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final surrender.”
    Adelina smiled but she had little knowledge of the subject. Her fight had been for mere survival. She had had no time to worry about the wars and battles of history. But she did not wish to appear ignorant, so she listened intently, and said, “ You mean Lord Lynwood’s uncle?”
    â€œYes, my dear,” Mr Langley replied.
    â€œYou know Lord Lynwood?” There was surprise in Wallis Trent’s tone and she could feel his eyes upon her dowdy gown.
    â€œYes – I – er – met him when I arrived here.”
    â€œAre you staying here long, Miss Adelina?”
    â€œI – don’t quite …”
    Mrs Langley interrupted. “Adelina must find employment. Her parents are dead.”
    There was an awkward silence around the dinner-table. It was as if Wallis Trent were waiting for Mrs Langley – or someone – to tell him more about Adelina, and Mrs Langley’s short, clipped sentences gave the impression that there was certainly more to tell, but that she had no intention of telling it.
    â€œI see …” Wallis murmured, but his tone implied that he did not.
    Then a thought came to Adelina. Wallis Trent was her grandfather’s tenant-farmer. Perhaps he was on friendly terms with Lord Royston. Perhaps a man like Wallis Trent, with his authoritative manner, could help her. Impetuously, she said, “I thought perhaps, that if only – I could meet my grandfather …”
    â€œBe quiet, Adelina,” Mrs Langley snapped.
    Wallis glanced quickly at Mrs Langley and frowned slightly. Ignoring her command he addressed Adelina. “Your grandfather, Miss Adelina? And who might that be?”
    Everyone was motionless, the silence tense and watchful. Adelina hesitated. She realised she had spoken out hastily, but it was too late to draw back now.
    â€œLord Royston.”
    â€œ Lord Royston !” Wallis repeated, his frown deepening noticeably. “I see,” he added slowly, this time with more obvious understanding.
    â€œLord Royston does not acknowledge her as his granddaughter,” Mrs Langley said pointedly. “He disowned her mother twenty years ago when she eloped with the bailiff of the estate.”
    â€œBut you’re hoping your grandfather might relent now, are you?” Wallis was still speaking directly to Adelina.
    â€œI only – wanted to meet him. To – to see where my mother had lived. Is that so very wrong?”
    Wallis shook his head. “ No – no I suppose not. If that is all you do want.”
    The meal was finished amidst embarrassed silence, and conversation in the drawing-room afterwards was stilted and strained. Wallis Trent appeared to be thoughtful, as if deliberating with cool calculation, and often Adelina could feel his gaze upon her.
    As he took his leave, he turned to Adelina and, smiling now, asked, “Do you ride, Miss Adelina?”
    â€œI …” she hesitated. She had not, of course, ridden for a long time and yet, hazily, she seemed to remember having done so as a child.
    Boldly she answered, “Yes, yes, of course.”
    â€œThen my stables are at your disposal. I should deem it an honour to take you riding and show you the countryside.”
    She heard Mrs Langley’s swift intake of breath and a gasp from Emily.
    â€œWhy, thank you, Mr Trent,” Adelina replied politely. “That – that would be most kind of you.”
    He took her hand and kissed it. Then he said ‘goodnight’ to the others and was gone.
    As soon as the front door closed behind him, Emily burst into tears and fled upstairs to her room. Bewildered, Adelina turned to meet the hostile eyes of Martha Langley. There was hatred in the woman’s expression and, strangely, a look of fear. “Why did you have to come here?” she hissed.
    â€œI – don’t understand why Emily is so upset?”
    Mrs Langley thrust her thin, angular face close to