She dived suddenly as the gallery door opened. Brand caught a fleeting glimpse of her vanishing form.
"Who was that?" he asked.
Pyne had found his pipe and was filling it with tobacco.
"Mrs. Vansittart," he answered.
"Paying her long-deferred visit, I suppose. She chose a curious hour."
"So I thought. But she just popped her head in to tell you that she didn't know you at all."
Brand smiled.
"Poor lady!" he said. "She, like the rest of us, is perturbed and uneasy. I imagine she is of a somewhat hysterical temperament."
"That's so," agreed Pyne.
There were puzzling discrepancies in Mrs. Vansittart's explanation of her untimely appearance. Evidently, she did not expect to meet him there. She thought she would find the lighthouse-keeper alone. The ready deduction presented itself that when she did encounter Brand she did not wish any third person to be present at the interview.