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Ingram promptly lost her appetite, but Felix filled a plate for her. He seated her and set about distracting her from her fears.
     “I’ve told Connie how you taught Henriette to make a proper English breakfast.”
     “I always tried to give Frank a good breakfast, since one could never be sure what the day would bring. Poor Henriette! She was growing very fond of Hoskins when he had to return to the battery. Corporal Hoskins was my brother’s batman, Lady Constantia, his personal servant. He helped me nurse Frank when he was first wounded. I wonder where he is now.”
     “He may have been discharged from the army by now,” said Felix. “By the way, I don’t believe I’ve told either of you that I gave Mr Rothschild my resignation.”
     Constantia clapped her hands. “Oh, splendid, Felix. Was he dismayed to lose you?”
     He grinned. “Not precisely dismayed, though he was kind enough to say that he rates my abilities highly. He’s an odd, dour chap, but I like him and I’ll call on him whenever I’m in Town. I witnessed the most singular incident when last I saw him. He was writing in his ledger when the Duke of Oxshott burst unannounced into his private office and started berating him for some offense committed by the chief clerk.
     “‘Take a chair,’ says Rothschild, as cool as you please, writing on.
     “Bellowing, ‘Do you know who I am, sir?’ the duke tosses his card on the desk and starts to recite his lineage in a voice fit for the battlefield.
     “Rothschild glances at the card. ‘Take two chairs,’ he says.”
     Constantia and Fanny Ingram laughed. “A quick wit,” said Miss Ingram with her merry smile.
     “I was afraid the duke was going to have an apoplexy,” Felix went on. “He was purple in the face, with popping eyes and his mouth opening and closing silently like some exotic fish. I left in a hurry before...Oh, good morning, sir.” He jumped to his feet as Lord Westwood came in. “I’d like to present Miss Ingram.”
     The merriment vanished from her suddenly pale face.
     “Miss Ingram.” The earl nodded, no affability softening his aristocratic features.
     Though Constantia had not really expected her father to offer a cordial welcome, she was mortified by his coldness. She admired Miss Ingram’s composure as she responded.
     “How do you do, my lord.”
     “Pray do not let me interrupt your meal, ma’am. I trust you have been made comfortable?” The polite enquiry was uttered in a tone of absolute indifference.
     “Thank you, sir, very comfortable.” She toyed with the remains of her breakfast while Lord Westwood helped himself at the sideboard.
     Felix, his mouth tight, addressed his father. “I hope to make Miss Ingram’s brother known to you later, sir, if he is well enough to come down. Their little ward, Anita, is in the nursery.”
     “Captain Ingram fought at Waterloo, Papa,” Constantia put in boldly.
     “Indeed. Which regiment, Miss Ingram?” The earl joined them at the table.
     “The Artillery, sir.”
     His eyebrows rose and he cast a piercing glance at Felix. Constantia guessed that the Artillery was not a distinguished branch of the army. Felix had once wanted to join the Life Guards, she recalled. Captain Ingram’s regiment must indicate his lack of noble connexions.
     Her brother seemed unaffected by his father’s censorious stare. “Frank Ingram was wounded at Quatre Bras, sir,” he said calmly. “Shall I ring for fresh coffee?”
     The butler and a footman were replenishing coffee, tea, and chocolate pots when Lady Westwood entered with her noble guests. Felix presented Miss Ingram, who was received with cool courtesy. In the confusion as the new arrivals were served and seated, he and Constantia abstracted her from the room.
     “I must see Anita and Frank,” she said as the breakfast room door closed behind them.
     “I am looking forward prodigiously to making the captain’s acquaintance,” Constantia said