She reflected to herself as she finished her packing that, when she had just come home, looking forward to being with her father and mother, she had never imagined that anything like this would suddenly happen to her.
She went down the stairs to find her father and the Minister still with a glass of sherry in their hands.
Her mother was saying,
“Is it really correct for Vara to stay at The Castle without a chaperone?”
“I have thought about that,” the Minister answered, “but have you forgotten that Mrs. Bryden is there.”
“Of course,” Lady McDorn said, “how foolish of me. But she is such a retiring woman that I always think of Mr. Bryden as a bachelor.”
The Minister smiled.
“Many people make that same mistake, but Mrs. Bryden likes being alone and she was determined that her rooms at
