“And are you going to marry her?” Candida enquired, ignoring the reference to Lord Manville.
“He will not let me,” Adrian said crossly. “Oh, he pretends I am too young and all that sort of thing, but what he really means is that she is not grand enough. Besides, ‘the heartbreaker’ is not interested in marriage as an institution.”
“What did you call him?” Candida asked curiously.
Adrian had the grace to look ashamed.
“I ought not to have said that,” he replied apologetically, “it just slipped out. It’s his nickname. Everyone calls him ‘the heartbreaker’.”
“Does he break so many hearts?” Candida asked innocently.
“By the dozen,” Adrian said extravagantly. “You can see how good-looking he is. And since he is also rich and important, the women flutter round him like stupid moths round a
