"How very dreadful! Yet she used to walk in the Rooms, for you met her there?"
"Yes," he admitted coolly. "'Tis for that reason that she now avoids them."
"Oh, Tracy, the poor child!" exclaimed his sister in a sudden fit of pity. "How can you persecute her, if she dislikes you?"
"She does not."
"Not! Then—"
"Rather, she fears me. But she is intrigued, for all that. I persecute her, as you call it, for her own (and my) ultimate good. But they quit Bath in a few days, and then, nous verrons!" He rose. "What of Honest Dick?"
"Don't call him by that odious name! I will not have it!"
"Odious, my dear? Odious? You would have reason an I called him Dishonest Dick."
"Don't! Don't!" she cried, covering her ears. His Grace laughed softly.
"Oh, Lavinia, you must get the better of these megrims of yours, for there is nought that sickens a man sooner, believe me."