Despite the pact of silence with husband James, Anne Trenchard sneakily visits Caroline, Countess of Brockenhurst, to confide her at high tea that family isn't without heir as Edmund has a bastard Charles by equally late Sophia. The aristocrat haughtily scolds her an upstart liar, unconditionally defending her late son Lord Bellasis's reputation. Without disclosing her identity, Anne meets her grandson, now John Bellasis, posing as potential textile investor. Later the countess probes Anne for the now adult boy's whereabouts, as silently adopted son of childless clergyman Stephen Bellasis, sponging on his rich firstborn brother earl Peregrine, and invites all, separately, to a prestigious dinner. There Anne learns James already supports John as unrevealed business mentor, and is horrified to realize the countess is after the secret somehow getting guessed or discovered as John basks in attention.
—KGF Vissers