CHAPTER II.—ARRIVAL OF EVELYN.
Audrey met her governess at the lodge gates, and the two plunged down a side-path, and were soon making for the wonderful moors about a mile away from Wynford Castle.
“What are you thinking about, Audrey?” said Miss Sinclair.
“Do you happen to know,” said Audrey, “any people in the village or neighborhood of the name of Leeson?”
“No, dear, certainly not. I do not think any people of the name live here. Why do you ask?”
“For such a funny reason!” replied Audrey. “I met a girl who had come by mistake through the shrubberies. She was on her way to the Castle to get a good meal. She told me her name was Sylvia Leeson. She was pretty in an outré sort of style; she was also very free. She had the cheek to compare herself with me, and said that as my name was Audrey and hers Sylvia we ought to be two of Shakespeare’s heroines. There was something uncommon about her. Not that I liked her—very far from that. But I wonder who she is.”
“I don’t know,” said Miss Sinclair. “I certainly have not the least idea that there is any one of that name living in our neighborhood, but one can never tell.”
“Oh, but you know everybody round here,” said Audrey. “Perhaps she is a stranger. I think on the whole I am glad.”
“I heard a week ago that some people had taken The Priory,” said Miss Sinclair.
“The Priory!” cried Audrey. “It has been uninhabited ever since I can remember.”