"Nora, tell me—who is that man, and what brings him here?"
"What man, Miss Chattaway?" asked Nora, indifferently, unable to quite help herself. "Ann Canham, how many are there to be served with pie still?"
"That man. That bold, bad man who has been speaking so strangely."
"Does he speak strangely?" retorted Nora.
"His voice is gruff certainly. And what a lot of plum-pudding he is eating! He is our young master's new waggoner, Miss Chattaway."
"Not he!" shrieked Octave, in her anger. "Do you suppose I concern myself with those stuffing clodhoppers? I speak of that tall, strange man amongst the guests."
"Oh, he!" said Nora, carelessly glancing over her shoulder. "Nanny, here's unlimited pie, if it's wanted. What about him, Miss Chattaway?"
"I asked you who he was, and what brought him here."
"Then you had better ask himself, Miss Chattaway. He goes about with a red umbrella; and that's about all I know of him."
"Why does Mrs. Ryle invite suspicious characters to her house?"