'Not improbable. She is coming here; but, truth to tell, I do not like Annot Drummond much.'
'Why?'
'I cannot say.'
'Nay, Maude, that is unjust.'
'It is a case of Dr. Fell, I suppose.'
'Yet you have invited her for a month or two to Earlshaugh.'
'Yes.'
'Why, then?'
'As a return for her mother's kindness to me when in London—nothing more. There is no love lost between Annot and me.'
Roland became silent, as his sister evidently spoke unwillingly; and to change the subject, he said: