“Frightened of Claude!” he exclaimed. “Well, there is no need to be. He is a fool if ever there was one. The Dowager calls him a worm. There is only one thing to do with worms and that is tread on them.”
“No! No! He is not a worm,” Tina said. “He is far more like a snake who will go on scheming to get his own way and to destroy you! Oh, please leave him alone. Send him out of the country if you can. Don’t put yourself in any further danger.”
“Don’t fret,” Lord Wynchingham said smoothly. “If Claude does kill me, who cares?”
“I care,” Tina said quickly almost without thinking.
Then, as Lord Wynchingham looked at her and she felt the colour flood into her face, she added hastily,
“I would not wish anything to happen to you or indeed for your cousin to triumph after his dastardly plot to
