"You don't smoke ? I'm not sure whether that's a virtue or not , since it means I can't either ... " Oh , please do, she interposed . And will you be as quick as you can over this - business you want to talk to me about . My aunt will be furious if I stay out too long . ' But she knows you are coming here ? She saw our letter ? Lucy shook her head . " She thinks I'm queueing up at Morton's the grocer's , she replied . " She'd be really wild if she knew I'd disobeyed her and come to see you : Oh yes , I showed her the letter , but she said that it wouldn't be about anything important and her son Stanley could see you when he gets back . "We should not have discussed your affairs with him , " said Mr Tredegar . You see , Miss Alberto, you are a very fortunate young lady you have just inherited what I confidently expect to be one of the largest incomes in the country. Lucy did not faint , though for a moment everything went black in front of her eyes and she had to grip the edg

To be kind you with fatherly manner to a girl of her age. But no doubt he meant Miss Mullins , I don't suppose you know much abou your relatives , ' he begani , ' and I shall have to bore some family history before you can understand the present position . Your parents died when you were quite young , and you were left without any provision having been made for you; your father's sister , Mrs Rawson , took you in and educated you . Your mother's people did not even acknowl edge you , since she had made a runaway match soon after the 1914-18 war with the son of a groom on her father's estate in Wales. He was educated and had procured a small post teaching in a school in the south of Spain , but his health failed when you were born - some years after the marriage - and he became a permanent invalid ; from that time your mother earned a living for you all . She applied to her family for assistance in educating you , but they would have nothing to do with you ... " Now y

The second takes after his uncle and is another rolling stone and bad egg " . He was also in the army , but he cleared off some time ago and hasn't been heard of since ; the youngest son is a scholar , and there is one daughter . Margaret . After the war things went very badly with the house of Magnus ; excessive taxes and the rising cost of living ; the failure of investments made it impossible for them to carry on . And then Peter McGurtrie came on the scene again . It appeared he had made a fortune in South America ; and at one time was president of a republic there . No doubt he took advantage of his usual graft , which enabled him to build up his fortune , but he was luckier than most – he got away with it , and it was all safely invested , in Britain and the States . Seeing that his brother was in such dire straits he took a mortgage on Kilrossan Castle and allowed Sir Archibald an annual income ; no one knew anything about this - it was just between the two brothers .

" But will they agree to the terms of the will ? Joan protested . ' It cannot be pleasant for either of them to marry a girl they know nothing of , and whose acquaintance they have only just made . ' It's not quite so bad as all that , ' Mr Tredegar smiled . ' Each will have a chance of getting to know you really well , and the marriage will not take place until you are ready for it . I am quite sure Donald will be prepared to carry out the terms of the will and save Kilrossan Castle . He is like his father and has a strong sense of duty . Jerry now ... well , Jerry is unpredictable , but often in crises such as this the black sheep suddenly awakens to his family responsibilities and it is not as if you were a stranger , my dear Miss Alberto, you are one of the family . '  They never thought so , ' said Joan , and she recalled a little bitterly the hard struggle the mother she could barely remember had had to keep going with a young child and an invalid husband

Alberto the heiress , who would soon be engaged to Sir Angus McGurtrie's son , had nothing in comnion with the hero of that episode . Lucy had never been able to shop ad lib . befere , for she'd had no money to spend on anything but the barest necessities , and then had to account to Aunt Ella for every penny she had parted with . What a change now !She indulged her love of colour to the full , and discarded the plaid frock of which she had been so proud without a qualm . She hadn't time to have her hair washed and set it did not need a ' perm ' , as there was a natural kink in it , which a clever hairdresser could coax into big smooth waves . She wondered whether she should discard her fringe , and thought that she had better not - her new clothes made her look a stranger ;she did not want to be unable to recognize herself when she looked in a mirror . She bought some cosmetics and got the girl behind the perfumery counter of a large store to apply them for her , an