In the inner room the lamps were brighter, and the fire burned cheerily; and here Mrs.
Branston had established for herself a comfortable nook in a deep velvet-cushioned arm-chair, very low and capacious, sheltered luxuriously from possible draughts by a high seven-leaved Japanese screen.

The fair Adela was a chilly personage, and liked to bask in her easy-chair before the fire.

She looked very pretty this evening, in her dense black dress, with the airiest pretence of a widow's cap perched on her rich auburn hair, and a voluminous Indian shawl of vivid scarlet making a drapery about her shoulders.

She was evidently very pleased to see John Saltram, and gave a cordial welcome to his friend.

On the opposite side of the fire-place there was a tall, rather grim-looking lady, also in mourning, and with an elaborate headdress of bugles and ornaments of a feathery and beady nature, which were supposed to be flowers.