“But that is just what he does wish to do!” she replied. “At least, I can’t suppose that he wishes to do it precisely—except that it would be a great relief to him to be rid of all the worry and bother of my debts.”

“Your debts! But—Is Miss Stavely an heiress? and is Evelyn crazy enough to imagine that he will be able to dispose of her fortune as he pleases? It isn’t possible!”

“No, and he wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing, if it were! He means to settle my debts out of his own fortune.

He says—and you did too, Kit!—that Papa should have done so, and that it is just the same as if he had. And also he says that he is determined your uncle shall know nothing about it. So he went to see him, to try if he couldn’t prevail upon him to end the Trust—putting it on the score of his age, and how much he dislikes being treated as though he were a schoolboy. Which is true, Kit!”

“Yes, I know it is. What had my uncle to say to that?”

“Well, he didn’t say very much to Evelyn—only that he would be glad to be rid of the Trust, and would willingly end it the instant Evelyn had finished sowing his wild oats. But afterwards he came to see me, and although he was very stiff, I do him the justice to acknowledge that he discussed the matter with far less of that reserve of his which I find so daunting! He spoke very kindly of Evelyn, saying that he has many excellent qualities, and that in spite of being far too heedless and rackety he doesn’t commit horrid excesses, or frequent low company, which (Henry says) has become the fashion amongst a certain set of young men. And then he said he would be happy to see him married to some female of character, since he had been brought to believe that marriage would be the making of him, and cause him to become more settled and responsible—though not, he fears, such a pattern-card as you!”

“Much obliged to him! What can have possessed him to say anything so foolhardy? Did you give him snuff?”

She laughed. “No, I was more inclined to embrace him for holding you in esteem. Besides, I know it to be true. Oh, I don’t mean that you are a pattern-card of virtue, so you needn’t look so—so—”

“Dog-sick?” suggested her ungrateful offspring.

“Odious creature! All I meant to say—and your uncle too!—was that you are more—more dependable than Evelyn. You always were. I wish you will stop funning: this is a serious matter!” She looked up at him, smiling ruefully. “I know I’m lightminded, Kit, but not when it is a question of my sons’ welfare, I promise you! I would make any sacrifice—indeed, I have been wondering whether I ought not to change this room again, and make it all blue, or pink, or straw-coloured, no matter how commonplace it would be. They say that green is an unlucky colour, you know, and there’s no denying that my luck has been quite out for months, which is not the least helpful to poor Evelyn. I thought that if only I could win a fortune all his troubles would be over. Well, they would have been, but the luck hardly ever runs my way. Yes, and that puts me in mind of something that has me in a puzzle! One is for ever hearing of persons who have lost their fortunes at gaming, but one never hears of anyone who has won a fortune. It seems very odd to me. Where do all the lost fortunes go to?”

“Never into your pocket, love—that’s all I know! So don’t, I implore you, change this room! I dare say that would cost a fortune.”

“Yes, but I shouldn’t grudge a penny of it!” she said earnestly. She added, with a touch of asperity: “And I am quite at a loss to understand why you should go into whoops!”

“Never mind, Mama!” he said unsteadily. “Only don’t—don’t m-make sacrifices for Evelyn! I’m persuaded he won’t appreciate them as—as he ought!”

“I don’t care for that. But it’s of no consequence! I wasn’t thinking of fortunes and debts when I told you it was a serious matter: indeed, I can’t imagine how we come to be talking of such trivial things! Kit, I would not say so to your uncle, but from you I need conceal nothing! You think it is mercenary of me to arrange an eligible marriage for Evelyn, but it isn’t! It can’t be mercenary to wish him to be comfortable, which he will be, because Henry says the Trust shall be wound up as soon as he is safely married. He disclosed to me that he had never thought it right of Denville to create it, but considered himself bound in honour to abide by his expressed wish. Well, it would be nonsensical to deny that it is of the greatest importance for Evelyn to be free to do as he chooses with his inheritance, but that wouldn’t have weighed with me if I hadn’t felt the force of Henry’s words. Indeed, I wasn’t even thinking about it!” She hesitated, a crease between her arched brows. “No one understands Evelyn as well as you, Kit, but you have been abroad for so long that I fancy you don’t know—are not quite aware—Oh, dear, it is so very difficult to explain it to you!”

All trace of laughter had vanished from his eyes. They became suddenly intent, searching her face. He sat down again beside her, and took one of her hands in a reassuring clasp. “I know. I find myself unable to explain to you the feeling I’ve had—oh, for a long time now!—that something is amiss. But what it may be I’ve never discovered, which has made me think it could be nothing of a serious nature.”

“Oh, no!” she said quickly. “But he’s so restless, Kit, and so wild! No, that’s not the word. He calls it being always ripe for a spree, but it has sometimes seemed to me that he commits extravagant follies because he is bored, and can find nothing else to do. And when Henry spoke of his becoming settled, and responsible, I suddenly knew that he was perfectly right. I mean, if he were suitably married, and had the estates to manage, besides setting up his nursery—and however disagreeable the thought of being a grandmother may be I am determined to bear it—he would be more—more content. He would have things to occupy him, and you know what he is, Kit!—he can never be happy unless he is doing something! And, situated as he is, he has nothing to do but get into mischief, which I shouldn’t care a straw for, if only it amused him! But I don’t think it does, except for a very little while, do you, Kit?”

“No. That is, I don’t know, but I understand what you mean!”

She squeezed his hand gratefully. “I knew you must! And you will understand that when Harry said that, about marriage being the making of Evelyn, I began instantly to cast about in my mind, and naturally hit upon Cressy.”

“Cressy?”

“Cressida—Miss Stavely! In every respect what one would wish for, Kit! A young woman of the first consideration—not a schoolroom chit, full of romantic notions! She has what Henry calls a well-regulated mind, though she is not, I assure you, a blue-stocking. I don’t say she is a beauty, but I think her very pretty, and with a good deal of countenance, besides having a well-formed figure, and truly exquisite taste! She will fill her position to admiration— better by far than I ever did!—for she conducts herself with perfect propriety, and will never give Evelyn cause to blush for her!”

“And how comes it about that this highly finished piece of nature is on the shelf?” he asked sceptically.

“She is not on the shelf! To be sure, she is twenty, which might lead you to suppose that she had never received any eligible offers, but that is not the case at all! She received several offers when her grandmama brought her out, but she refused them all, because she thought it her duty to remain with her papa. She said she had met no one she liked better than Stavely, but the fact is that she is his only child, and she has kept house for him since she was sixteen. He was used to dote on her, too.”

“What caused him to stop doting on her?”

“Oh, I daresay he still does so, but he would be afraid for his life to betray it! What must he do, when one would have supposed him to be past the age of such folly, but form an attachment for a female not very much older than Cressy, and marry her! Well, I never had a very high idea of his understanding—he formed a passion for me, you know, when I was first out, and behaved like a perfect moonling—but I thought he had grown to be quite rational! But to have allowed himself to be caught by Albinia Gillifoot—! He must be about in his head! She keeps him dancing attendance on her, which will very soon make him regret his imprudence; and she’s as jealous as a cat, particularly of poor Cressy.”

“Oh, so that’s why poor Cressy is willing to accept Evelyn, is it?”

“Of course it is! Really, nothing could have been more providential!”

“I hope she thinks so!”

“No, but I do, and so does your uncle! When I mentioned Cressy to him he almost approved of me!” Her eyes danced. “He said he had never looked for so much good sense in me! Unexceptionable, he called her, and one with strength of character!”

“And what does Evelyn call her?” inquired Kit, in a voice of polite interest.

“Evelyn told me that he believed she might be the very thing he had in mind. You mustn’t think I urged him in any way, Kit! Indeed, I begged him not to make her an offer if he felt he could not like her; but he assured me that he does like her. He is not very well acquainted with her, for although she has frequently visited me, and I have chaperoned her to balls now and then, because I am her godmother, her mama having been a particular friend of mine, he has never paid her any extraordinary attention.”

“Not his style, eh?”

“If you mean she is not in the style of the girls he tumbles in and out of love with, no, and a very good thing too! He believes they may deal very comfortably together, and so do I. He won’t feel leg-shackled, and she won’t fall into a grand fuss over his little affaires. She must be accustomed to such things. I could furnish you with the names of at least three of Stavely’s mistresses, and you may depend upon it that Cressy is well aware of his being quite a man of the town. Kit, I know you don’t like it, but I must tell you that Evelyn’s mind is made up: he is determined to marry. I needn’t tell you how impossible it is to turn him from his purpose when he gets that obstinate look in his face. I don’t know what passed between him and Cressy, when he popped the question, but he told me afterwards he thought himself very fortunate. Nothing was farther from his intention than to cry off! Why, he even said that he meant to return from Ravenhurst in good time to adonize himself for the encounter with old Lady Stavely! And if he doesn’t return tomorrow his tale will be told, for Lady Stavely is bound to take a pet—and small blame to her! Only think how brass-faced it would be of him! And then he would offer for some girl not nearly as suitable, and be wretchedly uncomfortable for the rest of his life! Oh, Kit, what am I to do? If he hasn’t suffered an accident, I have the most lowering fear that something has happened to put his engagement in Mount Street out of his mind. You can’t deny that he does forget things!”