“No. She is very nice, though, quite a charming woman.”
“Ah!” exclaimed Mrs. Rose suspiciously. “But what do you think about her having Mabin?”
There was another slight pause before Mrs. Haybrow answered: “I am sure you may be quite satisfied about that.”
But when dinner was over, Mrs. Haybrow got Mabin to take her to see the new ducks that Mr. Rose was so proud of; and on the way back she asked the girl whether she was very anxious for her visit to “The Towers.” And finding that she was, Mrs. Haybrow added:
“And of course, dear, if anything were to happen while you were there, which seemed to you rather strange or unusual, you would write or telegraph to papa and mamma, at once, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course. I see,” went on Mabin, smiling, “that mamma has managed to infect you already with her own suspicions of poor Mrs. Dale.”
“No, dear, she seemed to me a very nice woman indeed, and very anxious to have you. But I am getting old, and I am nervous about girls away from their homes. That is all.”
And she turned the conversation to another subject.
CHAPTER V.
A STARTLING VISIT.
Mrs. Rose was not a woman of acute perceptions, but even she was vaguely conscious that there was something not quite satisfactory about the account Mrs. Haybrow had given of her visit to “The Towers.”