"Very well: my niece ought to have a woman companion when she returns from college at Easter."
"Why?" he asked, astonished.
"Because she isn't your sister, and she's an attractive girl."
After a silence she went on:
"I know that you and Stephanie regard each other as brother and sister. But you're not. And the world knows it. It's an absurd world, Mr. Cleland."
"It's rather a rotten world if Steve and I can't live here alone together without gossip," he said hotly.
"Let's take it as we find it and be practical. Shall I look up a companion for Stephanie, or shall I return here at Easter?"
He pondered the suggestion, frowning. Miss Quest said pleasantly:
"Please, I don't mean to interfere. You are of age, and over. But the world, if it cares to think, will remember that you and Stephanie are not related. In two years, when you return from Europe, Stephanie will be twenty and you twenty-four. And, laying aside the suggestion that an older woman's presence might be advantageous under the circumstances, who is going to control Stephanie?"
"Control her?"