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“Oh, I expect he knows, dear,” Uncle Roger assured her soothingly.

“I intend to warn Pamela. I haven’t had a chance yet———”

“I wouldn’t do that. It’s a risky thing to do at any time.” His voice was not as firm as his words, for Aunt Sophia had a cold and intimidating eye. “And after all he has established his identity beyond a doubt.”

“H’m!”

“Don’t you trust Derwent, then? Surely a man of that type wouldn’t swear to a thing he did not know to be true.”

“He might easily be misled,” said Aunt Sophia inflexibly. “An honest man, I daresay, but rather stupid. I have told Margaret my views on the subject, and she thinks as I do.”

Uncle Roger’s tough good temper snapped. At worst he was never more than irritable, but just now he was so decidedly, to a greater degree than usual.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Sophia, don’t drag the rest of the family in! You’ll only make trouble for us. You know as well as I do that we’ll have to swallow Tony Trent along with Pamela, and we’d better put a good face on it. I must say he spoke to me in a manly way enough. I can’t pretend I like it, but it’s a damned sight better than I expected. And I don’t see what else he could have done but marry the child, seeing that she was away there and they were very fond of each other. He’s not a bad sort of boy, and———”

“I will not stay here to be sworn at,” said Aunt Sophia with dignity, and she made one of her celebrated sweeping exits, leaving her husband choked with a half-finished harangue. He never got a chance to go any further than that in any of his speeches, for she had a habit of swooping on the first profanity as an excuse for cutting it as short as