"Madam, I cannot tell."
Susannah untied her hat-strings slowly.
"There is my lady—her husband died this way, sir—and now I must tell her how my lord came home; and there is Marius."
"We have sent to him," replied Mr. Harding quickly. "One left for Holland at once to fetch the Earl."
"The Earl?" she repeated.
"Marius Lyndwood, madam."
Miss Chressham dropped her hat on to a chair.
"Ah, yes," she said under her breath, "he had no children!" Then she raised her wide eyes. "Marius is penniless, sir."
"Still, he must return; but this talk, madam——"