Philip returned her smile. "We've been discussing Geoffrey's impending adventure in joining the academic establishment."

"Adventure?" Antonia blinked, her gaze shifting to Geoffrey, then back to Philip.

"Adventure indeed," Philip assured her. "Or so it was when I went up. I doubt it's changed. High drama, high jinks, life in all its varied forms. All the experience necessary to set a young gentleman's feet on the road to worldly confidence."

Antonia's eyes widened. "Worldly confidence?"

"Savoir faire, the ability to be at home in any company, the knowledge with which to face the world." Philip gestured broadly; his grey eyes quizzed her. "How else do you imagine gentlemen such as I learned to be as we are, my dear?"

The words were on the tip of Antonia's tongue-she only just managed to swallow them. "I dare say," she replied, in as repressive a tone as she could. The teasing light in Philip's eyes was doing the most uncomfortable things to her stomach. A swift glance at Geoffrey confirmed that her precocious brother was not ignorant of the purport of their host's sallies. Tilting her chin, she caught Philip's eye. "I'm sure Geoffrey will find the academic pursuits all absorbing."

Whether Philip would have capped her comment she was destined never to know; the door opened again, this time admitting Henrietta, closely followed by Hugo.

As she turned to her aunt, Antonia surprised a fleeting look of chagrin on Philip's face. It was there and then gone so rapidly she was not, in truth, entirely certain she had interpreted his expression correctly. Before she could ponder the point, Fenton entered to make his announcement.

"My honour, I believe?"