“She is so ugly that she is fascinating. If you see her one minute you can never forget her, and she is brains to her finger tips. She ruled everyone at Surrey House. She was Lord Surrey’s secretary and Lady Surrey’s adviser. She educated the children, and they adored her; she ruled the servants, and they obeyed her with fear and trembling. Nothing was done in Surrey House without her approval. And if her face was not handsome, she had a noble presence and a manner that was irresistible.”
“And she took Mostyn’s part?”
“With enthusiasm. She abused Dora individually, and American women generally. She pitied Mr. Mostyn, and made others do so; and when she perceived there would be but a shabby and tardy restoration for him socially, she advised him to shake off the dust of his feet from Monk-Rawdon, and begin life in some more civilized place. And in order that he might do so, she induced Lord Surrey to get him a very excellent civil appointment in Calcutta.”
“Then he is going to India?”
“He is probably now on the way there. He sold the Mostyn estate——”
“I can hardly believe it.”
“He sold it to John Thomas Rawdon. John Thomas told me it belonged to Rawdon until the middle of the seventeenth century, and he meant to have it back. He has got it.”
“Miss Sadler must be a witch.”
“She is a sensible, practical woman, who knows how to manage men. She has soothed Mostyn’s wounded pride with appreciative flattery and stimulated his ambition. She has promised him great things in India, and she will see that he gets them.”
“He must be completely under her control.”