“Your father must be a very fortunate man,” the Earl remarked, “if he finds life always amusing. What does he do?”
Salrina thought quickly what she should reply, knowing that she must not reveal anything of significance and she merely said evasively,
“Papa loves the country and I think if I am honest it is not where one is that can be boring, but perhaps – people.”
“There you are, Alaric!” Lord Charles teased. “I have always said that it is the sort of people we associate with that makes you yawn.”
“Shut up, Charles!” the Earl said. “I will not have you lecturing me!”
“It’s only what you were saying yourself,” Lord Charles argued. “You were reminding me only yesterday morning that we were never bored in Portugal.”
“Were you fighting on the Peninsula?” Salrina asked. “It must have bee
