But there were several lovely gowns that she had left behind when she had gone to St. Petesburg and among them was one which she knew was her father’s favourite.
‘I will wear that one,’ she told herself and could not help wondering whether, if the Duke could see her in it, he too would think it attractive.
Then she almost laughed at the idea that he would notice anything that she wore.
It had been obvious from the things the Princess had said that beautiful women fluttered around him not only in St. Petersburg but especially in London where he was of great social standing.
Zoia felt her spirits drop.
‘He will never think of me again,’ she mused. ‘Why should he?’
And, because it was so painful to think of her own insignificance, the sunshine seemed to have lost its brightness.
*
It
