Having seen the carriage from the window, the Duke left Belinda to put on her bonnet, and ran down to meet his betrothed. She was looking much prettier, he thought, than on the previous evening. There was quite a colour in her cheeks, and she was wearing a very becoming hat of chip-straw, trimmed with lace and rosebuds. She gave him her hand, encased in a glove of lavender kid, and said with a mischievous smile: “Grandmama was excessively diverted. She would have come with me, I do believe, if she could have done so. But she does not go out very much now, and never before noon. And I must tell you, Gilly, that I thought it best not to tell Charlie that you had come to Bath, for I am sure he would roast you dreadfully if he knew the whole! Then, too, although he is the dearest of brothers, he could never keep a secret, you know.”

“You are very right!” he said, “I had not thought of it, but I foresee that I must spend my time dodging any acquaintances whom I may see until Nettlebed makes me respectable again. Will you come upstairs? Belinda is waiting for you in the parlour. I must warn you that she is a little afraid of you, and fears you may be cross!”

“Afraid of me?” Harriet said, surprised. “Oh, I am sure no one ever was!”

“I am sure she will not be when she has seen you,” he returned, handing her up the stairs.

He ushered her into the parlour, saying: “Here is Lady Harriet come to fetch you, Belinda!”

The two ladies stood for a moment, staring at one another, Belinda in childlike curiosity, Harriet blinking as though she had been dazzled. She had expected to be confronted by a beauty, but she had formed no very definite picture of Belinda from the descriptions afforded her, and was unprepared for such a radiant vision. She knew a pang, for It seemed to her incredible that the Duke should not have fallen a victim to Belinda’s charms. She could not forbear stealing a wondering glance at him. She found that he was looking at her, and not at Belinda, an enquiring lift to his brows. She blushed, and stepped forward, saying in her soft voice: “How do you do? I am so glad I am to have the pleasure of your company for a while! I hope you will be comfortable with me.”

“Oh, yes, thank you!” said Belinda dutifully, curtsying. “But I do not like hemming handkerchiefs, if you please.”

“No, indeed! It is the most tedious thing,” agreed Harriet, her eyes twinkling.

Belinda began to look more cheerful, but it was plain that she was not entirely reconciled to the prospect of staying in Laura Place, for she asked: “Shall you keep me for a very long time, ma’am?”

“Oh, no, only until the Duke has found Mr. Mudgley!” said Harriet, guessing that this was the assurance most likely to be welcome.

Belinda looked bewildered. “But I don’t know any Dukes!” she objected.”! thought Mr. Rufford would find Mr. Mudgley for me. You said you would, sir!”

“Oh, dear, I beg your pardon, Gilly!” Harriet said, in a good deal of confusion. “I thought—I meant to say Mr. Rufford, Belinda!”

“But he is not a Duke!” exclaimed Belinda, quick shocked.

Looking quite as guilty as Harriet, Gilly said: “Well, yes, Belinda, as it chances I am a Duke! I had meant to have told you, but it went out of my head. It doesn’t signify, you know.”

Belinda gazed at him, an expression in her face of mingled incredulity and disappointment. “Oh, no, I am sure it is a hum!” she exclaimed. “You are teasing me, sir! As though I did not know a Duke would be a much grander person!”

Harriet said in a stifled voice: “He is very grand when he wears his robes, I assure you!”

“Well!” Belinda said, quite disillusioned. “I thought a Duke would be very tall, and handsome, and stately! I was never so taken-in!”

The Duke bowed his head in his hands. “Oh, Belinda, Belinda!” he said. “Indeed, I am very sorry.  I only wish I may not have destroyed your faith in Dukes!”

“But do you wear a coronet, and purple robe?” asked Belinda.

“No, no, only one of scarlet cloth!”

“Cloth! The shabbiest thing!” she cried. “I thought you would have worn a velvet one!”

“Ah, but it was lined with white taffeta, and doubled with four guards of ermine!” he said gravely.

“Gilly, don’t be so provoking to the poor child!” said Harriet, controlling a quivering lip. “You know that was only your parliamentary dress! I am sure you have a crimson velvet mantle for state occasions, for I know Papa does. Don’t look so sad, Belinda! Indeed, it is a very grand dress, and I will show you a picture of it presently, in a book belonging to my grandmama.”

“I should like to see it,” said Belinda wistfully. “And of course, if you are truly a Duke, sir, no wonder you do not wish to marry me, if you cannot find Mr. Mudgley! It would not do at all, for whoever heard of a Duke marrying a foundling? It would be the most shocking thing!”

He said gently “I am sure it would be a very lucky Duke who did so, Belinda, but, you see, I am already betrothed to Lady Harriet.”

She was quite diverted by this, and after exclaiming at it, and looking speculatively from him to Harriet, politely wished them both very happy. The information seemed in some way to reconcile her to her immediate fate, and she went away presently with Harriet perfectly complacently. She much enjoyed the experience of driving in a barouche, and a tactful suggestion from her hostess that they might go shopping together in the afternoon made her clasp her hands tightly together, and utter in palpitating accents: “Oh, ma’am, do you mean it? In the modish shops on Milsom Street? I should like it above anything great!”

“Then of course we will go,” Harriet said, her kind heart touched.

This promise had the effect of casting Belinda into a beatific dream. Visions of silken raiment floated before her eyes, and brought into her flower-like countenance so angelic an expression that several passers-by stared at her in patent admiration, and Lord Gaywood, sauntering down the steps of Lady Ampleforth’s house just as the barouche drew up there, stood rooted to the spot, his jaw dropping, and his eyes fairly starting from his head.

In her desire to be of assistance to the Duke, Harriet had not paused to consider what would be the effect upon her susceptible brother of Belinda’s charms, but when she saw him apparently stunned by them she felt a little dismay stir in her breast. She said, as she alighted from the carriage: “Charlie, this is a friend of mine, who is coming to stay with me for a few days. My dear, it is my brother, Lord Gaywood.”

Lord Gaywood recovered himself sufficiently to make his bow. Belinda said, with a happy smile: “Only fancy! Now I have met a Duke and a lord! I daresay they would never believe it at the Foundling Hospital, for I am sure such a thing never happened to any of the others!”

His lordship was considerably taken aback by this artless speech, but he was not one to worry over trifles, and he responded gallantly: “I am excessively glad to make your acquaintance, Miss—er—Miss—?” He rolled a fiercely enquiring eye at his sister, and was astonished to perceive that her face had become suffused with blushes.

“Oh, I am not Miss anything!” said Belinda, not in the least discomposed. “I am Belinda. I haven’t any parents, you know, so I have no name.”

Lord Gaywood swallowed once or twice, but soon pulled himself together. “Belinda is the prettiest name I ever heard!” he declared. “Allow me to offer you my arm up the steps!” He added out of one corner of his mouth: “Does the old lady know of this?”

“Yes, of course! Pray hush!” whispered Harriet, red to the roots of her hair.

“Well, if it don’t beat all!” he ejaculated.

“What does?” enquired Belinda, looking up at him innocently.

“Why, you, of course!” he responded, without hesitation. “Dash it, you beat ’em all to flinders! Why haven’t I seen you before? You can’t have been in Bath for long, I’ll swear!”

“Oh, no! Mr. Rufford brought me here yesterday!” she told him.

“Mr. Rufford? Who’s he?” demanded his lordship.

“Charlie, pray do not!” Harriet begged, in a good deal of distress. “You should not ask such impertinent questions! You know you should not!”

“I was forgetting,” explained Belinda. “He said he was Mr. Rufford, but all the time he was a Duke. And now I don’t know what his name is, for I was so surprised I never asked him! Oh, ma’am, do please tell me!”

“What?” gasped Lord Gaywood, stopping dead upon the top step. “Harriet, what in thunder—?”

“Gaywood, I beg you will be quiet!” Harriet said. “I will explain it presently! Belinda, I will take you up to the bed-chamber that has been made ready for you, and you will like to take your bonnet off, I daresay, and your pelisse. And then you must make your curtsy to my grandmama.”

“Harriet!” said his lordship, in martial accents, “I order you to come downstairs again, and talk to me!”

“Yes, yes, I will do so directly!” promised his harassed sister, propelling Belinda towards the stairs.

When she came down again some few minutes later, she found Lord Gaywood awaiting her in the doorway of the book-room. He promptly seized her by the hand, and led her in, saying: “Harriet, tell me this! Is that out-and-out beauty the game-pullet Sale had with him at Hitchin, or is she not?”

Harriet replied with a good deal of dignity: “Pray do not pull me about so, Gaywood! I don’t know what a game-pullet is, and I am sure I don’t want to, for it sounds to me a horribly vulgar expression!”

“It’s precisely what you think it is, so don’t be missish!” retorted his lordship.

“Well, you should not say such things to me. And she is not!”