angry--at first."

"No, he will not," cried Rosalie. "And--and you remember what I told you
when first we talked about him?"

"And do you remember," was Betty's answer, "what I said to you when I
first met you in the park? If we were to cable to New York this moment,
we could receive an answer in a few hours."

"He would not let us do it," said Rosy. "He would stop us in some
way--as he stopped my letters to mother--as he stopped me when I tried
to run away. Oh, Betty, I know him and you do not."

"I shall know him better every day. That is what I must do. I must learn
to know him. He said something more to you than you have told me, Rosy.
What was it?"

"He waited until Detcham left me," Lady Anstruthers confessed, more than
half reluctantly. "And then he got up to go away, and stood with his
hands resting on the chairback, and spoke to me in a low, queer voice.
He said, 'Don't try to play any tricks on me, my good girl--and don't
let your sister try to play any. You would both have reason to regret
it.'"

She was a half-hypnotised thing, and Betty, watching her with curious
but tender eyes, recognised the abnormality.

"Ah, if I am a clever woman," she said, "he is a clever man. He is
beginning to see that his power is slipping away. That was what G.
Selden would call 'bluff.'"

CHAPTER XXXI

NO, SHE WOULD NOT

Sir Nigel did not invite Rosalie to accompany them, when the next
morning, after breakfast, he reminded Betty of his suggestion of the
night before, that she should walk over the place with him, and show him
what had been done. He preferred to make his study of his sister-in-law
undisturbed.

There was no detail whose significance he missed as they went about
together. He had keen eyes and was a quite sufficiently practical person
on such matters as concerned his own interests. In this case it was to
his interest to make up his mind as to what he might gain or lose by the
appearance of his wife's family. He did not mean to lose--if it could be
helped--anything either of personal importance or material benefit. And
it could only be helped by his comprehending clearly what he had to deal
with. Betty was, at present, the chief factor in the situation, and he
was sufficiently astute to see that she might not be easy to read.
His personal theories concerning women presented to him two or three
effective ways of managing them. You made love to them, you flattered
them either subtly or grossly, y