Otho felt vindictive, realising what a grievous thing it was that he should have to be anybody’s brother. ‘The goings on in this house won’t suit her at all,’ he reflected, getting more and more savage the longer he thought about it. ‘It has been a bachelor’s house all these years, and it has come to something if I’m to turn everything topsy-turvy for a chit of a girl like that. Dogs and horses and men, and tobacco and wine and cards—what will she do amidst it all? And what shall I do with her?’ He stopped muttering from sheer blankness of mind on the subject, still fiercely stroking his upper lip, till after a time a look of relief, though of very ill-tempered relief at the best, came over his face, as he thought— ‘I suppose I must go and tell Magdalen about it. She’ll be able to suggest something. I’ll go this morning, before I answer this confounded letter. Whew—w—w!’ He blew out a kind of ill-tempered sigh, and Pouncer wagged his tail in visible and exceeding satisfaction. Then Otho picked up another letter—short and, as it would seem, sweet, to him at least, for his countenance relaxed visibly. ‘That’s well. It will be rather a relief to have him here if she comes. He knows what is the right thing to do when there are petticoats on the premises. I don’t.’ Then he rang the bell, ordered the breakfast-things to be taken away, and said he wanted his horse at eleven. * * * * * Soon after twelve Otho rode up to Balder Hall, was admitted to Miss Wynter’s boudoir, and proceeded to unfold his troubles to her. She had received him with the tranquillity which had always been the chief characteristic of her demeanour, and which seemed neither to have increased nor diminished with years; heard all that he had to say; and finally, when he pulled Eleanor’s letter out of his pocket, and said, ‘See for yourself what she says,’ Magdalen took the letter, opened it deliberately, and as deliberately read it. She had never heard much about Otho’s sister; she was not a woman to talk to men about their feminine relatives, and Otho had always been glad to ignore his sister’s existence as much as possible. This suddenly announced coming of Miss Askam took Magdalen by surprise. She had no time to decide whether it would best suit her views that they should be friends or enemies, but the letter would possibly give her a valuable glimpse into the writer’s mind, perhaps even into her character, written as it was confidentially to an only brother. As to the question whether it was honourable or not to read such a letter, Miss Wynter was exactly the woman to say, if any one had raised such a scruple, ‘Why, Otho gave it me!’ Go to! she might have been credited with saying—the keeping one’s own integrity is enough work for any person, without telling others when they appear to be losing theirs.