Kate had had half a dozen proposals but she would give her hand to no man who had not first won her heart.

"I fear we should not suit, sir!" said Kate.

As the fifth young man to offer for her hand that afternoon revealed his purpose and his "prospects," even Kate had to laugh at the absurd prank her brother's friends were playing. But once years ago, she remembered, she had refused such a proposal, and there had been sad consequences. Now all she had to remember that suitor by was a legacy--one, her haughty neighbor Lord Winterton felt, no lady of honor would accept.