"I think Miss Strode is sufficient," said Eva, seating herself. "I am sorry Mrs. Palmer is not down yet."
"By Jove, I'm not," said Saltars, taking possession of a near chair. "I want to have a talk with you."
"This is hardly the hour or the place."
"Come now, Miss Strode--if you will insist on being so stiff--you needn't be too hard on a chap. I know I should have called, and I quite intended to do so, but I had reasons----"
"I don't ask for your reasons, Lord Saltars."
The man clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "We don't seem to get on," he said at length, "yet I wish to be friendly. See here, I want my mother to call and see you."
"If Lady Ipsen calls, I shall be pleased."
"In a society way, but you won't be heart-pleased."
"No," said Eva, very decidedly; "how can you expect me to? Your family has not treated me or my dead father well."
"Your father----" Saltars clicked again and seemed on the point of saying something uncomplimentary of the dead; but a gleam in his companion's eye made him change his mind. "I know you've been a bit neglected, and I'm very sorry it should be so," said he bluntly. "I assure you that it was always my wish you should be invited to stop with us in Buckinghamshire. And my father was in favour of it too."