"The only solution," said Constance quickly, "is for your unworthy daughter to marry some perfectly insignificant person, who will as a part of the marriage contract, take the name of Lisle."
"The man who marries my daughter," replied the Colonel with gentle dignity, "will have an honorable and, I trust, an honored name of his own to offer her."
"Else he will never get her," commented Connie with charming impertinence. "Daddy dear, if I could find a man one half as nice as you are, I'd marry him on the spot! Win, we'll arrange to head an exploring expedition. It's too cold and spooky in the cellars to do it this afternoon. We'll plan for a time when Roger and the girls can share the sport. I wish Max was here, too. He would simply dote on it."
"I wish he was!" sighed Win. "I was dreadfully disappointed when I heard he had gone. I think he's about right."
A sudden very charming smile broke over Connie's face. Up to that time, it had been rather serious. "If we don't solve the problem before the Easter holidays," she said, "Max will be keen on running it down. I hope he can come then. He took so long at Christmas that I'm afraid they'll dock him at Easter, and I shall be completely desolated if that happens."
"I think he will come," said the Colonel. "In fact he told me he might be able to get away for an occasional week-end. With a fast car it is not so far to Granville or even St. Malo and he need waste no time waiting for the steamer."
Constance suddenly sat up straight. "Max mustn't neglect his duties," she declared. "Either he has a very indulgent chief or he is hedging."
Her attitude was so comically severe that Win laughed, and her father looked up with a smile.
"I can't be responsible for what Max tells his chief," he remarked, "but I know enough about the diplomatic service to feel sure he is giving satisfaction."
Constance still looked stern. "It's all right, of course, if he really earns his week-end," she conceded, "but I won't have him shirking. In October he was so serious and quiet that I didn't know what to think of him, but at Christmas he was the same dear boy he used to be. Didn't you think he was just like his old self?"