The Vision of Desire

and don't get addling your brains by trying to marry her off to him. Match-making isn't a m

e vigour and precision of a machine-gun. There was always a deligh

of a nose that jutted out above a bristling grey moustache. A single eyeglass dangled from a broad, black ribbon round his neck. "One of the old school" was written all over him-one of the old, autocratic school which believed that "a man should be master in his own house, b'gad!" By which-though h

he would have married thirty years ago if she would only have had him-shou

ey hair, simply coiled in a big knot on the nape of her neck and contrasting rather attractively with her very black, arch

t have half as much pull with him if

think

d into shape by the woman he wants to marry-but after marriage he

glance at her from unde

e demanded rudely. "

usan n

t's

s gaze, stammered off into silence. Presently he fixed his monocle in one of h

and that that's the reason

ghed a

browbeat poor Virginia, and as you would Tony if he hadn't got a good

ess in the harsh voice, and for a moment the handsome, arrogant o

dn't have helped it. You'

ng Tony if you

e clipped moustache relax

ll, Susan, it would settle the boy if he wer

?"-with a faintly

ritably. "That's-that's

't

ead regretfully. "That id

ed, Phil

at her f

married and have babies and keep house in the good, old-fashioned way, instead of trying to be doctors and barristers and

it sounds a trifle feeble, doesn't it? I mean, on the part of the g

t do you suppose I'd be the bad-tempered old ruffian I am-a

replied promptly. "Because, like mos

ooked out of

s sounded in his voice. But, an instant later, Lady Susan wondered if her ears had deceived her, f

on't want to spare her. And if ever I have to, it's going to be to

l-well"-irritably. "W

manage your

architect. An architect!" He spoke as though an architect were some

about eight, he made a drawing of heaven, with seating accommodation for the angels-cherubim and seraphim, and so on-in tiers? The general effect was rath

That's what I want-and what I'll have. God bless my soul! What have I brought the boy up fo

steps in the hall outside-light, buoyant

o conclude the subject they had been discussing: "I warn

he was extremely fond of her. She was one of the few people who had never been afraid of him. She even contradicted him flatly at times

nded. It was evident the boy was

st been having

nodded ap

Keep him out of misch

vouchsafed no answer, and soon afte

san," he said as he shook hands. "I'll call fo

ady Susan and Ann

oo tight a rein," said the former, answeri

e a child. And he's not! He's a man. He's been through that beastly war. Probably he knows heaps more about

ou get a terribly experienced younger generation and a

t him have a little more freedom, he'll drive

ance scrutinised the

t, you know," she

"I sometimes wonder if I could-ought to-" Sh

r embarrassment, gathered up her belon

pays," she said in level tones. "

quickly. "There's any amount of good in him, an

appiness into the scales and still fail to turn the balance. Without love-the love that can fo

question, yet Ann felt that Lady

I feel as though he belongs to me in a

on to marry a legacy,

sm

wish Sir Philip didn't lead him such a life. It

paused in t

owever badly people mismanage our affairs for us, things hav

worried about Tony. She could see so exactly what it was that fretted him-this eternal dancing attendance on Sir Philip, who insisted on the boy's accompanying him wherever he went, and she felt a sudden angry contempt for

view, except the one of raising mortgages upon it so that he might have the wherewithal to add to his store of ceramic treasures. He lived luxuriously, employing a high-priced chef and soft-footed, well-trained servants to see to his comfort, because anything short of perfection grated on his artistic sensibilities. And when an intrusive influenza germ put a sudden end to his entirely egotistical activities, his son and daughter found themselves left with only a few hundred pounds between them. Lovell Court was perforce sold at once to pay off the mortgages, and to meet the many

found warwork as a motor-driver. But, with the return of peace, the question of pounds, shillings and pence had become more acute, and at present Robin was undertaking any odd job that turned up pending the time when he should

heux, and with a jerk Ann emerged from her train of retrospective thought to the

d the affairs of those dependent on him-Ann recognised that she might very well have been still pursuing the rather dull, uneventful life which obtained at Lovell Court, without t