splendid! That's just why I want you to come down to us in Cornwall."

"But if Rooke is there--"

"Maryon?" She paused, then went on with a chilly little note of
haughtiness in her voice. "I certainly don't propose to invite Maryon
Rooke to Mallow."

"Still, you can't prevent him from taking a summer holiday at St.
Wennys."

St. Wennys was a small fishing village on the Cornish coast, barely a
mile away from Mallow Court.

"He won't come--I'm sure!" asserted Kitty. "Sir Robert Burnham lives
quite near there--he's Maryon's godfather--and they hate each other
like poison."

"Why?"

"Oh, old Sir Robert was Maryon's guardian till he came of age, and
then, when Maryon decided to go in for painting, he presented him with
the small patrimony to which he was entitled and declined to have
anything further to do with him--either financially or otherwise.
Simply chucked him. Maryon went through some very bad times, I
believe, in his early days," continued Kitty, striving to be just.
"That's the one thing I respect him for. He stuck to it and won
through to where he stands now."

"It shows he's got some grit, anyway," agreed Peter. "And do you