"Terry, tell the ladies we have come."
The servant disappeared, and, holding his hands over the fire, Mr.
Roscoe said:
"I believe you are a stranger to all but my cousin; yet you are probably aware that his stepmother and her daughter reside with him."
Before she could reply the door suddenly opened wide, as if moved by an impatient hand, and a middle-aged lady, dressed in black silk that rustled proudly at every step, advanced toward Regina. Involuntarily the girl shivered, as if an icy east wind had blown upon her.
"Mrs. Palma, I have brought this young lady safely, and transfer her to your care. This is Regina Orme."
"Miss Orme has arrived on a cold day, and looks as if she realized it."
She put out her hand, barely touched the fingers of the stranger, and her keen, probing, inquisitorial eyes of palest grey wandered searchingly over the face and figure; while her haughty tone was chill—as the damp breath of a vault.
Catching sight of Hero she started back, and exclaimed with undisguised displeasure:
"What! A dog in my sitting-room! Who brought that animal here?"
Regina laid a protecting hand on the head of her favourite, and said timidly, in a voice that faltered from embarrassment: