'The lady will be here in due course, Henry.'
'Lady?'
'Well, you don't think I forgot to mention you, did you?' said Christopher. 'Harriet Gow showered Mr Bale and me with thanks. I didn't want you to miss out on the praise so I told her how you took a dreadful beating on her behalf.'
'And?'
'She insisted on coming to see you this very evening.'
'Harriet Gow?' Henry was glowing. 'Alone in my bedchamber?'
'Just the two of you.'
'Wonder of wonders!'
'Ask her nicely and she might even sing you a lullaby.'
'That would thrill me more than anything else.'
'What would?'
'To listen to my own amorous nightingale.'
A mischievous thought put a broad grin on Christopher's face.
'We could invite Father here to share the experience,' he said.
Henry Redmayne laughed so much that his ribs ached for an hour.