“Thank you. Then she may like you to show her to her room.” He turned to Penelope. “If there is anything you would like, just tell Sophie. And I hope you will not waste your time trying to bribe or threaten her. We have known each other a long time, Sophie and I.”

If other matters had not been teeming in Penelope’s mind she might have viewed with some surprise the furnishings of the room to which she was ushered. The dingy aspect of the outside of the house had promised nothing of this kind. It might have been the boudoir of some princess. Luxurious carpets, chaste and delicate silken hangings, a bed and chairs made by artists of long ago and matching the small bookcase and writing-desk that seemed designed for the niches into which they fitted, and two or three dainty water colours that in themselves must have cost a small fortune, completed a room that would have sent a professional decorator into ecstasy. On that small room money and thought had been lavished.