Miss Lavinia Quinton was the sister of Dericka’s mother, a wealthy spinster, who disliked Sir Hannibal as much as she loved his daughter. She also liked Oswald Forde, and was disposed to forward his suit, both on account of his good looks and because the baronet did not approve of him as Dericka’s suitor. There must have been some Irish blood in Miss Lavinia, for she was always in the opposition, and would never cease to argue while she had breath left in her spare body. Dericka was very fond of her, and Aunt Lavinia approved of Dericka, saying that all the sense in the girl came from her mother, which remark was a side slap at Sir Hannibal.

The house of this odd personage was in a quiet Kensington square, where the rents were high and the dwellers in the various mansions well-to-do. Everything in that square went by clockwork, and the Judgment Day would have found the inhabitants dressed in their best bibs and tuckers ready to listen to the last trump. Miss Quinton herself was one of the precise old ladies in the place — tall, slender and aristocratic-looking. Her silvery hair was worn in the fashion of Marie Antoinette, and suited her wrinkled, oval face with its arched nose and thin lips. She always dressed in grey, like a demure nun, and like a nun she was given to religious works, mostly concerned with an extremely high church round the corner. Walking very erect, with her nose held aloft as though disdaining meaner clay, Miss Lavinia passed for being proud and cold. Proud she certainly was, but not cold, as many a poor person knew how warm hearted she could be when there was charitable work to be done. But she assuredly possessed sharp eyes and a sharp tongue, and could make herself eminently disagreeable on occasions. She chose to do so when Sir Hannibal and Dericka arrived from Cornwall.

‘H’m!’ said Miss Lavinia, kissing Dericka warmly, and greeting her brother-inlaw coldly; ‘so you are here. Why?’

‘I thought that I would come and see you, Aunt,’ said Dericka, who knew that Miss Lavinia was pleased.

‘H’m! Your father has been making himself disagreeable again?’

‘I never make myself disagreeable unless there is a cause,’ said the baronet, coldly.

‘You usually find cause,’ snapped the old lady. ‘Dericka looks pale, I notice. H’m! Is Oswald Forde the cause of that, or —’ Miss Lavinia’s eye sought the tired face of her brother-inlaw.

‘I’ve got nothing to do with it,’ said Sir Hannibal hastily.

‘Papa is all right, Aunty,’ whispered Dericka quickly; ‘don’t be hard on him, he is very worried.’

‘On account of that Bowring murder? H’m.’

‘What do you know of that, Lavinia?’

‘All that I read in the papers. Well, the man’s gone, so there is no use in saying anything, but I never liked him.’

‘I did not know that you knew him well, Lavinia?’

‘I knew him much better than you think, Hannibal. You told me about him when you came from Africa, and I made it my business to have a few conversations with him when he came to town.’

‘Why, in Heaven’s name?’ asked the baronet, puzzled.

‘For the sake of your good name, Hannibal.’

‘My — good — name?’

‘Certainly. You more than hinted that this Bowring had done some shady business in South Africa, and as you were mixed up with him I wanted to know what that business was, so that I might help you should occasion arise.’

‘There was no need,’ said Sir Hannibal testily. ‘Bowring and I did do business together in Cape Town, and he did not treat me well. All the same, I was quite able to manage him. But if you are going to make yourself disagreeable, Lavinia, I shall go to an hotel.’

‘And waste your money. Nonsense.’

‘Money doesn’t matter to me now, Lavinia. I am rich.’

‘Indeed! And how did you make money?’

‘I didn’t make it. Bowring has left me sixty thousand a year.’

Miss Lavinia, who was seated bolt upright in her chair, fell back with a gasp of astonishment when she heard the news.

‘In Heaven’s name why did he do that, seeing that he has a son?’

‘An insane son,’ put in Dericka sharply.

‘Well,’ said Sir Hannibal, revolving what Mrs. Krent had said to him and anxious to set the rumour of an engagement going, ‘the money was left to me, in a way — on account of Dericka and Morgan.’

‘The son? Well?’

‘Bowring wanted Dericka to marry Morgan, and I was, so to speak, to hold the money in trust. The will did not put that in so many words, but the hint is enough for me.’

‘Hint! Hint!’ cried Miss Lavinia with rising anger. ‘Good heavens, do you mean to say that you want Dericka to marry a lunatic?’

‘There is no chance of that,’ said Dericka angrily. ‘Papa, you really cannot mean what you are saying. You would not like me to marry that fearful creature?’

‘There is no chance of your marrying him, my dear; but it will be as well to let everyone think that I am willing you should become Morgan’s wife so that some reason may be assigned for this money being left to me.’

Miss Lavinia looked at Dericka, and Dericka looked at Miss Lavinia. It was the latter lady who spoke first.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Then I can’t explain just now,’ retorted Sir Hannibal, wearily, and resting his head on his hand; ‘but if you will wait until Forde comes I’ll make everything clear.’

‘Oh, indeed, Hannibal. And pray, have you asked Mr. Forde to come to my house and without requesting my permission?’

‘No! No!’ interposed Dericka hastily, to prevent an angry reply on the part of the incensed lady; ‘I took that liberty.’

Miss Lavinia rubbed her aristocratic nose.

‘It is a liberty, my dear — that is, it would be if anyone but yourself took it. I shall be glad to see Mr. Forde to dinner. Does he know —’

‘I sent a wire from the station asking him to come here at seven.’

‘And if you object to his coming here, Lavinia, I will send another telegram and invite him to the Guelph Hotel, where I propose to stay.’

Miss Lavinia was sharp, and not over fond of Sir Hannibal, whom she regarded as a weakling. All the same, she was hospitable and saw that her despised brother-inlaw looked worried.

‘My dear Hannibal, I should not think of your going to an hotel,’ she said cordially; ‘you must stop here. Your cab is there,’— she glanced out of the window on to the quiet square —‘and your luggage also? I will send —’

Her hand was on the button of the bell.

‘I have no luggage, Lavinia.’

The maiden lady’s hand dropped. ‘No — luggage?’

‘No. I left St. Ewald’s in a hurry. For Heaven’s sake wait until Forde comes. I’ll tell my story once, but not twice.’

The spinster looked again at Dericka, but that young lady shook her head.

‘I can give no explanation, Aunty. Father refuses to enlighten me until he sees Oswald.’

‘In that case we may as well drop the subject. But you did not tell me, Hannibal, how you came up?’

‘We came by the night train, Lavinia, and stopped at the Guelph Hotel.’

‘Why did you not come here?’ asked Miss Lavinia, putting up a lorgnette and speaking severely. ‘It is now three o’clock in the afternoon.’

‘Aunty’— it was Dericka who explained —‘I wanted to come to you, and had I been travelling by myself I should have come on, however late the hour. But father joined me at Gwynne Station, and said that we had better stop at the Guelph Hotel instead of troubling you. We were shopping this morning, and —’

‘You should have come here.’

‘I didn’t want to,’ said Dericka quickly. ‘I sent a wire, as I said, from the station when we arrived asking Oswald to come here this evening, and did not wish to come until the afternoon.’

‘Why?’ asked Miss Lavinia, snappishly.

‘It was my fault,’ interposed Sir Hannibal. ‘I had to see a doctor.’

‘Oh, then the shopping excuse is a lie?’

‘No. We did do some shopping, Aunty.’

‘H’m! And why, Hannibal, did you see a doctor?’

‘I have had a shock.’

‘What sort of a shock?’

‘Oh!’ Sir Hannibal rose and shook himself. ‘Do stop asking questions, Lavinia. The shock has to do with what I have to tell you in the presence of Forde. As to the shopping, since I came away without baggage I have had to get a few things.’

‘Which are in the cab?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then, when you said that you had no luggage you told a —

‘Damn!’ cried the baronet, goaded beyond endurance.

Far from being angry, Miss Lavinia seemed amused.

‘I apologise,’ she said with very good grace; ‘I fear my questions worry you.’

‘They do. And I apologise in my turn for bad language.’

‘I accept.’ Miss Lavinia smiled grimly and shook out her grey skirts in a gracious manner. ‘Well, then, I’ll send Augustus’— this was the butler —‘to get your — your — purchases.’ Miss Lavinia was determined not to say ‘luggage’—‘and you can amuse yourself here while I take Dericka to her room.’

Sir Hannibal nodded and sat down again — he had risen in his anger.

Miss Lavinia gave her instructions, and escorted her niece to a very pretty bedroom next to her own. When the two were alone, and the door was closed, the spinster turned on Dericka with a look which spoke volumes. ‘Marriage,’ said Miss Lavinia.

‘Whose marriage?’ inquired Dericka, smiling rosily.

‘Not yours, my dear. Hannibal’s.’

The rosy flush d............