"Of course I didn't accept him. I told him that I was old; that I didn't
love him; that Wally was dead, so he couldn't address him; and that that
was my last letter."

Again Wally laughed.

"But Isabelle, why didn't you tell me something of all this?" begged
Miss Watts.

"Why should I boast of doing my bit?"

"Rubbish!" exploded her mother. "You've got yourself into a nice scrape.
How do we know what she said in these letters?" she asked Wally.

"But I've told you what I said."

"You didn't keep copies of them, did you?" asked Wally.

"No, of course not."

"Have you got his letters?" from her mother.

"Yes, in my trunk."

"There's nothing to be done until we see them," said Mrs. Bryce,
impatiently.

"They are private letters, and I must say . . ." began Isabelle, hotly.

"You be quiet," ordered her mother, angrily. "I can't see that you were
much use, Miss Watts."

"Mrs. Bryce, I had no idea that this was going on. I knew she wrote
letters, but I supposed they were to you or to school friends. I did not
feel it necessary to censor her mail."

"You ought to know her well enough by now to know that when she seems to
be behaving she is doing her worst."

Mrs. Bryce summoned a maid and ordered Isabelle's trunk to be reported
the moment it arrived. While they waited Mrs. Bryce interrogated Miss
Watts as to whom Isabelle had met in Bermuda. Isabelle was at the
window, gazing from behind the curtain at her admirer, but she noticed
that Captain O'Leary's name was merely mentioned in a list of the
English officers they had met.

"Look here, Isabelle, how about Edouard?" whispered Wally, at her elbow.
"Does he think he is engaged to you, too?"

She felt the laugh behind his words, so she answered gravely:

"No, Wally, Edouard was a dutiful son."

He chuckled. Max turned at the sound.

"Don't encourage her, Wally."

"I can't. It's too late."

"Don't worry. I disinherited them both," Isabelle assured him.

"Did she have any violent love affairs?" inquired Mrs. Bryce.

"There were two very devoted young men, Percy Pollock and Jack Porter.
But I thought Isabelle handled them very well," replied Miss Watts.

"Are you engaged to them?" whispered Wally again.

"Wally, I'm not engaged to anybody," answered his child.

The maid announced the trunks and Isabelle went in search of her
treasures. When she returned she carried in each hand a bundle of
letters tied with ribbons.

"Son Jean's," she said, off