She gave him a reproving pat on the sleeve; she liked that kind of joke. "This is really a nicer place than Frayne," she said. "I don't wonder you've taken to it. It's hardly fair that the younger brother should have a nicer place than the elder. But I think now you've settled down in a house of your own, George, you ought to think of marrying again. I never thought you wanted it while you were a young man about town, but if you're going to change all your tastes and settle down in the country you will want a wife to look after things for you." "I've got the children," he said shortly. "My dear boy, you don't think you're going to keep them long, do you? It's a marvel to me that Caroline hasn't married already. She's been one of the prettiest of all the girls, and B is even prettier, if that's possible. You'll lose 'em both pretty soon, if I'm not very much mistaken." He turned to her in some alarm. "What do you mean?" he asked. "There's nothing going on, is there?" She laughed. "How blind men are," she said. "M. de Lassigny is head over ears in love with B." "Oh, my dear Mary, what nonsense! Excuse my saying so, but it's such a short time since you were in the cradle." "Very well, George. You may call it nonsense if you like. But you'll see." "He's been a friend of Caroline's for the last two years. It was she who asked him down here. It would be her if it were anybody, but I know it isn't." "You may know it isn't Caroline. I know it too. They're just friends. You can't know it isn't B, because it is." "What makes you say so? He's been just like all the rest of them here. He's been with Caroline just as much as with B. Barbara too, I should say, and the other girls as well." "That's his artfulness, George. You can't hide these things from a woman--at any rate if she has eyes in her head and knows how to use them. I'm interested in your girls, not having any of my own, so I do use my eyes. He may not be ready to declare himself yet, but he will, sooner or later." "I should hate that, you know. I don't believe B would take it on for a moment either. Do you?" "I don't know. If I thought I did I'd tell you so. But why should you hate it? He's just like an Englishman. And he's rich, with an old property and all that sort of thing. He isn't like an adventurer, with a title that comes from nobody knows where. He'd be a very good match. Why should you hate it?"