Sorilda saw the Earl glance at it and she knew it was something he had not ordered, but had been put there by the servants as the correct procedure for their wedding dinner.
If Sorilda had not been so nervous, she would have laughed at the manner in which the Earl, on sitting down at the head of the table, deliberately flicked disdainfully aside some white roses that seemed to encroach upon his plate.
Because Sorilda thought with a butler and four footmen waiting on them, it would look ridiculous for them to sit in stony silence, she said,
“I am sure you must have broken a record today by the speed in which we reached London. It has always taken me much longer in the past.”
For a second the Earl looked as if he was surprised she had a voice and could use it.
Then he replied,
“It usua
