'With Tina? oh yes; she has always been the pet of the house, you know. We have been quite brother and sister together.'

'Sisters don't generally colour so very deeply when their brothers approach them.'

'Does she colour? I never noticed it. But she's a timid little thing.'

'It would be much better if you would not be so hypocritical, Captain Wybrow. I am confident there has been some flirtation between you. Miss Sarti, in her position, would never speak to you with the petulance she did last night, if you had not given her some kind of claim on you.'

'My dear Beatrice, now do be reasonable; do ask yourself what earthly probability there is that I should think of flirting with poor little Tina. Is there anything about her to attract that sort of attention? She is more child than woman. One thinks of her as a little girl to be petted and played with.'

'Pray, what were you playing at with her yesterday morning, when I came in unexpectedly, and her cheeks were flushed, and her hands trembling?

'Yesterday morning?—O, I remember. You