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is younger than he looks. It is his shuffling manner that ages his appearance.”
    “He will certainly outlive Mama,” Lewis said. “And if he goes on with these insinuating visits, he will diddle me out of a couple of thousand at least. Well, I am off. What was it I was supposed to do again, John? Oh, yes, the demmed wool. And keep an eye on Mama, too.”
    He left. Charity judged by his insouciant whistle that he was not too concerned about losing his fortune to St. John.
    “Shall we have a look at the secret panels now?” Merton said, and put his hand on Charity’s elbow to lead her off.
     

Chapter Six
     
    “Will we not require lamps?” Charity said.
    “There speaks the voice of experience,” Merton replied. “I see our priest’s hole and secret panel will be no thrill for you, Miss Wainwright. I have not been down the stairs for years myself.”
    “There are stairs! That will be something new at least. Where do they lead?” She watched as Merton’s long, graceful fingers fiddled with the flint and wick. A carved emerald ring gleamed on his left hand as he took up a lamp.
    “That would spoil the surprise,” he replied. “I fear I am giving you undue expectations. It is really a very dull staircase.”
    “How spoiled you are. A secret staircase, and you not only ignore it for years, you actually call it dull!”
    “You are thinking of Pope, the poet, I wager. About to bethump me with the old cliché that all things look yellow to the jaundiced eye.”
    “You put words in my mouth, milord. What I was about to say was that if I had such a thing at home, I would run up and down it ten times a day.”
    “When I was a child, I behaved as a child,” he said with a grin. “Now that I am a man, I have put away childish behavior. There is an insult for you in there if you look hard enough.”
    Charity was surprised to discover that Merton was more conversable than she had thought. She decided a little gentle teasing might do him good. “An enjoyment of harmless pleasures should not die with childhood. We all require diversion from time to time.”
    “Running an estate of this size leaves but little time for diversion. In my free moments I can usually find something more amusing than running up and down a staircase.”
    “If you would rather be doing something else, I can go alone.”
    “Good lord, that was not my meaning! I shall be seeing it with an attractive young lady. In such company the activity is secondary. That is a compliment, ma’am, to make up for my former insult.” He noticed, however, that neither insult nor compliment had much effect on her. “Quite an occasion in my Spartan existence,” he added.
    “Odd that men speak of Spartans as if they were the height of manhood, yet it was the more urbane, pleasure-loving Athenians who overcame Sparta in the end. A Spartan life leaves no room for the imagination.”
    Merton lifted the lamp and headed for the morning parlor and the priest’s hole. “I see you are adept at debate,” he replied with a smile. “An unusual talent in a young lady. I wonder what can account for it.”
    She frowned. “Papa’s society has lively debates. I wonder what manner of young lady you have been associating with, if they cannot hold up their end of a discussion.”
    “Perhaps they can, but they don’t, when they are with an eligible parti.”
    Charity felt her experience in the field of flirtation was lacking. Her mama had died when she was young; she had never made her debut or had a really close female friend with whom she could discuss the important matter of nabbing a husband. Was she doing something wrong? Was that why her young gentlemen never came up to scratch? She said, “How do they behave?”
    “They agree. They simper. They praise. They ask sly questions. You missed an excellent opportunity to discover the extent of my estate just now.”
    “I already know it. I looked you up in the Peerage before leaving London.”
    A choking sound came