“My son left everything completely in my hands. Didn’t he, Darnley?” Mrs. Otter went on. There was a perplexed frown on her face now; and she made a feeble little movement of one of her hands towards Darnley, as if appealing to him for help.

“Didn’t he, Darnley?” she repeated.

But Darnley also seemed to have lost the drift of her remarks.

“You were quite right, Mother,” he replied at random. “You’re awfully wise when things are getting serious.⁠ ⁠… She’s wonderful in a crisis.” He addressed this last remark to no one in particular, and it did little to help forward the general air of cloudiness into which the conversation had fallen.