"But if I were in earnest?" she said, a quick note of pleading in her voice. "If I really wanted you to turn round?"

He kept his eyes fixed ahead. "Are you ever really in earnest, Chris?" he said.

"Of course I am!"

Mordaunt was silent. They were crossing a crowded thoroughfare, and his driving seemed to occupy his full attention.

Chris waited till he had extricated the car from the stream of traffic, then impulsively she spoke—

"Trevor, I didn't think you were like Aunt Philippa. I thought you understood."

She saw his grave face soften. "Believe me, I am not in the least like your Aunt Philippa," he said.

"No; but—"

"But, Chris?"

"I think you needn't have asked me that," she said, a little quiver in her voice. "Even Cinders knows me better than that."