As she climbed the narrow lane leading to the farm, she presently heard a motor approaching.

The walls enclosing the lane left barely room to pass.

She could only scramble hurriedly up a rock which had been built into the wall, and hold on to a young tree growing from it.

The motor which was large and luxurious passed slowly, and in the car she saw two young men, one pale and sickly-looking, wrapped in a great-coat though the day was stuffily warm: the other, the driver, a tall and stalwart fellow, who threw Nelly a cold, unfriendly look as they went by.

Who could they be?
The road only led to the farm, and when Nelly had last visited Mrs.Grayson, a week before, she and her old husband and a granddaughter of fourteen had been its only inmates.
Mrs.Grayson received her with a smile.
'Aye, aye, Mrs.Sarratt, coom in.