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were long and lean, like the man himself, she thought, as one of her descriptions of Reginald Haversham flashed into her mind.
      He was long and lean, every muscle in his well-proportioned body attesting to a man of action. He was such a man as knew his way around the world, such a man as set the hearts of young maidens to beating with yearnings hitherto unknown to them. And when those same maidens...
    “Twenty-five,” said his lordship, in a voice that did not quite hide his shock.
    “She’s right, sir,” asserted Harry. “Of course, most of them stay out in the stable - there’s no horses in it now.”
    “And if Aunt Caroline finds homes for the new kittens,” added Betsy, “why we shall have less.”
    “Yes, I see.” His eyes shifted to Louisa’s face. “And if I don’t miss my guess - and I seldom do -” he added, lowering his voice so that it reached Louisa’s ears alone, “you are the sole support of this whole ill-assorted menagerie.”
    The children, seeing that the conversation was again between Louisa and his lordship, swung back around to kneel on the seat and watch the driver and his whip.
    “Aunt Caroline brought her income,” Louisa said, conscious that she was flushing.
    “And I wager that it barely feeds her ‘dear kitties,’“ returned Atherton, still in the same confidential tone.
    “How did you ... ? That is, we manage quite well,” Louisa faltered.
    “I know,” said his lordship, “because I remember her Colonel Pickering. A worse man at the gaming table I have never seen. And he appeared to have equally poor luck with his wagers in White’s betting book. It stands to reason that his property was highly encumbered.”
    “I do not find it proper to discuss Aunt Caroline’s affairs,” said Louisa, with what she hoped was firmness. This sort of conversation was most embarrassing to her.
    His lordship did not take umbrage, he merely nodded gracefully. “Quite right. However, I take some special interest in your case because the Colonel once did my father a great kindness.”
    “But Aunt Caroline does not know you!” Louisa protested. This was beginning to sound like something she had written.
    Atherton shrugged his well-clad shoulders. “The kindness was done at the gaming table. I doubt that the dear departed Colonel discussed such matters with his lady.”
    Louisa, who could not help smiling at his use of “dear departed Colonel,” could find nothing amiss with this information. And perhaps the truth was stranger than fiction.
    “What is the betting book at White’s?” she asked intrigued by the sound of it. “It seems I heard Papa mention it several times long ago, but Mama always hushed him up and made me leave the room.”
    His lordship’s dark eyes sparkled. “The members of White’s are sporting men. They will wager on anything: births, deaths, marriages, battles, etc. These wagers are recorded in the betting book. The present one has been in existence since 1743. The previous one was lost in a fire.”
    “I see,” said Louisa. “Another effort to fight the ennui that rich lords are prey to.”
    Those dark eyes bored into hers. “Do I detect a note of envy?” he asked, raising one eyebrow in that quizzical way of his.
    “I?” said Louisa. “I certainly have no envy of men who game away their substance.”
    “But the substance is another story, is it not?” replied Atherton astutely.
      Louisa flushed, irritated that she should have so revealed  her  true  feelings. “Doubtless,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster, “had such men faced the prospect of keeping together a family they would have been more circumspect.”
    “Louisa,” Atherton’s whisper barely reached her ears. “Men have lost whole estates, or upwards of twenty or thirty thousand pounds in a sitting. And they were men with families.” His voice softened even further. “Your own father...”
    “What do you know of my father?” Louisa turned frightened