"It does not much matter who I am," he said. "As a matter of fact, my name is Ralph Darnley, and I came to you with a message from the late Ralph Dashwood, who, at one time, was married to your sister."
"You knew him very well?" the woman asked in the same dazed way.
"I knew him very well indeed," Ralph replied, "but that we will go into presently. In the meantime, this young lady desires a word with you. Perhaps you will be so good as to settle with her first, my business will keep till afterwards."
And Ralph moved off in the direction of the passage. Dashwood could do no more than follow him in the circumstances. He looked restless and anxious and whistled rather ostentatiously to cover his agitation.
"Upon my word you have made it very awkward for me," he said. "I never dreamed of seeing you here. Mrs. Speed is an old friend of yours, I presume."
"I have never seen her before today," Ralph said, aroused by the eagerness of the question, "I came to bring her a message as you heard. She appeared to be surprised to see me, but not more than she was surprised to hear of your new dignity."
"She didn't know it, you see," Dashwood explained. "I--I haven't told her yet. She was very good to me in my poorer days, and I am grateful for it. Still, she knows the truth now, and there is an end of it. Odd that I should find you mixed up like this with quite a different phase of my life. Don't you think so?"
"Not at all; it is not in the least odd if you knew everything. Still, it does not matter. You can afford to disclose your identity now."
"But I can't," Dashwood replied, "those lawyer people are making a great fuss. Anybody would think that they had the title and estate to dispose of. All the family recognise my position, nobody makes the least objection, and yet those solicitors ask for all kinds of additional proofs. I don't half like it."
Ralph made no reply. He knew all about the objection raised by the family lawyers and was in a position to enlighten Dashwood's mind to a painful degree.