“We had been together always, and I never imagined it any other way. I hadn’t considered a wife an impediment to that, you see. She was a necessity, a means of continuing the line, because that’s the way my father saw it and at that time he was God to me.” He smiled at me apologetically. “As you can see, I have changed.” I smiled back to reassure him, but I didn’t interrupt.

“This was a scandal of the worst kind, and at all times it was emphasised to me I must hold my head high and face the world proudly, so I did my best. That’s when I started to wear the heavy maquillage, in effect a mask to conceal my face, and the clothes, to make myself something else, something new. Servants were procured for me and to my everlasting gratitude Carier arrived in my life. He’d served generals in the army, but was tired of army life, so he came on the Tour as my valet and bodyguard. I believe the pay was better, too, at least that’s what he always told me when I asked him why he preferred to stay with me.” He smiled reminiscently, but didn’t pause his narrative for long. “I was on my own for the first time in my life. Only Carier saw what that solitude meant to me. I kept my mourning for private moments, but a good valet must always see some of that.”

He stopped. A troubled frown crossed his features when he remembered a time that had tested his character to the full. He was left alone to face a scandal not of his making. I could only imagine how hard that must have been. I reached my hand across the table to take his, and he looked up and smiled, recalled to the present.

“Carier brought his army pension and a small inheritance with him. He’s a resourceful person—he even contrived a meeting between Gervase and me in Rome. My father had set other persons to watch me when I went to Rome, to see that I didn’t come under Gervase’s baleful influence, but Carier helped me to give them the slip one afternoon.” He stopped again. This was so painful for him, I could see that, but I knew I must let him tell it in his own way, and I said nothing. I let my hand rest in his.

“The meeting is not one of my favourite memories. Gervase’s lover had left him, and he had nothing left. But Carier showed his loyalty to me many times during that terrible tour. His discretion then and afterwards has been absolute.

“By the time I returned to England I had formed and honed my new personality. I’d been away two years, and no one expected what they saw, but my older friends still recognised and supported me. You’ve met one of them, Freddy Thwaite.” I nodded. He caressed my hand, rubbing his thumb over the palm. I wasn’t sure he knew he was doing it. “I locked myself away, and gave myself over to hedonism. Cards and gambling I never cared for overmuch, although I tried for a season, until my father cut my allowance. I found myself so destitute then, and the humble apology I had to make to my father so humiliating, I decided to make my own money, independent of the estate.”

He stopped. “Don’t think I did as well as Gervase, because he could buy me ten times over and still have change.”

I released his hand, and crossed the room to the small table where the decanters were kept. I poured two glasses of madeira. He was thirsty, for he accepted his glass with a smile and drained most of it before he continued.

“One of Carier’s inheritances was a building in the City. We went to see it together. I made a business proposal to him, one I’d been considering for some time. At that time, my mother was always looking for a lady’s maid, never able to find one, and her friends seemed to be in the same difficulties. I’m assured that a good lady’s maid is hard to train and hard to find. My mother and her friends were exacting in their requirements, but the pay was good for the right person, and I couldn’t see why they had difficulties until I visited a Registry Office with my mother.

“The records were sparse, and the future employer was expected to take up the references given for herself, which many of them failed to do. They could have been forged. Anyone could inveigle themselves into a place of trust in a wealthy household on the strength of a few pieces of paper. The building was in a small side street, run down and uncomfortable, not at all the kind of place my mother was used to visiting. If she hadn’t been so desperate for a good maid I doubt she would have undertaken the errand herself.

“I observed all this and it sparked an idea. I proposed that Carier and I set up an office for high quality servants, at a price. Our offices would be spacious and comfortable and our servants the best available.” I started to laugh, and he arched a patrician eyebrow. “What can I have said to amuse you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I gurgled through my hands. “So that’s Thompson’s? Oh, you can’t imagine what I’ve been thinking.”

He smiled at that. “Tell me.”

“Well I knew of your—reputation for pursuing beautiful women. I lay in bed at night imagining all kinds of things!”

It was his turn to laugh. “You thought it was a brothel? Now what would a well-brought-up young lady know about that?”

“You’d be surprised,” I managed, still