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many plots set for unwary bachelors by ambitious Society mothers.
    It had given him a sharp warning when a friend of his, Lord Worcester, was forced into marriage with a girl he had merely talked to alone in the garden of a country house while he was enjoying a surreptitious cigarette that was not permitted inside.
    The girl’s mother had said that her reputation was ruined because she had been found alone with him un­chaperoned.
    She had persuaded the Prince of Wales to tell Lord Worcester he must behave like a gentleman and marry her daughter.
    This story spread very quickly around all the Clubs in St. James’s and it was a red warning to all bachelors who had no wish to be dragged to the altar.
    The Marquis had listened to the jokes made at poor Worcester’s expense and his fate had merely strengthened his resolve never to be married and to continue to ‘play the field’.
    However he was wise enough to be wary of jealous husbands.
    The Prince of Wales had set a new fashion when he found himself infatuated with an actress who had become his mistress and was at the same time accepted by Society.
    Attitudes had certainly changed considerably and it was Lillie Langtry, with her exquisitely beautiful face and lovely eyes, who was responsible for this Social revolution.
    The Prince of Wales escorted Lillie, nicknamed the ‘ Jersey Lily ’, everywhere, insisting that she should be invited to every house where he stayed and every party he attended.
    As heir to the throne it was just impossible for the Social world to refuse him.
    Only a number of the older Dowagers were deeply shocked at what they considered to be a new immorality that would never have been accepted even ten years ago.
    In their day a gentleman might keep a mistress, but such a practice was spoken of with bated breath behind closed doors.
    There had been no question of a mistress being seen with her protector outside of the house he provided for her in Chelsea or St. John’s Wood. There were, of course, select restaurants and nightclubs where he could take her without meeting anyone from his own background, but in Society it would have been considered a scandal.
    But the Prince of Wales himself had opened the floodgates to something new and very different, quickly copied by his friends and those who liked to think they were in his ‘Marlborough House set’.
    It was no longer the sole prerogative of gentlemen to take lovers either. This new morality meant that once an heir – and preferably an extra son – had been legitimately provided, a number of husbands were also expected to close their eyes to the way their wives were misbehaving.
    Some cuckolded husbands went shooting or fishing in other parts of the country, refusing to believe anything untoward was happening. The majority skulked in their Clubs, whiling away the afternoon until it was time to return home.
    These deceptions were greatly helped by the fact that at teatime a husband was not expected to intrude into his wife’s boudoir. Left alone to entertain as she saw fit, men were only welcomed home when it was time to change for dinner.
    The Marquis, of course, took full advantage of this state of affairs, but all the same there were exceptions to the rule.
    The Marquis was told by a dozen of his friends to steer clear of the Contessa de Vallecas.
    He recognised that this was excellent advice, but the Contessa, certainly had different intentions and she made that very clear to him. Inez, which was her name, made that very clear to him.
    From the moment the Marquis had first touched her hand he sensed that she wished to see more of him.
    Since then they had met at several fashionable dinner parties and had one dance at a fashionable ball.
    The Marquis had been aware as he put his arms around her thin sinuous body that she desired to grow closer to him, which she told him, without words, he would find most enjoyable.
    He had to admit that her beauty