“No one knows, my dear. He has vanished.”
“And you do not do anything to help him, any of you!” she said indignantly.
“Well, dear cousin, it is a little difficult, is it not?” replied the Beau. “After that well-meaning but fatal piece of meddling, what could one do?”
“I think,” said Eustacie with a darkling brow, “that Tristram did not like my cousin Ludovic.”
The Beau laughed. “How clever of you, my dear!”
She looked at him. “What did you mean when you said he must show me his collection?” she asked directly.
He raised his brows in exaggerated surprise. “Why, what should I mean? Merely that he has quite a notable collection. I am not a judge, but I have sometimes felt that I should like to see that collection myself.”
“Will he not let you, then?”
“Oh, but with the greatest goodwill in the world!” said the Beau, smiling. “But one has to remember that collectors do not always show one quite all their treasures, you know!”