"I shall always be pleased," he said stiffly.
Letitia kissed her aunt and departed. The Duchess sank into her empty place.
"I am going to be a beast," she began. "Have you been lending money to my brother?"
"Not a sixpence," David assured her.
The Duchess was evidently staggered.
"You surprise me," she confessed. "However, so much the better. It won't interfere with what I have to say to you. I first took you to Grosvenor Square, didn't I?"
"You were so kind," he admitted.
"Now I come to think of it," she reflected, "I remember thinking it strange at the time that, though I couldn't induce you to go anywhere else, or meet any one else, you never hesitated about making Reginald's acquaintance."
"He was your brother, you see," David reminded her.
"It didn't occur to me," she replied drily, "that that was the reason. However, what I want to say to you is this, in bald words—don't lend him money."