"Do you take sugar, Miss Welwyn?" she enquired loudly.
"Yes, please," said Tilly, still engaged in smiling affectionately upon the Mainwarings, père et fils.
"I wonder now," continued Mr. Mainwaring, "if you are in any way related to an old friend of mine--or perhaps I should say acquaintance, for he moved on a higher plane than I--Lucius Welwyn? I was at school with him more than forty years ago, and also at Cambridge."
"Lucius Welwyn?" cried Tilly, her eyes glowing. "He is my Daddy--my father!"
"You don't say so? Capital!" Abel Mainwaring turned to his wife. "Adela, do you hear that? Miss Welwyn and I have established a bond of union already. Her father was actually at school with me."
Lady Adela flatly declined to join in the general enthusiasm.
"Are you sure, dear?" was all she said. "There might be two."
Mr. Mainwaring pointed out, with truth, that Lucius Welwyn was an uncommon name. "But we can easily make sure," he said. "The Lucius Welwyn whom I remember was a Fellow of his College. Did your father--"
"Yes, Dad was a Fellow of his College for some years," said Tilly. "I think I will come a little farther from the fire now, if you don't mind. I am quite warm."
"Come and sit here by me, dear Miss Welwyn," said Lady Adela with sudden affability. "I want to have a cosy little chat with you. Dick, you are very wet and muddy. Go and change."