“Now, Jack, tell me all about the Devereux—all that you know. She has younger brothers. Has she a sister?”

“She has.”

“Younger?”

“Yes.”

“Anything like your girl?”

“She is not MY girl, Percival. I only wish that she was,” he added with fierce energy.

“You should have seen how she blushed when I asked her if she liked violets.”

“Percival!” exclaimed Pommery, “that was hardly fair.”

“Don’t agitate yourself, old fellow; the subject was handled, as we say at the office, ‘delicately.’ How old are the younger brothers?”

“One is about eighteen.”