For it seemed to her to harmonize with the true inwardness of her mission, offering a sympathetic background to the news of her niece's indisposition and the signals of distress flown by her little _protegee_, Theresa Bilson.

The note addressed to her by the latter was couched in mysterious and ambiguous phrases, the purport of which she failed to grasp.

Theresa's handwriting, usually so neat and precise, was wobbly, bearing unmistakable traces of severe agitation and haste.

She hinted at nothing short of catastrophe, though whether in relation to herself, to her ex-pupil, or to Sir Charles, Miss Verity couldn't for the life of her discover.

It was clear in any case, however, that affairs at The Hard had, for cause unknown, gone quite startlingly astray, and that Theresa found herself entirely unequal to righting them--hence her outcry.
Under these circumstances, it struck Miss Verity as only tasteful and tactful that her approach to the distracted dwelling should take place unheralded by rumble of wheels or beat of horse-hoofs, should be pitched in a, so to speak, strictly modest and minor key.