But how could she have known, how could she have imagined for one moment that there were two emerald rings – one on the Marquis’s finger, the other in the box that Mr. Hanbury had so tactfully forgotten so that the gift should not disturb her Wedding Day?
She realised that Mr. Hanbury was waiting. He was anxious and a little alarmed lest what he had done had incurred her displeasure.
She laid her hand on his arm.
“Thank you,” she said softly, “I am grateful.”
Then she turned away and walked into the library at the far end of the hall.
It was a long room overlooking a small paved garden at the back of the house where a fountain was playing. Sunshine was streaming through the windows, shining on the Persian rugs and lighting the walls covered from floor to ceiling by shelves filled with
