“Yes, my dear,” said Lady Frances.
“And it means dinner, does it not?”
“Certainly, Evelyn,” said her uncle, bending towards her with the most polished and stately grace. “Allow me, my niece, to conduct you to the dining-room.”
“How droll you are, uncle!” said Evelyn. “But I like you all the same. You are a right-down good old sort. I am awfully peckish; I shall be glad of a round meal.”
CHAPTER III.—THE CRADLE LIFE OF WILD EVE.
Eighteen years before the date of this story, two brothers had parted with angry words. They were both in love with the same woman, and the younger brother had won. The elder brother, only one year his senior, could not stand defeat.
“I cannot stay in the old place,” he said. “You can occupy the Castle during my absence.”
To this arrangement Edward Wynford agreed.
“Where are you going?” he said to his brother Frank.
“To the other side of the world—Australia probably. I don’t know when I shall return. It does not much matter. I shall never marry. The estate will be yours. If Lady Frances has a son, it will belong to him.”