don’t understand, Nana. I cannot – meet him!”
“I don’t know what’s come over you,” Nana replied sharply as if Celesta was still five years old. “His Lordship is behavin’ in a very proper manner. It’s only right that he should call on you. If it comes to that, it’s the least he can do.”
“Did you ask his name?” Celesta enquired in a weak voice.
“Of course,” Nana answered. “I know how to behave. ‘May I ask, young man,’ I says to the groom, ‘the name of his Lordship? We’ve only just heard of his arrival at The Priory.’
“‘My Master’s name,
