'No, Arcadius. This is my affair.' Then, with only a slight quiver in her voice, she asked: 'What do you want?'

'I told you – to pay my respects to Beauty and, perhaps, to talk a little, if you please…'

'I do not please,' Marianne cut him short disdainfully. 'If you have anything to say to me, you may write to Monsieur de Jolival who deals with all my letters and engagements. He will tell you when I am able to receive you. We cannot talk in this crowd. I live—'

'I know where you live and, flattered though I am that you should prefer the delights of a tête-à-tête, I must remind you, my dear,' Francis countered sardonically, 'that one is never more alone than in the midst of a crowd, and this one is getting bigger with every minute. In a little while it will be quite impossible to stir at all, and so I am afraid you will be compelled to endure my company whether you like it or not. In which case, we may as well talk business, don't you think?'

The crowd had, in fact, become so dense that all vehicles in the square had been brought to a standstill. There was a good deal of noise, swollen by distant sounds of music, but the hubbub was not so great as to make conversation impossible. Francis, who had remained standing in the doorway, poked his head into the carriage and addressed himself to Jolival.

'If this gentleman will be good enough to allow me to usurp his place beside you for a moment…' he began, but Marianne spoke sharply, her hand still on her friend's arm:

'I have no secrets from the Vicomte de Jolival. He is, as I have told you, more than a friend to me. You may say what you wish before him.'

'I thank you,' Francis said dryly. 'You may have nothing to hide but my own nature is less trusting. I should infinitely prefer our conversation to be private.'

'If we were to consult our own preferences, Monsieur,' Jolival retorted, unable to contain himself any longer, 'I should infinitely prefer to throw you out of this lady's carriage forthwith.'

Francis laughed softly. 'I see your friend cherishes some prejudice against me, my dear,' he said. 'I can only suppose that you must have put it into his head. I do believe he takes me for some kind of highwayman.'

'What I think is neither here nor there,' Arcadius said stiffly. 'However, I may say that I have seen nothing in your behaviour to cause me to change my mind.'

'As you so rightly say,' the Englishman agreed smoothly, 'that is neither here nor there. But, my dear sir, if you fear to find the time hang heavy on your hands, I know there is a lady in my own carriage who will be delighted to renew her acquaintance with you. See, she is smiling at you.'

Marianne's eyes went automatically to the black and yellow chaise and she frowned as she realized that, in so far as it was possible for her, Fanchon was indeed directing a winning smile at Jolival. Jolival, however, merely shrugged and moved to the box to speak to Gracchus, without taking his eyes from the two inside the vehicle. Marianne spoke abruptly.

'Since you say you wish to talk with me, my lord, you need not begin by insulting my most faithful friend. Not everyone shares your taste for dubious company. And indeed, that seems to me a generous description of the lady in question.'

Without answering, Francis dropped heavily on to the green velvet cushions next to Marianne who moved instinctively to avoid touching him. He sat for a moment in a silence broken only by the faint rasp of his breath. Marianne wondered, not without some private satisfaction, if that were a legacy of the sword thrust she had put through his chest; yet even that seemed poor consolation for the disappointment of finding him still alive. For a moment, she studied this man, whom she had once loved, as dispassionately as if he had been a stranger. She had believed in him as a god, had sworn joyfully to love, honour and obey him… It was the first time that she had been alone with him since that terrible wedding night. So many things had changed. Then, she had been a child to be coldly sacrificed, a helpless victim in the hands of a heartless and unscrupulous man. Today she had the Emperor's love for strength and protection. This time, it was she who would call the tune.

Francis, she saw, had altered very little except, perhaps, for the cynical curl which had replaced the twist of boredom at the corner of his full mouth. Lord Cranmere was still a handsome man; the thin scar down one cheek only served to add a touch of tragic glamour to the nobility of his perfect features. Remembering how she had loved him, Marianne was amazed to find that she felt nothing in his presence beyond a dislike amounting to loathing. Seeing that he did not seem anxious to break the silence but was apparently engaged in earnest contemplation of the gleaming toes of his highly-polished boots, she decided to take the initiative at last. She wanted to get it over quickly. His very presence in that confined space was painful to her.

'You wished to speak to me,' she said coldly. 'Say what you have to say. I have no wish to prolong this interview.'

He turned his head and smiled at her under drooping eyelids.

'Why not? Surely this is a most affecting moment: a husband and wife together again after such a long absence – especially after believing themselves parted for ever? My dear Marianne, you should be glad to be reunited with the man you loved – for you did love me, my dear. You were quite devoted to me on our wedding-day. I can still see your great, swimming eyes when the dear old Abbé —'

Marianne had had enough.

'That will do!' she said sharply. 'You are amazingly impertinent. Have you forgotten the charming circumstances attending our marriage? Do I have to remind you that you had no sooner sworn to God to love and cherish me than you set about gaming away not merely the little you had left but also the considerable fortune which I had brought you – and for which you had married me? And as if that were not enough, you dared to stake the innocent love I bore you on the turn of a card, you staked my innocence and my virginity, my honour itself. You have the audacity to talk about the night when you destroyed my life as if it were merely another of those delightful escapades you men discuss over your brandy!'

Lord Cranmere shrugged contemptuously, but his eyes shifted to avoid Marianne's sparkling gaze.

'If you had not been such a little fool, that's all it would have been. It was you turned it into high tragedy.'

'Indeed! And what should I have done, pray? Welcome your substitute with open arms?'

'You need not have gone so far as that. Any woman worth her salt would have been able to hold him off while leading him on. The fool was mad for you —'

'Rubbish!' Marianne said briskly, repressing a sudden pang at this reminder of Jason Beaufort. 'He had not set eyes on me before that day.'

'Do you think that is not long enough to desire a woman? You should have heard him sing your praises, your grace and charm, the splendour of your eyes. "If sirens existed," he said, "Lady Marianne must be their queen…" Good God!' Francis exploded with sudden violence, 'you could have done what you liked with him! He might well have given the lot back to you in exchange for one hour of love! For one kiss, even. And instead of that you enacted a Cheltenham tragedy and sent packing the man who held our whole fortune in his hands.'

'Our fortune?'

'Very well, your fortune, if you insist. All the more reason for you to fight for it, try and redeem some remnant of it at least…'

Marianne was no longer listening. What was the use? She had no illusions about Francis's character and it was not surprising that he should sink to the depths of reproaching her for failing to trick Jason out of his winnings. She stopped listening and recalled instead those last moments with Jason in her room at Selton. She had not given him that kiss, but he had taken it all the same and Marianne discovered to her astonishment that, even after all this time, she could still taste the sweet violence of it, strange and overpowering in spite of the anger which had filled her at the time. It was her first kiss, something not easily forgotten.

She had closed her eyes for a second, remembering, but now she opened them. What was Francis saying?

'I protest you are not even listening!'

'You have ceased to interest me. I will not waste my time pointing out to you how an honourable man might have acted in such circumstances, but if it concerns you, I will say I am amazed that you should dare to approach me. I believed that I had killed you, Francis Cranmere, but whether or not the devil has looked after his own, to me you are dead and will remain so.'

'I can see that might be more comfortable for you, but the fact remains that I am alive and intend to remain so.'

Marianne turned away with a shrug.

'Then keep away from me and try to forget that Francis Cranmere and Marianne d'Asselnat were ever made man and wife. That is, if you wish to continue, if not alive, then certainly at liberty.'

Francis was looking at her curiously.

'Indeed? Do I detect a threat, my love? What do you mean by that?'

'Do not pretend to be more stupid than you are. This is France and you are an Englishman, an enemy of the Empire. I have only to point you out, to say the word, and you will be arrested. And once arrested, it would be child's play to see to it that you disappeared for ever. Do you think the Emperor would deny me your head if I were to ask for it? Be a sportsman, for once, admit that you have lost and do not try to see me again. You must know that you cannot harm me.'