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to be the drooping offshoot of the Duke of Maybury? Just don’t ask me to dance at the wedding.”
    “If you don’t stop this instant, I shall never forgive you!”
    “You could always go hand in hand to Lady Augusta and ask her permission for a love match, dear child,” he said gently. “I believe that beneath all that starch and venom, she does care for you.”
    “She would never—oh, Lee, it’s hopeless, truly.” Diana’s blue eyes filled with tears.
    “Then the only possibility is for me to undermine your lover’s finer principles, isn’t it?” he said.
    They went together to the doorway, which he held open for each of the girls in turn. As Eleanor passed him he leant down and whispered in her ear.
    “You see, I told you I was a bastard.”
    Which left Eleanor with nothing to say. She was unreservedly relieved that at least he wasn’t the Walter Feveril Downe who had stolen Lady Diana’s heart. Yet it would appear that the men were friends. Eleanor bit her lip. She could never discuss anything about the infuriating Mr. Campbell with Diana. For how did you tell a friend that her beloved illegitimate half-brother had kissed you like a chambermaid in an inn and even offered to blackmail you over it?
    * * *
    As promised, Leander Campbell did little more than bid a polite farewell to the company in the drawing room before he hustled Walter Feveril Downe back out to their carriage. Diana, however, had first made a point of clinging to Lee’s arm and introducing him to Lady Acton as her brother. Eleanor’s beautiful mother had no problem at all in instantly leaping to the correct conclusion.
    “My dear Augusta!” she cried with considerable glee, as soon as the young men had left. “So the infamous Mr. Campbell is actually connected with your family! Gerald was more than a little indiscreet before he became earl, wasn’t he? But I had no idea—Campbell? Was she Scottish? It was all the rage when we were young to tour the Highlands and admire the clans. I don’t suppose Gerald was the only man to leave such a mark of his admiration behind. But what a cross for you to bear!”
    “I am surprised that you would move in such circles in society that you would have made Leander’s acquaintance,” the dowager shot back.
    “Oh, my dear!” The Countess of Acton laughed. “I have never personally met him before, of course. But I have two sons who have been known to decorate the ton with their talents. And a husband who isn’t averse to visiting the gaming dens when we’re in Town. Mr. Campbell’s a very high flyer, I understand.”
    “It’s not a connection in which I take pride, Felicity, but I believe I have done my duty—more than my duty. And although I don’t acknowledge him in Town, he is Diana’s half-brother and always allowed to visit Hawksley.”
    “Such a handsome young man!” Lady Acton sighed, though she still seemed closer to laughter. “He’s very like Gerald as I remember him. And like his father, if all accounts are true, he’s taken to reckless gaming and vice. His situation is most unfortunate, of course, but one would think there are any number of respectable trades in which he could engage.”
    “I am forced to admit that I believe him entirely profligate,” Lady Augusta said sternly.
    “How can you say so, Mama?” Diana was incapable of hiding her rising indignation. “You know that’s not true.”
    She blushed scarlet as the two countesses fixed her with their gaze.
    “Diana, you know nothing at all of the matter. He was a charming child, of course. But now he throws away his life on the most worthless of pursuits. I do not deny you your relationship with your half-brother. And when we are in the country and our kind neighbor sees fit to entertain him and his friend, Mister—what was his name?”
    “The Honorable Mr. Feveril Downe, Mama,” Diana whispered.
    “Yes, Mr. Downe. When we are in the country, I say, I see no harm in it, but you must begin to distance