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They arrived in the dining room, and Eliza found herself seated next to the Lieutenant Colonel, and Hannah next to Mr Ellice. The number of guests was small enough for good conversation encompassing all the guests, and the gentlemen regaled them with all manner of tales. It was terribly entertaining.

She was delighted to discover that Mr Ellice, besides being a staunch Whig supporter and friend of Charles with what sounded like significant political ambitions, travelled regularly to Canada. He was a fur trader in what seemed a terribly rugged and dangerous territory, and his friends called him Bear. What a marvellous nickname. She hung on his every word and could see why Hannah found him attractive. He was terribly funny, told outstandingly good tales, and was excellent company.

The gentlemen inevitably drifted into political discussion before Mary dragged them back to more general things. Eliza was disappointed, as she found it very interesting. She desperately wanted to ask Lord Grenville about the abolition of slavery but kept quiet.

The Lieutenant Colonel didn’t say very much, but he did join in a spirited discussion about the theatre when Mary mentioned the upcoming production of The Secret Mine coming to the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden as, allegedly, it would have live horses on the stage. As a military man, most expected him to be excited, but he was not.

‘I find it difficult to imagine how a horse might manage being onstage without finding it terribly frightening,’ he said, and Eliza was inclined to agree.

‘But horses manage in real-life war situations, which must be significantly worse, surely?’ his brother noted.

The Lieutenant Colonel cast him a withering glance. ‘They do mange, extraordinarily well, but they are terrified. However, it is not done for entertainment.’

A small silence ensued, but Charles picked up the conversation to move it on, and everyone was fine. Eliza, however, was quietly impressed by the Lieutenant Colonel and smiled at him. He held her gaze for a moment, then returned to his soup.

Once dinner was over, the ladies retired to the drawing room, leaving the gentlemen to their port. Her mother chatted with Mrs Tierney and her daughter, leaving Eliza with Hannah and Mary for a moment or two.

‘What did you think of the Ellice brothers?’ Mary asked.

Hannah smiled serenely and Eliza laughed. ‘I loved Mr Ellice’s tales of Canada,’ she replied.

‘His brother doesn’t say much,’ Mary said.

‘He probably can’t get a word in edgeways. Mr Ellice is very entertaining, though,’ Eliza replied, and Hannah rolled her eyes.

‘He has a lot to say because he has led a terribly exciting and interesting life.’

Hannah, it appeared, had a penchant for dashing and daring men, but she kept that thought to herself.

‘What did you think of young Robert?’ Mary said to Eliza, who found it hard to think of the stern, scowling military man as ‘young Robert’, but she smiled.

‘I think he is terribly handsome.’

‘But quite sensitive, don’t you think? I found his defence of the horses in the play quite charming.’

Hannah nodded. ‘Mr Ellice said that his brother saw service recently in Buenos Aries, which affected him quite strongly.’

‘Then there was his betrothal to Juliana Morris which ended in disaster. She jilted him, then told all and sundry that he was dull,’ Mary said.

Eliza was shocked and surprised to hear that. He didn’t strike her as dull, just quiet. There was a difference.

‘He is no longer betrothed?’ she asked, in what she hoped was a neutral way.

‘Absolutely not.’

Eliza felt a pang of sympathy for the handsome soldier. ‘No wonder he doesn’t smile much,’ she said, and Hannah and Mary both laughed.

‘He does have something of a brooding air about him,’ Hannah said, nodding.

‘Brooding?’ Eliza asked.

‘Like the heroes in those gothic novels you like.’

Eliza chuckled. She had a point.

‘But…’ Mary said, pausing dramatically. ‘He has no obvious romantic entanglements now.’ She widened her eyes again as she looked at Eliza, who promptly blushed.

They curtailed discussion of the Ellice brothers when the gentleman returned to join the ladies, and conversation became more general.