‘I don’t like her,’ was the brief reply.
‘I’ve had curious thoughts about that lady,’ said Tarrant, smiling. ‘The mystery, it seems to me, is by no means solved. You think she really is your aunt?’
‘Impossible to doubt it. Any one could see her likeness to Horace at once.’
‘Ah, you didn’t mention that. I had a fear that she might be simply an adventuress, with an eye to your brother’s money.’
‘She is what she says, I’m sure. But I shall never ask her to come and see me again, and I don’t think she’ll want to. That would be fortunate if—if we wished—’
Tarrant nodded. At the same moment they heard a sound that startled them.
‘That’s a knock at the door,’ said Nancy, rising as if to escape.
‘So it is. Banging with a stick. Let him bang. It must be a stranger, or he’d respect the oak.’
They sat listening. The knock sounded again, loud and prolonged. Tarrant joked about it; but a third time came the summons.
‘I may as well go and see who it is.’