‘Day ’fore yes’day. I don’t like him, an’ I don’t like his ways; he’ll be gettin’ into trouble before long, you mind what I say. His family’s a queer lot, ’cordin’ to what they tell. Do you know them, Miss?’
‘I used to, a long time ago.’
‘You knew his sister—her as is come ’ome?’
‘His sister?’
‘Her as was a actress. Mrs. Bannister was tellin’ me only last night; she had it from Mrs. Horrocks, as heard from a friend of hers as lives in the Farrin’don Buildin’s, where the Hewetts lives too. They tell me it was in the Sunday paper, though I don’t remember nothing about it at the time. It seems as how a woman threw vitriol over her an’ burnt her face so as there’s no knowin’ her, an’ she goes about with a veil, an’ ’cause she can’t get her own livin’ no more, of course she’s come back ’ome, for all she ran away an’ disgraced herself shameful.’
Jane gazed fixedly at the speaker, scarcely able to gather the sense of what was said.
‘Miss Hewett, you mean? Mr. Hewett’s eldest daughter?’
‘So I understand.’
‘She has come home? When?’
‘I can’t just say; but a few weeks ago, I believe. They say it’s nearly two months since it was in the paper.’