"You"ll naturally act as seems to you best," said her brother. "But I beg you to remember that I"m master of this house, and that this lady is my guest."
"And who, pray, will keep your house for you when I"m gone?" she snapped.
"I"m sure that Mrs. Spotts will attend to it for me until Mrs.
Mackintosh and I are married."
"Till you"re married!" his sister repeated after him, too astounded to grasp fully the meaning of his words.
"It is an event which I hope will occur shortly," her brother replied.
"That"s enough!" she retorted. "I leave Blanford this afternoon!"
"I trust you"ll not go in anger, Matilda," he said. "I"m sure a change will do you good. Miss Arminster--I mean Mrs. Spotts--suggests a course of mud-baths; and if you"ll permit me to a.s.sume the expense--"
"Josephus!" she returned shortly, "do not add insult to injury." And she swept from the room.
"I, too," said Professor Tybalt Smith, who had hitherto remained silent--"I, too, must be permitted to excuse myself. It may be that I can comfort that injured lady in her exile." And he followed her out.
"Oh, I"m delighted!" cried Violet, seizing Mrs. Mackintosh"s hand.
"And I, too," said Cecil.
"Thank you," replied his stepmother-to-be. "That pleases me more than anything else. I hope you"ll really make Blanford your home."
"I shall indeed," he returned, "since no one will have me as a husband."
"You"ve the great success of your book to comfort you," suggested Violet. "What more can you ask?"
"Well, as it seems a day of explanations," he said, "I should really like to know why you"re called "the Leopard"?"
"It"s a very trifling secret after all," she replied, laughing. "But to have let you know it would have given away our little plot. Now it doesn"t matter. Tell him, Alvy."
"It"s merely this," said her husband gaily: "that, as much as she may marry, HIS LORDSHIP"S LEOPARD CAN NEVER CHANGE HER SPOT(T)S."
THE END.