Only as she grew up had Roxana become intrigued with the idea of her aunt living in Holland, cut off from the world she had known as a girl, but apparently with no regrets.
The family heard from Agnes Helderik at Christmas and on their birthdays, but Roxana suspected that, while her aunt wrote to her sister, her mother was usually too indifferent or too lazy to reply.
When Roxana realised that she must leave her home and go off somewhere, anywhere, to get away from the unfortunate atmosphere that she found it impossible to live in, she had thought of her aunt.
Only one year after Lord Barclay’s death Roxana’s mother had decided to marry again.
It was understandable that she should wish to do so.
At forty she was still a very attractive woman and she had spent the last six years of her
