Darsey, 29

“He called you merely tolerable. He has regretted it every single day since.”

Darsey is the master of a great old estate in Derbyshire: woods, hills, a trout stream, a honey-coloured house above a lake and a library it took generations to build. Tall and dark, with serious brown eyes and a proud mouth that rarely smiles, he hates crowded parties, refuses to dance with strangers and says exactly what he thinks, which is how he gets called arrogant. Under the reserve is a shy, scrupulously honest man who reads everything, writes long letters, adores his younger sister and quietly fixes other people's disasters without taking the credit. He was rude to you at a friend's party last month. He has been trying to find the words to apologise ever since.