Vernon obeyed at once, as Frances had hurried after the petulant girl to pacify her. Miss Hest treated Ida as a wilful child, and by scolding and coaxing and cajoling managed to get her to behave like a reasonable being. It must be confessed that Dimsdale had spoiled his golden-haired darling, and even the boarding-school she had attended could not supply the place of the mother, who was dead. The old man turned to Vernon when they entered the drawing-room through the French window. "Who is horrid?" he asked again.
Vernon laughed and slipped into a chair. "It's a storm in a tea-cup," he explained easily, and accepting a cigar. "Miss Hest advised Ida to give up Maunders, and I supported her. Then Ida----"
"I know, I know," broke in Dimsdale sadly. "She is wilful and is quite infatuated with the scamp. Arthur, Arthur, I should have married again, so that Ida could be trained by a good woman. I can't manage her."
"I think Miss Hest can," said Vernon significantly; "and she has sense enough for two. A most masculine young person. But do you think you are wise forbidding Maunders to come to this masked ball?"
"Yes, I do. Ida is crazy about him."
"Opposition will only make her more crazy," warned Vernon, shaking his sleek head. "It would be better to let them come together, and then she would get sick of him. Maunders is so shallow that she would find him out sooner or later, for Ida has plenty of common sense if it was not obscured by this persistent frivolity, which, after all, is only a youthful fault."
"But if Maunders wants to marry her----"
"He doesn't, Mr. Dimsdale. I can vouch for that. He wants to marry your niece."
"What!" Dimsdale, who was lighting a cigar, wheeled round with an astonished air. "Why, I thought you loved Lucy?"
"So I do," replied Vernon earnestly, "and she loves me. But Maunders is a fascinating fellow and a dangerous, unscrupulous rival."