grasped her by the arm. "Were you eavesdropping
just now?" he demanded.

Dinah started as if stung. "I--I--of course I wasn't!" she declared, with
vehemence. "How can you suggest such a thing?"

"Quite sure?" said the Colonel, still holding her.

She wrenched herself from him in a sudden fury. "Colonel de Vigne,
you--you insult me! I am not the sort that listens outside closed doors.
How dare you? How dare you?"

She stamped her foot with the words, gazing down at him with blazing
eyes.

The Colonel stiffened slightly, but he kept his temper. "If I have done
you an injustice, I apologize," he said. "You may go."

And Dinah went like a whirlwind, banging the door behind her.

"Well, really!" protested Lady Grace in genuine displeasure.

Her husband smiled somewhat grimly. "A vixen's daughter, my dear! What
can you expect?"

"She behaves like a fishwife's daughter," said Lady Grace. "And if she
wasn't actually eavesdropping I am convinced she heard what I said."

"So am I," said the Colonel drily. "I was about to tax her with it. Hence
her masterly retreat. But she was not deliberately eavesdropping or she
would not have given herself away so openly. I quite agree with you, my
dear. A match between her and Sir Eustace would not be suitable. And I
also think Sir Eustace would be the first to see it. Anyhow, I shall take
an early opportunity of letting him know that her birth is by no means a
high one, and that her presence here is simply due to our kindness. At
the same time, should the rather ludicrous little younger brother take it
into his head to follow her up, so far as family goes he is of course too
good for her, but I am sorry for the child and I shall put no obstacle in
the way."

"All the same she shall not go to tea there unless Rose is invited too,"
said Lady Grace firmly.

"There," said the Colonel pompously, "I think that you are right."

Lady Grace simpered a little, and opened her novel. "It really wouldn't
surprise me to find that she is a born fortune-hunter," she said. "I am
certain the mother is avaricious."

"The mother," said Colonel de Vigne with the deliberation of one arrived
at an unalterable decision, "is the most disagreeable, vulgar, and wholly
objectionable person that I have ever met."

"Oh, quite," said Lady Grace. "If she were in our set, she would be
altogether intolerable. But--thank heaven--she is not! Now, dear, if you
don't mind, I am going to read myself to sleep. I