“Oh!” said Sir Richard. “Was he satisfied with that?”
“Perfectly. He said he was very sorry. And then he asked where we were bound for. I said, for Bristol, because all the family had lost its money, and so I had had to be taken away from school.”
“You have the most fertile imagination of anyone of my acquaintance,” said Sir Richard. “May I ask what school you have been gracing?”
“Harrow. Afterwards I wished I had said Eton, because my cousin Geoffrey is at Harrow, and I don’t like him. I wouldn’t go to his school.”
“I suppose it is too late to change the school now,” Sir Richard said, in a regretful tone.
She looked up quickly, her fascinating smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. “You are laughing at me,”
“Yes,” admitted Sir Richard. “Do you mind?”
“Oh no, not a bit! No one laughs in my aunt’s house. I like it.”
“I wish,” said Sir Richard, “you would tell me more about this aunt of yours. Is she your guardian?”
“No, but I have had to live with her ever since my father died. I have no real guardian, but I have two trustees. On account of my fortune, you understand.”