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youth who would one day ascend to the earldom of Walmesley. However, the future earl had gone away to Oxford and she herself had been sent to a seminary for young ladies and nearly forgot his existence.
    It was during Lady Caroline’s first Season in London that she was formally introduced to Miles, Lord Trilby, the Earl of Walmesley. She had been stunned, for this elegant lord who bowed over her hand was vastly different from the young sprig that she so vaguely remembered.
    She had tumbled head over heels in love with his lordship and she had thought that he reciprocated her feelings. Certainly Lord Trilby had been extraordinarily attentive toward her, so much so that there had been widespread expectation in society that he meant to offer for her hand.
    Lady Caroline recalled the dances, the whispered confidences, the shared laughter that they had enjoyed together even in the midst of the glittering round of entertainments. She could always depend upon Lord Trilby to be an amusing companion and, indeed, on occasion the trusted confidant. There had even been a few stolen kisses between them.
    But it had all come to naught, after all. Lord Trilby never quite crossed the line that lay between his established position as intimate acquaintance and that of ardent lover.
    Lady Caroline sighed again, a trifle wistfully. “It was such a lovely spring. Why ever did you not offer for me, Miles?”
    Her father had known of her deep infatuation for Lord Trilby and he had not disapproved of a connection with such a noble house. The earl therefore had not pressed Lady Caroline to accept any of the proffered suits of a score of other admirers.
    When the Season had ended without the hoped-for offer from Lord Trilby, the Earl of Berwicke had hoped that with time and a Season or two more his daughter would outgrow her first painful experience with love. But it had not proved to be so.
    Six years later Lady Caroline remained unwedded, having spurned a dozen offers along the way, until she had settled quietly into her routine at Berwicke Keep as her brother’s permanent hostess whenever he should take it into his head to invite several of his cronies into the country. Between these infrequent bouts of entertaining a roistering band of gentlemen, Lady Caroline saw to those things that the new earl declared to be a dead bore.
    Lady Caroline knew it was of no use to dwell on what might have been. Indeed, she supposed she was content enough. She had tired of the round of London entertainments, especially so after she had come to be thought of as a permanently unattached female and it was assumed that she could always be depended upon to entertain the dullest or the most ineligible of gentlemen in a social gathering. Therein lay the reason for her quiet retreat into the country, but she had quickly discovered that idleness was not to her taste either, and it had come as a godsend when her brother had carelessly dumped the responsibilities for Berwicke Keep into her lap. Of course, by remaining at Berwicke Keep for the best part of the year, excluding the few visits she made to London to see friends, she had been compelled to tolerate her aunt’s company.
    Lady Caroline thought on the whole she had been rather fortunate. She must be thankful that Lord Trilby considered her still in the guise of one of his most intimate acquaintances. They corresponded regularly and she did not miss much about London doings because Lord Trilby kept her fully informed.
    The years that had passed since their fateful meeting in London had but deepened an extraordinary friendship between them. Lady Caroline was confident that she could call upon Lord Trilby to render whatever assistance was within his power to give were she ever to find herself in need of aid, and she rather thought that his lordship could depend upon her to the same considerable degree.
    Lady Caroline at last set aside the letter from Lord Trilby, rising from her chair at the same time. Without