A Night of Gaiety by Barbara Cartland

she had by any chance tried to make trouble.
    She longed to tell him that she would not lower herself to do anything so unkind or spiteful, but she knew that the only dignified way to behave was to ignore what had happened, and she therefore said nothing.
    As they drove away from the Theatre, Lord Mundesley made no effort to sit between them as he had the night before, but sat on the seat opposite.
    Nevertheless, Davita, without even looking in his direction, was aware that his eyes were on her face and she turned deliberately to look out the window.
    “Everything’s arranged, is it?” Violet asked.
    “ You can be sure of that,” Lord Mundesley replied, “and Boris thought it a huge joke, as I thought he would.”
    “ You are sure that ‘You-Know-Who’ will turn up?”
    “ I am sure of it. He intends to discuss the sale of a couple of horses with Boris, and they are bound to have a somewhat spirited argument over the price.”
    V iolet gave a little laugh.
    “ Horses are always more irresistible than a woman!”
    “ But not where I am concerned,” Lord Mundesley said with a caressing note in his voice. “You look very beautiful tonight. That gown certainly becomes you.”
    “ I’m glad you like it,” Violet replied. “I bought it especially for you.”
    ‘ And he paid for it!’ Davita added in her mind, but told herself it was vulgar even to think such things.
    S he wished she were not going to the party. She wished almost wildly that she were back in Scotland.
    T hen she told herself with a sudden pride that she would not let Lord Mundesley’s infamy defeat or depress her.
    T his was an adventure, and only if things became too unbearable would she surrender to the inevitable and return to Scotland.
    “ Davita’s wearing her mother’s wedding-dress,” Violet said unexpectedly.
    Lord Mundesley gave a short laugh.
    “ If there is one thing I love about you, Violet, it is your sense of humour.”
    “ But it’s true!” Violet objected.
    Lord Mundesley laughed again and Davita thought he was laughing at her mother, and hated him more violently than she had before.
    S he wished there was a way in which she could warn Violet that he was a man to be avoided.
    “ Here we are!” Violet exclaimed a little while later. “I can’t understand how the Prince when he comes to London always manages to rent the largest and finest houses.”
    “ He managed it because he can afford it,” Lord Mundesley answered. “He is paying an enormous rent for this house which he has taken over for the Season. In fact, the Duke said the offer was so astronomical that he could not afford to refuse.”
    “ Well, quite frankly,” Violet said, “I’m looking forward to seeing the inside of Uxminster House. All the Duke would be likely to offer me is the outside of his front door!”
    Lord Mundesley laughed.
    “That is true enough. Uxminster is a dull old fossil. No Gaiety Girls for him!”
    “Well, thank goodness the Prince is different!” Violet said as the carriage-door was opened and she stepped out into a blaze of light.
    Uxminster House was certainly very impressive as they walked up a red-carpeted staircase to the First Floor, and Davita was glad that she had come after all.
    This was the sort of house she had always hoped she would see in London, with family portraits and tapestries on the walls, and huge crystal chandeliers sparkling in the light of hundreds of candles.
    To her surprise, they were not shown by a very smartly liveried servant into a room on the First Floor which she could see through an open door was large and extremely impressive.
    Instead, they were taken along a corridor and shown at the end of it into a smaller room where they were greeted by their host.
    The Prince was a middle-aged Russian, distinguished, bearded, with twinkling dark eyes, and as Davita looked about her it seemed to her almost as if she were back in Romano’s again.
    The room was massed with flowers, but far more glamorous