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of my visit, dear Lady Lavinia, was to ask you and your dear husband, and Miss Prudence, of course, to dine with us tomorrow night. Do say you'll come, Charlotte and Emma are so looking forward to it.'
    'I'm afraid we already have an engagement tomorrow,' Lady Frome said hastily, but her visitor was not to be thwarted.
    'Of course, popular people like you are bound to be in great demand. Unlike strangers to town such as we are. Well, what is the first night you are free?'
    'So what could I do? I could scarcely claim we were going out every night,' Lady Frome explained to an incensed Sir Dudley. 'She would doubtless have watched for us from behind the curtains, and I refuse to be forced into going out when I don't want to, just to avoid the wretched woman. I accepted, we'll get it over with as speedily as possible, and then hope that in future I can avoid her. Tanner has orders to refuse me whenever possible.'
    'If you think Tanner can protect you I fear you are greatly mistaken. She has her claws in you and will not let go. Could you give her a set down she would understand? Or could you snub the girl, Charlotte?' he asked Prudence.
    She shook her head reluctantly.
    'I feel so sorry for her. She was so mortified by the woman's behaviour, I could not be horrid to her. Besides, we had an opportunity to talk for a while, and she told me her mama is planning to marry her to the frightful Hubert. If she receives no better offer she will have to accept. I believe she has virtually no money of her own.'
    'But old Dicky Mottesford was rolling! And he was a miser, no spendthrift to fritter away his fortune. Do you mean he didn't leave the child provided for?'
    'She said she had some money of her mother's, but very little. It appears that her father left almost everything, even what was not entailed, to the new Lord Mottesford,' Prudence explained.
    'Who needs it less than most men! I suppose she hopes to catch a husband for her own daughter. That will task her powers of persuasion!'
    'She cannot be ill provided for if she can afford to hire a house in the square,' Lady Frome said thoughtfully. 'And those jewels, gaudy though they are, are real. Oh, bother the woman! We shall have to go to her wretched dinner party, but I have no intention of wasting all my time talking about her. I shall treat it like going to the dentist, unavoidable and to be forgotten about both before and afterwards!'
    Rather guiltily Prudence decided not to mention that, sorry as she had been for Charlotte, she had invited the girl to walk in the Park on the following day. She was beginning to like her, despite her timidity, and the very idea of her being forced to wed the deplorable Mr Clutterbuck was enough to make Prudence determined to do her utmost to prevent it. The only way was to introduce Charlotte into society in the hope that some more eligible man would be attracted to her, and not be deterred by her frightful stepmother and comparative lack of fortune.
    She was seated in the drawing room the following day, weaving these plans, when Tanner announced Lord Mottesford.
    'Lady Frome, I came to thank you for a delightful party, and to beg you to permit Miss Lee to give me the pleasure of her company driving in the Park,' he said with a smile.
    Instantly determining she would play him at his own game, she agreed, and after donning a charming blue pelisse the colour of which exactly matched her eyes, and a neat bonnet in a darker shade, she allowed him to hand her up into his curricle. He dismissed his groom and soon they were bowling along the carriageway in the Park.
    Prudence was reminded that it would be helpful to Charlotte if her cousin were to take her under his wing, and with that in view she related how they had met.
    'Poor Charlotte, she was so distressed, and it was not her fault at all. She is a sweet girl, don't you think?'
    'I really have no opinion, Miss Lee, nor do I intend to form one. I mean to do my utmost to avoid that scheming woman my