ed?"

"I'm going to tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Mother had a letter from Sir Gilbert Mantell this morning."

"Oh, that big, splashy crest was his, then. It _looked_ like him, now I
come to think of it. Nobody but a brand-new knight, with piles and
piles of money, would need one more than half the size."

"Don't sneer at his money, my good child. We want it badly enough in
this family."

"Not his."

"Yes, we do. And I see a reasonable prospect of our getting it, if
you'll go to the States with Mrs. Ess Kay."

"What can that have to do with it? I don't know one bit what you mean."

"That's because you're such a great baby. If you _must_ have every t
crossed and every i dotted, Sir Gilbert has apparently conceived a
patronising toleration for your Victoria, which is likely, if properly
fostered and encouraged, to develop into something more satisfactory."

"Patronising, indeed! That dull elephant!"

"Elephants are not, as a rule, dull. And forty thousand a year in any
form can afford to patronise a daughter of a hundred dukes without a
penny, whereas I'm merely the granddaughter of three. In fact, my dear,
I'm humbly anxious that Sir Gilbert should propose; and as he's been
rather nice, and as he's written almost asking for an invitation to
come down with Stan, from next Saturday to Monday, although he
carefully states he's been invited for the same time, by Princess Paul
of Plon, things look hopeful. The only trouble is--you."

"Me!"

"Yes, you. The one time he ever saw you, was when you had that
frightful cold, and looked hideous, with your poor dear nose twice its
size, and your eyes half theirs. But--well, Betty, you're a beauty, and
I'm not, though I do flatter myself I'm not bad looking. I'm 'penny
plain,' and you're 'tuppence coloured'; and the Mantell man can afford
tuppence for a wife. You are so frightfully, luridly pretty that it's
almost improper, and if he comes down and sees you, he'll probably
think you better worth his money than I am."

"What nonsense! And if he were such an idiot, of course I should refuse
him."

"You would. That's one of mother's difficulties. Even you must see that
would do no good from the family point of view."

"I could keep out of the creature's way."

"You couldn't, without Stan making some blundering remark, or some
_contretemps_ happening; it would be sure to. It's much safer to have
you absolutely out of the way; and it was when we were