stair and looked into a room which had a dormer window in the roof, two
strips of carpet on the boards, a bed, a washing-stand, a painted chest
of drawers, a table, with an old looking-glass, and two chairs. "Well,
that's all I have!" thought Nora defiantly. But a certain hospitable or
democratic instinct made her go downstairs again and bring up a small
vase of flowers like those in Connie's room, and put it on the maid's
table. The maid was English, but she had lived a long time abroad with
the Risboroughs.

Sounds! Yes, that was the fly stopping at the front door! Nora flew
downstairs, in a flush of excitement. Alice too had come out into the
hall, looking shy and uncomfortable. Dr. Hooper emerged from his study.
He was a big, loosely built man, with a shock of grizzled hair,
spectacles, and a cheerful expression.

A tall, slim girl, in a grey dust-cloak and a large hat, entered the
dark panelled hall, looking round her. "Welcome, my dear Connie!" said
Dr. Hooper, cordially, taking her hand and kissing her. "Your train must
have been a little late."

"Twenty minutes!" said Mrs. Hooper, who had followed her niece into the
hall. "And the draughts in the station, Ewen, were something appalling."

The tone was fretful. It had even a touch of indignation as though the
speaker charged her husband with the draughts. Mrs. Hooper was a woman
between forty and fifty, small and plain, except for a pair of rather
fine eyes, which, in her youth, while her cheeks were still pink, and
the obstinate lines of her thin slit mouth and prominent chin were less
marked, had beguiled several lovers, Ewen Hooper at their head.