"Because he's really very fond of him, because quarrelling in families is always a pity. Besides-"Joseph stopped, and began to move the steps.

"Besides what?"

"Well, Tilda, Stephen can't afford to quarrel with Nat, the silly fellow!"

"You should worry!" said Mathilda. "You aren't going to tell me that Nat has at last brought himself to make a will? Is Stephen the heir?"

"You want to know too much," said Joseph, giving her a playful smack.

"Sure I do! You're very mysterious, aren't you?"

"No, no, upon my word I'm not! I only feel it would be very foolish of Stephen to go on being on bad terms with Nat. Shall we hang this big paper-bell under the chandelier, or do you think a bunch of mistletoe would be better?"

"If you really want my opinion, Joe, I think they look equally lousy."

"Naughty girl! Such language!" Joseph said. "You young people don't appreciate Christmas as my generation did. Doesn't it mean anything to you?"

"It will, by the time we're through," replied Mathilda, once more ascending the steps.

Chapter Two

Paula Herriard did not arrive at the Manor until after seven, when everyone else was changing for dinner. Her appearance on the scene was advertised, even to those in remote bedrooms, by the unusual amount of commotion heard downstairs. Paula's entrances always commanded attention. It was not that she deliberately staged them: merely, her personality was rather overpowering, her movements as impetuous as her vivid little face. In fact, Mathilda said with gentle malice, she seemed to have been born with the hallmarks of a great emotional actress.

She was several years younger than her brother Stephen, and resembled him scarcely at all. She was pretty, in the style made popular by Burne Jones, with thick, springy hair, a short, full upper lip, and dark eyes set widely under discontented brows.