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connection for his nephew. Already he had observed that it was Miss Hermitage who was looked to for guidance by the group. Her character was still to be determined.
    At length, Mrs. Hermitage took up her embroidery and settled down to work. Her eyes roamed often to Derwent and Mellie in the corner. “I need a better light,”she said, and moved to a chair closer to the lovers, who whispered uneasily between themselves, with many a cautious look toward the enemy interloper.
    Monstuart turned his conversation to Miss Hermitage. She regarded him with a smug little smile of satisfaction that he was eager to remove from her face. “And are you quite happy to be away from London, ma’am?”he asked politely.
    “The peace and quiet of Ashford just suit me.”
    “You, too, are an excellent needlewoman, I trust?”He glanced at her idle fingers as he spoke.
    “No, I read a good deal, and I enjoy riding.”
    “Another shockingly expensive pastime.”
    “Its expense need not concern you.”
    “The expenses of the whole family concern me, when it is your intention to dump them in Derwent’s lap.”
    A mischievous smile lurked at the corner of Sally’s lips. “You are conceding defeat so soon?”she taunted him.
    “The word intention does not necessarily denote execution, Miss Hermitage. I was merely commenting on your style of life.”Monstuart hastened to change the topic when he saw he was slipping into bad manners. It was his hope to indicate that he was still very much against the match, without repeating his former insults. “I think you were unwise to leave London,”he said.
    “Your opinion must stand for a good deal with us, of course,”she answered ironically, “but we are happy here.”
    “Slim pickings. I seem to recall the Hermit was said to possess the next Season’s Incomparable, at the time of his death. You would have done better to remain in London, when you were at a marriageable age,”he added. No emphasis stressed the word “marriageable,”but the past tense revealed his subtle meaning. “You planned to return when your sister married, no doubt?”
    It was the age insult that lent a quick flash of anger to her eyes, but it was the innuendo that she spoke of. “We didn’t plan to live with Derwent! Of course, as things stand now, that may be necessary.”
    “As things stand now that I am here, it is unlikely in the extreme,”he countered.
    Sally’s eyes lifted to observe him from beneath her long lashes. “If you refuse to forward him any of his own money, he must batten himself on us till he reaches his maturity,”she retaliated, stressing repetition of his own ill-chosen words.
    Monstuart swallowed it in silence, but his temper was rising. “I find it strange you did not choose to live with relatives, as money is so severe a problem with you.”
    “There is no accounting for taste,”she answered demurely.
    His eyes roved around the richly appointed saloon. “There is no taste for accounting in this household,”he retorted.
    A little laugh escaped from Miss Hermitage, and he smiled involuntarily in response. “Touché, milord. I did not look for wit in Derwent’s guardian.”
    “So I gather. You judge me by the one specimen of my family to which you have been exposed. Derwent is my sister’s son, and the female line of my family, like most,”he added with a challenging glance, “is not bright.”
    Sally felt her blood rise to the challenge. “I am said to favor Papa. He was not considered a dull gentleman.”
    Monstuart had already begun to confirm who was the brains in the family. “There is some resemblance,”he admitted.
    “Did you know him?”she asked, startled. “I don’t recall seeing you about the house.”
    “I was never at your father’s house, but he was occasionally at mine. He handled a business matter for me some years ago.”
    “What matter was that?”she asked with sharp interest. Papa’s cases were generally in the nature of causes célèbres. She had