“The dowager,” Winsome said. “Now, what did you say to drive him away?”

“Say?” he asked.

“Yes, you hear me clearly, my lord, what did you say?” Winsome asked.

“Best to come out with it,” Patience said.

Felicity nodded in agreement. “We are like badgers, Lord St. John. You will not slip away from our grip until we’ve heard the answer to the question we ask you.”

“Well I did not say anything, actually,” St. John said, eyeing Winsome’s sisters, who were slowly circling round him and cutting off any escape. “I was taken up with the arrangements with my costume.”

“He came to your house,” Winsome said, “and yet you said nothing?”