"I heard something about its belonging to a gentleman," said Miss Destiny; "it was, however, driven by a woman in a long white cloak----"
"The lady I saw," murmured Giles, of whom Miss Destiny took no notice.
"She drove headlong down a steep incline, and came within a handbreadth of the trap, Mr. Vance. Then she swerved round and went smashing through a wooden gate, not too securely fashioned, into a field. I was very much upset, and Lucinda--always mindful of my comfort--drove on to Mootley as quickly as possible. There"--Miss Destiny rose and became quite dramatic--"I was met with the news that Anne Caldershaw had been found dead. The news upset me so that I nearly fainted. But this good woman," she indicated Mrs. Faith with a gracious bend of the head, "brought me here; and I am obliged to these honest people," she nodded towards Giles and his wife, "for reviving me. Where I am to stop the night I don't know, as Anne informed me in her letter that there is no inn here."
"There's a public-house," put in Giles reflectively, "but it isn't fit for a lady like you. If you will stay here, ma'am, for the night----"
"If it's not very expensive," interrupted Miss Destiny.
"It will cost nothing, ma'am," said Giles curtly. "I'm none so poor, but what I can't give a bite and a bed to a stranger."
"Then I accept with pleasure," replied Miss Destiny, and really seemed delighted at the idea of getting bed and breakfast for nothing. Either she was very poor, or she was avaricious. I could not decide which, but gave her the benefit of the doubt, and looked upon her as a reduced gentlewoman.
"What about me, Giles?" I asked when this was settled.
"It's early yet, sir, so if you will wait here until Lord Cannington comes from Murchester, you can go back with him, after seeing Warshaw."
"Oh, I don't want to go back. I am anxious to see the end of this tragedy."