Patricia Brent, Spinster

is ready

limbs and yawned luxuriously. For the next few moments he lay watching his man, Peel, as he moved noiselessl

shaved. In his every action there was purpose, and every purpose was governed by one law-order. He was noiseless, wordless, selfless.

cular, seemed nothing in particular, did everything to perfection. His face was a barrier to intimacy, his demeanour a gulf t

ime, Peel?" e

lied the meticulous Peel, glancin

ements to-day?" q

efused to make any since

icia should she unbend. With the thought of Patricia returned the memory of the previous night's events. Bowen cursed himself for the mess he had made of things. Every act of hi

etched title. He had been given no say in the matter. As for telling Patricia, could he immediately on meeting her blurt out, "I'm a lord?" Supposing he h

nutes to eig

e that broke in up

he threw his legs out of

ardon, m

amn!" rep

my l

my-lording his master specially to annoy him. There was, however, no sign upon Peel's featu

n of his into a covert insult? Why above all things couldn't women be reasonable? Bowen rose, stretc

infernal title as little as possible during the nex

rd," was th

savagely, and Peel r

nableness. His one source of comfort was that she had appealed to him to put things right about her aunt. That wo

ed his fellow-men in the early morning. Looking up suddenly

ee

my l

lishmen dislike each o

lord, that we're half an inch taller in the morn

ed at Peel

" he said, "and I'm af

my lord," r

and rose, receiving from Pee

agra and ask her to lunch with me at half-past one. Te

: it shall be

lder brother, the heir, Viscount Bowen, who would succeed to the title as the eighth Marquess of Meyfield. Bowen was five years older than his sister, wh

dgment that their comradeship stood before all else. Each to the other was unique. Thus when Bowen sent the message to Lady Tanagra through Peel asking her not to fail him, he knew that s

, and it was equally certain that the photographers of the illustrated and society paper

had begged for a second name; but the Marquess had been resolute. "Tanagra I will have her christened and Tanagra I will have her called," he had said with a smile that, if it mitigated the sternness of

I've done my best," and Lord Meyfield had come across the room and kissed his wife with the remark, "There you're wrong, my dear, it's going to help t

ad almost hated it; but later when she had come to love the figurines that were so much pa

ys Tan, to the less intimate Lady Tan, an

eful, when in process of being proposed

ridiculous we should both be, everybody would call us Black and Tan. Ugh! it sounds like a whisky as well a

sex. Her taste in dress was as unerring as in literature and art. Everything she did or said was without effort. She had been proposed to by "half the eligibles

eft the War Office, he found Lady

at a brainy idea, picking u

I'll tell you what to do with

o her brother's face. She

r with dexterity and ease. She was a dainty creature with regular features, violet-blue eyes and golden hair that seemed to defy all constra

as they came to a standstill at the top of Whitehall, wait

but I'm not well enough, I'm afraid,

s, Tan! what

ficient excuse for breaking a luncheon engagement of three we

ry," began Bowen

t and flowers now from all sorts of people, because the Bolsovers are sure to spread it roun

think," she said, indicating an old woman selling matches,

woman and handed her

rly virtuous to be charitable wi

gra made

t matter that had caused her to be summoned to lunch, even at the expense of having measles as an excuse. That was

ey had been served and both were smoking, Bowen remarke

dinner. I'm afraid it will mean more flowers and fruit. Oh!" she replied, "I suppose I mu

met her-that was Patricia's secret. If she chose to tell, that was another matter; but he could not. As a rule he found it ea

it comes, Peter," she remarked

ted and th

n myself and a girl. I cannot tell you everything, Tan,

nviction which contained something of a reproach that he

o do a bit of lying

emperature through measles." Lady Tanagra saw that Bowen was ill

I known her?"

t is necessary is for you to have met her somewhe

these explanations?"

nt, a g

you are-that I am to thro

n Square, and she lives at Galvin House Residential Hotel, to give it its full title, 8 Galvin Street, Bayswater. Her aunt is to be at Galvin House at half-past f

l put things right. What time

clock, I

the way, where shall you b

he

ix o'c

re at six and wa

ve got to telephone to these people about the

for being possessed of such a sister and marvelling at her wisdom. He had not the most remote idea of how she would achieve he

ved the altering and changing of almost every sentence he dictated. In the usual way he was content to tell Patricia what he wanted to say, and let her clothe it in fitting words; but this morning he had insisted on dictating every letter, with the result that her notes had become hopelessly involved a