Mrs. Chard gave a small, hard laugh. She had a large, uninteresting face with the unhealthy colour of the woman who takes very little outdoor exercise, and there was a lassitude about her which seemed to Isla to arise from lack of will-power rather than from lack of physical health.
"It is what I do want--a common-sense woman in the house who can hold her tongue and keep her eyes on two places at once. I'm being robbed on every side. The only decent person in the house is the butler Robbins. Madame Vibert has sent me nothing but fools, who were either afraid of the servants or in league with them. Have you been out before?"
"No."
"Where did you come from?"
"From Scotland. My father died a few months ago, and I have been left without resources."
"What was he?"
"My father?--oh, he was a soldier."
"What rank?"
Isla hesitated a moment.
"He was a General," she said in a low voice then, as if afraid the fact would militate against her chance.