“I can see your cottage!” observed Cynthia mischievously. “It’ll be crammed with all sorts of derelicts and lame dogs and you’ll go fussing round them like a hen with a lot of chickens. May I come and stay with you, Uncle Fayre?”

“As often and as long as you like. You’ll be a respectable married woman by then and you can act as chaperone to Miss Allen.”

“Is Miss Allen going to stay with you?”

“If she’ll come. I haven’t asked her yet.”

“I’m glad you’ve made friends with her. She’s a brick, isn’t she?”

“A thorough good sort, I should say,” assented Fayre rather cautiously. There was a gleam in Cynthia’s eye he didn’t quite like.

She flashed a sidelong glance at him.

“It’s an awfully good idea; I wonder I never thought of it.”

“What is?” asked Fayre suspiciously.

“Her coming to stay with you, of course,” was Cynthia’s innocent rejoinder.