"Not a friend of yours, I see."
Miss Uniacke's bright eyes surveyed him almost lovingly—"Well—he won't enter that house while I'm there," she decided tartly.
"Now, to business"—she went on, after a pause, "I'll shut up the flat as soon as I can. I always do for the Summer months and it's only a few weeks earlier—and take both my maids with me. Anyhow, until I can get the house in order and find a cook for Mary. Maria's a good nurse. She's been with me eighteen years and Mrs. Belsey understands invalid soups—she's an excellent woman and a strict teetotaller. So you can set your mind at rest—about Jill, I mean." She smiled as McTaggart rose to his feet. "Come and see us when you like. I'm very much obliged to you. It's not often nowadays you find young men with any sense. The world's all upside down, with feeble boys and manly women!"
McTaggart held her pretty hand in his beyond the orthodox time.
"Perhaps," he asked, "you'd come for a spin now and then in my car?"
"And chaperone my niece—eh?"
The speech was not without malice. She saw his slightly guilty look and laughed outright.
"I understand—I was young once myself, you see."
"Aunt Elizabeth—you're a brick!" He dared the familiarity with his charming smile.
"Well—of all the impertinence!" her thin cheeks flushed a little. "We'll see. I make no rash promises. I shall try and get to Mary on Friday."