She had not approved of his gay young wife, Irish and volatile, who had died at the birth of little Noel.

She doubted the stability of each one of them in turn, and plainly told her brother that he must attend to the launching of his children for himself.

She was willing to do her best for them as children, but as grown-ups she declined the responsibility.
His answer to this had been that they must remain children until he could spare the time to attend to them.

The eldest boy, Rupert, was now at Sandhurst, Maxwell was being educated at Marlborough, and Noel, who was never very strong, was at present with Chris in Mademoiselle Gautier's care.

The summer holiday at Valpre had been Mademoiselle's suggestion, and bitterly had she lived to regret it.
Chris had regretted it, too, for a time, but now that her two brothers were well on the road to recovery it seemed absurd not to extract such enjoyment as she could from the situation.