"I could not sleep, Papa."

Sarah certainly looked very pale, the Earl thought, and with her hair hanging down her back and wearing an unattractive robe in which she usually rested in the afternoon, she did not look as beautiful as usual.

"You should have slept until luncheon time," he said gruffly.

"How can I sleep when I can think only about the way Ula was disporting herself last night? And how can she afford a gown which must have cost far more than any gown you have ever bought me!"

Her voice rose a little shrilly and the Earl replied, "I suppose all those rumours we heard about her being chaperoned by the d.u.c.h.ess because she knew her mother are true? Anyway we will be able to find out more."

"How when she ran away did she get to the d.u.c.h.ess?" Sarah asked. "Unless, and this is a possibility, Papa, the Marquis took her there."

She sat down at the table as she went on, "If you think that was what happened, she must have appealed to him somehow to take her away in his phaeton and that was why he left."

"If you remember," the Earl muttered heavily, "the footmen said, and there is no reason why they should lie, that he walked out of the anteroom while you were in the drawing room and went straight to the stables."

As the Earl spoke, Sarah sat bolt upright in her chair.

"Did you say the servants said he came out of the anteroom?"

"That is what Henry told me," the Earl replied, "and I see no reason why the boy, stupid though he is, should not tell the truth."

"I distinctly gave instructions to Bateson that the Marquis should be put in the library until I was ready to see him," Sarah said.

She thought for a moment and then went on, "Olive and I were talking in the drawing room. You don't suppose, Papa, that if the Marquis was in the anteroom, he overheard what we said?"

"Was there any reason why your conversation should upset him?"

"Every reason!" Sarah gasped.

Then she gave a little scream.

"I am sure now that is why he left. Oh, my G.o.d, Papa, you will have to do something! You will have to prevent him from puffing up Ula, which is what he is doing just to punish me!"

"I don't know what you are talking about," her father protested.

"But I do!" Sarah went on. "I don't believe for a moment the story that the d.u.c.h.ess of Wrexham loved Aunt Louise so much that she wanted to help her daughter."

She screamed the next words, "It's the Marquis who is at the bottom of this! The Marquis who is having his revenge on me!"

"If that is true," the Earl said, who was finding it difficult to follow his daughter's train of thought, "I will wring your neck for losing the richest and most important son-in-law I am ever likely to acquire!"

"I will not have Ula taking my place as the most beautiful girl in England!" Sarah cried. "I will not have her wearing better gowns than I possess and having a better ball than you ever gave me, with every man who has. .h.i.therto admired me, now admiring her!"

Her voice rose again to a scream as she carried on, "I will not have it, Papa! Do you hear me? I will not have it!"

Then as the Earl stared at her, as if he was not quite certain what all the commotion was about, Sarah burst into tears.

The d.u.c.h.ess and Ula sat down to luncheon alone together.

"I thought it would be a mistake after such a late party, dear child, for us to accept any of the many invitations we had for today," the d.u.c.h.ess said.

"You are quite right," Ula agreed, "and I think, ma'am, you ought to rest this afternoon."

"And what will you do?"

"I shall read a book," Ula replied. "When I first saw his Lordship's library, I knew that there were at least two or three hundred books I wanted to read and the sooner I get started, the better!"

The d.u.c.h.ess laughed.

"You are far too lovely, my dear, for there to be any need for you to be a 'bluestocking'."

"I have no wish to be that. At the same time Papa always said that a pretty face is a good introduction, but a man wants something more if he is to enjoy the company of one woman for the rest of his life."

"So you are talking about marriage." The d.u.c.h.ess smiled. "How many proposals did you receive last night?"

"You will hardly believe it," Ula said, "and I feel quite certain by this morning they will have changed their minds, but there were no fewer than three young gentlemen who said they intended to ask if they could pay their addresses to me."

The d.u.c.h.ess laughed.

"It is what I expected."

"I cannot believe it possible that any man could imagine he wants to marry a woman he has danced with only once."

"Most women don't look like you, my dear," the d.u.c.h.ess said, "and I am sure the men in question were all frightened that somebody else might steal a march on them by getting there first."

Ula was silent for a moment.

Then she said, "It is strange a but each one began by saying, 'are you in love?' When I shook my head they said, 'then if you are not in love with the n.o.ble Marquis, I have a chance'."

The d.u.c.h.ess smiled and then she said insistently, "I do beg of you, my dear, not to fall in love with Drogo."

Ula's eyes opened wider than usual as she answered, "Why do you think that I should presume to do anything so foolish?"

"Because inevitably women want what they cannot have," the d.u.c.h.ess replied. "So many women have done everything in their power to get Drogo to give them the quite inexpensive but inexpressibly valuable present of a gold ring."

She looked at Ula and then said as if she wanted to impress it upon her, "I am quite sure that the very unpleasant experience my grandson has had with your cousin Sarah will make him revert to what has been his intention ever since he was quite young and that is never to be married."

"But, of course," Ula said, "he is quite right, unless he really falls in love with someone. I am sorry Sarah should have hurt him and perhaps made him very cynical, but I know he would have been very unhappy with her."

"I am aware of that now. Like many other men, Drogo was for a time blinded by her beauty."

The d.u.c.h.ess sighed before she said almost to herself, "But she is the only girl, and this is unfortunately the truth, whom he had ever seriously considered making his wife and I think it will be a long time before he recovers from the blow inflicted upon him."

"I can understand that," Ula said in her soft voice, "but as Papa often said, 'time heals many things'. Although the Marquis is now bitter and upset, I am sure that, as he is such a marvellous person, he will find somebody to love and love is the quickest healer of all."

The d.u.c.h.ess smiled.

"Only you could think like that, my child, and what we have to do is to find you a husband you love and who does not love you just for your pretty face."

Ula was silent and the d.u.c.h.ess guessed that she was remembering how much her mother had loved her father and he her.

She found herself praying that the child would not be disappointed or disillusioned as her grandson had been.

She was sure, even from the few days she had been with her, that Ula was very vulnerable and very sensitive.

'She must find the right sort of man,' the d.u.c.h.ess thought, 'a man who will protect her and keep her from anything that could spoil her intrinsic purity and goodness.'

Then she was surprised that she could apply such words to someone who being so young would obviously still be quite immature.

She was well aware, however, that Ula was different from most girls of her age, for her character and personality were unusually developed for her years.

'In fact, she is exceptional,' the d.u.c.h.ess told herself.

She had already made up her mind that when the Marquis had finished using her as a tool to enact his revenge on Lady Sarah, she would look after her at her house in Hampstead and try to find her a husband who would make her really happy.

After the d.u.c.h.ess had gone up to rest, saying they had only a small dinner party to attend that night and so would be able to go to bed long before midnight, Ula went into the library.

As she had said, there were so many books she wanted to read that she did not know where to begin.

She had just found one that looked particularly interesting because it was about horses, when the door opened and the butler announced, "His Highness Prince Hasin of Kubaric to see you, miss!"

Ula started and almost dropped the book she was carrying.

The Prince came into the room looking more bombastic than he had last night. His dark eyes as they appraised her in the daylight embarra.s.sed her even more than they had under the crystal chandeliers with their pink candles.

"I am delighted to find you alone," the Prince said as the butler closed the door behind him.

He advanced across the room until he reached her side.

Ula curtseyed and then she said quickly, "I am afraid, Your Highness, that, as Her Grace has retired to rest, being somewhat tired after last night, it is incorrect for me to receive visitors in her absence."

"You will receive me," the Prince replied, "because I am here and because, my beautiful Miss Forde, I want to talk to you."

Ula held the book she was carrying tightly against her breast, almost as if it protected her, as she countered, "I regret, Your Highness a that is a impossible!"

"That word is not in my vocabulary," the Prince said.

He moved a step nearer as he demanded, "Let me look at you. You are even lovelier today than you were last night and, having found you, my precious pearl, I have no intention of losing you."

"I would a not wish to a insult Your Highness," Ula said in a voice that shook a little, "but, if you will not a leave me, then I must a leave you."

She moved away from him as she spoke, but he reached out and caught her by the wrist.

"Do you really think I will allow you to leave me?" he asked in an amused tone of voice. "I find you entrancing, even when you are resisting me and, because you are so small and at the same time so lovely, I cannot fail to teach you to obey my commands."

"Please a don't a touch me!" Ula cried, trying to free her wrist from his grasp.

But he merely pulled her closer to him.

Then he unexpectedly put out his other hand and, taking the book from her, flung it down on the floor.

She realised as he did so that he intended to draw her closer still and kiss her.

With a little cry of horror she tried to struggle against him frantically attempting to release his grip on her wrist.

Then, as she did so he gave a low laugh that was little more than a sound that came from between his lips and she knew perceptively that because she was trying to escape, because she was fighting against him, it only amused and excited him all the more.

"Let me a go a please a let me a go!"

Her voice was low and frightened.

"That is something I have no intention of doing," the Prince replied.

Relentlessly he drew her with what seemed an iron grip nearer and nearer to him.

She gave a little scream as his other arm went around her.

Then, as he bent his head towards her lips, she screamed again and as she did so the door opened.

For one second she could hardly believe she was saved, but standing staring at the Prince and looking extremely angry was the Marquis.

It was then that his grip relaxed and Ula with a swift movement was able to free herself.

She ran across the room to fling herself against the Marquis and hide her face against his shoulder.

He did not put an arm around her, but he felt her whole body trembling against his.

Then to her surprise the Marquis said in a cold, hard and at the same time controlled voice, "I think Your Highness must be unaware that my grandmother, being old, is finding it impossible to receive visitors today after the festivities of last night."

The Prince did not speak, but, as he looked at the Marquis, it was as if the two men challenged each other.

"You will therefore understand," the Marquis continued, "that you were admitted by mistake and I can only ask Your Highness if you will be so gracious as to call on another occasion."

"I came to see Miss Forde," the Prince responded at length.

To Ula it was as if he snarled the words as an animal might have done.

"I think Your Highness must be unaware," the Marquis went on in the same cold and lofty tone he had used before, "that in England young ladies of gentle birth do not receive gentlemen alone without a chaperone being present."

The Prince was beaten and he knew it, but he managed to give a somewhat forced laugh as he said, "English traditions! English protocol! So very difficult for those of us who come from other countries."

"Exactly!" the Marquis replied. "I knew Your Highness would be intelligent enough to understand."

He reached out to pull the door a little wider open and, although the Prince tried to bl.u.s.ter his way towards it, there was no doubt it was a humiliation.