"Mr. Herriard must be awfully rich, I should think," said Valerie, pursuing her own train of thought.
"Awfully!" said Joseph, twinkling down at her.
"I wonder -" She broke off, colouring a little.
Joseph was silent for a moment; then he said: "Well, my dear, perhaps I know what you wonder; and though one doesn't like to talk of such things, I have been meaning all day to have a little chat with you."
She turned enquiring eyes upon him. "Oh, do! I mean, you can say absolutely anything to me: I shall quite understand."
He came down the stairs again, abandoning the steps, and took her arm. "Well, I expect you've guessed that I have a very soft corner for old Stephen."
"I know, and I think it's marvellous of you!" said Valerie.
As Stephen's treatment of his uncle was cavalier to the point of brutality, this remark was less fatuous than it sounded.
"Ah, I understand Stephen!" Joseph said, changing under her eyes from the skittish uncle into a worldly-wise observer of life. "To know all is to forgive all."
"I always think that's frightfully true," said Valerie, adding after a moment's reflection: "But has Stephen - I mean, is there anything - ?"