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you a lesson,” I said, and looked at the study door. Rachel had closed it behind her. I wished she would finish her business with Mickey and return, for I could think of nothing more to say to Lord Aiglon.
    “Yes, I see that it was a mistake,” he admitted. “I came to Thornbury to get away from the sort of company I have fallen into recently. Here in the peace and quiet of the countryside, I hope to convert myself to a more proper course.”
    I looked at him suspiciously, but there was no smile, no mischief luring in those dark eyes now. He seemed perfectly sincere. My feelings for Aiglon pulled me two ways. Since my closest friend was so very anxious to be rid of him, I half wanted him gone, too, but I was Christian enough to wish to help a man who seeks the road to reformation. I glanced at the wineglass on the table. He’d had two or three refills since he’d arrived. I must warn Rachel to put the decanters away.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” he said in a low voice. “But one or two social drinks will do me no harm. I can manage that with perfect ease so long as I am in the proper company. I think you will be very proper company, Miss Pethel.”
    The only handsome man who had ever looked at me in such a way was Mickey Dougherty, and he looked at every other woman in the countryside the same way. In fact, his expression wasn’t much different when conversing with his horse. Aiglon’s was a soft, admiring, hopeful look, which sent my imagination soaring.
    What wonderful miracle had occurred here? How had providence been so kind as to drop an enormously eligible gentleman into the wilds of Thornbury, where there wasn’t a maiden for miles except me? The discrepancy between our material states was mitigated by his liquor problem. He was a lord, and I was a lady of small means, but at least I was a lady. More highly born families might have been reluctant to involve their daughters with a man who drank too much, but not my family. Besides, I could cure him of that. He had the desire to be cured, and that was half the battle. His having killed a man was a great hurdle, of course. But then it wasn’t certain Aiglon had killed him, and, even if he had, it wasn’t a planned cold-blooded murder. In any case, Aiglon would be an interesting addition to our household. I now had the desire to keep him at Thornbury, and the large problem of talking Rachel around to my view.
    Just when I was beginning to feel at ease with Aiglon, the study door opened and Rachel and Mickey came out, wreathed in smiles. Whatever little antagonism had existed between them had been cleared up. “She must have struck a good bargain on the silk,” Aiglon said to me in a low tone, and smiled as though we were conspirators. It was a warm, intimate smile.
    Mickey took up a seat and settled in comfortably with a fresh glass of wine. Aiglon turned to him and said, “Perhaps you could help me find a good safe berth for my yacht, Mr. Dougherty. I was looking along the waterfront here, and I notice there are no docking facilities.”
    “The harbor at Folkestone is the place you want, Lord Aiglon. I’ll have my lads keep an eye on it for you. Or will you be bringing crew of your own?”
    Rachel looked alarmed, but Aiglon’s reply calmed her down. “I have a three-man crew who will sleep aboard. You must come out with me one day and tell me what you think of the Mermaid.”
    “Is that what you call her? I’ll look forward to it. Why, between your Mermaid and my old vessel, we won’t have a thing to fear from Boney,” Mickey said. “You can put away your French grammar and rest easy.”
    “I don’t actually have a French grammar with me.” Aiglon smiled. “I’m part French myself, you know. The strain goes back to Norman times but has been frequently refurbished by French brides since that age. I’m not one of those Englishmen who has an innate hatred or mistrust of the French. I expect that an Irishman like you feels some affinity