Desford said abruptly: "How old are you, my child? Sixteen? Seventeen?"

"Oh, no, I am much older than that!" she replied. "I'm as old as Lucasta - all but a few weeks!"

"Then why are you not downstairs dancing with the rest of them?" he demanded. "You must surely be out!"

"No, I'm not," she said. "I don't suppose I ever shall be, either. Unless my papa turns out not to be dead, and comes home to take care of me himself. But I don't think that at all likely, and even if he did come home it wouldn't be of the least use, because he seems never to have sixpence to scratch with. I am afraid he is not a very respectable person. My aunt says he was obliged to go abroad on account of being monstrously in debt." She sighed, and said wistfully: "I know that one ought not to criticize one's father, but I can't help feeling that it was just a little thoughtless of him to abandon me.

Auteur: Georgette Heyer