Esther carried the tea-tray into the kitchen and stood for a moment beside the open window letting the sweet air from the garden cool the colour in her cheeks.

Through the doorway into the hall she could see into the living room where Jane sat at the table in a little yellow pool of lamplight, busy with her school home work.

Farther back, near the dusk of one of the veranda windows, Mrs.Coombe reclined in an easy chair.

Her eyes were closed; in the half light she looked very pretty, very fragile; her relaxed pose suggested helplessness.

Unconsciously Esther's innate strength answered to the call; her hard gaze softened.
To apply the terms liar and thief to that dainty figure in the chair seemed little short of brutality.