The solution removed also an obstacle to their mating on Audrey's side—her sister. Their courtship had been carried on against her sister's disapproval. Maggie was twenty years older than Audrey, more mother to her than sister, and sharp-tongued in the matter of Roly's frequent visits, the more surely to avert the disaster in which she believed they must end.
"In time—it's only a question of time," she had once said to Audrey, "he will forget you, turn to his own position and responsibilities in life—leave you broken-hearted. How else can it end?"
And Audrey in tears: "What if I tell you he has asked me to marry him?"
"He has asked you that?"
"Maggie, he has."
"Has he told Lady Burdon?"
"Not yet, because—"
"Ah!"
And Audrey: "Oh, how can you say you love me?"
And Maggie: "Audrey! Audrey!"