He and his wife had little in common except the habit of living together, which had made them acquainted with each other's ways.
Mrs.Pendleton had not seen either of her brothers for a long time.

Robert had been too engrossed in digging into the past for the skeletons of his ancestors to do more than write intermittent letters to the living members of his family, acquainting them with the progress of his search.

Austin Turold, Robert's younger brother, had spent a portion of his life in India and had but recently returned.

He had gone there more than twenty years before to fill a Government post, taking with him his young wife, but leaving his son at school in England for some years.

His wife had languished and died beneath an Indian sun, but her husband had become acclimatized, and remained until his time was up and he was free to return to England with a pension.