To him she was peerless among women, and her beauty was unequalled.

Her piquant mischievousness amused him.

As a girl, she had always been fond of tantalising him, and did so now.

Yet he knew her fine character; how deeply devoted she was to her afflicted father, and how full of discomfort was her dull life, now that she had exchanged her school for the same roof which covered Sir Henry's second wife.

Indeed, this latter event was the common talk of all who knew the family.