Victor didn't know what he had done to earn Mr. Flint's favor in this way, but he was glad to have done it. The Flints were a well-established family who would be well-poised as friends and advocates... but even if their last name was a bit less illustrious, they couldn't afford to be turning away help wherever it presented itself. It was a bit grating to be in such a position — their own family name and reputation, wealth and position should have put them in a position to be doling out favors, not begging for them — but Beatrice was hopeless.

"I'm sure you're an excellent judge of character," Victor agreed. "And we'll be most grateful for your assistance. It has been an inopportune time for my father to be away," he continued. His father hadn't left the country for an extended research trip because Bea was on the hunt for a husband — or at least, if that was his reasoning he'd never made it plain — but it might very well have been a contributing factor. "But I hear that his research is gaining momentum and simply cannot be put off."

(The fact that his father had said this did not mean that it was true; the senior Mr. Daphnel tended to exaggerate the importance of anything that interested him significantly).

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