It was about luncheon-time.

She inquired for Wilfrid, and heard with mingled feelings that he was at home.

She found him in his study; he had before him a little heap of letters, the contents of a packet he had found on his table on entering a quarter of an hour before.
Mrs.Baxendale regarded him observantly.

The results of her examination led her to come to the point at once.
'I have just left Beatrice,' she said.

'She has been telling me an extraordinary story.