“New to me. Not bad. Quite good. Sound. Mellow. Wherej get it?”

“Bilby's in Oxford Street.”

“Must order some. Mellow. He'd say... well, God knows what he'd say. Whatch doing it for? Whatch doing it for? That's what I can't see. None of us can see. Puzzles your uncle George. Baffles your aunt Geraldine. Nobody can understand it. Girl's simply after your money. Anyone can see that.”

“Pardon me, Uncle Donald,” said Mr. Carmyle, stiffly, “but that is surely rather absurd. If that were the case, why should she have refused me at Monk's Crofton?”

“Drawing you on,” said Uncle Donald, promptly. “Luring you on. Well-known trick. Girl in 1881, when I was at Oxford, tried to lure me on. If I hadn't had some sense and a weak heart... Whatch know of this girl? Whatch know of her? That's the point. Who is she? Wherej meet her?”

“I met her at Roville, in France.”

“Travelling with her family?”

“Travelling alone,” said Bruce Carmyle, reluctantly.

“Not even with that brother of hers? Bad!” said Uncle Donald. “Bad, bad!”

“American girls are accustomed to more independence than English girls.”