"And Bart Tawsey who married your nurse?"
"He is absent on his rounds. May I ask why you question me in this way, Miss Krill?" asked Sylvia, coldly.
"Because I have much to say to you which no one else must hear," was the calm reply. "Dear me, how hot this fire is!" and she moved her chair so that it blocked Sylvia's way to the door. Also, Miss Krill cast a glance at the window. It was not snibbed, and she made a movement as if to go to it; but, restraining herself, she turned her calm, cold face to the girl. "I have much to say to you," she repeated.
"Indeed," replied Sylvia, politely, "I don't think you have treated me so well that you should trouble to converse with me. Will you please to be brief. Mr. Beecot is coming at four, and he will not be at all pleased to see you."
Maud glanced at the clock. "We have an hour," she said coldly; "it is just a few minutes after three. My business will not take long," she added, with an unpleasant smile.
"What is your business?" asked Sylvia, uneasily, for she did not like the smile.
"If you will sit down, I'll tell you."
Miss Norman took a chair near the wall, and as far from her visitor as was possible in so small a room. Maud took from her neck a black silk handkerchief which she wore, evidently as a protection against the cold, and folding it lengthways, laid it across her lap. Then she looked at Sylvia, in a cold, critical way. "You are very pretty, my dear," she said insolently.
"Did you come to tell me that?" asked the girl, firing up at the tone.
"No. I came to tell you that my mother was arrested last night for the murder of our father."