Oddly enough, the Earl of Blessington became as devoted to D’Orsay as did his wife.  The two urged the count to secure a leave of absence and to accompany them to Italy.  This he was easily persuaded to do; and the three passed weeks and months of a languorous and alluring intercourse among the lakes and the seductive influence of romantic Italy.  Just what passed between Count d’Orsay and Margaret Blessington at this time cannot be known, for the secret of it has perished with them; but it is certain that before very long they came to know that each was indispensable to the other.

The situation was complicated by the Earl of Blessington, who, entirely unsuspicious, proposed that the Count should marry Lady Harriet Gardiner, his eldest legitimate daughter by his first wife.  He pressed the match upon the embarrassed D’Orsay, and offered to settle the sum of forty thousand pounds upon the bride.  The girl was less than fifteen years of age.  She had no gifts either of beauty or of intelligence; and, in addition, D’Orsay was now deeply in love with her stepmother.

On the other hand, his position with the Blessingtons was daily growing more difficult.  People had begun to talk of the almost open relations between Count d’Orsay and Lady Blessington.  Lord Byron, in a letter written to the countess, spoke to her openly and in a playful way of “Your D’Orsay.”  The manners and morals of the time were decidedly irregular; yet sooner or later the earl was sure to gain some hint of what every one was saying.  Therefore, much against his real desire, yet in order to shelter his relations with Lady Blessington, D’Orsay agreed to the marriage with Lady Harriet, who was only fifteen years of age.

This made the intimacy between D’Orsay and the Blessingtons appear to be not unusual; but, as a matter of fact, the marriage was no marriage.  The unattractive girl who had become a bride merely to hide the indiscretions of her stepmother was left entirely to herself; while the whole family, returning to London, made their home together in Seymour Place.

Could D’Orsay have foreseen the future he would never have done what must always seem an act so utterly unworthy of him.  For within two years Lord Blessington fell ill and died.  Had not D’Orsay been married he would now have been free to marry Lady Blessington.  As it was, he was bound fast to her stepdaughter; and since at that time there was no divorce court in England, and since he had no reason for seeking a divorce, he was obliged to live on through many years in a most ambiguous situation.  He did, however, separate himself from his childish bride; and, having done so, he openly took up his residence with Lady Blessington at Gore House.  By this time, however, the companionship of the two had received a sort of general sanction, and in that easy-going age most people took it as a matter of course.