"Please sit down, Mr. Melville." Rathbone indicated the chair opposite him. "By all means tell me the details, but I think it is quite possible I may be unable to help you." Already his instinctive liking for the young man was waning. He had little sympathy for people who flirted and made promises they did not intend to keep, or who sought to improve their social and financial situations by using the affections of a woman whose position might be an advantage to them. They deserved the blame and the misfortune which followed.

Melville sat down, but the bleakness of his expression made it apparent he had heard the disapproval in Rathbone's voice and understood it only too well.

"I had no intention of hurting Miss Lambert," he began awkwardly. "Of causing injury either to her feelings or to her reputation…"

"Is her reputation in question?" Rathbone asked rather coolly.

Melville flushed, a wave of color rising up his fair cheeks.

"No it is not, not in the way you mean!" he said hotly. "But if a… if a man breaks off an engagement to marry-or seems to-then people will raise questions as to the lady's morals. They will wonder if he has learned something of her which is… which has changed his mind."

"And have you?" Rathbone asked. That at least could prove some excuse, both ethically and in law, if it could be proved.

"No!" Melville's reply was unhesitating. "As far as I know she is blameless."

"Is the matter financial?" Rathbone pursued the next most likely problem. Perhaps Melville required a wife of larger fortune. Although if her father was able to be a patron to architects, then he must be of very considerable wealth. A social disadvantage seemed more likely. Or possibly Melville could not afford to keep her in the manner which she would expect.

Melville stiffened. "Certainly not!"

"You would not be the first young man not in a financial position to marry," Rathbone said a little more gently, leaning back in his chair and regarding the young man opposite him. "It is a common enough state. Did you perhaps mislead Mr. Lambert about your prospects, albeit unintentionally?"