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  This was so near the truth that Ajanta thought Lord Burnham must be an unusually perceptive and intelligent man.

  Lady Burnham sighed again.

  “My husband is very obstinate and very persistent. If he once makes up his mind to take a certain course of action it is almost – impossible to make him – change his mind.”

  “I hope in this instance you can prevent him from doing what he intends,” Ajanta suggested.

  “I have been trying – desperately to do so,” Lady Burnham replied, “and I think if George is – convinced this afternoon that he has made a mistake – then he will admit that he has been – misinformed and that Quintus and I have done – nothing – wrong.”

  “Shall I tell the Marquis that Lord Burnham is coming to see him?” Ajanta asked.

  Lady Burnham appeared to think for a moment.

  “I think it might be better than if you appear surprised by his visit. If Quintus is obstructive or insulting, it might make him determined to go ahead with the divorce case. He has already arranged, if he is not satisfied, for a solicitor to take his case before Parliament tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” Ajanta ejaculated.

  “You do see why I am so – worried?” Lady Burnham asked. “And I had to – convince myself that you are a real person.”

  She looked at Ajanta as if seeing her for the first time and added,

  “You are very lovely! It was clever of Quintus to find you.”

  “Thank you,” Ajanta answered, “and you are the most beautiful person I have ever seen!”

  “How sweet of you to say that,” Lady Burnham replied. “I have been so worried and unhappy, I feel I must look an – absolute fright.”

  “You could never look that,” Ajanta answered.

  Lady Burnham smiled.

  “I suppose really I should be jealous that you are so beautiful but, because I love Quintus with all my heart, I can only hope that you will make him very – very happy.”

  Ajanta felt it would be better just to say ‘thank you’.

  “I must go back now,” Lady Burnham went on. “If George finds out I have been away, I shall merely say that I am so unhappy because he will not believe me, that I went riding by myself and hoped that my horse would throw me and I would – break my – neck.”

  Ajanta gave a little cry.

  “You must not say such things!”

  “I have to be dramatic to prove my innocence!” Lady Burnham retorted. “And George will never believe me unless he is – convinced by what he – sees this afternoon.”

  “I will do my very best to make sure he does,” Ajanta said, “and thank you for being so brave as to warn me.” Lady Burnham turned her horse.

  “Goodbye,” she said. “Remember I’ll be praying that everything will be all right. I cannot be divorced! If I am, I swear I will kill myself.”

  She did not wait for Ajanta to reply but rode off, leaving her staring after her in a bewildered fashion.

  She had wondered a thousand times why the Marquis wanted to be engaged so quickly and the reason for his urgency to have it announced within three days.

  Now she knew the truth and the predicament he was in was worse than anything she had dreamed of.

  Miss Caruthers had once, in her revelations of what happened in noble houses touched on divorce, and Ajanta could remember what had been said.

  She had spoken in shocked tones when she related how one of the Duke’s daughters had, because she was so desperately unhappy with her husband, run away with another man.

  “Of course,” Miss Caruthers said, “it meant that none of us ever mentioned her name again and the Duke behaved as if she was no longer alive.”

  “How horrid of him!” Ajanta exclaimed.

  “No, dear, he was right,” Miss Caruthers replied. “She brought shame on her family by doing something disgraceful!”

  “Did her husband divorce her?” Ajanta asked.

  “He contemplated doing so, but His Grace dissuaded him on the ground that it would cause a scandal which would affect them all.”

  “What happened to her?” Ajanta enquired.

  Miss Caruthers shrugged her shoulders.

  “I expect that she went abroad. No one in England would speak to her and, of course, if she was living ‘in sin’, I imagine even the foreigners she knew would be of no Social consequence.”

  It had seemed to Ajanta at the time a very cruel fate and now she could almost understand why Lady Burnham would rather be dead than in such a position.

  At the same time she could not help feeling that she and the Marquis must have realised the consequences of what they were doing if they were found out.

  ‘They were breaking one of the Ten Commandments,’ she thought.

  Because Lady Burnham was so lovely, she could understand the Marquis being attracted to her and because he was so handsome it was not surprising that she fell in love with him.

  It all seemed rather complicated and it was much more difficult now she had met both the people in question to condemn them for their behaviour and not sympathise with them in the predicament they found themselves in.

  Then she told herself it was not for her to judge what they had done, but rather to earn the large amount of money she had been paid to save them.

  ‘It would certainly be dishonest of me if I don’t try in every way I can,’ Ajanta reasoned and she knew instinctively that was what she must do.

  *

  After another luncheon at which there were a number of relatives wishing her and the Marquis well, toasting them frequently with his excellent wine, Ajanta made her plans.

  “What are we going to do this afternoon?” Charis asked.

  Ajanta had anticipated this question and to her relief, after they had ridden in the morning, the weather had clouded over and it had begun to rain.

  There was an uncomfortable moment when, as they returned from riding, the Marquis had asked one of the grooms who collected the horses at the front door why Ajanta had been given a different horse from the one she had ridden the day before.

  “I wanted Mercury to be kept exclusively for Miss Tiverton,” he queried.

  “I know, my Lord,” the groom replied, “but as ’e went out with the young lady first thing this mornin’ I felt ’e mightn’t be able to keep up with your Lordship.”

  The Marquis looked surprised and, as he walked up the steps beside Ajanta, he enquired,

  “You did not tell me you had been riding before breakfast.”

  “I forgot,” Ajanta replied and hurried up the stairs before he could question her any further.

  Now she said in answer to Charis’s question,

  “As it is too wet to go out, I am going to ask the Marquis if he would give us a personally conducted tour of the rooms we have not already seen.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Charis said. “I will go now and ask him.”

  The Marquis was just leaving the dining room with his relatives and impetuously she ran towards him saying,

  “Ajanta says you might take us round the house this afternoon, my Lord. You know we have not seen half of it yet and Darice and I want to climb up to the very top where there must be a wonderful view.”

  “There is,” the Marquis smiled, “but there is a lot to see downstairs first.”

  One of his relatives laughed.

  “I can see you will have an attentive audience, Quintus. It will make you think you are back in the war where I hear you used to lecture your troops for hours on ways they could take the enemy by surprise.”

  “I think you are insinuating rather obliquely that I like the sound of my own voice,” the Marquis said.

  “The idea never crossed my mind!” his relative replied. “But I am quite certain that you would not wish to disappoint anyone so pretty as your future sister-in-law.”

  He put his arm around Charis’s shoulder as he spoke and said,

  “You are quite certain, little one, that you would not like me to be your guide
?”

  “If the Marquis refuses, I might ask you,” Charis said, “but I expect he knows more about his own house than you do.”

  Everybody laughed as if she had said something clever and the relation retorted,

  “It is no use, Quintus. We have all given up competing where you are concerned.”

  It was a long time before everybody had said goodbye and, looking at the large grandfather clock in the hall, Ajanta began to wonder when Lord Burnham would arrive.

  She had dressed herself in one of her prettiest gowns that had come from London and Charis had another attractive one that made her look exceedingly pretty and also, Ajanta thought with satisfaction, very ladylike.

  Darice, with her new blue sash on a white muslin gown that had been starched and pressed by the housemaids, looked as usual adorable and she felt sure that, whatever else he might think, it would be impossible for Lord Burnham to imagine they were actresses from a playhouse.

  They were in the armoury, which seemed an ironically appropriate place, when Lord Burnham was announced.

  The walls were covered with ancient weapons of every sort that the Marquis’s relatives had collected or actually used in the wars in which they had fought in.

  Ancient flags hung from the cornice where it met the ceiling and there were portraits of the Storringtons in their uniforms, looking smugly triumphant, as if they had just won a major victory.

  “Lord Burnham, my Lord!” the butler said from the doorway and the Marquis turned round in surprise.

  After what Lady Burnham had said about him, Ajanta had somehow expected he would look very much as he did.

  If the Marquis had not been present, he might have passed for quite a good-looking man.

  He was tall but rather thickset and, because he was angry, there was a scowl on his face and he walked towards the Marquis in a manner that was obviously aggressive.

  “Good afternoon, Burnham!” the Marquis said. “This is indeed a surprise! I was not expecting you.”

  “I have come,” Lord Burnham said in a loud voice, “to see for myself if this mythical young woman to whom you have announced your engagement actually exists.”

  He paused before he went on with the air of a man giving an address to a large company of people,

  “It appears to me to be very strange that none of your friends have heard of her, nor has she been seen in any Social circles or by anybody of my acquaintance, except of course my wife, whose word I can hardly rely on in this particular!”

  “I cannot imagine why you should doubt it,” the Marquis said coolly. “Let me introduce you to my fiancée.”

  He turned to look back at Ajanta, who deliberately had not moved from where she had been standing.

  When Lord Burnham was announced, she had been looking at a collection of ancient swords.

  Now she walked to the Marquis’s side and he said,

  “Let me introduce you, Ajanta, to Lord Burnham who is anxious to make your acquaintance. My fiancée, Miss Ajanta Tiverton.”

  Ajanta held out her hand.

  “I am so delighted to meet you, my Lord,” she said. “Lady Burnham has always been so kind to me and I do hope she has come with you.”

  Lord Burnham stared at her.

  He was not only astonished at Ajanta’s looks, for in the austerity of the armoury her hair seemed to glow as if it held little lights in it, but also by what she said.

  As he took her hand, she dropped him a small curtsey and, as if he felt he must reply to what she had asked, he said, “No, my wife is not with me.”

  “Oh, I am so sorry!” Ajanta replied. “Will you please give her Ladyship my very best love and say that, when we come to London, I hope I shall have the privilege of being invited to your house.”

  As Ajanta spoke, she was aware that not only Lord Burnham was looking surprised at what she was saying, but so was the Marquis.

  Then the Marquis was quick-witted enough to take advantage of his enemy’s discomfiture.

  “Now that you have met Ajanta,” he said, “you must meet two other members of her family.”

  The girls were close at hand and the Marquis pushed Charis gently forward saying,

  “This is Charis, who is sixteen, and in another year will be making her curtsey to the King and Queen and this is Darice, who will have to wait a little longer.”

  Lord Burnham stared from one to the other and for a moment it seemed as if he had nothing to say.

  Then as Ajanta thought afterwards, almost as if it was on cue, the door opened and Lyle came into the armoury.

  “Oh, here you are!” he called out. “I have been searching for you everywhere!”

  Then he stopped and looked around.

  “I say!” he ejaculated. “What an amazing display of weapons! Is there a duelling pistol? Can I try one out?”

  The Marquis laughed.

  “You must try to prevent yourself from becoming engaged in a duel at least until you have gained your degree!”

  He then turned to Lord Burnham to say,

  “Here is another member of my fiancée’s family. Let me introduce Lyle Tiverton, who is at Oxford, and has come here specially to give me his congratulations.”

  Lyle held out his hand eagerly.

  “I have not met you before, my Lord,” he said, “but I have seen you on the Racecourse and I backed your runner when it won at Epsom last month. I only wish I could have been there to see him run!”

  “You are keen on racing?” Lord Burnham asked.

  It sounded as though his voice was rather weak and very different from the manner he had spoken in when he arrived.

  “Very keen indeed,” Lyle replied, “and I did watch the Derby last year when your horse came in second.”

  “To mine!” the Marquis added with satisfaction.

  Because she felt that he was being needlessly provocative, Ajanta said quickly,

  “Oh, please, Quintus, do let us ask Lord Burnham to stay to tea. I know Papa would be delighted to meet him not only because he has heard so much about his horses from Lyle, but also I am sure Lord Burnham has a library in his house that contains many magnificent volumes.”

  This was a shot in the dark, but she was certain that, as Lord Burnham was rich, he would have a library.

  “Is your father here too?” Lord Burnham asked.

  “Yes, he is,” Ajanta replied, “and I know he would be very gratified to meet your Lordship. We have so often talked about you.”

  Lord Burnham, however, had heard and seen enough,

  “I am afraid it will have to wait for another time,” he said sharply. “I cannot keep my horses waiting.”

  He looked at the Marquis and, although Ajanta thought that there was hatred in his eyes, he managed to say wryly,

  “You win, Stowe! But I am almost certain it was not a straight race!”

  “If you are expecting me to be insulted and call you out,” the Marquis replied, “I am sure Lyle would be delighted for me to do so. But I am really out of practice with duelling pistols.”

  Ajanta gave a little cry.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  She slipped her arm through the Marquis’s in an affectionate gesture that she knew that Lord Burnham would note.

  “You cannot be talking seriously,” she said, turning her blue eyes up to the Marquis’s face. “If I thought you were going to do anything so terrible as to fight a duel, I should die through sheer fear that you might be injured.”

  “It was only a joke between Lord Burnham and myself,” the Marquis told her soothingly.

  “But – frightening,” Ajanta said reproachfully. “I am sure Lord Burnham was really going to wish that we shall be very – very – happy, as we – will be!”

  She laid her cheek for a moment against the Marquis’s shoulder.

  As if he could bear no more, Lord Burnham gave an audible snort and, turning, walked towards the door. When he reached it, he looked back to say,

  “Good day, M
iss Tiverton, and I hope your happiness will last! Stowe, I will keep certain papers until your wedding, when I will send them to you as a present.”

  With that he walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The significance of what Lord Burnham had said took a moment or two to percolate into Ajanta’s mind.

  Then she realised that he must be referring to documents relating to the divorce and this meant that Lady Burnham and the Marquis would not be free of danger until he had actually married.

  For a moment she felt that she could not have heard correctly what Lord Burnham had said, but the scowl on the Marquis’s face and the tightness of his lips told her that he was well aware whom after all was the winner of the contest.

  She stood still looking at him apprehensively, wondering what she could say.

  She was aware with one part of her mind that Charis and Lyle were chattering on, yet she found it impossible to understand what they were saying.

  Then, as the Marquis looked at her and she knew he was going to say something important, the door opened and the butler announced,

  “Tea is served, my Lord, in the blue drawing room.” “Tea!” Darice exclaimed excitedly. “I hope there’s more of those delicious little chocolate cakes.”

  Ajanta took her by the hand and they walked towards the blue drawing room and, only when they had reached it, did she realise that the Marquis had left them.

  Her father was, however, waiting for her and, as she poured out his tea, he said,

  “I have arranged with Quintus to go to Oxford tomorrow and make arrangements to stay at my old College for at least a week. I suppose Lyle, you would not like to accompany me?”

  The Vicar spoke with a smile on his lips as if he knew the answer before Lyle exclaimed,

  “Oh, no, Papa! I have no wish to go back until I have to. I want to ride the horses here and explore the grounds.”

  “I thought that would be your answer,” the Vicar said complacently, “but it would be nice for me to see something of you when you return.”

  “Yes, of course, Papa,” Lyle agreed.

  But Ajanta knew that he was thinking that his interests and his father’s were very far apart.