CHAPTER TWOAnthea spent the night agonising over ways to stop her stepmother in her tracks.
What her stepmother’s friend had said was true – there were not many, if any, eligible young men about and although she could never imagine her father allowing his new wife to hitch her up to an elderly man, he might in his present state of thrall.
It was not as if the family was in need of the money that a wealthy man might bring, as her father’s investments were shrewd and there was plenty to go round.
So on the next day when her stepmother announced that she was going to throw a grand ball next weekend, Anthea knew only too well what lay behind the idea.
“That sounds splendid,” said her father. “This house has been silent for too long, in fact, I cannot remember the last time we had music an
