“ Dr. Harrison.”

The big, middle-aged doctor came bustling in with the energy and breeziness that had been foreshadowed by his onslaught on the knocker.

“Good morning, Miss Grey.”

“Good morning, Dr. Harrison.”

“I dropped in early,” began the doctor, “in case you should have heard from one of those Harfield cousins. Mrs. Samuel, she calls herself⁠—a perfectly poisonous person.”