"Oh, but I consider him most handsome," said Miss Bird, "my sister gave me that illustrated paper with his photograph and yours in a full page to each I wrote and told you so and pleased and proud I was to have it and over my mantelpiece it is hanging now."
"Yes, I know you wrote, darling, and it was very sweet of you. I couldn't bring myself to answer your letter. You know papers will make mistakes sometimes."
"What do you mean what mistake?" asked Miss Bird. "It said plainly beneath the photographs 'The Earl of Inverell' and 'Miss Joan Clinton.'"
"Yes, I know it did, and it was me all right. Oh, Starling darling, can't you guess? Ronald is very good and very sweet, and I love him dearly; but——"
"But he is no beauty," said Nancy. "You can't expect us both to marry handsome men."
"I shouldn't call him scrubby, exactly, should you, Nancy?" enquired Joan.
"Not to his face," replied Nancy.
Joan gave a little gurgle, which she turned into a cough. "Starling darling, you don't mind beards in a young man, do you?" she asked.
"Oh, you will get him to shave that off," said Nancy, "after you are married. I shouldn't worry about that. And I don't think a very slight squint really matters. You can always call it a cast in the eye, and some people like it."
"You see, Starling darling, I wanted you to be prepared," said Joan. "I couldn't let you see him without saying something first, when you thought he was that good-looking young man in the picture. He is much better, really, and his looks don't put me off in the least. I don't think about them. But if I hadn't told you, you might have been so surprised that you would have said something that would have hurt his feelings."