Roddy said, "That doesn't matter! In all probability she's divided it between us; but if that isn't so - if she's left all of it or most of it to you as her own flesh and blood - why, then, darling, I shall still share in it, because I'm going to marry you - and if the old pet thinks the majority should go to me as the male representative of the Welmans, that's still all right, because you're marrying me."

He grinned at her affectionately. He said, "Lucky we happen to love each other. You do love me, don't you, Elinor?"

"Yes." She said it coldly, almost primly.

"Yes!" Roddy mimicked her. "You're adorable, Elinor. That little air of yours - aloof - untouchable - la Princesse Lointaine. It's that quality of yours that made me love you, I believe."

Elinor caught her breath. She said, "Is it?"

8

"Yes." He frowned. "Some women are so - oh, I don't know - so damned possessive - so - so dog-like and devoted - their emotions slopping all over the place! I'd hate that. With you I never know - I'm never sure - any minute you might turn around in that cool, detached way of yours and say you'd changed your mind - quite coolly, like that - without batting an eyelash! You're a fascinating creature, Elinor. You're like a work of art, so

- so finished."

He went on: "You know, I think ours will be the perfect marriage: We both love each other enough and not too much. We're good friends. We've got a lot of tastes in common. We know each other through and through. We've all the advantages of cousinship without the disadvantages of blood relationship. I shall never get tired of you, because you're such an elusive creature. You may get tired of me, though, I'm such an ordinary sort of chap -"

Elinor shook her head. She said, "I shan't get tired of you, Roddy - ever."

"My sweet!" He kissed her.

He said, "Aunt Laura has a pretty shrewd idea of how it is with us, I think, although we haven't been down since we finally fixed it up. It rather gives us an excuse, doesn't it, for going down?"

"Yes. I was thinking the other day -"

Roddy finished the sentence for her: "-that we hadn't been down as often as we might. I thought that, too. When she first had her stroke we went down almost every other weekend. And now it must be almost two months since we were there."

Elinor said, "We'd have gone if she'd asked for us - at once."

"Yes, of course. And we know that she likes Nurse O'Brien and is well looked after. All the same, perhaps, we have been a bit slack. I'm talking now not from the money point of view - but the sheer human one." 9

Elinor nodded. "I know."