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she would have been well off, whereas now she is apparently a pauper. I suppose they were sure she had all the Trent property, so they didn’t bother about anything else. Yes, Learmonth’s her family name. . . . I feel as if I were seeing a ghost. . . . She must have a parrot’s life with that old woman!”

“That’s rather unfair to Miss Sidmouth.”

“I’m not saying she’s unkind, but she’s rather a dry chip, and to a girl who has been used to deference and—flattery, like Pamela, it must be Hell. (Sorry, but I’m not swearing. I mean just that.)”

“I did think she was very new to this sort of thing, poor little soul.”

“Yes, I give you credit for clear-sightedness—but, tell me, Alison, how am I to undo this?”

She looked at him in puzzled despair.

“How could you be such a bad boy? You must have known that she———”

“I give you my word I never thought she’d take it more seriously than I did. And we’d been quarrelling as often as we met. She was strong on blue blood and all that sort of thing, she thought me a detestable bounder, and somehow it struck me as such a screaming farce that we should be cousins. I only told her for fun. And now———”

“Oh, Tony!—Nothing can be done to-night. I must try and think, but I really don’t quite see how you can expect her to go back to—where is it?—when the place really belongs to you after all.”

“Trent Stoke—it’s in Devon, I believe . . . and there are other houses . . . oh, it’s too funny for words! but I wish I’d never heard the joke. . . .”

“Poor little girl! how she must miss it all. Come down, dear, we mustn’t stay away any longer.”

Miss Sidmouth never knew how full of excitement that evening was. Tony felt as if he were playing some elaborate