Lady Tamplin gathered up the Daily Mail and her negligee, a vanity bag, and various odd letters.

“I shall write to dear Katherine at once,” she said, “and remind her of the dear old days at Edgeworth.”

She went into the house, a light of purpose shining in her eyes.

Unlike Mrs. Samuel Harfield, correspondence flowed easily from her pen. She covered four sheets without pause or effort, and on rereading it found no occasion to alter a word.

Katherine received it on the morning of her arrival in London. Whether she read between the lines of it or not is another matter. She put it in her handbag and started out to keep the appointment she had made with Mrs. Harfield’s lawyers.