She wondered if Betty or Timmy had told the others of Radmore’s coming visit.  It was so strange, in a way, so painful to know that to most of them, with the possible exception of Jack, he was only a name.

Suddenly Betty, turning around, saw her step-mother.  “Dolly has met Mrs. Crofton, and she’s utterly unlike what any of us thought she would be!” she cried out.  “She’s young, and very pretty—­quite lovely in fact!  Dolly asked her into supper to-night, as her cook has not yet arrived.”

She had a sort of prevision that Janet was now going to tell the others about Godfrey Radmore, and she wanted to get away out of the room first.  But this was not to be.  Janet Tosswill had a very positive mind—­she was full of what she had come in to say, and the new tenant at The Trellis House interested her not at all, so as soon as she had sat down, she exclaimed, “Perhaps Timmy has told you my news?”

Then all turned to her, except Betty and Timmy himself.

“What news?” came in eager chorus.

“Godfrey Radmore is in England.  He telephoned from London just now, and he’s coming down on Friday to spend a long week-end!”

Rosamund was the only one who stole a look at Betty.

“Godfrey Radmore here?” repeated Jack slowly.  “It’s queer he would want to come—­after the odd way he’s behaved to us.”

“Yes, it is rather strange,” Janet tried to speak lightly.  “But there it is!  The whole world has turned topsy-turvy since any of us saw him last.”

“I wonder if he’s still very rich,” went on Jack.

Janet Tosswill felt startled.  “Why shouldn’t he be?” she asked.

“Oh, I don’t know—­it only occurred to me that he might have lost some of this money in the same way that he lost that first fortune of his.”

“It wasn’t a fortune”—­Betty’s quiet voice broke in very decidedly—­“and most of it was lost by a friend of his, not by Godfrey himself at all.  He was too proud to say anything about it to father, but he wrote and told George.”

A curious stillness fell over the company of young people.  They were all in their different ways very much surprised, for Betty never mentioned her twin-brother.  All at once they each remembered about Betty and Godfrey—­all except Timmy, who had never been told.

“And now what’s this about Mrs. Crofton?” asked Janet at last, breaking a silence that had become oppressive.  “Do I understand that she’s coming to supper to-night?”

It was Betty who answered:  “I hope you don’t mind?  Dolly thought it the only thing to do, as the poor woman’s cook hadn’t arrived.”

“We mustn’t forget to ask her in for lunch or dinner on one of the days that Godfrey is here,” observed Janet.  “I gather they’re friends.  He asked if she’d already come.”

* * * * *

Timmy was supposed to prepare his lessons between tea and dinner, but unlike the ordinary boy, he much preferred to wake early and work before breakfast.  This was considered not good for his health, and there was a constant struggle between himself and his determined mother to force him to do the normal thing.  So after she had finished her tea, she beckoned to her son, and he unwillingly got up and followed her into the drawing-room.  But before he could settle down at his own special table Betty came in.