‘Kingston is the dearest child,’ acknowledged Lady Adela, deprecating undue flattery of her own genius. ‘One only needs to guide him. He is all obedience. I have never attempted to drive him, Minnie.’ Mrs. Mimburn tossed her head. Her name was always a sore point. She had suffered heavily in the matter at the hands of her parents, who had christened her Minna Adelaide, after her great-aunts of formidable memory, the Misses Adelaide and Minna Dadd. Understanding that such names were a grievous handicap to any runner in the race of fashion, and desirous, too, of obliterating all traces of Darnley-on-Downe, Mrs. Mimburn did the best she could to remedy the disaster by resolutely calling herself ‘Minne-Adélaïde.’ This Gallicism Lady Adela could never bring herself to remember, and embittered the life of her sister-in-law by calling her Min or Minnie when in a good temper, or plain Minna on the very rare occasions when she happened to be in not so good a one. ‘Well,’ tartly replied Mrs. Mimburn, with another toss of her plumed head, ‘I think you have been wise, La-la. But you need not be too sure of Kingston. There isn’t any reason to believe, La-la, that even _your_ son is not made of flesh and blood. Such stories one hears! And a mother is the last person a boy could think of confiding in. Depend upon it, you don’t know everything. Boys don’t let their mothers marry them off at Kingston’s age unless there is a reason for it. Dear me! of course not; everyone loves a little bit of freedom,’ concluded Mrs. Mimburn, filling her voice with the suggestion of a wicked past. Lady Adela had the happy knack of never hearing anything that displeased her. The process of years had brought her a sweet serenity that nothing could ruffle. Whatever happened Lady Adela smiled. ‘Dear boy,’ she answered reflectively, without any symptom of having noticed her sister-in-law’s remarks, ‘dear, dear boy! he has always been as free as air. And he has been so good about the engagement. Min, you know, five-and-twenty is such a charming age for a man to settle. If one waits longer the nice girls of one’s own age have all got married off, and one has to put up with an elderly one, or a widow, or something dreadful like that.’