Some one was being shown up into the drawing-room as Caroline left Mrs. Lancing's bedroom.
She paused a moment, and then went down the stairs.
"It's Sir Samuel Broxbourne, miss," the parlourmaid said.
Caroline nodded her head.
"Yes; Mrs. Lancing knows. I have a message for him."
Caroline's first impression as she opened the drawing-room door was that the young man standing with his back to the fireplace was much too big for the room.
Sir Samuel had not troubled to remove his overcoat, and the heavy fur collar on this coat accentuated the squareness and breadth of his shoulders.
He always looked red, as if he had just come out of a bath, or had been running; his hair, too, had a touch of red in it.
Caroline took all this in at one glance, and she decided right away that he was a very ugly young man.
"Mrs. Lancing begs me to say she will be down directly," she said, but she did not advance into the room.