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kind to us-"
    "No more than you deserve." He dropped his eyes, and his long fingers played absently with a pen holder. "In fact, less than you deserve. Harriet, I am an unfit guardian-a sinner, in sober fact. I lied to your grandmother's lawyers about one thing. There is no lady of the house here, no chaperone. I'm sure you noticed this at once. Why haven't you come to complain to me?"
    At first I couldn't think what to say. Then he looked at me from under his lashes, and I saw that, although his mouth was curved downward in a parody of repentance, his eyes were alight with laughter.
    "I did notice it," I said severely, "and I have already written to the Lord Chief Justice of England about the matter. Dear Cousin John, after all your kindness-"
    "I detest the name 'John,' " he interrupted. "My friends-when I had friends-used to call me Wolf."
    "Oh, dear! I don't like that at all."
    "Well, call me whatever you like, so long as it is friendly and informal. You make me feel young again, Harriet. If my feelings for you were not those of a father, we would really have to do something about that chaperone."
    "As for that," I said quickly, in an effort to hide my silly confusion, "I think such antique customs quite outmoded in this day and age. Really, I think of myself as Ada's chaperone,"
    "You make the very point I was about to press," he said, looking pleased. "You see, after my dear wife died, I couldn't endure another woman about the house. William manages the place well enough, and we are overrun with housemaids and cooks and the like. Still, I sometimes feel that we lack the finer domestic touches. Would you care, my dear, to take on the duties that my daughter, if I were fortunate enough to have one, would assume? To carry the keys?"
    "I would be honored," I stammered. "But I have had no experience-"
    "I can't imagine that it requires much experience. Any well-brought-up young lady knows what is to be expected; she has only to demand it. William will be your intermediary; you need not even put that elegantly chiseled nose into the kitchens. But if he might report to you instead of to me for instructions, it would relieve me of a minor but tedious task."
    There was no way of rejecting such a request without sounding churlish. Yet I had reservations. As I sat nervously twisting my handkerchief in my lap, Mr. Wolfson seemed to read my thoughts.
    "You may wonder why I don't make this request of Ada. She is a dear child, and I am fond of her. But she is like a butterfly; she has not the maturity for such a task."
    "You are right. But someday she must learn-"
    "Not necessarily." His eyes met mine; they were grave and kind. "My dear girl, I know of your grandmother's will. It was typical of her-from what I have heard of her-and I found it disgraceful. But we must face facts. Ada will marry well-so well that she may never have to manage a household. She will, we hope, have you to do that for her, until you find someone who values beauty of mind and body above a dowry."
    No man had ever spoken to me in that way. (Admittedly, my standards of comparison are narrow; Grandmother regarded eligible men as noxious weeds, to be frozen out if they dared to raise a head.) I know my cheeks were scarlet, for I could feel the heat of them. My eyes fell before his penetrating stare and I lost the use of my voice, did manage to shake my head, although I'm not sure precisely what I was trying to deny. Mr. Wolfson interred it as doubt.
    "There are such men; the world is not made up altogether of fools. But since the connoisseurs are far rarer than the fools, you may be living with Ada for some time after she marries. Then you will want to manage her house well, to keep her from being cheated or bullied by her servants."
    I laughed, forgetting my embarrassment. It was easy to visualize Ada being bullied by some burly cook or grim housekeeper.
    "You're right, Cousin. I am happy to be able to learn my lessons now."
    He called William in at once and