And what might not happen before the day was out?
It was a stimulating situation for one so curiously compact of courage and of nerves as the present mistress of Normanthorpe House; and for once she really was mistress, inspecting the silver with her own eyes, arranging the flowers with her own hands, and, what was more difficult, the order in which the people were to sit.

She was thus engaged, in her own sanctum, when Mrs.Venables did the one thing which Rachel had not dreamt of her doing.
She called at three in the afternoon, and sent her name upstairs.
Rachel's heart made itself felt; but she was not afraid.

Something was coming earlier than she had thought; she was chiefly curious to know what.

Her first impulse was to have Mrs.Venables brought upstairs, and to invoke her aid in the arrangement of the table before that lady could open fire.

Rachel disliked the great cold drawing-room, and felt that she must be at a disadvantage in any interview there.