But now all the time she was listening for the sound of Lord Dorrington returning from his ride.
There was something about his footsteps that she thought she would recognise anywhere.
One could read people by the way they walked – by the firmness with which their feet met the ground and yet with a lightness that said they were alert and their brains were active.
It seemed to Alyna a long time later when finally she heard Lord Dorrington’s voice and felt her heart leap in her breast.
She was so elated at the thought of seeing him that she had to check herself severely so as not to run from the library into the hall.
‘Be calm! Be sensible!’ she chided herself. ‘This ridiculous emotion would be an embarrassment to him.’
She therefore pretended to be surprised when finally Lord Dorringto
