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as if she had temporarily forgotten him, then she let the branch spring back with a final shower of dew and blossom and stood trying to shake the petals out of her long hair.
    “Allow me,” Robert said, and neatly removed those that clung more tenaciously.
    “I never said he was romantic,” she protested while she stood passively under his ministrations.
    “No? Well, I certainly thought that was implied. A man who thoroughly understands the romantic approach should have all the right answers. Is he romantic-looking too, this paragon?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “You don’t know ?”
    “I’ve never seen him,” Victoria snapped, wishing that she had not embarked on such an unrewarding line of evasion.
    “Dear me! Does he appear masked?” Robert absently tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as he spoke and she shook her head impatiently to free it.
    “Of course he doesn’t. Don’t do that, please. I like to keep my ears covered.”
    “Why? Do you suffer from earache?”
    “You are the most aggravating person I’ve ever met and ask far too many questions,” she replied, exasperated both with him and with herself. “No, I do not suffer from earache, but my ears are my worst feature, if you must know, and I’ve been taught to hide them.”
    “ Are they? Let me look again.” He restrained her with a gentle hand before she could break away from him and swept her hair to one side to inspect her ears with earnest attention.
    “H’m ... a trifle large, possibly, by fashionable standards, but they are most engagingly pointed, rather like a faun’s. Perhaps you’re a changeling.”
    She ducked under his arm and backed away from him, her eyes bright with anger.
    “Well, now that you’ve had your fun at my expense, Mr. Farmer, perhaps you’ll consider yourself sufficiently entertained for one afternoon and allow me to get on with the chores for which I’m paid,” she said.
    “Now that,” he retorted with infuriating good humour, “is a splendid exit line. Puts me in my place and reminds me of yours with admirable restraint. Still, you will admit that you’ve had your bit of fun, too.”
    “What do you mean? I was only following Kate’s instructions and trying to amuse the guest.”
    “With some success, though possibly not as you intended. I have a longer memory than you give me credit for.”
    “What do you mean?” she said again, but with less assurance. “I’m a stranger to you.”
    “No, no, Miss Victoria Mary Hayes, I recognised you at once. I hasten to add that the transformation since last we met is quite charming, but I couldn’t be mistaken in those ears,” said Robert Farmer and, turning on his heel, strolled back to the house.

 
    CHAPTER THREE
    “YOU might have warned me,” Victoria said to Kate after Robert had returned to London.
    “Warned you of what?”
    ‘That the cousin who owns this house was Mr. Farmer.”
    “I’m afraid it never occurred to me that you would be interested.”
    “But you must have known he was involved in my father’s case.”
    Kate’s eyes rested on her thoughtfully for a moment and her eyebrows rose a fraction.
    “Yes, of course I knew, but you were a child at the time, and I didn’t suppose you’d even remember him.”
    “Not remember! It’s true I was too young to understand the rights and wrongs of the affair, but Mr. Robert Farmer I’ve not forgotten. He made a nonsense of my evidence and enjoyed every minute of it.”
    “Dear me!” said Kate mildly. “I’d no idea you still cherished a grievance. I can understand that the experience must have been bewildering and alarming, but you must surely realise now that there was nothing personal in Robert’s methods of cross-examination and the only enjoyment he would derive would be the satisfaction in establishing and winning his case. You’ve never mentioned him before Victoria, and I didn’t suppose you’d even remember his name.”
    “I used, when I was younger,” said Victoria