She was conscious that her sister was regarding her with a curious direct look, and the color came to her cheeks.
“Does that remark apply to me? If so I will go, for Captain Drake wants me to play a game of billiards,” Lady Ethel answered quietly.
“You may stay,” was the impatient answer.
“Thank you; and now I will exercise a sisterly privilege and give you a little plain talk. I am growing very fond of John, and I must confess that I am rather sorry for him. It appears to me that you are playing rather a dangerous game with him. The poor man is madly in love with you, but I think that he has just about reached the end of his patience. I wonder if you would mind telling me if you really care for him—or——”
“I think that is rather beyond even a sisterly privilege,” Lady Mildred answered distantly. “Wouldn’t it be wiser to pay a little more attention to your own affairs, and leave me to manage my own? There are two men who are madly in love with you, and you flirt with them outrageously. Yet you tell me that I am playing a dangerous game.”
“I suppose you mean Mr. Drake and his brother?” Lady Ethel replied calmly. “I quite admit that I have flirted with Captain Drake, but as to the parson——”
“Well?”
“Parsons aren’t exactly in my line,” she continued recklessly. “I think Captain Drake is charming, so refreshing after all the stupid people that one meets every day.”
“Doubtless he is charming, but very poor.”
“And what of that?” Lady Ethel asked defiantly.