“Then the dog that was with you belonged to the old gentleman?”

“Old gentleman?” repeated Mrs. Crofton vaguely.  This time she didn’t in the least know what the child was talking about, and she was relieved when the door opened, and the Tosswill family came streaming through it, accompanied by their step-mother.

Laughing introductions took place.  Mrs. Crofton singled out instinctively her gentle, cultivated-looking host.  She told herself with a queer sense of relief, that he was the sort of man who generally shows a distantly chivalrous regard for women.  Next to her host, his eldest son, Jack Tosswill, came in for secret, close scrutiny, but Enid Crofton always found it easy and more than easy, to “make friends” with a young man.

She realised that she was up against a more difficult problem in the ladies of the family.  She felt a little frightened of Mrs. Tosswill, of whom Godfrey Radmore had spoken with such affection and gratitude.  Janet looked what Mrs. Crofton called “clever,” and somehow she never got on with clever women.  Betty and Dolly she dismissed as of no account.  Rosamund was the one the attractive stranger liked best.  There is no greater mistake than to think that a pretty woman does not like to meet another pretty woman.  On the contrary, “like flies to like” in this, as in almost everything else.

But how did they regard her?  She would have been surprised indeed had she been able to see into their hearts.

Mr. Tosswill, who was much more wideawake than he looked, thought her a poor exchange for the amusing, lively, middle-aged woman who had last lived at The Trellis House, and who had often entertained there a pleasant, cultivated guest or two from London.  Jack, though sufficiently human to be attracted by the stranger’s grace and charm, was inclined to reserve his judgment.  The three girls found her very engaging, and their step-mother, if more critical, was quite ready to like her.  As is often the case with people who only care for those near and dear to them, the world of men and women outside Janet Tosswill’s own circle interested her scarcely at all.  She would make up her mind as to what any given individual was like, and then dismiss him or her once for all from her busy, over-burdened mind.

One thing, however, both Janet and the three girls did notice—­that was the way their new acquaintance was dressed.  Her black frock was not only becoming, but had that indefinable look which implies thought, care, and cost—­especially cost.  All four ladies decided immediately that Mrs. Crofton must be much better off than she had implied in the letter she had written to Mr. Tosswill some weeks ago.

Timmy, alone of them all, on that first evening, felt strongly about their visitor.  Already he was jealous of the pretty, pathetic-looking young widow.  It irritated him to think that she was a friend of his godfather.