"Miss Hargreave. I'm an old friend of her mother's."
"There is no such person here."
"To whom, then, does this hat belong?" she asked quietly. She waved her hand indolently toward the hall rack.
Jones' lips tightened. "That belongs to Miss Gray, a kind of protégée of Mr. Hargreave's."
"Indeed! You have no objections to my seeing her? My maiden name was Olga Pushkin, cousin to Katrina, wife of Stanley Hargreave. I am, if you will weigh the matter carefully, a kind of aunt."
To Jones it was as if ice had suddenly come into contact with his heart's blood. But as he still stood in the shadow, she did not observe the pallor of his face.
"If you will state exactly why you wish to see her, madam."
"You seem to possess authority?"
"Yes, madam, absolute authority."
Jones produced his document and presented it to her.