"
Viner looked at his aunt with amused wonder. He thought she was unduly
suspicious, and Miss Penkridge guessed his thoughts.
"You'll see," she said as she opened the door.
"There are going to be strange revelations, Richard Viner, my boy! You
said at the beginning of this that you'd suddenly got plunged into the
middle of things--well, in my opinion, we're now coming to the end of
things, and I'm going to do my bit to bring it about."
With that Miss Penkridge sailed away, her step determined and her head
high, and Viner, pondering many matters, went downstairs to entertain his
visitors, the unlucky Hyde's sisters, with stories of the morning's
proceedings and hopes of their brother's speedy acquittal. The poor
ladies were of that temperament which makes its possessors clutch eagerly
at any straw of hope floating on the sea of trouble, and they listened
eagerly to all that their host could tell.
"Langton has an excellent memory!" declared the elder Miss Hyde. "Don't
you remember, sister, what a quantity of poetical pieces he knew by heart
when he was quite a child?"
"Before he was seven years of age!" said the younger sister.
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