Max smiled. "She is my twin," he said.
"Oh! Like you then?" Olga looked slightly disappointed.
Max laughed. "Not in the least. Can you imagine a woman like me? I can't. She has red hair or something very near it. And there the resemblance stops. I'll take you to see her some day—if you'll come."
"Thank you," said Olga guardedly.
"Don't mention it!" said Max. "There are two kiddies also—a boy and a girl. It's quite a domestic establishment. I often go there when I want a rest. My brother-in-law is good enough to keep special rooms for the three of us."
"Is there another of you then?" asked Olga.
"Yes, another brother—Noel. By the way, he won't be going there again at present, for he sailed for Bombay to join his regiment a year ago. That's the sum complete of us." Max straightened himself with a faintly ironical smile. "We are a fairly respectable family nowadays," he observed, "thanks to Mordaunt who has a reputation to think of. But we are boring Miss Campion to extinction. Can't we talk of something more amusing?"
Violet threw back her head with a restless movement, but she did not meet his eyes. "I am accustomed to amusing myself," she said.
He stooped to pick up a marker that had fallen from her book. "It is a useful accomplishment," he observed, as he handed it to her, "for those who have time to cultivate it."
She raised her arms with the careless, unstudied grace of a wild creature. Her eyes were veiled.