How changed, how utterly changed, they all were since Godfrey Radmore had last been in that familiar room!  The least changed, of course, was Betty.  To her step-mother’s partial eyes, Betty Tosswill, at twenty-eight, was still an extraordinarily charming and young-looking creature.  Had her nose been rather less retrousse, her generous, full-lipped mouth just a little smaller, her brown hair either much darker, or really fair, as was Rosamund’s, she would have been exceptionally pretty.  What to the discriminating made her so much more attractive than either of her younger sisters was her look of intelligence and quiet humour.  But of course she looked not only older, but different, from what she had looked nine years ago.  Betty had lived a full and, in a sense, a tragic life during four of the years which had elapsed since she and Radmore had parted in this very room.

Janet’s eyes travelled past Betty to Jack.  Just at that moment he was looking with no very pleasant expression across at his little brother, and yet there was something softer than usual in his cold, clear-cut face.  Janet Tosswill would have been touched and surprised indeed had she known that it was the thought of herself that had brought that look on Jack’s face.  Jack was twenty-one, but looked like a man of thirty—­he was so set, he knew so exactly what he wanted of life.  As she looked at him, she wondered doubtfully whether he would ever make that great career his schoolmaster had so confidently predicted for him.  He was so—­so—­she could only find the word “conventional” to describe him.

Janet Tosswill passed over Dolly quickly.  To-day Dolly looked a little different from the others, for she was wearing a hat, and it was clear that she had just come in from the village.  Her step-mother noticed with dissatisfaction that the over large brooch fastening Dolly’s blouse was set in awry, and that there were wisps of loose hair lying on her neck.

As for Rosamund, she looked ill-humoured, frankly bored to-day—­but oh, how pretty and dainty, next to the commonplace Dolly!  Rosamund’s gleaming fair hair curled naturally all over her head; she had lovely, startled-looking eyes which went oddly with a very determined, if beautifully moulded, mouth and chin.

Betty was convinced that, given a chance, Rosamund would make a success on the stage, but Betty was prejudiced.  There had always been a curious link of sympathy between the two sisters, utterly different as they were, and many as were the years that separated them.

Tom was the only one of the flock who presented no problem.  He was far more human than Jack, but, like Jack, absolutely steady and dependable.

Janet Tosswill’s mind swung back to Godfrey Radmore.  She wondered how he would like the changes in Old Place, whether they would affect him pleasantly or otherwise.  She was woman enough to regret sharply their altered way of life.  When Godfrey had lived in Old Place, there had been a good cook, a capable parlourmaid, and a well-trained housemaid, as well as a bright-faced “tweenie” there, and life had rolled along as if on wheels.  It was very different now.