"Something else—how curious! Why, what else is Lancashire noted for in America, pray?"
They were all three looking at me in some excitement, for my eyes were betraying the palpitations I was experiencing.
"Do you—does it happen that you have ever heard of Colmere Abbey?" I asked.
They drew a deep breath, evidently relieved.
"Do we!" they chorused again, as they had a habit of doing, I learned, whenever they were surprised or amused. "Well, rather!"
"Surely you don't mean to tell me that it's your own home?" I demanded, wondering if coincidence had gone so far, but they shook their heads.
"No! Just next-door neighbors."
"Next-door neighbors to the place, my dear young lady," Mr. Montgomery modified, glancing at his wife rather reproachfully. "Not to the—owner of Colmere!"
But I scarcely heard him. I was trying to place an ancient memory in my mind.
"'Bannerley Hall!'"