“Very well, child, as you will.” He held back the curtain for her and followed her into the deserted chamber.

“You want to know why I went?” he began, seating himself at her side. “I counsel you, my dear, to cast your mind back to the spring⁠—at Bath.”

“Your affaire! Of course! So the lady proved unkind?”

“No. But I bungled it.”

“ You? Tell me at once!⁠—at once!”

His Grace stretched out his leg and surveyed his shoe-buckle through half-closed lids.