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 . . . "