Mrs.Fairmile listened attentively, occasionally throwing in a word of criticism or comment, in the softest, gentlest voice.

But somehow, whenever she spoke, Daphne felt vaguely irritated.

She was generally put slightly in the wrong by her visitor, and Mrs.Fairmile's extraordinary knowledge of Heston Park, and of everything connected with it, was so odd and disconcerting.

She had a laughing way, moreover, of appealing to Roger Barnes himself to support a recollection or an opinion, which presently produced a contraction of Daphne's brows.

Who was this woman?
A cousin--a cousin who knew every inch of the house, and seemed to be one of Roger's closest friends?
It was really too strange that in all these years Roger should never have said a word about her! The red mounted in Daphne's cheek.