"I twisted my foot coming down the stairs, and--it is pretty bad."
"You poor child! It's plain you can't stand; and you oughtn't to. We'll have you carried upstairs. There's a carrying chair in the hall. But"--her ladyship's glance was wandering round--"whatever has been going on in here? Is that---- What's that on the floor?"
Major Reith spoke:
"If you'll forgive me, Countess, I don't think, at any rate, that you ladies ought to come in here."
"And, pray, why not, Major Reith; what has happened?"
The major signalled with his eyes to the earl; the countess caught him in the act.
"It's no good your trying to tell the earl that I'm to be got rid of. I insist, Major Reith, upon your telling me what that mark on the carpet means."
"I'm afraid, Lady Cantyre, that there's been foul play."
The major was plainly embarrassed.
"At Avonham? In my house? Foul play? What do you mean?"