“Well, yes,” admitted Miss Thane, “but I am not at all sure that you can see her. Come into the parlour, and I will see what can be done.”
Sir Tristram cast a glance up the stairs, and said in a voice edged with annoyance: “Very well, ma’am, but why there should be any doubt about my seeing my cousin I am at a loss to understand.”
“I can tell you that too,” said Miss Thane, leading the way to the private parlour. She shut the door, and said cheerfully: “One cannot after all be surprised. You have behaved with a shocking lack of sensibility, have you not?”
“I was not aware of it, ma’am. Nor do I know why my cousin should leave her home at dead of night and undertake a solitary journey to London.”
“She was wishful to become a governess,” explained Sarah.
He stared at her in the blankest surprise. “Wishful to become a governess? Nonsense! Why should she wish anything of the kind?”
“Just for the sake of adventure,” said Miss Thane.
“I have yet to learn that a governess’s life is adventurous!” he said. “I should be grateful to you if you would tell me the truth!”
“Come, come, sir! “ said Miss Thane pityingly, “it must surely be within your knowledge that the eldest son of the house always falls in love with the governess, and elopes with her in the teeth of all opposition?”
Sir Tristram drew a breath. “ Does he?” he said.