That night Edgar Caswall had slept badly.  The tragic occurrence of the day was on his mind, and he kept waking and thinking of it.  After an early breakfast, he sat at the open window watching the kite and thinking of many things.  From his room he could see all round the neighbourhood, but the two places that interested him most were Mercy Farm and Diana’s Grove.  At first the movements about those spots were of a humble kind—­those that belong to domestic service or agricultural needs—­the opening of doors and windows, the sweeping and brushing, and generally the restoration of habitual order.

From his high window—­whose height made it a screen from the observation of others—­he saw the chain of watchers move into his own grounds, and then presently break up—­Adam Salton going one way, and Lady Arabella, followed by the nigger, another.  Then Oolanga disappeared amongst the trees; but Caswall could see that he was still watching.  Lady Arabella, after looking around her, slipped in by the open door, and he could, of course, see her no longer.

Presently, however, he heard a light tap at his door, then the door opened slowly, and he could see the flash of Lady Arabella’s white dress through the opening.

CHAPTER XVI—­A VISIT OF SYMPATHY

Caswall was genuinely surprised when he saw Lady Arabella, though he need not have been, after what had already occurred in the same way.  The look of surprise on his face was so much greater than Lady Arabella had expected—­though she thought she was prepared to meet anything that might occur—­that she stood still, in sheer amazement.  Cold-blooded as she was and ready for all social emergencies, she was nonplussed how to go on.  She was plucky, however, and began to speak at once, although she had not the slightest idea what she was going to say.

“I came to offer you my very warm sympathy with the grief you have so lately experienced.”

“My grief?  I’m afraid I must be very dull; but I really do not understand.”

Already she felt at a disadvantage, and hesitated.

“I mean about the old man who died so suddenly—­your old . . . retainer.”

Caswall’s face relaxed something of its puzzled concentration.

“Oh, he was only a servant; and he had over-stayed his three-score and ten years by something like twenty years.  He must have been ninety!”

“Still, as an old servant . . . "

Caswall’s words were not so cold as their inflection.

“I never interfere with servants.  He was kept on here merely because he had been so long on the premises.  I suppose the steward thought it might make him unpopular if the old fellow had been dismissed.”

How on earth was she to proceed on such a task as hers if this was the utmost geniality she could expect?  So she at once tried another tack—­this time a personal one.