“Go up and tell Valancy to come down. Her husband is here.”

But so dubious was Uncle Benjamin as to whether Valancy could really come down in a minute — or at all — that he followed Mrs. Frederick on tiptoe up the stairs and listened in the hall.

“Valancy dear,” said Mrs. Frederick tenderly, “your husband is in the parlour, asking for you.”

“Oh Mother.” Valancy got up from the window and wrung her hands. “I cannot see him — I cannot! Tell him to go away — askhim to go away. I can’t see him!”

“Tell her,” hissed Uncle Benjamin through the keyhole, “that Redfern says he won’t go away until he has seen her.”