'No.'—'For whom, then, papa?'
'The sister of him you rejected yesterday.'
'Evelyn Desmond!'
'Yes, Miss Collingwood; and thereby hangs a tale,' replied Sir Carnaby, giving a final touch to his stock in a mirror opposite. 'Did any silly fancy for this man who has just returned to India—this Captain Chute—influence you in this matter?'
Clare coloured painfully, but said 'No.'
'Glad to hear it, Clare, as I thought all that stuff was forgotten long ago,' he continued, with the nearest approach to a frown that was ever seen on his usually impassible visage.
'You asked him to dine at your club, papa,' said Clare, evasively.
'Yes, out of mere politeness, to thank him, as Beverley's friend, for visiting Ida, though I fear the visit may make her grief a greater bore than ever. But why did you decline an alliance that would be so advantageous as that with Desmond?'
'Simply because I cannot love him, and I don't wish to leave you, dearest papa; now that you are getting old.'
'Old!' He was frowning in earnest now.