applies also to what we feel when we meet a lovely woman like yourself. I realise now that you disguise your looks and your golden hair when you are playing the part of a secretary. But now I can see you as you really are."
"How can you be sure of that?" Dorina asked.
"Because I am looking at you not only with my eyes but with something more perceptive," the Earl said.
"I wonder if that is true?" Dorina questioned.
"I think when you are older and have seen as much of the world as I have," the Earl replied, "you will realise that you see people, perhaps, with your heart rather than with your eyes."
"If that's true, then you will not make so many mistakes," Dorina answered. "It's very difficult to sum up another person, especially when they are doing their best to please you."
She was thinking of Lady Musgrove as she spoke.
The Earl was silent for a moment, then he said,
"I've never concealed the fact that I'm suspicious of you. You're not who you pretend to be."
He let a silence fall, as though he was expecting her to say something. But Dorina merely smiled at him. She felt happy and completely mistress of the situation.
The other women could gnash their teeth. He had chosen to be here with her.
He smiled back, completely understanding her silence. It was as though she had thrown a gauntlet down between them.
"I expect," he said, "that one day I will be able to find out if what I am feeling is the truth."
"And what are you feeling?" she asked innocently.
But he shook his head.
"We'll soon be at our destination," he said. "So, what we feel is something we'll have to talk about another time."
"Another time," she whispered, gazing at him in the semi-darkness.
"Yes. It will be something to look forward to. Now, let us think only of enjoying ourselves."
"Where are we going?"
"To the Royal Alhambra Palace. Have you ever heard of it?"
"I think so," she said slowly, wondering if the stories that had reached her could really be true. If so it was a strange destination for a gentleman to take a lady.
It was rumoured to be very thrilling in a manner that was 'not quite proper'. Young men and women flirted outrageously in an atmosphere of freedom and merriment.
"The place is notorious," a starched matron had once told Dorina.
"But I understand that families go there," she had protested. "Husbands and wives take their children there to see the performances."
"To be sure there is a 'family section'," the matron conceded. "And respectable people sit in it. But this is a mere fig-leaf to hide the impropriety. The fact is – " she lowered her voice dramatically, "women are permitted to enter alone."
"Alone?"
"Without a male escort. Any woman can approach the ticket office and obtain entrance alone. And, of course, many women do, because it is there that they find the unattached male company that they seek. What this does for the moral tone, I need not describe."
And this was the establishment to which the Earl was taking her?
At last the carriage drew up in Leicester Square, and at once Dorina knew that this was not the kind of place she had ever seen before. It was a huge building, five storeys high, painted a cream colour and adorned with minarets and turrets in a manner clearly meant to suggest the East.
The way in was along a passage that was already crowded with men and women. At last they came to a hole in the wall, behind which sat a young man at a desk. He glanced up briefly, but at the sight of the Earl his face lit up in a smile.
"Evening, sir. Nice to see you. Two?"
Dorina had the feeling that the Earl was displeased at this sign of recognition. His voice was slightly tense as he said,
"Yes, please."
He handed over two shillings and received in return two circular pieces of tin, each with a hole in the centre and inscribed with raised lettering.
A little further on they came to a door, guarded by a man in a red uniform, his breast adorned with medals. He, too, seemed to recognise the Earl, for he
"How can you be sure of that?" Dorina asked.
"Because I am looking at you not only with my eyes but with something more perceptive," the Earl said.
"I wonder if that is true?" Dorina questioned.
"I think when you are older and have seen as much of the world as I have," the Earl replied, "you will realise that you see people, perhaps, with your heart rather than with your eyes."
"If that's true, then you will not make so many mistakes," Dorina answered. "It's very difficult to sum up another person, especially when they are doing their best to please you."
She was thinking of Lady Musgrove as she spoke.
The Earl was silent for a moment, then he said,
"I've never concealed the fact that I'm suspicious of you. You're not who you pretend to be."
He let a silence fall, as though he was expecting her to say something. But Dorina merely smiled at him. She felt happy and completely mistress of the situation.
The other women could gnash their teeth. He had chosen to be here with her.
He smiled back, completely understanding her silence. It was as though she had thrown a gauntlet down between them.
"I expect," he said, "that one day I will be able to find out if what I am feeling is the truth."
"And what are you feeling?" she asked innocently.
But he shook his head.
"We'll soon be at our destination," he said. "So, what we feel is something we'll have to talk about another time."
"Another time," she whispered, gazing at him in the semi-darkness.
"Yes. It will be something to look forward to. Now, let us think only of enjoying ourselves."
"Where are we going?"
"To the Royal Alhambra Palace. Have you ever heard of it?"
"I think so," she said slowly, wondering if the stories that had reached her could really be true. If so it was a strange destination for a gentleman to take a lady.
It was rumoured to be very thrilling in a manner that was 'not quite proper'. Young men and women flirted outrageously in an atmosphere of freedom and merriment.
"The place is notorious," a starched matron had once told Dorina.
"But I understand that families go there," she had protested. "Husbands and wives take their children there to see the performances."
"To be sure there is a 'family section'," the matron conceded. "And respectable people sit in it. But this is a mere fig-leaf to hide the impropriety. The fact is – " she lowered her voice dramatically, "women are permitted to enter alone."
"Alone?"
"Without a male escort. Any woman can approach the ticket office and obtain entrance alone. And, of course, many women do, because it is there that they find the unattached male company that they seek. What this does for the moral tone, I need not describe."
And this was the establishment to which the Earl was taking her?
At last the carriage drew up in Leicester Square, and at once Dorina knew that this was not the kind of place she had ever seen before. It was a huge building, five storeys high, painted a cream colour and adorned with minarets and turrets in a manner clearly meant to suggest the East.
The way in was along a passage that was already crowded with men and women. At last they came to a hole in the wall, behind which sat a young man at a desk. He glanced up briefly, but at the sight of the Earl his face lit up in a smile.
"Evening, sir. Nice to see you. Two?"
Dorina had the feeling that the Earl was displeased at this sign of recognition. His voice was slightly tense as he said,
"Yes, please."
He handed over two shillings and received in return two circular pieces of tin, each with a hole in the centre and inscribed with raised lettering.
A little further on they came to a door, guarded by a man in a red uniform, his breast adorned with medals. He, too, seemed to recognise the Earl, for he
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