"I don't like him at all, Ella. His words are plausible enough, indeed too plausible, but he seems thoroughly insincere. He is a man whom I should always mistrust. Have you questioned your servants?"
"Only old Aaron. And I can get nothing from him. His reasoning is in substance the same as Dr. Jago's. Maria, I feel sure that some trickery was at work."
"I should ask the maids, Phemie and Eliza, whether they noticed anything strange. They must have been about the house much during all the time."
"I think I will. It has crossed my mind to do so, but I feared they would only make my questions into a source of gossip."
Miss Kettle paused.
"Tell me exactly what it is that you suspect."
"I do not know what to suspect, except that I have a strong idea of some unfair play having been enacted. There lies my difficulty. But that it seems so impossible, and so dreadful an idea besides, I might say that my uncle did not live to see his birthday."
Maria shivered slightly.
"Oh, Ella!"
"It is the bent my fears are taking," whispered Miss Winter. "And in that case, you know, I am not the owner of Heron Dyke."