"You haven't got a piano here, have you?" asked Saltash in a pause.
She told him, "No."
In the old days they had sung duets together. She wondered if he remembered.
He went lightly on. "You will have to use the one at the Castle. You mustn't let your talents run to seed. Come up any day, you and Bunny. The place will always be open to you, whether I am there or not."
She thanked him for the thought. "We should love to come; I have had no opportunities for playing for months, not since we left London."
"No?" he said. "I say, what made your mother come to Fairharbour? It's a hole of a place to live in."
She felt her face burn in the firelight. She hesitated, and at once Bunny cut in.
"The mother always has an eye on the main chance," he said. "And she is a great believer in friendship. When things look black she always likes to hunt up old friends and give them their opportunity."
His meaning was not obscure. Maud made a quick movement of protest; but Lord Saltash's inconsequent laugh covered her discomfiture on the instant.
"Poor Lady Brian! I am afraid her luck and mine are made of the same rotten material. It tears at a touch. But I should have thought she might have chosen a sounder man than Sheppard of 'The Anchor' for a husband."