“I’ll tell you what happened. I knew she had just arrived from Bermuda, and I went yesterday afternoon. Well—my aunt is my aunt. We don’t get on.
“We went through our semi-yearly financial pow-wow. That’s all fixed for the next six months.
“Then she gave me an opening by asking, suspiciously, whether I knew where you were.... Did you know she once warned me to keep away from you?”
The colour in Eris’ face deepened: “No, I didn’t know that.”
“The reason,” he said airily, “was because she liked and respected you, and considered me a philanderer——”
“Barry!”
“I was.”
There ensued a painful pause. Then their eyes met; and he reddened and said in a low voice:
“I haven’t anything to ask your pardon for—even mentally.”
They both were trembling a little when they kissed.