"There is a matter of supreme importance which we must discuss. I have been thinking of it ever since that distressing episode at the House of Tides and I feel it my honour and duty to offer you the protection of my name!"

Polly almost gaped at him. Henry's words of love were still in her mind and it was nearly impossible to accept that Tristan Dit ton had just made her an offer of marriage. And yet he seemed quite serious.

He drew her aside from the other couples who were jostling them as they made for the supper room, and in a moment they were in the deserted and dimly lit hall.

Polly struggled with her feeling of unreality.

"You do me great honour, sir," she said politely, 'but there is no need.

Everyone knows of the incident and realises it was entirely innocent. "

In the darkness she thought she saw Dit ton smile.

"I had been led to believe that you were so proper a lady, so careful for your reputation, that you would not refuse me. Lady Polly! Was I then mistaken?"

Polly felt her temper rise at the insinuation that she had been in any way to blame.

"I am sure that my reputation is as good as that of any lady,"

she said coldly, 'but I feel no need to protect it from so imaginary a threat! It was a generous offer, sir, but I must refuse. " Through the open ballroom doors she saw the Dowager Countess pa.s.s on her way to supper and took a step forward.

Tristan Dit ton put a restraining hand on her arm. A servant, scurrying across the darkened hall, gave them a curious look.

Polly's patience snapped.

"What is all this about, sir? I have already said--' Tristan Dit ton put his thin face very close to hers.

"It is about a young lady who is not as careful of her reputation as you are of yours. Lady Polly! How do you think your brother would feel were he to discover that the lady he desires to marry has already been free with her favours? That Lord Edmund Grant- ley was before him?"

Polly recoiled a step in disgust, staring at him in disbelief.

"You are loathsome, sir! How dare you insinuate?"

"It is no insinuation." Dit ton spoke with satisfied certainty.

"I have heard the whole tale--that they were alone at the inn, that Grantley was boasting of deflowering Miss Mark ham, and that the innkeeper confirmed the next day that Grantley had succeeded! She had been with him all night!

And if you do not agree to our betrothal. Lady Polly, I will make sure that every guest at this ball knows Miss Mark ham's disgrace!"

His eyes were burning with an excitement that sickened Polly. She was about to reject his words utterly when the memory of Hetty's arrival at Dilling ham Court stopped her. With hideous clarity she remembered Peter's insistence upon an early wedding and Hetty's distress at the Dowager Countess's objections. Hetty, whose natural liveliness had been tempered by a mysterious unhappiness. Could it be true? Perhaps Peter knew and was trying to protect his betrothed the only way he could? Even worse, then, if he was prepared to make that sacrifice, for Mr Dit ton to expose the truth before such a mult.i.tude.

Polly froze as an even more hideous thought occurred to her. What if Hetty were expecting a child? Her faint the previous day was now very suggestive of more than simple wedding nerves and exhaustion. How horrible would be her disgrace if it were true! The thought took a lot of the strength from Polly's response.

"You disgust me, sir! You wish me to consent to a betrothal on the grounds that you will denounce Miss Mark ham if I do not? You must be mad!"

"Not so!" Tristan Dit ton caught Polly's arm in a cruel grip.

"You will do as I ask, Lady Polly. Think of Miss Mark ham's dishonour, think of your brother's anger and disgust! And think of all these prurient gossips who will turn it into the biggest scandal in years!

You cannot refuse me!"

"I cannot even believe it! You must be mistaken, or lying..." But Polly knew that her response lacked conviction and she saw Dit ton smile.

"I have witnesses who can prove Miss Mark ham was at the Rose and Crown that night! She would crumble under the first accusation! Aye, and all the world would be there to see it!"

Polly's breath caught in her throat with the shame and horror of it.

She could not think clearly. She knew she must be mad to even think of agreeing, but Dit- ton's hand was like a claw on her arm, his eyes b.u.ming into hers.

Madness! She could not throw away her own future because of Hetty's behaviour. Then, through the open door she saw them, Peter smiling down into Hetty's face with such love, his hand covering hers as it lay on his arm.

Polly remembered his unhappiness over the broken betrothal, how he had made a fool of himself with Lady Bolt, how he had got drunk through his misery on hearing the false news of Hetty's betrothal to Grantley.

"I am at the point where I need a rich wife," Dit ton was saying conversationally, only heightening the horror of it all, 'and you are both rich and well connected. I could never aspire to marry an Earl's daughter under other circ.u.mstances. Come, my dear, we could make a good match of it!

What do you say? " There were a hundred people at the ball, Polly thought with dread. If Dit ton were to announce Hetty's downfall before them all, the effect would be too devastating to contemplate. If she could only buy some time, prevent the disclosure. She need never go through with it and she would be able to talk to someone, sort it all out, explain. Polly's mind was a whirl of thoughts and images.

Henry's face was before her, the scene between them in the conservatory suddenly so distant it seemed almost imagined. Or was this the unreality? Dit ton was like a coiled spring, unpredictable, unstable.

"Very well," she said weakly, and heard his breath hiss with satisfaction, 'but the betrothal must be kept a secret until I have had chance to tell my family--' It had been a gamble and it showed at once how far she had underestimated him.

"A secret!" Dit ton exclaimed gaily.

"No such thing! I want to shout it from the rooftops!" He had grasped her hand and was drawing her with hideous inevitability towards the supper room, where the c.h.i.n.k of china and buzz of voices could be heard. Polly hung back, suddenly terrified.

"Oh, no! You cannot! I did not intend... We must wait--' But her words fell on deaf ears.

"Come, come, my dear, do you think I shall give you the chance to cry off!

Credit me with a little sense, I beg of you! What a sensation this will be-almost, but not quite, as good as telling the guests of Miss Mark ham's debauchery! " Polly gave a faint moan.

"Oh, never fear," Dit ton continued in the same light tone, "I shall keep my part of the bargain for as long as you keep yours! And here we are--ready to break the news!"

A curious silence fell on the room when they entered. The tables, in long rows that stretched towards the picture windows at the end, were laden with a harvest supper and almost full. At the top table, the whole Sea grave family were chatting animatedly to the friends and neighbours around them. Worse, to their left, the d.u.c.h.ess of March night, Lady Laura and Lord Henry were enjoying the repast. Henry's head had been inclined towards his mother as she expressed some view on the sweetness of the strawberries. He looked up as Polly came closer and the glad light sprang to his eyes, to be banished only slowly as he saw Tristan Dit ton pulling her forward by the hand.

Dit ton reached the top table and stopped. He addressed the Earl of Sea grave.

"Lady Polly has done me the honour of accepting my hand in marriage,"

Tristan Dit ton said with oily complacency.

"She has made me the happiest of men!"

There was absolute silence. The Dowager Countess put down her winegla.s.s with a clatter that sent her dessert spoon spinning away.

"Polly? Engaged to Mr Dit ton? What nonsense is this?"

Polly felt Tristan Dit ton stiffen beside her. Afraid of his instability, convinced that he would suddenly blurt out what he had just told her, she hastened into speech.

"It is not nonsense. Mama! I a.s.sure you, I have consented to marry Mr Dit ton. After all, we have known each other all our lives, and I esteem him greatly--' She broke off as she saw the look of contemptuous amus.e.m.e.nt cross her elder brother's face. Polly knew that she had started to rattle on out of nervousness, here in front of all these people. And, as yet, Nicholas had said nothing at all. Beside him, Lucille's face was a blank mask.

Fortunately, Tristan Dit ton had been the only one convinced by her words.

He beamed at the a.s.sembled group.