“Well, she’s my husband’s niece-I told you that, didn’t I- but as I said, I don’t let it make any difference. Oh, no, nobody’s been annoying her, and I’m sure the flats are all let to a very good class of people-I wouldn’t like to give a wrong impression about that.”

Miss Silver wondered just what impression she did wish to convey. Whilst she had been talking about the late Mr. Vandeleur and his house her breathing had been normal. Now it was becoming hurried again. That there was something on her mind was certain. Whatever it was, it had been sufficiently urgent to take her through the successive stages of applying to Margaret Moray for Miss Silver’s address and then bringing her from Putney to Montague Mansions. But there the impulse appeared to have failed. It was not the first time that a visitor who might have been a client had come as Mrs. Underwood had come, and in the end gone nervously away with a fear unspoken or a call for help withheld.

The idea that this plump, fashionable lady might be the prey of some secret terror brought no smile to Miss Silver’s lips. She knew fear when she saw it. Mrs. Underwood was certainly afraid. She said,

“It is very important to get the right impression about everyone. Things are not always what they seem-are they?”

Mrs. Underwood’s eyelids came down. It was as if she had pulled down a blind, but not quite quickly enough. In the instant before it fell terror had stared out of the window-the sheer naked terror of the creature in a trap.

Miss Silver looked across her knitting and said,

“What are you afraid of, Mrs. Underwood?”

Plump gloved hands fumbled in a shiny bag. A handkerchief came out. The powdered face was dabbed. The voice which had been so high and sharp fell to a murmur about the heat.

“So warm-so very close-”

There were little glistening beads of sweat on the upper lip. The handkerchief dabbed, and came away stained with lipstick. Tragedy in caricature-rather horrid. The lady was so plump, so smart, so underbred, so frightened. Miss Silver preferred a client who engaged her sympathies, but her sense of duty was inexorable. She said in a kind, firm tone,