“To hear what?” cried Colonel Faversham.  “If I had wished to learn the amount of Bridget’s income I should simply have paid a shilling and gone to Somerset House to look at David Rosser’s will.  But I didn’t.  I’ve a mind above that sort of thing.”

“You wouldn’t have got much information there,” said Carrissima, “because Mr. Rosser left nothing.  Bridget’s money came from her mother.”

“How did you discover that?” asked Colonel Faversham.

“Mark told me.”

“Has he seen Bridget?” the colonel exclaimed in some surprise, because he had spent the afternoon at Golfney Place and she had not for a wonder mentioned Mark’s name.

“Yes, he went after dinner last night,” said Carrissima.  “There’s not the least shadow of doubt that she has been waiting to see whether he would ask her to marry him.”

“Scandal!” shouted Colonel Faversham indignantly.  “Abominable scandal!  How the devil is it possible you can know whether she expected Mark Driver to ask her to marry him or not?”

“It is perfectly certain,” said Carrissima, “that unless she marries somebody or other she will find herself without any money to live upon.”

Although Carrissima spoke after prolonged reflection, and considered that the peculiar circumstances of the case justified the means she was employing, she could not feel very pleased with herself.  She disliked anything underhanded; but, then, she disliked the prospect of Bridget’s becoming Mrs. Faversham still more.  Instead, however, of causing Colonel Faversham to hold his hand, Carrissima merely succeeded in egging him on.  Rising excitedly from his chair he stood glaring at her for a few moments, as if he were going to break into a torrent of abuse; but turning abruptly away he left the room, slamming the door behind him so that the house shook.  Making his way down-stairs he sat up late in the smoking-room, and when at last he went to bed, found it impossible to sleep.

During the small hours it seemed almost as though Carrissima’s hint might prove of some avail.  For the first time he began to hesitate concerning the future.  In an exceptionally sane interval he came near to agreement with his daughter.  Her remark about Bridget’s means had been, in fact, a revelation.  Not that he cared whether she possessed any money or not, but the absence of it might be a deplorable temptation.

Could it be possible that she had been deliberately awaiting Mark’s return, postponing her answer to the older man until she convinced herself there was not a chance of securing the younger?  An infuriating suspicion, but still not capable of causing Colonel Faversham’s withdrawal.  On the contrary, as he shaved the following morning, cutting his chin rather badly, he told himself that if only Bridget would consent to marry him, every other consideration might go to limbo!

By eleven o’clock he was waiting in the sitting-room at Number 5, Golfney Place.  Until her appearance he walked restlessly from the fireplace to the farthest window, stopping to look at the uninviting oleographs on the wall, inspecting the row of David Rosser’s novels which filled the hanging shelf.