Lady Remington, with the instinct of a mother, ascended the staircase. Her rather “exalted” tones sounded from without:
“Is this the room, Twisegood?” Her hand was upon the handle of the door.
Then did inspiration seize Raife.
Whispering hurriedly: “You go down this staircase,” pointing to the secret exit, “into the loose box at the bottom and wait your chance.”
To Gilda, who had shown such dexterity in descending by a silken rope from the library window at Aldborough Park, it was easy to find a “way out” by a staircase, even if it did lead her into a loose box in a stable!
When Lady Remington explained that the horse in her brougham had cast a shoe, and that Twisegood’s man was attending to it—and that Twisegood had said that Sir Raife was upstairs, it became easier to understand why Lady Remington was climbing those stairs at that unpropitious moment.
Sir Raife expressed his opinion of affairs to Twisegood at a later date.