eyes as she turned to Gerald and Gudrun. She did not want to see them.

‘Look!’ she cried. ‘Three new puppies! Marshall says this one seems perfect. Isn’t it a sweetling? But it isn’t so nice as its mother.’ She turned to caress the fine white bull-terrier bitch that stood uneasily near her.

‘My dearest Lady Crich,’ she said, ‘you are beautiful as an angel on earth. Angel — angel — don’t you think she’s good enough and beautiful enough to go to heaven, Gudrun? They will be in heaven, won’t they — and ESPECIALLY my darling Lady Crich! Mrs Marshall, I say!’

‘Yes, Miss Winifred?’ said the woman, appearing at the door.